In 2010, Drew Karpyshyn penned a third Mass Effect novel. This time, Pual's been kidnapped and only Kahlee and Anderson can save him. Synopsis: Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic
community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space
lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on “harvesting” the galaxy’s organic species for their own dark purpose. The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus,
is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers. To ensure
humanity’s survival, he launches a desperate plan to uncover the enemy’s
strengths—and weaknesses—by studying someone implanted with modified
Reaper technology. He knows the perfect subject for his horrific
experiments: former Cerberus operative Paul Grayson, who wrested his daughter from the cabal’s control with the help of Ascension project director Kahlee Sanders. But when Kahlee learns that Grayson is missing, she turns to the only person she can trust: Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson.
Together they set out to find the secret Cerberus facility where
Grayson is being held. But they aren’t the only ones after him. And time
is running out. As the experiments continue, the sinister Reaper technology
twists Grayson’s mind. The insidious whispers grow ever stronger in his
head, threatening to take over his very identity and unleash the Reapers
on an unsuspecting galaxy.
The novel opens with the Illusive Man thinking about what Shepard did on the Collector Base (the ending to Mass Effect 2). He receives a transmission from Kai Leng, Cerberus' top "wet-work" agent, who says he's located Paul Grayson on the lawless Omega space station in the Terminus Systems. The Illusive Man's pleased by the news and tells Leng to capture Grayson alive, for he needs human subjects for his investigation into Reaper technology recovered from the Collector Base. Grayson, currently working for Aria T'Loak, finishes an assignment with fellow batarian gang member Sanak, and an asari named Liselle, whom Grayson's sleeping with, to transport red sand from a Talon warehouse on Omega. They stash the red sand at Grayson's apartment, since they don't want to bring it into the Afterlife Club. Grayson stays behind and opens up a comm channel with Kahlee Sanders, currently at the Jon Grissom Academy; he asks her how everything is going with his daughter. Kai Leng watches him leave Afterlife, stalks him to his apartment, and then attempts to capture him. Liselle's there, and Kai Leng kills her, then kidnaps Grayson and steals the red sand. During the confrontation, Grayson managed to send his dirt on Cerberus to Kahlee via the extranet; Kai Leng is unable to stop the transmission. They leave little evidence that Cerberus was there.
Kahlee receives the transmission and, unsure as to what she should do, asks David Anderson for help. They decide they can't go to the Alliance for help due to undercover Cerberus agents being among the Alliance's ranks. The only viable option is to ask the turians for help, since Anderson's gotten to know the turian Ambassador Orinia through his recent political negotiations. Grayson awakes, and finds the Illusive Man near; the Illusive Man explains that he's about to pump Grayson full of Reaper technology. He also lets Grayson know that he (Grayson) won't be a human any longer. Overtime, Grayson becomes indoctrinated via the Reaper tech, but the Illusive Man wants faster progress and injects red sand into Grayson. Grayson goes haywire and freaks out. The Illusive Man orders that Grayson be put down in three days, but a squad of turians--tasked with destroying all of Cerberus' bases--arrive and wreck havoc. The Illusive Man and Kai Leng escape, unable to kill Grayson; the Illusive Man's not happy about letting Grayson live. Grayson, under control of the Reapers, gets the turians to set him free. The Reapers kill them, and order Grayson to sleep to heal his wounds. They change his flight course to allow for the healing. When the turians and their shuttle don't report back, Kahlee and Anderson grow worried for themselves and for Grayson.
They head to the station and find out about his indoctrination, but are captured by Aria's forces, but they bring Kahlee to Aria instead. The Reapers want her information and change course yet again, this time with Grayson's help. He runs into assassins and escapes to Grissom Academy; Kahlee and David chase him down with the help of Kai Leng. Once on Grissom Academy, Grayson hacks their terminals and sends the Reapers all the information about the space station. Kai Leng, Kahlee, and Anderson dock and they split up--Kai Leng finds Nick and they search for Grayson. Grayson manages to fight them, severely wounding Nick in the process, before Anderson and Kai Leng shoot him. Kai Leng refuses to be taken prisoner and also refuses to help save Nick. A fight breaks out and Anderson blows Kai Leng's kneecaps apart, then help Kahlee save Nick. Kai Leng, angered and wounded, still manages to escape and flees back to the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man grudgingly accepts the resolution to the catastrophe. Eventually, everyone in Grissom Academy recovers, including Nick and Anderson. Anderson intends to study Grayson's remains and asks Kahlee to join his research team; the two finally kiss. The Illusive Man finds a way to profit from this without abandoning his own research efforts. He pays Aria for databanks she recovered from his overrun station, allowing her to keep a copy of the data.
All in all, a rushed book that details too heavily into the lore of the Mass Effect universe. It adds many pages of exposition on how Grayson was altered for the Reaper tech, but, like always, Karpyshyn merely tells this and doesn't bother showing any of it. Again, Karpyshyn takes what would be a great idea and kills it.
Up next, a return to the Star Wars Expanded Universe since I forgot about the novelization to the 1997 game Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
The novel opens with the Illusive Man thinking about what Shepard did on the Collector Base (the ending to Mass Effect 2). He receives a transmission from Kai Leng, Cerberus' top "wet-work" agent, who says he's located Paul Grayson on the lawless Omega space station in the Terminus Systems. The Illusive Man's pleased by the news and tells Leng to capture Grayson alive, for he needs human subjects for his investigation into Reaper technology recovered from the Collector Base. Grayson, currently working for Aria T'Loak, finishes an assignment with fellow batarian gang member Sanak, and an asari named Liselle, whom Grayson's sleeping with, to transport red sand from a Talon warehouse on Omega. They stash the red sand at Grayson's apartment, since they don't want to bring it into the Afterlife Club. Grayson stays behind and opens up a comm channel with Kahlee Sanders, currently at the Jon Grissom Academy; he asks her how everything is going with his daughter. Kai Leng watches him leave Afterlife, stalks him to his apartment, and then attempts to capture him. Liselle's there, and Kai Leng kills her, then kidnaps Grayson and steals the red sand. During the confrontation, Grayson managed to send his dirt on Cerberus to Kahlee via the extranet; Kai Leng is unable to stop the transmission. They leave little evidence that Cerberus was there.
Kahlee receives the transmission and, unsure as to what she should do, asks David Anderson for help. They decide they can't go to the Alliance for help due to undercover Cerberus agents being among the Alliance's ranks. The only viable option is to ask the turians for help, since Anderson's gotten to know the turian Ambassador Orinia through his recent political negotiations. Grayson awakes, and finds the Illusive Man near; the Illusive Man explains that he's about to pump Grayson full of Reaper technology. He also lets Grayson know that he (Grayson) won't be a human any longer. Overtime, Grayson becomes indoctrinated via the Reaper tech, but the Illusive Man wants faster progress and injects red sand into Grayson. Grayson goes haywire and freaks out. The Illusive Man orders that Grayson be put down in three days, but a squad of turians--tasked with destroying all of Cerberus' bases--arrive and wreck havoc. The Illusive Man and Kai Leng escape, unable to kill Grayson; the Illusive Man's not happy about letting Grayson live. Grayson, under control of the Reapers, gets the turians to set him free. The Reapers kill them, and order Grayson to sleep to heal his wounds. They change his flight course to allow for the healing. When the turians and their shuttle don't report back, Kahlee and Anderson grow worried for themselves and for Grayson.
They head to the station and find out about his indoctrination, but are captured by Aria's forces, but they bring Kahlee to Aria instead. The Reapers want her information and change course yet again, this time with Grayson's help. He runs into assassins and escapes to Grissom Academy; Kahlee and David chase him down with the help of Kai Leng. Once on Grissom Academy, Grayson hacks their terminals and sends the Reapers all the information about the space station. Kai Leng, Kahlee, and Anderson dock and they split up--Kai Leng finds Nick and they search for Grayson. Grayson manages to fight them, severely wounding Nick in the process, before Anderson and Kai Leng shoot him. Kai Leng refuses to be taken prisoner and also refuses to help save Nick. A fight breaks out and Anderson blows Kai Leng's kneecaps apart, then help Kahlee save Nick. Kai Leng, angered and wounded, still manages to escape and flees back to the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man grudgingly accepts the resolution to the catastrophe. Eventually, everyone in Grissom Academy recovers, including Nick and Anderson. Anderson intends to study Grayson's remains and asks Kahlee to join his research team; the two finally kiss. The Illusive Man finds a way to profit from this without abandoning his own research efforts. He pays Aria for databanks she recovered from his overrun station, allowing her to keep a copy of the data.
All in all, a rushed book that details too heavily into the lore of the Mass Effect universe. It adds many pages of exposition on how Grayson was altered for the Reaper tech, but, like always, Karpyshyn merely tells this and doesn't bother showing any of it. Again, Karpyshyn takes what would be a great idea and kills it.
Up next, a return to the Star Wars Expanded Universe since I forgot about the novelization to the 1997 game Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
