Ascension: A Tangled Axon Novel

by Jacqueline Koyanagi

• Alana Quick is the best damned sky surgeon in Heliodor City, but repairing starship engines barely pays the bills. When the desperate crew of a cargo vessel stops by her shipyard looking for her spiritually-advanced sister Nova, Alana stows away. Maybe her boldness will land her a long-term gig on the crew. But the Tangled Axon proves to be more than star-watching and plasma coils. The chief engineer thinks he's a wolf. The pilot fades in and out of existence. The captain is all blond hair, boots, and ego... and Alana can't keep her eyes off her. But there's little time for romance: Nova's in danger and someone will do anything — even destroying planets — to get their hands on her!

• ISBN10: 1607014017
• ISBN13: 9781607014010
• Publish Date: 3 December 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Prime Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Ascension was quite the adventure! Alana dreams of working on a skyship. She's stuck on land, doing repairs, but she wants to be up in the sky. Then someone comes looking for her sister, and Alana takes a chance. Instead of just telling them where Nova is, she stows away on their ship, and then tries to bargain for a job. It doesn't quite go according to plan, but Alana's on the ship and they're on their way to pick up her sister. At least until a planet blows up and the missile was apparently shot from their own ship, marking them as terrorists.

I did have a little trouble getting into Ascension, because we're just thrust into the action without much explanation. I need more world-building in order to get settled in. When is this all taking place? Where is this taking place? Other than spaceships, how is this world different than ours? Is it just an advanced version of ours, or is it completely new? I have no idea. But once Alana is working on the Tangled Axon things get interesting. Nothing is what it seems on that ship, not even the crew.

I did really enjoy the romance of Ascension. I do wish there had been more development and exploration of feelings, but I loved the direction that Alana and Tev's relationship took. It's not at all what I was expecting, and it's only the second time I've encountered it. I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say it's a very underrepresented type of relationship and I think it was portrayed realistically. Alana isn't sure about what Tev is saying at first, but love is love.

Ascension has lots of fun twists and turns once the story really gets going. I never saw the big reveal toward the end coming at all! Brainsplotion! It certainly made me want to keep reading to find out what the heck is going on! I really hope there will be a sequel because I need to learn more about these characters and this world.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.