REVIEW: ASCENDER VOLUME 4: STAR SEED

For the future of both man and machine...


With things finally picking up in the third volume, I was excited to see how the ASCENDER series would come to a close so I jumped right in to check it out. 

HOW I RATED IT 
4/5 With the fates of both man and machine in the balance, the fourth and final volume of ASCENDER manages to bring this space-trotting saga to an epic conclusion. 

NOTE: While my goal is to avoid major spoilers for ASCENDER VOL 4: STAR SEED, I would advise not reading this review unless you have first finished the other volumes in this series as well as the preceding series, DESCENDER


CHARACTERS
As one might expect, all characters come together as Andy, Effie, and their new allies reach where Mila, Telsa, Driller, Bandit, Mizerd, Helda, Tim, and the last remnants of the UGC for a final conflict against both Mothers. In spite of how chaotic everything is in this volume with much of it being just one big battle, it felt like everyone got their chance to shine. We finally get the backstory behind what Tim has been up to all this time and why he seemingly holds the key to the magic in this universe. We also finally get additional insight into the Descenders, though their motives in this series feel somewhat at odds with their actions in the preceding one. Even the king of Gnish has an important part to play and there are some very interesting character moments when it comes to some of Andy and Effie's companions which beg readers to contemplate the very nature of life and humanity itself. Telsa in particular had some compelling moments that brought her arc to a worthwhile conclusion. The real highlights though are, of course, the heartfelt reunion of Mila with her family and the moments relating to Tim's personal odyssey. 

SETTING/WORLD
In many ways, this volume feels as though it is meant to bring everything full circle. This means that there isn't really a whole ton of locations or ideas introduced which are explicitly new. The story literally ends on the moon which it began on as all the major players convene for the final conflict. We do get glimpses of other locations as some of the characters fly in to join the party as well as during certain flashback sequences, but these tend to be rather brief. Where the world is really developed is in the answers we finally get to what magic is, where it comes from, and what the future of it will be in this universe. While the fates of the UGC and the In Betweens were shared in the prior volume, they are expanded upon in some interesting ways here. Without getting into spoilers, I also really liked how the ending of the story left this universe in a place where I could clearly imagine how things might go on and left me contemplating where everything and everyone ended up after I flipped the final page. 

PLOT/TONE
The first three volumes set up an awful lot and put a great deal of weight upon the shoulders of this final installment to deliver something awesome. While I felt as though this all materialized at breakneck speed, I did find it satisfying in all the ways that I needed it to. What was interesting about the final conflict is that it wasn't actually all that epic in scope. It all felt rather intimate in a way because of how all the major players gather together and engage in intense, but relatively contained conflicts. This provides some stark contrast to the more galactic scale of DESCENDER's finale. I think this works well for the story that's being told here though as it was a lot more character-centric and keeping things tight also allowed for the spectacle to center around space-magic brawls that ensue upon the moon. The one thing that sort of interrupted my enjoyment somewhat was the bizarre transhumanism overtones present in the way the conflict is ultimately resolved. Both ASCENDER and DESCENDER have always had heavy use of cyberpunk elements, themes around different forms of artificial intelligence/life, and some notes of transhumanist concepts, but this final volume felt like it really doubled down on those themes in a manner that felt kind of creepy and maybe re-contextualized past uses of them. 


THE ART AND PAPERBACK QUALITY
As far as the visual presentation goes, the team ended this series on a strong note. All the same quirks of the art style are still present, but I really felt as though a lot of care went into the composition of each panel and most are rendered in an enjoyable amount of detail. There's not really much to be said here that I haven't said before, I guess it's just been nice to see a storyline that is handled from start to finish by the same artist and writer duo. 

CONCLUSION
The grand finale to not just this story, but also the one begun in DESCENDER made for quite a nice spectacle. Though it didn't blow my mind and could be a little creepy at times, I think this was a deeply satisfying way to wrap everything up.  

(+) All the key players gather together for a high-speed final showdown
(+) Every character got their time to shine in one way or another
(+) Flashy action sequences
(+) Some delightful answers to long-running mysteries
(+) A satisfying ending to the two-series-long story
(+) The same great visual presentation
(-) Breakneck pacing meant that certain moments couldn't be savored as much as I'd have liked
(-) Transhumanist themes got a little creepy and made past moments creepier in retrospect

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