Ascending by Meg PechenickMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I Loved This Book
I was utterly entranced whilst reading this book. I lost big chunks of time to my reading because I was so captivated by the story.
25 years ago, aliens, the Vardeshi, visited Earth. They hung around for a few conversations over the airwaves and one brief visit. Then they turned around and left. One man, a gifted linguist, took those conversations, some texts provided by the aliens, and an interview he was granted whilst the official visit was happening and he spent 25 years learning the language, an infinitely complex language. He was developing a language program to teach Vardeshi for the government, but decided before handing it over to teach one young woman, Avery, one of his students, the language so that should they return, even decades into the future, someone would know how to communicate in that alien tongue. He wanted to make sure the person who could communicate best was someone who he thought would best represent Earth, a normal, bright, ethical and kind student.
It was after a gruelling year of learning the language that the Vardeshi returned, just in time for Avery’s knowledge to get her on board a ship to Vardeshi Prime. That was when her adventures truly began.
It does not surprise me that the author studied anthropology and linguistics in college. This expertise threads through the entire book and colours all the interactions of the humans and the aliens. I think it’s what I found so fascinating. The fact that the culture was comprehendable, but so easy to misunderstand was something that was missing from other alien encounter stories I’ve read. I loved how in depth the explanation was of exactly how it felt to be under the extreme pressure, of being unable to communicate in your own language, in an environment which had too bright lights and too heavy gravity and even opening the door or setting an alarm was tricky.
In addition I loved how the relationships between Avery and the Vardeshi evolved slowly over time. How the individuals who didn’t like humans behaved towards her and those who were willing to engage tried to include her, but at the same time everything was strange, so even overtures of friendship were difficult to frame in terms of human experience.
On top of all this amazing world building and character exploration there was an interesting plot and those three things together just swept me away. I suddenly noticed that I hadn’t eaten lunch at 2.30pm today. I normally eat it at noon! I opened my Kindle for half an hour and then two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. It is rare that I forget my lunch!
I can’t wait to read the next book. I’m so glad it’s already out. I can’t wait to read what happens to Avery next!
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