Ascension (Tangled Axon)
5 journalers for this copy...
This is not an ordinary book: it's a BookCrossing book! BookCrossing books are world travelers - they like to have adventures and make new friends...and every once in a while they even write home to say what they've been doing.
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Ex-library book: picked up secondhand via Amazon.
Space opera with elements of fantasy & romance, featuring a disabled lesbian protagonist of color? I thought I'd give it a shot.
Sky surgeon Alana Quick likes nothing better than working on spaceships. Unfortunately, it's not a very lucrative profession, and trying to cope with a debilitating genetic ailment doesn't help. Then a ship arrives looking for her sister, and Alana ends up stowing away for a chance at a better life. She ends up with a lot more than she bargained for - including a powerful attraction to the ship's captain.
Here's a copy wild released by the author! :D
Ex-library book: picked up secondhand via Amazon.
Space opera with elements of fantasy & romance, featuring a disabled lesbian protagonist of color? I thought I'd give it a shot.
Sky surgeon Alana Quick likes nothing better than working on spaceships. Unfortunately, it's not a very lucrative profession, and trying to cope with a debilitating genetic ailment doesn't help. Then a ship arrives looking for her sister, and Alana ends up stowing away for a chance at a better life. She ends up with a lot more than she bargained for - including a powerful attraction to the ship's captain.
Here's a copy wild released by the author! :D
One of not-very-many SF books I can think of with a non-white female on the cover - and she's not falling out of a scanty outfit, either!
Once I got over disliking the ship's crew somewhere in Chapter 4, this went along a lot better.
I'd be interested in seeing the further adventures of this bunch, but at the same time I wonder where the author would take them next - after everything they've been through, anything smaller would seem anticlimactic...but something bigger might be a bit much.
Maybe it's better to let Alana and her shipmates sail off into the sunset after all...but I'll keep an eye out for more from this author.
Some bits I found worth another look (spoilers):
On grief: I was starting to realize my parents would be dying all the time, in my head. Over and over again, they would die, and Adul would fade, and I would never not see that when I closed my eyes, or when I heard their names, or when I heard certain sounds, saw certain colors, felt certain things. Everyday things, like the weight of the shoes I wore the day they died, or the feeling of the navigation console beneath my fingers. When I did those things, I'd lose everything all over again. That was what it meant to grieve.
On love, specifically polyamory: "It's not any different than your parents loving you and your sister at the same time. You think they loved her more because she came first? You think she took priority just because she happened to pop into the world ahead of you?"
....
"Love is like sunlight", she said when I didn't respond. "You can give all of yourself to someone and still have all of yourself left to give to others, and to yourself. To your work. To anything or anyone you choose. Love isn't like food; you won't starve anyone by giving it freely. It's not a finite resource."
Once I got over disliking the ship's crew somewhere in Chapter 4, this went along a lot better.
I'd be interested in seeing the further adventures of this bunch, but at the same time I wonder where the author would take them next - after everything they've been through, anything smaller would seem anticlimactic...but something bigger might be a bit much.
Maybe it's better to let Alana and her shipmates sail off into the sunset after all...but I'll keep an eye out for more from this author.
Some bits I found worth another look (spoilers):
On grief: I was starting to realize my parents would be dying all the time, in my head. Over and over again, they would die, and Adul would fade, and I would never not see that when I closed my eyes, or when I heard their names, or when I heard certain sounds, saw certain colors, felt certain things. Everyday things, like the weight of the shoes I wore the day they died, or the feeling of the navigation console beneath my fingers. When I did those things, I'd lose everything all over again. That was what it meant to grieve.
On love, specifically polyamory: "It's not any different than your parents loving you and your sister at the same time. You think they loved her more because she came first? You think she took priority just because she happened to pop into the world ahead of you?"
....
"Love is like sunlight", she said when I didn't respond. "You can give all of yourself to someone and still have all of yourself left to give to others, and to yourself. To your work. To anything or anyone you choose. Love isn't like food; you won't starve anyone by giving it freely. It's not a finite resource."
Monday, October 16: adding this to emmejo's LGBTQ+ box - happy reading!
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BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!
I'm so glad you've found this book!
Please take a moment to make a journal entry and let this book's previous readers know that it's safe with you.
How and where did you find the book? What did you think of it? What are you going to do with it next?
It's now your book, for you to do with as you please: keep it, pass it to a friend, or maybe even leave it where someone else can find it!
If you've ever wondered where your books go after they leave your hands, join BookCrossing and you may find out: you'll be able to follow the further adventures of your books as new readers make journal entries - sometimes from surprisingly far-flung locations.
(Think of it like Where's George for books: a little like geocaching or a treasure hunt - you can follow a registered book's journey every time someone makes a new entry. Some BookCrossers even leave books *in* geocaches!)
BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!
Pulling from the LBGTQ bookbox~ and super-excited to read it!
Brought this badass book along on my way to the Rez, to send to the winner of the lesbian theme sweepstakes. Now I have a name, all I need is to find a post office!
Thanks so much! (I got two sweepstakes books in today's mail, so I cleverly deduce that I'm the winner!) This one sounds really good!
Later: I thoroughly enjoyed this one, both for the spunky-heroine aspects and the well-balanced look at polyamorous relationships. The book features a protagonist who's a gay woman of color coping with a degenerative disease, a dying economy, and a catastrophically expensive medical system - hmmm, some of that sounds awfully familiar... Anyway, it's very entertaining, with the spiky-but-likable heroine (who's a "ship surgeon", a high-end engineer with a near-psychic connection to the ships she works on) stowing away on a ship in hopes of getting a chance to become part of the crew. Things... get interesting immediately, with a good mix of character and plot. There is a bit of a weird twist late in the story which threw me a little, but not to worry! [I would LOVE to see a decently-made screen adaptation of this.]
Later: I thoroughly enjoyed this one, both for the spunky-heroine aspects and the well-balanced look at polyamorous relationships. The book features a protagonist who's a gay woman of color coping with a degenerative disease, a dying economy, and a catastrophically expensive medical system - hmmm, some of that sounds awfully familiar... Anyway, it's very entertaining, with the spiky-but-likable heroine (who's a "ship surgeon", a high-end engineer with a near-psychic connection to the ships she works on) stowing away on a ship in hopes of getting a chance to become part of the crew. Things... get interesting immediately, with a good mix of character and plot. There is a bit of a weird twist late in the story which threw me a little, but not to worry! [I would LOVE to see a decently-made screen adaptation of this.]
I'm adding this book to imawinn2's shrinking bookbox, which will be on its way soon. Hope someone enjoys it!
*** Released for the 2020 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2020 Science Fiction challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2020 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***
*** Released for the 2020 Science Fiction challenge. ***
Chosen from imawinn2's Shrinking Bookbox.
Thank you for the wishlist book!
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Ascension is full of fun, interesting characters. And the world Koyanagi created is intriguing, with sky surgeons and wolf-people, and with very diverse characters. I think I liked the character of Marre, the pilot, best.
But the writing was not as strong as it needed to be, in my opinion. There were some contradictions in the story that was the author and not the characters. The MC, Alana, could be annoying (too often) and she and her sister, Nova, came across as teenagers most of the time. Alana even admits to acting juvenile at times but it was more than the bickering of sisters and new love. They’re both in their 30s. And yes, 30 year olds can act juvenile at times but this novel came across more like YA than an adult story. :/ It is Koyanagi’s first novel, so I would be interested in reading her other novels as she progresses as a writer. I can only believe the stories will get better and stronger over time.
Reserved for hyphen8’s Asian Diaspora VBB
But the writing was not as strong as it needed to be, in my opinion. There were some contradictions in the story that was the author and not the characters. The MC, Alana, could be annoying (too often) and she and her sister, Nova, came across as teenagers most of the time. Alana even admits to acting juvenile at times but it was more than the bickering of sisters and new love. They’re both in their 30s. And yes, 30 year olds can act juvenile at times but this novel came across more like YA than an adult story. :/ It is Koyanagi’s first novel, so I would be interested in reading her other novels as she progresses as a writer. I can only believe the stories will get better and stronger over time.
Journal Entry 10 by Spatial at Sci-Fi/Fantasy Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Monday, June 28, 2021
Released 2 yrs ago (6/28/2021 UTC) at Sci-Fi/Fantasy Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Released in the Science Fiction Bookbox.
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I pulled this book from the Science Fiction Only bookbox. I started reading it this past week. I agree that the author will likely get better with time, and that it reads a little more like YA for my taste. But so far it is a pretty interesting tale, and I love the atypical female protagonist.