The Ascender by Tracey Pacelli

The Ascender is a middle grade science fiction book that was sent to me by the author. The book will be released in two weeks on March 11, 2020. 12-year-old Billy Magnusson has been targeted by what he calls "The Wave" for most of his life. Symptoms appear to be similar to a panic attack, like extreme nausea and dizziness. But a distinguishing feature is that every time, something in reality changes. When he moves to a new school and joins the Ascender club, he finally finds more kids like him- and must find a way to rewrite history before the world is destroyed by it.

Pacelli has a gift for figurative language, and her imagery and metaphors were extraordinary when describing the Wave attacks. I felt empathetic towards Billie, and his sense of morality was very strong. I could tell from the first few pages that Billie would turn out to be a very human-like character. I pitied him immensely and his personal growth in courage was awesome.

The Ascender was a super fun and is an awesome leisure read- especially on a bad day as there is plenty of humor! The idea of "The Wave" is very creative, and I enjoyed trying to guess what would change next! There was also plenty of mystery and suspense, and although the world seemed a bit too far-fetched at times, the author did a nice job of reeling it back into reality and tying into main themes. The foreshadowing was epic as the book neared its end and I was upset when it did!

I highly recommend this book!

Title: The Ascender
Author: Tracey Pacelli
Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
Pages: 235
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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