Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Ascension by Nicholas Binge

5 reviews

torismazarine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Suicide, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Dementia, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Self harm, Ableism, Murder, and Death

Minor: War

There's a lot of talk about religion and faith, the characters argue a lot about it (I'm paraphrasing here, but at some point a charachter says religious people are stupid, others have very strong faith, and for some of them it's fluctuating throughout).

There's also monsters and aliens, that are described extensively. At different points in the story people drown, get frostbite and altitude sickness, which are ways to die not in the content warnings, although reading a book about climbing a mountain the latter two could be guessed.

mandolin77's review

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Child death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, and Mental illness

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Feel conflicted about the book.
First part grabbed my attention with the setting up of the mystery but I felt like the second half really dragged and the payoff wasn't as satisfying as the build-up made it seem like it would be.

I wish more time had been spent at the end of the novel explaining the aliens/ the seeds/ the leviathans/the death and afterlife/ why the last characters killed themselves etc

I probably would not have finished it if I hadn't been hooked by the mystery. Think there were a bit too many themes to do them all justice

(religion, grief, death/loss, regret, all the science stuff, mountain-climbing, people going mad )

.  I liked the writing style and found it easy to read. Personally I didn't enjoy the extended descriptions of

people losing their minds descending into madness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

death of a child

pocket's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death

novelshire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A man goes missing and is eventually declared dead by his brother and niece. After many years, they discover what became of him; along with a case full of letters he had written to his niece (but never sent) during the time following his initial disappearance. The contents of the letters is astounding and they decide to publish the letters - this forms the basis for the book.

The main character, Harold, is an accomplished man, a former doctor, a scientist and something of an adventurer. He is recruited by a mysterious organisation, along with experts from other fields, to investigate an enormous mountain that has suddenly appeared in the middle of the ocean. But all is not as it seems, time runs strangely, there are ghostly apparitions, and former expedition members can seemingly tell the future.

What follows is a tense, gripping story; part psychological thriller, part speculative science fiction.
The letters reveal Harold's state of mind, the paranoia of all of the party, and the many secrets and mysteries surrounding the mountain. The style of the story means that some of the characters aren't hugely developed but, that also adds to the sense of isolation and suspicion felt by Harold.

As with all mysteries, the reveal is an important factor in overall reading satisfaction. I thought the final twists and turns were interesting but maybe not as much as the rest of the book - I felt like it either needed to be more vague or explored in more depth.

Overall, I think this is a book where the journey was more important than the destination and I enjoyed the gripping journey up this mysterious, mind-bending mountain.

Thank you to Harper Voyager for providing a netgalley review copy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Grief