Ascension by Nicholas Binge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to love this novel simply because it tries to do so damn much. All at once, it tries to be a mystery a-la Vandermeer's Area X, a hard SF a-la Bear's Tangents, a big-scope mind exercise like Reynolds is wont to do, and, interestingly, a thin-air experiment in mountain climbing and time dilation.

It has ALL the elements that I'd classify as a rip-roaring good time. And, for the most part, it pulls it off.

Where I stumbled a little was in the characters' pathos. It should have been fine, honestly, but I was perhaps a bit annoyed with the length of time spend on the past when I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe that's just a me thing, but I found myself wanting more and more of the present and a progression of the plot, or perhaps something really surprising to come along and jar everything loose once again.

It does happen. And I really did enjoy this book, but it still kept it from truly flowing well for me. It was close, however.


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