Ascension by Nicholas Binge – Review

Published: April 25, 2023

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Series: N/A

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction

Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis:
A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human

An enormous snow-covered mountain has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows when exactly it showed up, precisely how big it might be, or how to explain its existence. When Harold Tunmore, a scientist of mysterious phenomena, is contacted by a shadowy organization to help investigate, he has no idea what he is getting into as he and his team set out for the mountain.

The higher Harold’s team ascends, the less things make sense. Time moves differently, turning minutes into hours, and hours into days. Amid the whipping cold of higher elevation, the climbers’ limbs numb and memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade. Paranoia quickly turns to violence among the crew, and slithering, ancient creatures pursue them in the snow. Still, as the dangers increase, the mystery of the mountain compels them to its peak, where they are certain they will find their answers. Have they stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery known to man or the seeds of their own demise?

Framed by the discovery of Harold Tunmore’s unsent letters to his family and the chilling and provocative story they tell, Ascension considers the limitations of science and faith and examines both the beautiful and the unsettling sides of human nature.

I picked this up because I kind of thought it was going to be like… yeti horror, but it wasn’t. I cannot explain my thoughts behind this other than “big snowy mountain has yetis”. I was incorrect. This is not yeti horror, it’s cosmic horror.

So, the book starts off with a hell of a hook. A man finds his brother he thought was dead for decades in a care home. His brother, Harold Tunmore, is mostly insensate, but has a briefcase full of letters he wrote to his niece while he was on an expedition, which are then put together in a book and published. The story is told from the perspective of his letters and tells the tale of a doomed expedition to the top of a mountain that appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The letters bounce back and forth between the events currently unfolding and Harold’s recollections of his life leading up to the events of the climb. He waxes on and on about his life he built with his wife and adopted son, which I personally thought grew tedious as the story moved onward. I wanted the terror of the unknown and the crippling fear that came with being stalked by unknown beasts, but what I got was this scientist critically examining his mistakes throughout life. It was… boring to be honest and I found myself skipping through the audiobook as things really started to get tedious.

Did I mention that most of the characters are varying degrees of unlikable? Harold himself is clearly not a saint, as he readily points out in his letters, but some of the others are just assholes. The professional climber guiding the expedition is just awful, and a few of the others become intolerable or nearly insane as the mountain affects their mental state. The saving grace of this story was the sense of unknown because I really wanted to know what was going on and why this mountain suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I am happy to say my questions were answered at the end and I was left with a sense of awe at the sheer absurdity/audacity of it. Wow indeed.

Overall, I did not particularly like this book but I think that’s largely due to personal preference and my expectations going in. I also did not particularly dislike it. In my opinion this is a case where the book did not work for me, but seems to have impressed many others. So, be warned, it’s not about yetis eating climbers and if you enjoy listening to a man reminisce about his past and all his mistakes you might want to pick this up.