Review:
Mass Effect: Asension

"A great read as a stand alone sci-fi book with some interesting insight to a reclusive species, yet it falls short in linking the story with key characters from the games."

When I read Mass Effect: Revelation I treated it as 'Mass Effect 0.5', which gave you a lot of insight to the world before Shepard's rise. Mass Effect: Asension feels a little bit like '1.5', sanwiched between the first and second games, and brings you in to a lot of the moral situations behind the Cerberus group you're affiliated with in the second game.

Mass Effect: Asension follows the leading lady of Revelation, Kahlee Sanders, and goes through her journey in the aftermath of the 'Geth' attack, lead by Saren and his mother ship known as Sovereign. The prologue of the book briefly touches with some of the characters you've familiarized yourself with in the games with a mention of Commander Shepard being the new hero of the Alliance, whilst both Ambasador Udina and Captain Anderson are mentioned as potential candidates for the Citadel Council. Thankfully, Drew Karpyshyn leaves these positions very open in the book so it does not cross the lines of what you've decided during Mass Effect 1.

Moving on, Kahlee Sanders has left her past with Captain Anderson behind and the work she did on artificial intelligence. Now as an officer on the Asension project, a school for gifted human children that's built on the hope, they can advance human biotics. The story focuses on one special little girl called Gillian, a student with Autism, but she has the most biotic potential of them all and was sent to the Asension project by her father, Grayson. Unknown to Kahlee, Grayson is an operative for Cerberus - the secret pro-human organization that are networked accross the whole of the known galaxy.

By order of the 'Illusive Man', the infamous leader of Cerberus, Grayson attempts to take Gillian out of the Asension project before the Alliance discover his true identity and Cerberus's investment in Gillian as the saviour of Humanity. Before he has a chance to do so freely, Kahlee and the security chief Hendel join him, though they are still oblivious to his true identity. Grayson plans to get rid of them using his Cerberus connections, but his plans get flushed away when his allies sell out to the higher paying, highly mysterious 'Collectors'.