In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Published 2023 · 376 pages · 94,000 words · about 7 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Science Fiction
How hard is In Ascension to read?
In Ascension scores 60 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 60 out of 100
- MacInnes draws on marine biology, astronomy, and philosophy, incorporating specialized terminology throughout. The scientific vocabulary is substantial—readers unfamiliar with oceanography or astrophysics will expand their lexicon. The precision is beautiful.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- Long sentences build toward sublime encounters—the deep ocean, the night sky, the ineffable. MacInnes writes with deliberate rhythm, his prose creating space for wonder. The syntax serves contemplation.
- Abstraction: 68 out of 100
- Science becomes mysticism: what lies at the bottom of the trench, what waits in space, what the universe contains. MacInnes pushes his scientist protagonist toward questions her training cannot answer. The novel thinks at the edge of knowledge.
- Information density: 65 out of 100
- Marine biology, space exploration, family trauma, Dutch landscape, global climate—multiple worlds require attention. MacInnes packs substantial scientific and emotional information into his narrative. Dense with both fact and feeling.
- Narrative indirection: 55 out of 100
- Leigh narrates directly, but the phenomena she encounters resist explanation. The novel approaches mystery without solving it. What happens in the trench, what she finds in space—meaning arrives through encounter, not explanation.
- Symbolic density: 65 out of 100
- Descent and ascent pattern the novel: ocean depths, space heights, psychological excavation. Water, light, the sublime—MacInnes builds symbolic architecture around Leigh's journey. Science and symbol interweave throughout.
- Ironic distance: 50 out of 100
- Leigh narrates with scientist's precision and seeker's wonder. MacInnes writes without ironic protection—he asks readers to take the sublime seriously. The tone is earnest, awestruck, vulnerable.
- Resolution withholding: 65 out of 100
- The novel reaches cosmic conclusion, though the mysteries Leigh encounters remain mysterious. MacInnes provides emotional resolution—Leigh's journey completes—while leaving the universe's depths unfathomable. Awe persists.
- Structural complexity: 58 out of 100
- Linear narrative across Leigh's life, from Rotterdam childhood through deep-sea research to space. The structure follows one consciousness through expanding scale. Clear in outline, vast in scope.
How In Ascension is regarded
In Ascension holds a literary regard score of 55 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.