Day of Ascension

[Pacific81]

Is there anyone that has read Tchaikovsky's other books (Children of Time, Black & Gold series etc) and if so how does it compare to them in terms of quality of narrative/writing style etc?

[Pacific81]

No-one at all? Interesting 

[theSpirea]

No-one at all? Interesting 

 

I have, the Children of Time series and a few other novellas. All enjoyable and well-written except for the second book in the CoT series. It was a cash grab, riding on the success of the first book and I had a feeling even the author didn't want to write it. But I haven't read Day of Ascension yet so can't compare it.

[Cactus]

My wife bought me this and I very much enjoyed it. I've always liked the genestealers concept (OG Space Hulk was one of my introductions to the setting) but this made me empathise with them much more. They're the same xenos threat as always but also engaged in a revolutionary struggle to seize the means of production. In the grim darkness of the far future workers' rghts need protecting and in the restricted scope of this one minor world they seem like the good guys. Deluded and doomed but very sympathetic.

 

It's interesting to note that the word genestealer doesn't appear once.

[Knockagh]

The twin evils of fascism and communism are alive and well in the 41st millennium!

It was very cleverly done in day of ascension to actually make you sympathetic to the nid cause. Who would have thought it possible. Great writer, can only hope for more.

[Pacific81]

Thanks guys - some pretty strong recommendations here and elsewhere so I managed to pick up over the weekend. Lovely hardback and presentation on the cover also, can't wait to read it. 

[Roomsky]

Day of Ascension – Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

Well, that was great.

 

I’m not really sure what to say to be honest – there’s not really anything here to criticize. The prose is really good, the pacing is really good. Even with Genestealer cover art, the book leaves you guessing for most of it’s page count as to who the victorious faction will be. Tchaikovsky gets the psychology of both Genestealer and Martian cults very well – Visceral especially is an adeptly done unreliable narrator. That the book manages to build tragedy out of certain characters not suffering a horrible fate is just as impressive.

 

I really hope we get more from Tchaikovsky in future, he’s excellent.

 

10/10 – Go Read It.

 

 

The twin evils of fascism and communism are alive and well in the 41st millennium!

 

*snort*

[byrd9999]

I went into this with very high expectations, and while I enjoyed most of it, I was slightly underwhelmed.

 

There was plenty to enjoy: Davien was well-sketched out, and Triskellian was a great idea for a character: a tech-priest who cares about the flesh...only because it will increase worker productivity. I didn't know which faction would come out on top until near the end, and I really got a kick out of the tainted Skitarii. A clever twist that I did not see coming. This ending really elevated the whole thing for me.

 

The "Day of Ascension" angle was good, with a different meaning for each of the 3 prot/ant-agonists.

 

There were a couple of points where it fell flat for me. There wasn't enough description or "bigger picture". The scenes often felt empty and characterless. It is quite a way into the book before we even get to see what Triskellian looks like. The celebration in the big stadium might as well have been a village green. There were descriptions of the crowds, but I never felt the bustle of a forge world.

I didn't click with the one-dimensional whimsical Fabricator General. How did he ever get that job? He eats delicately prepared food that he can't taste. I know he is a Fabricator General, but these idiosyncracies seemed way off-point. Apart from having mechanised components to his body, there was nothing about his personality that suggested Ad-Mech. He was more like a corrupt human planetary governor. Even Triskellian could have been a human magos biologis without any real change to his character or arc. The only necessity for these characters being Ad-Mech was the Skitarii twist at the end. Ad-Mech don't always have to be cold and logical, but this was the opposite extreme.

 

The ironic thing about getting an established, highly-regarding author into the 40k BL stable, is that is book is then deficient in standard authorial skills: too many one-dimensional characters, lack of establishing scenes!

 

One final thought that occurred to me as I read was that an author with a deeper grasp of the lore might have made more of a connection of the similarities of Ad-Mech's faith and the GSC's faith, doing one's part as one small piece of the greater whole. Tchaikovsky described this for each faction, and came close to joining the dots, but never seemed to make that final leap to unify these themes into a more satisfying whole (in a way that Nate Crowley did with humans and orks in Ghazghkull Thraka).

 

 

Overall: it was Good, with elemets of flawed greatness.

 

7.5/10