Mass Effect: Ascension Kindle Edition

**MINOR NONSPECIFIC SPOILERS**Drew Karpyshyn, author of Baldur's Gate II: The Throne Of Bhaal, and contributing author to a number of Bioware games has given us his second 'prequil' novel with Mass Effect: Ascension. This book has definitely highlighted his growing strength as an author, and while it strongly supports fans of the Mass Effect games, it really stands alone well, even more so than Mass Effect: Revelation. This book is a fantastic sci-fi read with action, adventure, romance, and with a psychological twist or two to satisfy nearly every sci-fi need.Well, come to think of it, I do have some sci-fi needs left unsatisfied... but this book was very good. Ascension derives its goodness in part from building on the universe created for the Bioware series of games, Mass Effect. Two things stand out developmentally wise: species and element development.As far as species development is concerned, the Quarians receive a little fleshing out in this tale. Tali, a prime Quarian character in the first video game, has gained a rather substantial following, and the mysteries of her race leave a lot of intriguing questions. A few of those questions are answered in the telling of this tale, and this ads a lot to the flavor.Secondly, biotics, an element introduced as a foundation of the Mass Effect universe, finds development in some unusual ways. We get a chance to ponder, what makes a biotic powerful? Can genetic tampering enhance the natural biotic ability? Can the true potential of biotics only be tapped through training? How does the psychology of the subject come into play?Ad in some elements of autism and drug abuse for flavor and you get the story. Intriguing, poignant, and exciting.This story continues the tale of characters from the first prequil, introduces some new characters, and introduces one of the major characters in Mass Effect 2. The story itself is really good, and I found the book hard to put down from beginning to end. Suffice it to say, anyone familiar with the mass effect universe will like this story, and those who are not will get great enjoyment from it too.Highly recommended.

It has been twelve years since scientist Kahlee Sanders survived the Sidon massacre. And it was thirteen years ago that a toxic disaster exposed thousands of pregnant human females and their unborn children to a deadly cloud of element zero on the Yandoa colony. Some of the human children were born with biotic abilities. All of them are now at the Jon Grissom Academy, orbiting the planet Elysium. Sanders works with these kids in the Ascension Project. She helps them adjust to and harness their extraordinary powers.Twelve-year-old Gillian "Gigi" Grayson is borderline autistic. Her mental condition makes her emotionally distant, yet she is still the program's most promising student. She has also become the favorite of Hendel Mitra's, chief of security. But unknown to Sanders and Hendel is that Gigi's father is part of Cerberus, a radical pro-human terrorist group led by one known only as the Illusive Man. When Grayson visits Gigi, it is to help Cerberus perform illegal experiments on her.When the Cerberus plot is revealed, Grayson takes Gigi away. Sanders and Hendel convinces Grayson to take them with Gigi. Cerberus is hot on their trail as the trio search for a way to save Gigi. Help comes from a totally unexpected source.**** If you are playing the MASS EFFECT computer game, know that this story takes place AFTER the game ends. If you have not played the game as yet, but plan to, wait until you finish the game before you begin reading this story. This story reveals spoilers by mentioning things that happen in the game.You do not have to read the first book, REVELATION, to fully enjoy this story. Both seem to be stand-alone tales. Even though the main character, Kahlee Sanders, was a big part of the first story, the events have little, if anything, to do with this story's plot. You will never feel lost or confused. The author only mentions things new readers need to know, so you will not be bogged down with a lot of catching up narratives. From the beginning until the ending, this entire story oozes with danger and intrigue. Drama, drama, drama! ****Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I liked this book well enough. The writing wasn’t bad, the overall story was fascinating, but at times it felt like there were two many side plots stopping the action’s flow. Which sounds crazy because this book is jam-packed with action and intrigue and backstabbing and Cerberus antics. Karpyshyn brought it all together before the end, but at times I really wished he’d cut back on a couple of the seemingly unnecessary side perspectives, or maybe merged them somehow so we still had that part of the story, but with less deviating perspective. The extra character side stories at times made the whole thing feel a little scattered and unfocused.Overall, it was a good story, another opportunity to spend time in a world I enjoy a great deal, and at some point I will read the third Karpyshyn novel set in the ME universe. 3 out of 3 stars.

"Mass Effect: Ascension" is the sequel to the first Mass Effect novel, "Revelation". It follows the adventures of Kahlee Sanders, the main character of the first book, as a teacher at a biotic academy and her relationship with Gillian, an autistic girl with huge biotic potential and the subject of a terrible Cerberus secret experiment. If nothing i've said so far makes any sense to you, look elsewhere because this book is not for you. This book is for hardcore Mass Effect fans. Drew Karpyshyn wastes no time explaining the universe like he did in the first novel. The book just supposes you are familiar with all these terms and planets and races, from playing the games. So with that out of the way, what is in this story for the fanatical ME lovers? Well not much. The biggest draw of the entire thing is a more in depth portrait of the Quarian culture and life on its flotilla. You get to read about the day to day of the quarians inside their ships, their common values and you really get a better picture of how they have survived for so long and the political struggle which leads to events in ME3. The games tell you about the quarians but you never really "see" them, connect with them the way this book allows you.Other than that there isnt much point to the whole thing. The story is shallow and predictable and it starts so slow I had almost lost all hope for a while. Things do pick up after a third of the way but there are no memorable characters or villains like Saren in "Revelation" and it all seems quite dry. There's no Anderson either, so the book falls solely on Kahlee's shoulders. Unfortunately, for the sake of plot, Kahlee is... well not very bright for most of the story and actually turns quite annoying in a few parts. The author never seems to "pull the trigger" on the Gillian plot either, her importance, her true value and origin and her character is hardly developed past being a simple plot tool. Paul Grayson, her father and Cerberus agent had the potential to be a compelling character, in his struggle between remaining loyal to his beliefs in Cerberus and the love for his daughter, the victim of the Illusive Man's plans. Unfortunately he is just too bland and predictable for anyone to care.The first part of the book is spent at Grissom Academy, although Grissom himself, a very interesting character from the first book never appears. At Grissom, Kahlee is in charge of the Ascension Project, a study about biotic children so we get many pages about teenagers, their problems, how weird Gillian is and... well not very exciting stuff. Throw in a silly romance of Kahlee with a young teacher and a few twists that are so predictable it hurts, and the book suffers greatly.This is still a treat for ME fans, especially for the quarian part of the story but "Ascension" never achieves the quality of its predecessor or the level of fan service.

Following on, more or less, from the first Mass Effect novel (Revelation), this book moves forward a few years and finds Kahlee Sanders now working at Grissom Academy, a space station dedicated to the teaching and understanding of biotic powers, particularly in children.One child possesses especially strong biotic powers, but all is not as it seems as the shadowy pro-human group Cerberus are clearly having a hand in her development. Moving at a brisk pace, the story follows the child in question, Gillian, plus Kahlee and others as they attempt to escape from Cerberus and Paul Grayson, Gillian's adoptive father and a Cerberus agent.There are plenty of books based on video games nowadays, but the Mass Effect series is a little cut above the rest. Well written by Drew Karpyshyn, a BioWare writer in the first place, they have a really good feel for the universe and tie in pretty well with the games. Whereas Revelation primarily focused on an event alluded to in the first Mass Effect game, Ascension has to strike out more on its own. There's plenty of action, lots of backstory to various components of the ME universe that you encounter in the games, and well-rounded characters.If you enjoy the games then this is well worth a read, even if you haven't read any other Mass Effect books. Although the book wraps up nicely, I highly recommend you pick up the next in the series, Retribution, which continues the story to a large degree.

When the original `Mass Effect' tie in novel came out Drew Karpyshyn, one of the key writers of the games, managed to capture the spirit of the title and create a whole new adventure within the Universe. In between reading `Revelation' and `Ascension' I played and completed `Mass Effect 2' one of the best games of 2010 with an exceptional story. `Mass Effect 1' was good, but could not hold a candle to the sequel, nor could the second book.`Ascension' feels like one of side missions from within `Mass Effect 2', in that it's about a group of characters we do not care as much about, where is Commander Sheppard? Instead the book concentrates on Doctor Sanders, a troubled youth called Gillian and her father Grayson; who may be more than he seems. The book is at its best when delving into some of the `Mass Effect' lore, either the use of bionics, or the way in which the Quarion race survive in space. At these moments `Ascension' feels like a valid expansion to the franchise as it explores areas the game cannot reach.However, the story itself is less consequential. There are a couple of action set pieces that are the highlights of the book, but the majority is a little slow and not as exciting as I wanted from a `Mass Effect' novel. I couldn't grow to care about the characters, although some of them are reoccurring. I was much more interested in the likes of the Illusive Man who appears in the core cannon as well as in the books. Having played the games and judged them as having excellent stories I hold the books up to the same standard. Unfortunately, `Mass Effect: Ascension' is not quite as good and remains a solid, if slightly uninspiring, science fiction novel that could have been set in any universe.

Mass Effect: Ascension is a great book and is the second in the trilogy written by Drew Karpyshyn. If you've read the first, you should read the second.While it can't offer the thrill of the first book, as we're introduced to the ME universe and its inhabiting species for the first time, it is still entertaining to read and tells a great character-driven story.This book paves the way for the third book and is a solid entry in the trilogy, introducing us to new characters, giving us a glimpse into the agenda of Cerberus and their operatives and also into a little about quarian society as we get to the last third of the story.The only gripe I really have about the book is that the ending seemed a bit rushed and felt like a deus ex machina. Nothing major, but it stood out to me. It's not exactly an eye-roller, but it did feel kinda cheap.This is a great read and shouldn't be missed by any fans of the Mass Effect series or anyone who's read Mass Effect: Revelation.

This book was a pure delight and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.The characters were interesting and the action was really jam-packed all the way through.If you've played the games then you'll know a bit more about the alien races and the way things work, but otherwise it's a fantastic read, whether you've played the games or not.There is a bit of violence but this is common with modern videogames. The characters use language that matches their personalities and overall the characters have a lot of development.The ending is interesting and the few plot twists really surprised me when I read them.Overall, fantastic book, well worth reading.