The main character, Alana, spends the entire book dealing with a degenerative sickness which requires twice a day medications or her body shuts down.

This really isn’t very different from the lives many Americans lead in rural and urban areas for basically anyone who isn’t a millionaire/billionaire. Heliodor and the other planets mentioned in this book have fringe areas where true workers live and work and then shining, fake cities created and managed by the othersiders where you sell your freedom and your soul for creature comforts and the lie of a better life. The economic and physical care differences in this book between normal workers and those who have basically sold out their souls to the othersiders is a stark reflection of the current situation with workers and medical conditions, especially in the United States. The universe portrayed in this book is a very uncomfortable mirror of the current western world. Ascension definitely has a lot of representation. Slip could be bisexual or pansexual, as she has varied romantic interests throughout the book. Nova and Marre might be asexual, as neither of them appear to experience sexual attraction to anyone in the book.

Alana struggles a little bit with polyamorous relationships but it’s not done in a way showing anything other than confusion and a desire to learn, grow, and love. Alana’s ex-wife is mentioned on page 10 and when Alana’s sister sees Alana with Tev, the Tangled Axon‘s captain, she immediately assumes they’re romantically involved and is instantly proud of her sister for scoring such a woman. The entire cast of this book is incredibly diverse, with everyone just existing as they are without traumatic coming out stories or the agony of not being accepted by their families. 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!” The captain is all blond hair, boots, and ego … and Alana can’t keep her eyes off her.

But the Tangled Axon proves to be more than star-watching and plasma coils. Maybe her boldness will land her a long-term gig on the crew. When the desperate crew of a cargo vessel stops by her shipyard looking for her spiritually-advanced sister Nova, Alana stows away. “Alana Quick is the best damned sky surgeon in Heliodor City, but repairing starship engines barely pays the bills. I have to admit, this book has been on my shelf for years and I just finally read it last night because I wanted an adventurous story about queer women in space, which pretty much sums up this book. I started and finished Jacqueline Koyanagi‘s Ascension (science fiction, 331 pages) last night.

Ascension by jacqueline koyanagi