Reviews - Ascension | The StoryGraph

129 reviews for:

So being a big fan of the mass effect series, i decided it was time to actually sit down and read the novel series. I had read the first one years ago, but completely forgot to pick up the next one. luckily the first one is a prequel while apparently 2-4 are their own story. Which is good for a starting off point.

And this book was....okay? Basically it's kind of a "in the universe of mass effect" story. it's not like the first book which focuses on Anderson and Saren, two major characters from the first game. In fact the only character from the games who shows up is "The illusive man". one of the antagonists in the 2nd and 3rd game.

The story is basically about this girl named Gillian who is a super biotic (good at forcefields and force pushes, etc) and the illusive man wants her to get stronger at this biotic training school. Grayson is this guy who the illusive dumps the baby on but pretends he's her father. Kahlee and Hendel are two people who work at the institution and want whats best for gillian.

The book is basically a back and forth of trying to kidnap the girl, rescue her, try to kidnap her again, rinse repeat.

Overall, deciding to base the story on human randos and a little girl, (who they go out of their 15 times to tell you she has autism. yes we get it. thank you) and the human group cerberus, was actually not a very good one. If i'm going to be reading a mass effect book, i'm not going to want to read all about the adventures of humans hanging out with humans.

About 3/4 of the way through the book they go to hang out with my favorite race, the quarians, but at that point, you're already 250 pages in and you wish they had done more.

The whole "protecting a little girl who has super powers" has been done before, and the girl has no personality to speak of. it almost felt like the author gave her this autism quirk as an excuse to not have to give her a personality. literally she'll just stand there staring off into space (no pun intended) and maybe nod her head once or shrug. If it weren't for the 'love of the father' angle, you could have literally replaced the child with a scientific mcguffin and it wouldn't have made a difference.

I like the whole 'conflicted father character' of grayson, and hendel was fine too. I just didn't connect with Kahlee sanders. she's too goody two shoes and sanctimonious being all "we have to do everything and anything to save this kid!" and i just got this vibe off of her that just rubbed me the wrong way.

There's definitely some violence in this game (Which you can tell as it says 'based on an MA' game on the back of the book) but it's par the course of a sci-fi adventure book. The only real part that bothered me was the after effect of a torture scene, which, realistically, did not need to be in the book. it could have done without it.

I do have to say though, it was a VERY fast read having read it in 2 1/2 days even though it was 300+ pages. I will eventually get to the third book in the series as i AM intrigued enough to see what happens, if it gets better, and if it includes more aliens, or even some more characters from the canon.

A not bad, if stock sci-fi adventure with a few nods to the game of its namesake.

3 out of 5.

cmzukowski's review against another edition

4.0

Well I would assume you are not going to be reading this book if you are not a fan of the Mass Effect series. And if you are a fan of the ME series then anything that gives you more insight into the story is highly welcome. I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first one, even a little more so. It takes place a number of years after the first one and includes some of the same characters, as well as some new ones. This books gives us our introduction to the Illusive Man and Cerberus and delves deeper into Grissom Academy and biotics. It also involves Omega (quite heavily) and there is a lot of involvement of the Quarians. I particularly enojoyed the aspects with the Quarians because you got to learn more about their behavior, history, and the Migrant Fleet and you gain more of an understanding for them and their lifestyle. Once again, this books is not spectacular literature. But ti is decently written and provides a good, exciting, and fast-paced story. Definitely a must-read for any ME fan.

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

thebookslayer's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Not as good as the first book in the series but still a good read after the build up in the start of the book.

justiceofkalr's review against another edition

4.0

Unlike the first Mass Effect book, this book is probably best read with some knowledge of the series. Having just read the first book might suffice, but to fully enjoy it, it would be best to have at least played the first Mass Effect game as its events are mentioned several times. Kahlee Sanders returns from the first book, now working in the Alliance Ascension program for biotic children. Unknown to her, the pro-human group Cerberus has infiltrated the program and is using it for their own purposes. Which supposedly is the advancement of humanity. But Cerberus tends to be on the extreme side of the ends justifying the means. The focus on Cerberus is a nice set-up for Mass Effect 2 where the player begins working for the shady organization. The events of this book are even mentioned when talking to Quarians in Mass Effect 2, so that's a nice bit of continuity. I also enjoyed the look at life on the Quarian Flotilla, which gets visited only briefly in the course of the games. Overall a great book and especially fun when connected with the games.