Mass Effect Retrospective 3: Second Novel

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Welcome back to the Assassin's Den!

Tonight, we tackle the second of the trilogy of novels, Ascension. (Yes, I know there's a fourth one, Deception, but I, like a lot of fans, don't consider it canon until it has gone through extensive rewrites. There is a LOT of mistakes, both big and small, that were made in this book.  See this for how many mistakes about the universe were made in this book, and you'll see why. Why Deception isn't canon yet. )

Anyway, Ascension takes place shortly after the events of the first game, mentioning (in passing) the actions of Commander Shepard and humanity's new place on the Citadel Council, though the human Councilor has not been named as of yet (keeping the choice open for the player).  Kahlee Sanders returns in this novel, a civilian now who works with the biotic children in the Grissom Academy; she's one of the experts on the new L4 implants, which has a VI in them to help them study implants with the goal to (from the way I understand) give human biotics the power of the L2, but without the detrimental effects to health.

We are also introduced to some new characters; Nick Donahue, a 12 year old boy who is one of the better biotics in the Ascension Program, and is a bit of a bully because of it. We have Gillian Grayson, another 12 year old biotic, who also happens to be autistic.  We also have Paul Grayson, a Cerberus agent and former assassin, who is Gillian's adopted father (unknown to Gillian, of course) and is aiding Cerberus "unlock biotic potential in humans" via his daughter.  He is also a Red Sand addict, to help repress his memories and take away the pain of having his daughter so far away.  We also have Hendal Mirta, an L2 biotic who is the security chief of the station.  He's very close to Gillian, and views her as a surrogate daughter.

And finally, we are introduced to the Illusive Man.  He plays a HUGE part in the next two games, as well as the next novel.  The head of Cerberus, he is working "to secure human dominance in the galaxy", though from what we learn over the course of the next two games and the next novel, he really only desires his own dominance over the galaxy.  I'll get more into the Illusive Man in my review of the next game, since though he's important, he's a minor character in this novel.

The crux of this novel is Gillian.  Cerberus is using her to "unlock true biotic potential in humans" through drugs designed to boost her power and endurance with her biotics.  Cerberus achieves a breakthrough, but this breakthrough comes at the cost of Gillian's health; the latest drug does something to her, and causes her to snap, and later, have a seizure.  In order to "help" his daughter, Paul takes Gillian, Kahlee and Hendal to Omega (yes, that Omega) to deliver her to Cerberus.  Unfortunately for them all, Paul's Cerberus contact on Omega had thrown his lot in with the Collectors (Yes, those Collectors), and Kahlee, Gillian and Hendal escape to the quarian flotilla.  Specifically, the Idenna (yes, that Idenna. See a pattern?), that Cerberus invade to help Paul "rescue" his daughter.  But after seeing how his daughter acts without all the Cerberus drugs in her system, he realizes that what Cerberus is doing is wrong, and lets his daughter and Hendal stay with the quarians and returns to Alliance space.  Kahlee returns to her job at Grissom Academy, and Grayson escapes Alliance custody and, after cleaning himself up, calls the Illusive Man and tells him to go fuck himself.

As you can see, this book ties heavily into the next game. Through it, we are introduced to Shepard's "ally" the Illusive Man, shown Omega, are introduced to the Talons (a gang we don't see until the ME3 Omega DLC), and see the events that Tali mentions when you talk to her when she comes aboard the Normandy.  We are also introduced the the Collectors, the antagonists of ME2. 

Ascension is a good read, and you can pick it up for your Kindle for six bucks, or three for a paperback.

Now, there are a couple of comics that take place between ME1 and ME2; Redemption is a four issue mini-series that tells how Liara got Shepard's body to Cerberus. Incursion was offered via IGN, and is no longer available through their website.  It's not important, but it introduces Aria T'Loak, and shows the Collectors physical appearance for the first time, as well as a hint into their plans.

I'll be tackling ME2 as well as the DLC for it, so look for it soon. For now, Happy Reading!