This was such an interesting science fiction read that I would recommend to everyone.
We follow the story of Harold whose team is investigating a mountain that has appeared in the ocean.
The fact that this was not written from Harold’s point of view but rather as notes that he had written for his niece intrigued me and encouraged me to read on.
This had me hooked from the get go and I could not recommend it enough.

Thank you to netgalley for an arc of this book!

Spoilers!

I’m not sure what I expected from this book but it wasn’t what happened haha.

I enjoyed most of the main story, even though some of the concepts kind of went over my head, it was just towards the end I kind of lost interest. When the leviathans came into it, I found them quite interesting especially how they had been influencing the people and their actions and moods, but then it just all got a bit muddled and I was skimming through most of it once they had all entered the fold in their lair.

I liked that it was told through letters and that they were out of order, although I think it would’ve been more interesting if they were put out of order in the story so we could work it out for ourselves.

Overall a good book but not one I would revisit.

This was a book that I enjoyed reading immensely, but there were some things that I could have done without. While the epistolary framing technique can be great, for me it just lacked credibility in this scenario, given how extreme things got towards the end. It threw me out of the story to think that all this crazy stuff is happening (which was great by the way) and the protagonist just sits down to write a letter? The action on the mountain is top notch - really compelling, intense and anxiety inducing, which is what I wanted. For me, I wanted the book to focus more on this aspect without the backstory for Harry (which I felt was a bit melodramatic) and without the constant references to faith and religion. I think the book was trying a bit too hard to be a philosophical and existential exploration of humanity, when it would have worked better for me as an out and out survival horror. Overall, this was a fun read, but would have been more fun without the aforementioned elements.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Ascension is a book with an amazing first 3/4 and unfortunately a last quarter I didn't like nearly as much.
The best thing about it is definetely the atmosphere. It is so tense and the cold of the setting comes through really clearly. The mystery is rally engaging and it acually get's quite scary at times. I also really liked the characters. The MC was a little bland but how they all worked together was great. Unfortunately I didn't really like the conclusion of the book, it got a little to conveluted and confusing while also being to fast paced. Still a pretty fun read 4/5.

Overall I did enjoy Ascension, it just wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I was expecting a creepy speculative horror, that chilled me and left me wanting more. However I sadly found it a little cheesy and the storyline predictable. I struggled to like the characters and find the believable. Maybe I’ve just read a few too many horrors and this would be more suited to someone new to the genre!

I think what attracted me to this book almost a year back, when I placed a request in NetGalley to read and review the book, was the premise of the story. Just reading about a gigantic mountain that appeared overnight in the middle of Pacific Ocean and a group of scientists from various disciplines setting out to seek the truth of this mountain and discover what's at its summit, is enough to make any reader curious. Even a reader like me who doesn't read sci-fi regularly!

Harold Tunmore, a brilliant physicist is whisked off on an expedition by someone who calls himself as 'The Warden' to discover the truth about this mysterious mountain and it doesn't help that among the previous group of scientists who attempted the mission, all but two perished in the unbearable cold of the mountain. One of them who survived, is Harold's friend, John who has gained the ability to predict the future but also shows signs of acute insanity. Harry who is by nature curious feels the pull of this challenge, not knowing the horrors and nightmares that awaits him in this treacherous mountain. As the group of scientists start their journey amidst extremely cold temperatures, their conventional belief in science itself is questioned.

This book is unlike any other books I've read and while there were parts of the book that I felt were too detailed and stretched, most parts of this book was engrossing and mind boggling. The suspense and the thrill was spectacularly built and I couldn't, even in my wildest dreams, predict what the scientists would discover if and when they reach the summit. The backstory of Harry's life forms a nice diversion from the monotonous narrative of the climb and provides an emotional angle to the story. I was a little skeptical about how the story was presented, in the form of letters, written by Harry and addressed to his niece, Harriet. Especially some of the letters seemed to be written as and when the events were occurring.

I am not a fan of scientific fiction but I did enjoy reading this book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for providing an e-copy of the book. My only regret, perhaps is not picking up this book earlier.

I really love books that feature an expedition or climbing a mountain and creepy things start happening (I just love Michelle Paver’s books!) so when I read the premise for Ascension it sounded like exactly my cup of tea. Told through a series of letters our protagonist writes to his niece, the story follows scientist Harold Tunmore as he’s invited on an expedition to explore a mountain that has appeared in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. On arrival strange and mysterious things start happening and the higher they go the more questions arise. Can Harold and his team unravel the mystery of the mountain and will they make it out alive?

This book has such a compelling premise and it is executed so well. I really enjoyed the way the story was told in letters and Binge’s writing was so easy to get lost in. The story is paced well and Binge does an amazing job of slowly increasing that sense of unease and paranoia as the expedition climbs higher. There were certainly some really tense, creepy moments and more than a few that sent a shiver down my spine.

Ascension is quite a quick paced book that incorporates science fiction, thriller, and horror elements that make you not want to look away. Our main protagonist Harold is a really complex character, dealing with grief and the loss of everything he once knew. I really liked seeing the dynamics between the characters change as they realised just how much danger they were in.

Binge does a great job of keeping the reader guessing and I was never really sure where the story was going to go. Ascension is a gripping page turner and one that I did not want to put down. Ascension is a hugely enjoyable read and I am looking forward to reading more from Nicholas Binge in the future.

When Harold Tunmore, a scientist fascinated by the mysterious phenomena, is contacted by a shady organisation, he does not expect to find himself investigating an enormous, ice-covered mountain which has suddenly appeared in the Pacific Ocean...

Ascension is an original position, full of action and secrets. It is written as a series of Harold’s letters, which is exciting but also improbable. It was hard to believe that Harold would have time and will to record everything in such detail in the middle of the action.

Despite the slow beginning, the story soon turns into an eventful adventure that nevertheless seemed too far-fetched to me.

My last couple of books have taken me a while, but this one was a Binge! See what I did there? Ahem, anyway, Ascension was a lot of fun. It reminded me of Michelle Paver's snowy spook-fests but with a bit of Lovecraftian cosmic threat mixed in.

A huge mountain appears in the sea. It's really huge. Bigger than Everest. Bigger than The Beatles. Bigger than Donald Trump's ego. It's big, OK? A collection of leading scientists are tasked with exploring some strange goings-on on aforesaid mountain, and from there it all kicks off.

Binge sets up the mountain mysteries very well and skilfully describes the arduous ascent. He also weaves in a flashback backstory for the main character in an affecting way.

Having set up such huge mysteries, do the answers satisfy? Perhaps not fully, but the ending was satisfying enough.

Overall, Ascension is a really impressive horror/sci-fi/psychological thriller. Recommended.

I thank NetGalley and Harper Voyager (Harper Collins UK) for providing me with an ARC copy of this novel, which I freely chose to review.
I wasn’t familiar with the author before I read this novel, but my curiosity was piqued by the concept, and I also read some intriguing comments about it, so I had to check it out.
The description of the novel is quite apt, and the premise pretty original (although when I read some of the comments, it seems that readers found similarities and connections with other novels, some I am unfamiliar with, so I’m just speaking for myself here). Imagine that, suddenly, a huge mountain appears, here on Earth, much bigger than anything we know, in the middle of “somewhere” (“where” is never made clear). Even more curious is the fact that most people don’t know anything about this mountain (this part of the story is set in the early 1990s, so at a time when perhaps one could imagine it might still have been possible, though improbable, for something like that to be kept hidden from the general public). Harold (Harry) Tunmore, a scientist with several careers under his belt, is recruited for an expedition to that mountain, with a team of other scientists. Only, this is not the first expedition, and it is unclear what happened to the members of the previous one, other than a couple, who came back but they are not quite themselves. The story doesn’t reach us directly, though, but it is framed by an introduction, set in 2020, provided by Harry’s brother, Ben, who was always in awe of his intelligent, aloof, and socially inept brother, and who, together with their sister, Poppy, had given Harry for dead almost thirty years earlier, when he had disappeared and never been heard of again. Suddenly, Ben receives a phone call from a friend who believes he has recognised Ben’s brother at a mental health asylum. When Ben goes to investigate, he discovers that Harry is still alive, and also that he has kept a stack of letters addressed to Harriet, his niece, and Ben’s daughter. In these letters —three of which had reached them at the time but didn’t seem to make any sense— he tells a pretty curious and outlandish tale. Apart from the frame, this epistolary novel also includes the editor’s notes, commenting on the order of the letters and the process of trying to get the narrative into shape, Ben final’s words, and the author’s acknowledgement. (Remember that I read an ARC copy, so it is possible that there might have been some changes in the final published version.)
If one had to try and fit this novel into a genre, speculative science fiction fits it quite well, but there are also elements of horror (Lovecraftian monsters included), philosophical and psychological inquiries, a bit of a mystery thrown in, and there is an exploration of themes such as guilt, grief, avoidance, religion, faith, destiny, fate, time, free will, conspiracy theories, and what it means to be human. Many different thoughts came to my mind, and many possible comparisons: Brigadoon, where a charming village appeared magically every so many years and disappeared again (nothing to do with the tone and themes of this novel, though), The Descent (a group of people isolated in extreme conditions and confronted with some unknown dangers, although it lacks the philosophical depth), Interstellar (different plot but some of the questions it faces are not that dissimilar), Gravity (although in these last two rather than a full team there was an individual doing the searching), Alien… I’m sure you catch my drift and you will probably add many more if you read it.
We have an international ensemble of characters, and experts in different fields, as is to be expected from books and movies where humanity confronts an unknown challenge. You have a couple of ex-military personnel (from the US, a woman and a man, who had been married in a past life, but no longer), an expert climber and mountaineer (Australian, arrogant and full of himself), three soldiers, and a group of scientists: a geologist, a chemist, a doctor (who was a member of the previous expedition and who also happens to have been married to Harry), a biologist, and an anthropologist. I don’t want to spoil the story, but let’s say they are quite different, some friendlier than others, some more focused than others, some determined, some placing a lot of importance in faith and religion, others completely opposed to anything that is not rational and logical, and they are all confronted with things beyond their wildest imaginations. They are faced, not only with the difficult conditions of the climb (and most of them are completely new to it), but with confusion, strange changes in the time-space continuum, paranoia, secrets, lies, and, especially in Harry’s case (although as he is narrating the story in the first person, it might be that we are only told a very biased and one-sided version of it) a reckoning with his own personal history, his own past, and his own sense of guilt. He experienced a terrible loss in his life, he has spent many years trying to avoid dealing with it, and he finally has to face the truth.
I read some of the reviews, and I cannot disagree with some of the negative comments, although I don’t feel quite as strongly about the issues they point out as some other readers do. Some people find that the suspension of disbelief required to read the novel stretches their limit. For example, the fact that we are asked to believe that somebody in such extreme circumstances would find the time to write letters —especially letters he didn’t think he’d ever send (only three of them ever reach his niece)— is asking a bit too much for some readers. That is true if we read the novel as totally realistic, but there are possible explanations, some of which are contemplated inside its pages as well. I am not sure if the novel would have worked better in any other way, but I thought it added something to it, and I didn’t mind it that much. I don’t know enough about some of the concepts and theories about time and space mentioned in the novel, so I cannot comment on how accurate they are, and people who know more might take issue with those, but I enjoyed the explanations and they gave me plenty of food for thought (so, I’d say one doesn’t need to be an expert in Physics to enjoy the novel, no). How realistic some of the characters are is another matter. We are used to reading books and watching films and TV series where an individual or a team, are experts on everything and show an amazing capacity to solve problems by taking up tasks that seem well beyond their training or experience, but, as I said, that is a convention of the adventure genre (and a few others), and we are all aware of some individuals who seem to fit into that kind of profile. So, again, that didn’t bother me much. Some readers were not very impressed by the ending (and the twist that comes with it), but, although I understand the disappointment of some, it made perfect sense for me in light of everything else that had gone on. As I mentioned before, there are some alternative explanations offered to the story, but even without those, I feel there is a sense of equilibrium and completion to the narrative which I enjoyed.
For my part, I was gripped by the story, by some of the concepts about time, space, and destiny that are part and parcel of the novel, and also by the process that Harry, the main character, goes through, and how he has to face what happened. In some ways, the rest of the characters can be seen as aspects and issues of his own personality and psychological make-up, and he needs to confront all those to achieve a degree of peace and to make sense of his life, whatever is left of it even if it doesn’t make sense to anybody else. This is a book that asks a lot of questions but doesn’t offer any reassuring answers. This is not a novel for readers who are sticklers for rationality and verisimilitude in a story, who prefer everything to be settled and all issues to be sorted at the book’s closing, and who are seeking a reassuring read. This is for those who don’t mind their suspension of disbelief being stretched, who appreciate a bit of adventure and a few scares, but who also like to read challenging stories that question the nature of time, free will, memories, and what it means to be human.

This was a fantastic cosmic sci-fi book.the opening scenes in the foreword was a great set up to this strange and weird mountain climb. What I found so strange about the writing style was that I kept forgetting it was the 1990s it's similar to books that are always set in the 1800s or such like The Terror!
So the set up is Christmas 1990 Ben and his family are expecting his strange brother Harold to come for the festivities. He never shows and is never heard from again. Ben never stops searching for his brother for 8 years until he finally gives in and declares him officially dead. Until in 2019 he receives a phonecall from an old friend who thought he saw Harold in a mental health hospital but it can't be him, can it?
During the first year of his disappearance Ben received 3 bizarre letters addressed to his daughter from Harold, garbled and nonsensical, but Ben finds more papers and the rest of the book are the rest of the letters he wrote to Ben's daughter in some kind of order.
I really enjoyed this tense, strange little story. The atmosphere of a cold, treacherous mountain was so well done, and the military figures- never knowing who was paying for the expedition - what did they want to climb it for etc was so good.

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

It has taken me some time to get my head around wording my thoughts for this book because though it was an engaging read it fell a little flat by the end.

A quick read and a good mashup of genres Binge has written a mind-bending story. Told through the letters of a lost scientist - Harold Tunmore – addressed to his niece, we follow the journey he and a group of fellow scientists took when they were sent to explore a bizarre mountain that had randomly appeared in the middle of the Pacific The writing successfully conveys all the tension of a real life mountain hike as well as the “what the fuck” feel of everything that goes on during the expedition.

The epistolary format and this being represented in the book as a published collection was really clever however, I feel it was also a hinderance the further you read. The lengthy monology descriptions and anecdotes that the narrator was penning for the reader just felt a bit overkill and slowed the story down for me. Particularly with how fast the primary and more intense mountain plot was.

From about midway on towards the end, the narration started to feel a little monotonous and I found I was able to predict some of what was going to happen which lessened my enjoyment of the big twists and reveals.

Though I will say Binge’s writing does well to bring a range of emotions to the page in those segments of personal reflection when he is unpacking the mysterious past of the protagonist. There was also some interesting and thought provoking discussions on the themes of faith vs science, humanity and autonomy.

And so despite being a bit of a miss for me overall I think this story would make a brilliant mini-series.
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars

"IF YOU EVER READ THIS. TELL OTHERS. DON'T COME HERE."

**ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴀ ᴍᴏᴜɴᴛᴀɪɴ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀᴄɪꜰɪᴄ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ, ᴀ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴛɪꜱᴛꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ꜱᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ɪɴᴠᴇꜱᴛɪɢᴀᴛᴇ – ᴀɴᴅ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴜᴍᴍɪᴛ.

ᴇᴍɪɴᴇɴᴛ ꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴛɪꜱᴛ, ᴇxᴘʟᴏʀᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜʀᴏɴɪᴄ ʟᴏɴᴇʀ ʜᴀʀʀʏ ᴛᴜɴᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ᴀꜱᴋᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ – ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇ ʜᴀꜱ ʜɪꜱ ᴏᴡɴ ʀᴇᴀꜱᴏɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴊᴏɪɴɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴛɪꜰɪᴄ ᴄᴜʀɪᴏꜱɪᴛʏ…

ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴀꜱᴄᴇɴᴅ, ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ. ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ ʙᴇʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴛʟʏ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴜɴᴛᴀɪɴ, ᴛᴜʀɴɪɴɢ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ʜᴏᴜʀꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴏᴜʀꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴅᴀʏꜱ. ᴀᴍɪᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʜɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴄᴏʟᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴛᴇᴇᴘ ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ʜɪɢʜᴇʀ ᴇʟᴇᴠᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟɪᴍʙᴇʀꜱ’ ʟɪᴍʙꜱ ɴᴜᴍʙ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴜɴᴛᴀɪɴ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴀᴅᴇ.**

Hmmm, llike that the book is told in the epistolary format, but it does mean that the story feels like it drags slightly without offering the relief of natural chapter breaks. It helped to build mystery and intrigue from the the very beginning, however, I found it strange and tedious that the narration was so slow even though the plot itself is pretty fast?

It read like to totally different stories that had been chopped up and rearranged together as one which is a shame as I think it could have worked as a main story set in the present and then a follow up story as a prequal.

I have read a few too many books where people go on an expedition, come across something supernatural, lose their minds and proceed to off each other one by one so I am glad I persevered as this story offered a different conclusion/reveal and was a refreshingly different take.

Harold's backstory was both infuriating and heart-breaking and I wish there was more of the mystery that we are first introduced to him with.

Fans of Donnie Darko, Contact, Memento, Inception, Shutter Island, The Cell, Interstellar will enjoy this because of the way in revolves around ideas of faith, destiny, and free will.

Promising start but the middle lagged and the ending was a bit of a dud for me. I'd be interested to read something else by this author but this one fell flat.

IF YOU EVER READ THIS
TELL OTHERS
DON’T COME HERE

Huge thanks to Harper Collins UK for an ARC of the outstanding Ascension by Nick Binge.

Told through a series of letters, Ascension tells the story of Harold Tunmore who is called upon to try and help explain the sudden appearance of a mountain in the Pacific Ocean.

I can’t big this book up enough - it is a brilliantly written and immersive piece of speculative fiction with a thoroughly developed protagonist in Harold.

This book is tailor-made for an adaptation.

Out now - go and buy it!

Nicholas Binge’s novel draws on a range of genres and influences from the cosmic horror of Lovecraft’s <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i> to shades of gothic reminiscent of H. Rider Haggard’s ripping yarns, with a dash of the kind of speculative fiction I associate with writers like Lincoln Michel and even a hint of M. R. James. It revolves round the discovery of the “Turnmore letters” written in the early 90s. Ben Turnmore’s brother Harold disappeared in 1990 but is suddenly found thirty years later. Rambling and incoherent, Harold guards a horde of letters addressed, but never sent, to his young niece Harriet. These tell of an ill-fated expedition to an ice-covered mountain that suddenly appeared in the midst of the South Pacific, an unholy place riddled with spatial and temporal anomalies. Harold is part of a team of expert researchers and former military dispatched there in search of answers and opportunities.

Although it’s clunky and melodramatic in places, sometimes woefully overwritten, this is still fairly decent holiday or commuter fare – I imagine elements will be familiar to anyone conversant with the subgenre from the requisite evil corporation with its tight-lipped representatives to snippets of mythology and literature through to meandering existential questions. The central plot rests on themes of faith and free will, complete with C. S. Lewis references, and these are not issues I personally find appealing. However, Harold’s an unexpectedly sympathetic character, although his portrayal as a socially-awkward, possibly neurodiverse, science obsessive is rather heavy-handed. The mountain also unexpectedly reunites Harold with former wife Dr Naoka Tanaka stirring vivid memories of the traumatic event that led to their parting years before. I was in two minds about their storyline, their circumstances and their past are poignant enough but sometimes over-egged in ways that strained my credibility. But overarching credibility isn’t really the point of this kind of narrative, a diverting, gripping page-turner with an abundance of pulpy material, much of which I found surprisingly enjoyable - especially the tentacled creatures who lurk in the mountain’s shadows.

Such an amazing book, written and developed in such an interesting way. Felt like reading a very eye-catching research paper.
Although it has extremely long chapters, they are very easy to read and so interesting, you don’t mind spending hours reading them.
It’s a book that makes you question everything and everyone.
An amazing book that keeps you at the edge of your seat!

Harold, a mysterious man, obsessed with science, has gone missing. We slowly learn about what happened to him through a big stack of letters he wrote. We learn he went with a team to explore a mountain that has appeared in the middle of the ocean. No one understands what it is, and how it got there.
The way this book is set up is unique, and I'm not doing it justice. I was hooked from start to finish.
This will be perfect for readers who love books by Blake Crouch and John Scalzi.

This must be a shoe-in for most imaginative book of 2023. The incredibly inventive story was thrilling and intriguing, quite haunting too, with believable characters who didn’t grate - a rare thing these days. I loved it from start to finish!

Wowsers. Loved this! I was really excited to read it based on the blurb and it was just excellent!! It did what it said on the tin as they say…

The story flowed well, the characters were believable and likeable, and the plot kept me gripped from the very start.

A stand out book for me this year.

My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.