Meg Pechenick

Until the Babel Fish comes along, learning languages is the basis of first contact, and the spate of recent books and films focusing on learning about aliens through their language is welcome for those of use who study languages professionally or for fun.

The Vardeshi came to Earth and then left, leaving only a few cultural artifacts, including some tapes of their speech. One of the linguists who had these tapes secretly studied them and taught himself to speak. He then secretly teaches one grad student Avery Alcott, in hopes that within her lifetime, if not his, the Vardeshi will come back.

Well it would not be much of a story if they did not.

Avery is the best speaker on Earth and she is chosen to join a Vardeshi ship on their return journey. She is offered and accepts a brevet assignment as a cadet in the fleet, thinking that that would giver her the best opportunity to learn. But the conditions of the appointment are stringent, and, as it turns out, are applied too stringently. So here we have a complex story of a cadet in a military she does not understand and also crippled because she is operating in a language she does not fully know.

The crew are mixed friendly and helpful, and distant and cruel. Good story.

I received a review copy of " Ascending: The Vardeshi Saga Book 1" from the author Meg Pechenick through NetGalley.com.… (plus d'informations)