Ascension

I slogged through this book so you don't have to.

I've had this one on my to-read list since its publication I think, and as luck would have it, one of my regular library patrons had just finished reading it and was dropping it off at our swap shelf. I asked if they liked it, and they hedged a bit and finally committed to a half-hearted "....yeah?" And with that rounding endorsement, I decided to give it a go.

It's a mess. First off, the story is told through letters the main character sends to his niece. Highly, highly detailed letters he manages to pen with exact dialogue, scene movement, and adult topics to his kid (at the time) niece, between highly dangerous/incredibly wild scenes climbing a dangerous mountain. That took me right out of it, as I couldn't suspend belief enough to accept it.

Second, while the actual mountain climbing story starts out intriguing, it's really only for the first third or half or so before things start getting crazy weird and hard to follow. Even now, having just finished the book, I'm not really sure about that ending. There's actually a neat idea in here, if the author could've stuck with it and didn't lay so hard on the monsters on the mountain plot.

Third, and I'm putting this in spoilers, (character/plot spoilers here) the guy's name being a reverse of "i am alien"? Really? My eyes rolled super hard at that one. Why would an alien bother?

Dunno, definitely not my cup of tea. I gave it a star for the intriguing premise and interesting beginning, but it falls hard on its face not far in.