Every Star a Song ( Ascendance # 2) by Jay Posey

Thanks for the ARC of Every Star a Song by Jay Posey from the Harper Fiction Publicity team and this in no way affects my opinion/review of the book. 

Jay Posey has always been a favorite author of mine, as I have fond memories of his first series The Duskwalker series and having run interviews/giveaways for the same. His new series Ascendance has been a stunningly original one, focused on melding science fiction and fantasy elements overlaid with some deep philosophical tones and great action. 

In the first book Every Sky a Grave of the critically acclaimed Ascendance series by Jay Posey, we were introduced to Elyth, a woman adept in the Deep Language, that could be used to kill 'planets' and her fateful meeting with the Eth-Ammuin, a fugitive of the law named Varen Fedic, whose beliefs convince her to actually break away from the workings of the First House and become an 'Exile' on the run. We were introduced to the political machinations of the Hezra-Ka, the de-facto ruler of this whole Ascendance that allowed man-kind to break free from a dying planet and chart the horizons and the borders of the unknown galaxy. And the wonders of this language known as the Deep Language that allowed the wielder to perform miracles, shape worlds and heal wounds. 

In book two, Every Star a Song - we meet up Elyth again, on the run from the agents of the Hezra-Ka, no longer associated to the First House and now an exile. But she is finally caught by the agents led by a special Envoy of Hezra-Ka himself and is shocked to realize that her former acquaintances from the First House are working with the Hezra on this new mission - to understand the strange workings of a new planet, that the authorities have termed Quel's Shadow that seems to have sprung out of nowhere. ( Quel, if you remember, was where Elyth met up with Varen and the whole conspiracy blew up in the face of the authorities when Elyth refused to kowtow to their demands and decides to leg it, on her own) And worse,  the first team from Ascendance that went to investigate the planet has now disappeared along with the crew, including the Paragon of the First House herself. Without much of a choice, Elyth teams up with this rescue team on this new mission and what awaits her on this new planet are secrets that could shake up the foundations of the Ascendant Empire and the Galaxy itself. 

This is a man vs nature story told in as much a philosophical manner as possible, set in a galaxy far-far away, debating through the costs of sacrifices one is made to do, in order to stick to one's ideals. Jay Posey can write an action-packed story ( We've seen it before and loved him for his first couple of series!) but in Ascendance, Jay takes a deliberate slow-burning approach towards some 'earth'-shattering questions about one's beliefs, on what is right versus wrong.  The first book was decidedly slower but in the second book, we get an enjoyable bunch of tough men and women teaming up against an unpredictably hostile planet. We get a roughly put together team of scientists, soldiers and rogues sent out into the wilderness to solve the mystery of a missing space-ship and are faced with strange inexplicable incidents that completely sabotages their mission and the explosive findings could put the whole galaxy in danger. It's paced just right and what endeared me to the book is the absolutely fun camaraderie of the men and women, in the face of danger. This is what elevates the second book beyond that fiercely innovative first book, the crisp and lively dialogues, the bonds formed in the wild in the face of daunting odds and of course, the crafty workings of the words of power that can transform, terraform and heal planets and the whole galaxy itself. 

Elyth still remains a woman in search of herself, running from something, in search of a purpose. Jay creates a subtle and nuance characterisation for her. She gets a temporary reprieve ( from the running!) in this mission but hereon, she comes face to face, with her old nemesis (or her destiny, which ever way you look at things!) Varen Fedic, the outlaw and the rebel who is now forced to work for the Hezra. Jay sets up the premise of this 'hostile' planet discovery mission perfectly well introducing us to "team". The prickly 'Envoy' Sardis, the over-friendly and super-capable Captain Ames, the silent and formidable 'Godbreaker' Wari Korush along with his bot security Subo, the mad genius Arbiter and the other Sister Nyeda from the First House. The spooky planet with its myriad organic dangers that start with the sound of "knocking" is like a fabulous 'locked-room mystery' fraught with dangers. Imagine the room itself waking up, able to read your thoughts and then manifest your own worst nightmares in a corporal form in flesh and blood. While I loved the easy-going character of Captain Ames, the one I was most impressed with, is that of the soldier War Korush. A soldier sworn to his duty, come hell or high-water, I only wished that we saw him get into the 'action' mode a lot more earlier. 

Frankly, for such an amazing set-up I expected a lot more action following the set-up but things considerably do slow down as we get a lot of back and forth between the two main leads of this whole series, Elyth ( She's coming into her own, donning the mantle of the 'chosen' one very organically) and Varen, the rebel whose choices dictate pretty much the entire flow of the story narrative. But don't get me wrong, these ideas discussed on the misuse of freedom or power and individuality are pretty powerful and form the backbone of the overall story arc. Another minor grouch for me, was that the magical fights kind of robbed the intensity of the battles but given the nature of the Deep Language and how its wielded by Elyth or Varen, it is understandable. 

But overall, a fantastic follow-up to an ambitious series starter, with Every Star a Song in Jay Posey's Ascendance series, he has crafted a compelling a magnum opus science fiction story with just that right touch of fantasy and some amazing characters to root for, stuck on a treacherously hostile planet fighting for not just their lives, but the fate of the whole galaxy. I sincerely hope there are more books set in the World of Ascendance as I would love to get to the bottom of a lot of questions that have popped up. Highly Recommended!