Oj, vilken tid det tog för mig att komma in i Ascension. Den handlar om ett mystiskt berg som helt plötsligt dyker upp i Stilla havet. Harry blir värvad att delta i en expedition vars mål är att ta sig till toppen. De andra deltagarna i teamet är, liksom han själv, toppforskare inom olika ämnen. Vad de alla har gemensamt? De kan ingenting om klättring. Ändå tycks det som att något uppe på toppen lockar dem att ständigt fortsätta klättra.

Jag gillar expeditions-böcker, som Tunn luft av John Krakauer (som ju är en sann berättelse) eller Thin Air av Michelle Paver (som inte är det). Men när det handlar om ett fiktivt berg i en fiktiv historia så verkar det som att jag har svårare att hålla engagemanget uppe. Och när det blandas in aliens och stora maskar med tänder... nä. Det är inte min typ av skräck. Alls.

Men ändå lyckas Ascension överraska mig. Jag läser vidare (jag kan ju inte DNF:a en bok som ni kanske vet vid det här laget) och jag lär mig att uppskatta de lovecraftiga monstren för vad de är. När jag slår igen boken känner jag mig tillfreds, och det måste ju ändå räknas som ett bra betyg.

now what the heck happened to the plot,

Spoiler

why was there an actual alien named "neil amai"

hahahah

this reads FAST considering most of the time it was just about how cold the mountain was LMAO, despite that, it was super enjoyable and the ending was KILLER. loved this one!!!!!

2.6 stars. Enjoyable, but a little too predictable.

I'm always game for a "found fiction" premise, and ASCENSION delivered an epistolary that kept me guessing til the end. Letters in a briefcase of questionable origin, chronology, and reliability tell the tale of a jack-of-all-trades scientist, running from his past and from epic loss, facing the insurmountable issues presented by a mountain that literally appears from nowhere. ASCENSION explores the issues of faith, humanity, and why we press on, despite all odds. Excellent narration, if you grab the audio version, like I did.

Hardcover | 3.5 stars |

Neat premise. I liked the character development a lot.
Easy to read / digestible. I liked the ending more than I expected to.

For me, the only reason it wasn’t five stars was some of the repetition… granted, some repetition was needed to follow the concept, but even then some parts felt like I was re-reading the same paragraph.

A couple parts of the world seemed cheesy but that was fine.

Not ground breaking, but highly entertaining.

(This is the one about the weird time dilation and aliens on the mountain)

Thoughts for expanding later: annoyed, slow down audio, sort of disappointing but not too bad overall.

*expanded thoughts*

This was a little disappointing for me. It started out interesting enough, there was good suspense and tension although it was a bit of a slow beginning. I accidentally skipped the prologue because I thought it would just be more boring audio fodder that wasn’t part of the story and so didn’t care to hear dedications or explanations. But a few minutes into the first chapter I realized my mistake and went back to listen to it. That obviously helped give the first chapter the proper context, since it was in fact part of the story.

There was just something lacking about it though. I can’t quite put my finger on it …. the ending maybe? It seemed to beat and wrapped up. Kind of a cop out or lackluster ending I guess.

Since I read this one as an audiobook I will note that I had to slow down the speed a few times. The narrator spoke a bit too fast for me to keep up with what was going on since I was usually doing something else at the same time (driving, etc) and there was just a lot going on.

I did like one of the twists at the end (spoilers so I won’t say more than that) but even that didn’t pan out quite to my satisfaction. It kept my attention long enough for me to finish it, at least

With Ascension – published by Harper Voyager – Nicholas Binge has gone big and delivered an epic, cinematic experience, a speculative thriller blending big ideas and intense personal stakes. Told in epistolary format by way of somewhat disjointed letters written by the protagonist – Harold Tunmore – to his niece Harriet, it’s the tale of a man both losing his mind and finding himself. A renowned physicist, among other things, Harold is recruited by a shadowy organisation to assist with a secretive scientific project: a vast, impossible mountain has appeared out of nowhere and a group of brilliant minds are tasked with understanding what it is, how it can possibly exist, and what its implications might be. As they scale its towering sides in search of answers, it exerts an inexorable pull on each of them, testing them in ways they couldn’t expect and placing them in danger they couldn’t imagine.

Along the way Binge tackles everything from the perception of time and history to the question destiny versus free will, but crucially spends just as much time digging into Harold’s past and his (intentionally or otherwise, quite clearly neurodivergent) personality, as his experiences on the mountain force him to come to terms with his mistakes and the pain they caused him. This combination of big themes and personal stakes with a thriller’s pacing means it’s both a darkly gripping page-turner and a thought-provoking head-scratcher, but whether you label it as speculative fiction, literary science fiction or just ‘mad but brilliant’, this is one of those books that really blends genres in its own unique fashion. There are some bold choices in both the narrative (especially towards the end) and the structure, epistolary novels not being to everyone’s taste, but this really is a must-read for those who enjoy bold, contemporary and adventurous science fiction.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2023/04/12/ascension-nicholas-binge/