A disappointment for a fan of Compton's previous books. I think this did exactly what he wanted to do, which was skewer standard British self-destructive behaviors, but it's pretty slow-going if that topic doesn't interest you. This is SF as metaphor. Two impossible things, each of consisting of several impossible sub-things, have happened that are never explained or even studied. First, periodically something named Moondrift rains down. Gathered quickly it becomes a cheap clean fuel source. Left to rot it becomes fertilizer. Thus the energy and food crises are solved. Second, also periodically, the Singing happens in random locales. People hear an unrecordable choir, smell an artificial rose scent, and sometimes someone just disappears. The Disappearances by the way are not the Ascendancies of the title. Ascendancies is alluded to several times but never defined. These striking things though are not what the book is about. The book is about a women trying to cash in on her husband's life insurance -- he Disappeared which voids the insurance -- and her on/off are we/aren't we relationship with the insurance claims agent.

The book jacket calls this a "comic" novel but I never smiled, much less laughed. Alan Ayckbourn this is not. It's certainly not science fiction. There just a few tiny bits of extrapolative thinking, notably in the twist-dense "Extroduction" at the end. It's just a comedy of bad manners, without the comedy.

Not recommended, but please do check out Compton's earlier SF offerings. ( )