charshorrorcorner's review
4.0
A handful of people are stuck in the hell that has become Greenham Place, after what they think is an explosion that may have ended the outside world. But that's not the worst of it. Something has been unleashed inside this tall office building, and it's after them. Will they survive? You'll have to read Ascent to find out!
Rod, Alex, Simon, Kelly and Dao were all strangers to each other before the explosion. Now, they may be all that's left of humanity. What I liked most about this story was how the characters were each introduced and how they got to know each other. Unfortunately, whatever was released into Greenham Place got to know them too, and it used that knowledge to torture them all.
I thought this story was beautifully told-the author took the time to develop each character and then tailored the horror to each one. Everybody has secrets, whether they be something that happened to them, or something they did to someone else. Now imagine a creature that could use all that and twist it around-using it to insert wedges between people, to make people hallucinate, or even just to guilt them to death-how can you defeat that? Maybe you can't?
I LOVED the ending of this book, but I imagine it might be a problem for some. As an American, in light of our current political problems, and the problems that other...unstable countries present not only to us, but to the world, it was easy for me to fill in the blanks. I think that helped the story to become more personal to me and I liked it that much more as a result.
My only complaint was that I thought the term "legging it" was a bit overused, but hey, if this stuff was going down anywhere near me, I would be legging it the hell out of there too.
More of a psychological horror story than anything else, (don't worry-there's plenty of bloody gore to go around too), Ascent was an impressive and imaginative story and I highly recommend it!
Available tomorrow everywhere, here: Ascent
*I was provided an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*
Rod, Alex, Simon, Kelly and Dao were all strangers to each other before the explosion. Now, they may be all that's left of humanity. What I liked most about this story was how the characters were each introduced and how they got to know each other. Unfortunately, whatever was released into Greenham Place got to know them too, and it used that knowledge to torture them all.
I thought this story was beautifully told-the author took the time to develop each character and then tailored the horror to each one. Everybody has secrets, whether they be something that happened to them, or something they did to someone else. Now imagine a creature that could use all that and twist it around-using it to insert wedges between people, to make people hallucinate, or even just to guilt them to death-how can you defeat that? Maybe you can't?
I LOVED the ending of this book, but I imagine it might be a problem for some. As an American, in light of our current political problems, and the problems that other...unstable countries present not only to us, but to the world, it was easy for me to fill in the blanks. I think that helped the story to become more personal to me and I liked it that much more as a result.
My only complaint was that I thought the term "legging it" was a bit overused, but hey, if this stuff was going down anywhere near me, I would be legging it the hell out of there too.
More of a psychological horror story than anything else, (don't worry-there's plenty of bloody gore to go around too), Ascent was an impressive and imaginative story and I highly recommend it!
Available tomorrow everywhere, here: Ascent
*I was provided an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*
errantdreams's review
4.0
I have to say I like that it’s an older male character who gets tormented with his weight and his thoughts of overeating and drinking–it breaks a stereotype quite nicely. Also, each person’s fears have stages and layers. I thought Kelly’s got drawn out a bit too far and started being more frustrating than teasing, but by and large it works. Since the creature trapping the five is feeding on fear, it also makes sense that it does its best to prolong the events rather than rushing to kill everyone off. After all, it just went to some lengths (presumably) to keep them alive for this.
There are a bunch of little details that never entirely add up for me. There’s a weird thing where a bunch of relevant dates related to their fears line up perfectly, but there’s no reason given as to why that’s somehow important. I mean, why would an anniversary matter to this being that’s supposedly older than the Earth? I also never understood why sometimes the streets outside look normal to the trapped five (ie, people go about their business as usual) and sometimes it’s completely deserted. I never entirely understood what the deal was with Simon kind of having fears in his past, but not, and if so, why did the creature include him in this? There’s also a late-arriving ally that goes entirely unexplained, and the ending was kind of out of left field and left a lot of room for interpretation. Even after Kelly’s reveal I never understood why her guilt manifested as fear of a certain person.
The characters are interesting, though. The events are scary and suspenseful. The action gets a little confusing when things heat up, but the general beats are good. I’d be curious to see what Walker would do with a couple more books under his belt.
Content note for lots of gore as well as some pedophilia.
Consider my rating a 3.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/11/review-ascent-luke-walker/
There are a bunch of little details that never entirely add up for me. There’s a weird thing where a bunch of relevant dates related to their fears line up perfectly, but there’s no reason given as to why that’s somehow important. I mean, why would an anniversary matter to this being that’s supposedly older than the Earth? I also never understood why sometimes the streets outside look normal to the trapped five (ie, people go about their business as usual) and sometimes it’s completely deserted. I never entirely understood what the deal was with Simon kind of having fears in his past, but not, and if so, why did the creature include him in this? There’s also a late-arriving ally that goes entirely unexplained, and the ending was kind of out of left field and left a lot of room for interpretation. Even after Kelly’s reveal I never understood why her guilt manifested as fear of a certain person.
The characters are interesting, though. The events are scary and suspenseful. The action gets a little confusing when things heat up, but the general beats are good. I’d be curious to see what Walker would do with a couple more books under his belt.
Content note for lots of gore as well as some pedophilia.
Consider my rating a 3.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/11/review-ascent-luke-walker/
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