The majority of what want to discuss is spoiler-filled, so I’ll divide this review into three parts: synopsis, spoiler-free opinions, and the spoiler-discussion.

It's never seemed appropriate—for all our trips together, my faith has always been a very personal thing, just as your father's pragmatic atheism has always been for him. Yet another debut novel whose author shows promise by engaging the reader with one of the most unique, mystifying and unusual plots in publishing. Binge is an author to watch, and if his subsequent novels are anything close to Ascension, I’ll be reading every single one. Just so you know what I mean - the main character checks into his hotel room (and yes I don’t know and don’t care what his name is), and inside are two weird af “government agents” who want something from him while they obviously can’t share any info because it’s “more top secret than you can imagine”. Before he went missing he sent 3 letters to his niece, Harriet (Ben’s daughter) and in his room in the hospital Ben finds the rest of the letters he never sent.

Una historia en la que utiliza las maravillas por descubrir de la Tierra tan o más apasionantes que las las del espacio. The main protagonist starts out quite interesting, but after a while I got fed up with his self-obsession. High-intensity adventurer Bettan and military affiliate The Warden are great supporting characters, as is the scientist Naoko, whose path with Harry has crossed prior to them being reacquainted on the mountain. There are elements of science-fiction, horror, techno-thriller, and weird fiction, just to name the most prominent ones that come to mind.

Ascension definitely works better as a horror-- monstrous creatures in the night, minds being taken over by mystical forces, religious themes, campy twists --but I came in expecting something akin to Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants so I was disappointed. Solo diré que hay más horror cósmico en ciertos pasajes de El origen de las especies y en las ecuaciones de Heissenberg que en cualquier párrafo de esta novela. Real sins bubbled somewhere underneath the surface, nebulous and incomprehensible, and I didn't quite know what to do with them.You've come here every week since you were a boy and I don't think I've ever heard you say a single thing that's true. Strange things quickly began to happen as Harold climbed to the top of a mountain that appeared out of nowhere. The first was right in front of me: an imposing, straight-backed man with military bearing, tall and wide, his shoulders barely squeezed into the fabric of his suit jacket. There is no way of this mountain that isn’t up, and while this goals seems constant, people are changing.

There was a really prolonged section of the book where the group were camped out on the mountain without making any progress towards their goal to ascend, mostly it seemed for the characters to engage in arguments. So, you've got a phenomenon that you can't talk about, in a place you can't tell me, working for people I'm not even allowed to know the names of. Binge is an author to watch and if his subsequent novels are anything close to ASCENSION, I'll be reading every single one. Yet it also has room for contemplative, even philosophical moments and a solid backstory for Harold.

I really enjoyed the way the story was told in letters and Binge’s writing was so easy to get lost in. Recordemos que los personajes, conforme avanzan, van ganando en conocimientos que resquebrajan todas sus preconcepciones e trastocan su percepción de la realidad.