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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
I would like to thank Drew Karpyshyn for writing a book in which all stereotyping was thrown out the window. Seriously, thank you. Thank you for the non-stereotyped gay character . Thank you for the autistic character who was well written . Thank you for the strong female character that is Kahlee Sanders. Thank you for making an addict put his child before himself from the beginning of the book, even if they weren't really blood. I adored the protagonists in this book.
I was very happy to see more explained about the Quarians. I thought the insight into their society was very interesting. It's been a while since I last played ME2, but I don't recall learning much about their way of life involving the lockers and the quarters of the Quarians on a given ship. I thought it was all very interesting.
I do have to say that all of the twists were more than a little predictable - at least for me. I saw them all coming a mile away based on the context clues of things that were said or done. Not to say that they were bad. In fact, I really enjoyed the story as a whole. I just wish it hadn't been so heavily hinted at that people were bad news.
Spoiler
who livedSpoiler
who got a happy ending and who people care about in the bookI was very happy to see more explained about the Quarians. I thought the insight into their society was very interesting. It's been a while since I last played ME2, but I don't recall learning much about their way of life involving the lockers and the quarters of the Quarians on a given ship. I thought it was all very interesting.
I do have to say that all of the twists were more than a little predictable - at least for me. I saw them all coming a mile away based on the context clues of things that were said or done. Not to say that they were bad. In fact, I really enjoyed the story as a whole. I just wish it hadn't been so heavily hinted at that people were bad news.
[b:Mass Effect: Revelation|231599|Mass Effect Revelation (Mass Effect, #1)|Drew Karpyshyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389736825s/231599.jpg|224323] was mainly worth reading because it allowed you to inhabit the world of Mass Effect, one of the best video games of all time, in a way that felt a lot like reliving a mission from the game.
Ascension doesn't have nearly as much of that feel, and it's mostly fairly boring. None of the characters are that engaging, and if you were hoping to bond with the character who is the main focus of the story - the awkward, mildly autistic, biotic wunderkind that is 12-year-old Jillian Grayson - you don't get much of a chance to do that, either. Kahlee Sanders continues to make a fairly ho-hum heroine whom it's hard to care about one way or the other, and Paul Grayson is a fairly ho-hum villain. Paul is supposed to be a deep, complex, mysterious character who reads like a tragic hero, but that effort is mostly a big dull nothingburger. It's hard to feel anything about him beyond mild revulsion.
The most interesting parts of the book are the glimpses of life in the Quarian Migrant Fleet in the final third, and to some extent Jillian's fascinating reaction to her taste of the Quarian lifestyle. But it's a bit of a slog to even get to those parts. Possibly the most interesting character we're presented with is Golo, our first view of an unambiguously evil, self-centered, and sadistic Quarian. Kinda shatters your stereotype of the Quarians as 100% lovable underdogs. They also have disgusting scum like Golo.
Ascension doesn't have nearly as much of that feel, and it's mostly fairly boring. None of the characters are that engaging, and if you were hoping to bond with the character who is the main focus of the story - the awkward, mildly autistic, biotic wunderkind that is 12-year-old Jillian Grayson - you don't get much of a chance to do that, either. Kahlee Sanders continues to make a fairly ho-hum heroine whom it's hard to care about one way or the other, and Paul Grayson is a fairly ho-hum villain. Paul is supposed to be a deep, complex, mysterious character who reads like a tragic hero, but that effort is mostly a big dull nothingburger. It's hard to feel anything about him beyond mild revulsion.
The most interesting parts of the book are the glimpses of life in the Quarian Migrant Fleet in the final third, and to some extent Jillian's fascinating reaction to her taste of the Quarian lifestyle. But it's a bit of a slog to even get to those parts. Possibly the most interesting character we're presented with is Golo, our first view of an unambiguously evil, self-centered, and sadistic Quarian. Kinda shatters your stereotype of the Quarians as 100% lovable underdogs. They also have disgusting scum like Golo.
Presne to, co mi chybalo v prvej knihe, som dostal v dvojke: 1.) Nevyskytovali sa tu postavy z hry, takze som nemal istotu ci preziju alebo nie; 2.) Zapletka pribehu bola mierne zlozitejsia ako v jednotke.
Bolo to o nieco lepsie ako jednotka, ale stale tomu daco chyba aby som mohol dat s cistym svedomim 5*. Ked si porovnam prepracovanost hier s tym aky jednoduchy pribeh maju knihy... pre BioWare su tieto knihy asi len druhorady merch ku hram.
Bolo to o nieco lepsie ako jednotka, ale stale tomu daco chyba aby som mohol dat s cistym svedomim 5*. Ked si porovnam prepracovanost hier s tym aky jednoduchy pribeh maju knihy... pre BioWare su tieto knihy asi len druhorady merch ku hram.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another Mass Effect novel, this one taking place between the first and second game. It is focused again on Khalee Sanders, but many years after the first book, and she is working at the Grissom Academy, an human program focused on training biotics.
The story itself is mediocre. I don't think Sanders is that interesting, and while learning a bit more about biotics is cool, its not enough to keep the story going in the first half. If you can make it through the first half, the story does get significantly better with quarians heavily features, and aspects of the migrant fleet explored lending much needed variety to the story.
The characters themselves are pretty lack luster, with none of them really standing out, except for a few periphery characters that pop in and out of the story. The story is focused around the attempted use of a autistic human biotic, who Cerberus believes can help study biotic advancement.
Perhaps the biggest miss is that unlike in the first book, this one doesn't clearly link up with anything happening in the second game. The Collectors are briefly mentioned but never depicted and don't really have lasting impact. The crux of the story and even its conclusion have next to nothing to do with where the second game goes.
Overall this is a miss. There are glimmers of good here, Karpyshyn writes excellent action sequences, but it doesn't make up for the dull characters and poor pacing.
The story itself is mediocre. I don't think Sanders is that interesting, and while learning a bit more about biotics is cool, its not enough to keep the story going in the first half. If you can make it through the first half, the story does get significantly better with quarians heavily features, and aspects of the migrant fleet explored lending much needed variety to the story.
The characters themselves are pretty lack luster, with none of them really standing out, except for a few periphery characters that pop in and out of the story. The story is focused around the attempted use of a autistic human biotic, who Cerberus believes can help study biotic advancement.
Perhaps the biggest miss is that unlike in the first book, this one doesn't clearly link up with anything happening in the second game. The Collectors are briefly mentioned but never depicted and don't really have lasting impact. The crux of the story and even its conclusion have next to nothing to do with where the second game goes.
Overall this is a miss. There are glimmers of good here, Karpyshyn writes excellent action sequences, but it doesn't make up for the dull characters and poor pacing.
Another wonderful expansion to the ME universe. I loved seeing more of the quarians. A good pick for any ME fan
I really enjoyed this book.
Learning more about Quarian culture was a highlight for me. I could never be bothered to read the whole codex in the games, so all this additional info was genuinely interesting to me.
The only issue I had (if you can call it that) was that the writing style wasn't great. It spelled out every emotion each character was feeling and was filled with info dumps. But I came into this book knowing what to expect after Revelations. It was a bit awkward at some points, but for the most part I didn't really care.
Learning more about Quarian culture was a highlight for me. I could never be bothered to read the whole codex in the games, so all this additional info was genuinely interesting to me.
The only issue I had (if you can call it that) was that the writing style wasn't great. It spelled out every emotion each character was feeling and was filled with info dumps. But I came into this book knowing what to expect after Revelations. It was a bit awkward at some points, but for the most part I didn't really care.
It was really fun seeing Mass Effect characters I know in a new light.
I loved reading about the Quarians. Learning more about their culture was my favorite part of the book.
I loved reading about the Quarians. Learning more about their culture was my favorite part of the book.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No