I read Martin McInnes’s In Ascension recently. What I loved about it is that it felt both intimate and sweeping. Intimate in the sense of going deep into the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings; sweeping in the nature of the things she thinks and does. Discovering and investigating things beyond all human knowledge, monologuing about the cyclic nature of life… The former keeps it grounded, the latter makes it exciting.
Another book that made me feel a similar way is Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, although it’s a very different kind of awe. Being a horror book and all.
What are other books that can make me feel that way again?
Klara and the Sun. Told completely from the view of an android who strives to understand her world, her place in it, relationships gained, lost and changes.
If you like new non-human perspectives like that one I have a few more suggestions.
I just read Ancillary Justice and I have to say it’s written in a way that truly gives you insight into a new perspective from a not exactly human perspective. An ancillary (human body as an extension of a Ship AI) who is coping with being alone (when she’s used to having hundreds of eyes, tasks, conversations all at once). Dealing with her limitations, feelings and also driven towards a goal decades in the planning.
Finally just funny and short would be the Murderbot Diaries series. A machine/cyborg made to be a soldier or security apparatus… who breaks free and really just wants to watch dramas and be left alone. Touching and funny.
The Imperial Radch (ancillary justice, sword, mercy) trilogy may be one of my favourite reads in recent years, very highly recommended.