Ascension

A book I was eagerly anticipating for a while, Ascension by Nicholas Binge is a gripping speculative thriller that combines some of my favorite genres. After spending almost two months reading a long, complex fantasy series, this was just the thing I needed for a change.

Plot

Ascension is narrated by a series of letters from a physicist, Harold Tunmore, to his niece, talking about a series of seemingly impossible events from an expedition he was part of. Years ago, he embarked on an investigation to figure out why a massive, ice-capped mountain appeared in the Pacific Ocean. It literally appeared out of nowhere! Harold recounts his unsettling, horrific experience of scaling that mountain and how it challenged his notions of reality and human nature.

"Why does Sisyphus keep pushing the rock up the hill, Harry, if he knows it'll just fall down again? Why does he keep pushing?"

I loved the premise of the book. I also loved how the book dives right into this complex and interesting sequence of events without making us wait or wasting a lot of time on backstory. The book does its expositions through flashbacks into the past while staying firmly rooted in the present, and it does it pretty well.

Off the bat, a series of strange and exciting events immediately captured my attention. There are a lot of weird things going on in this book, but it was definitely my kind of weirdness. It builds up the suspense steadily, making it nearly impossible to put the book down.

The book's first reveal around the halfway mark is quite well executed. It so happened that I was reading a non-fiction book on a similar subject that week, so a lot of the science seemed to fit in pretty well and made sense to me. If you liked the science aspect of what Ascension was based on, you might enjoy it too. When you're ready (and not afraid of spoilers), check out this interesting read here!

There is something about the world at this height that is almost impossible to describe: ocean, cloud, and sky blend into a completely encircling canvas, and the solid earth beneath seems to fall away. It is like floating, in a way. Or drowning.

After the first big reveal, I did feel a bit of a dullness in some places. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the book still remains extremely fast-paced with a lot of action. Things continue to get weirder and creepier the higher Harold and his team go up the mountain. However, given how grand in scope the first reveal was, I imagined things would amp up a little more.

There are a few little things that irked me, even though they do not matter much in the larger scheme of things. I feel that we didn't get a lot of science experiments? Moreover, I don't understand exactly when Harold would have found the time to write all these letters to his niece? Given the continuous action, I don't think he would have had any time to write such long letters (in fact, a book) to Hattie.

The final chapters are quite thought-provoking. In a way, they question a lot of things we know about humanity and what it means to be human. About how much control we actually have over our fate. I think that it explored some pretty interesting avenues, but it felt a little underbaked. There were quite some interesting developments that I felt didn't really get fully explained. I still had a lot of questions at the end. Did Binge intend to answer them? Or was that intentional on his part? I guess we will never know.

Characters

I think that this book could have done with some more character development. Although I could feel the emotional connection with Harold and his immediate family, I didn't get a lot of it with the side characters. And it is the side characters who feature in a majority of the chapters, as they make their way with Harold up the mountain and through its dangers. I wish a few more of those characters had been explored a bit more in-depth for what was to come.

Harold

Harold himself makes for an interesting protagonist. He's an eccentric man, although a bit more reserved, the reasons for which Binge slowly reveals through the chapters. I quite liked his resourcefulness and backstory, and how those events of his past shaped him into who he is.

Worldbuilding

The setting of Ascension is haunting, yet eerily beautiful. Imagine this huge, isolated mountain that appears out of thin air in the middle of the Pacific. And if that wasn't unsettling enough, imagine all the dark secrets it harbors, the dangers lurking on its slopes and in its core. The entire story takes place in the reaches of this mysterious mountain, and Binge succeeds in creating a tense, foreboding atmosphere that serves his readers well.

I shielded my eyes: shimmering, pearlescent light glittered as the afternoon sun spread across the landscape. On each side of us, the sheer cliffs of the mountain rose, certain and impenetrable. In between them was a river of diamonds. Partially melted ice was broken up into various shapes and sizes that jostled and swirled against one another, refracting the light at a thousand different angles. Blue dominated the palette, a spiraling mixture of light sky and deep sea, but there were other colors, too: glints of fiery red and orange, tiny stars of yellow, and beneath that, the deep, almost magical white of the icefall.

Writing Style

Ascension has a very accessible writing style. The simplicity of the prose supported the heavier subject matter of the novel, allowing me to devour this book in a few hours. Yet, I think the writing could have been a bit better in some places.

The most interesting aspect of this novel is how it seamlessly blends science fiction and horror. These genres play very well together, making it a unique read.

In Conclusion

Ascension combines science fiction and horror with an interesting premise that questions the very nature of humanity. It does fall short of following through on its grand ideas and answering some important questions at the end and could have done with some more depth and exploration of its side characters. While it may not be a perfect book, it's something I would suggest reading for a refreshing take on horror with a side of science fiction.