Book Review: Mass Effect: Ascension SPOILERS!

In 2008, Drew karpyshyn returned to the Mass Effect universe and wrote a second, cringe-worthy novel called Ascension. This time, Kahlee Sanders goes with a madman and his child as they flee to the Terminus systems, then act in a one day time-frame to get the girl away, because Karpyshyn rushes everything to the most illogical time just to get "up" the stakes. Synopsis: When they vanished fifty thousand years ago, the Protheans left their advanced technology scattered throughout the galaxy. The chance discovery of a Prothean cache on Mars allows humanity to join those already reaping the rewards of the ancients’ high-tech wizardry. But for one rogue militia, the goal is not participation but domination. Scientist Kahlee Sanders has left the Systems Alliance for the Ascension Project, a program that helps gifted “biotic” children harness their extraordinary powers. The program’s most promising student is twelve-year-old Gillian Grayson, who is borderline autistic. What Kahlee doesn’t know is that Gillian is an unwitting pawn of the outlawed black ops group Cerberus, which is sabotaging the program by conducting illegal experiments on the students. When the Cerberus plot is exposed, Gillian’s father takes her away from the Ascension Project and flees into the lawless Terminus Systems. Determined to protect Gillian, Kahlee goes with them… unaware that the elder Grayson is, in fact, a Cerberus operative. To rescue the young girl Kahlee must travel to the farthest ends of the galaxy, battling fierce enemies and impossible odds. But how will she be able to save a daughter from her own father?


The novel opens with the Illusive Man watching the recordings of Saren's attempted coup and how Commander Shepard (note: Karpyshyn refuses to say whether Shepard is male or female) stopped the rogue turian Spectre, musing on how idiotic it was for the Council to deny Sovereign as a Reaper, insisting that it was a geth ship. He believes that the time is right to push forward with Cerberus' asset in the Ascension Project. Paul Grayson dreams the same dream he's been having for the last few years, that of helping Charles Saracino get the top slot for the xenophobic Terra Firma party; Paul's an addict of the drug red sand. Pel tells Paul that the Illusive Man wants to have more meds pumped into Gillian; Paul's against it, but, for now, puts up with it because the Illusive Man keeps giving him red sand. Kahlee runs some tests on Nick, a biotic teenager; she leaves and runs into Hendel Mitra who's on his way to inform Gillian that Paul intends to visits and will deny the request, but Kahlee tells him to approve the request and she'll tell Gillian. Gillian's less than thrilled, and states that she has homework to do. Pel meets with Golo, a quarian agent who sold some of his people to the Collectors, points Pel toward another quarian who can hand over the flotilla's transmission codes. Paul arrives, and he and Jiro--an Ascension Project scientist working for Cerberus--gives Gillian meds; Jiro gives Paul updated reports on all the students at Grissom Academy, including Gillian.

Pel takes out a squad of quarians and takes Hiro'Jaa vas Idenna--the pilot of the scout ship Cyniad of the Migrant Fleet ship Idenna--captive. Gillian starts acting different, starts integrating with the other students; Nick tries to antagonize Gillian, but she flings him back with her biotic powers, then proceeds to tear up the cafeteria. Hendel takes her down with a stun shot. Jiro abducts Gillian, and Hendel and Kahlee chase after them. Jiro administers a dose of the drug to Gillian, and she has a seizure. Hendel arrives and Jiro stuns him, then flees. Hendel manages to hold on and tries to save Gillian. Kahlee takes Jiro down and demands answers. Kahlee comms Paul to let him know, and Paul tells the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man tells Paul to pull Gillian out of the Ascension Project and to bring her to Cerberus. Pel and Golo talk about the Collectors and how Golo can get in contact with them. Paul takes Gillian away, but Hendel and Kahlee want to help him protect Gillian from Cerberus; Paul agrees. They head to Omega; Pel separates the biotics from the non-biotics. Pel reveals to Kahlee and Paul that he's planning on handing them over to the Collectors. Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya--a quarian on his Pilgrimage--breaks into Pel's base and helps Kahlee get Hendel and Gillian out. Lemm takes them to the Migrant Fleet. They dock on the Idenna. Paul reports to the Illusive Man personally and face-to-face what happened; the Illusive Man sends Paul back to Golo to get a team ready to storm the Migrant Fleet and retake Gillian.

Eventually, the quarian guards bring Kahlee, Hendel, and Gillian to Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna--Leem's already there--and Ysin'Mal tells them that the Admiralty (note: Karpyshyn refuses to use any of their established names) is coming to visit and invites the gang to meet them. Between them, they recap Revelation and Mass Effect, focusing on how Saren and Sovereign were able to control the geth. Grayson and Golo prepare to leave Omega on Cyniad to help the Cerberus agents attack. They arrive, dock, and let Cerberus through. A fight breaks out. A team of Cerberus agents finds Gillian and she kills them; she runs into Paul and he tries to get her to leave, but she refuses. Kahlee attempts to rescue Gillian, but Golo captures her. Grayson kills Golo and surrenders. Together, Paul and Hendel manage to shut down a bomb on Cyniad that Cerberus had prepared to wipe out the Idenna. After the battle Lemm'Shal vas Idenna, Kahlee, and Paul leave; Hendel and Gillian stay behind. During the trip to the Alliance colony on Cuevro Paul knocks Leem and Kahlee out, then lands on the volus world of Daleon and escapes. In the end, Paul calls the Illusive Man, tells him he quits, tells him to leave Kahlee alone or he'll go public to the Alliance with everything he knows about Cerberus; the Illusive Man threatens to find and kill him.

All in all, a prose-heavy book that has information from the games pasted in just to add pages and really doesn't serve a purpose. A sham, Drew Karpyshyn takes what could be a fantastic idea and kills it.

Next time: Mass Effect: Retribution by Drew Karpyshyn.

Book Review: Mass Effect: Revelation SPOILERS!

In 2007, wannabe author Drew Karpyshyn published a story hinted at in the first Mass Effect game: the tale of the rivalry between Saren and Anderson, but like Karpyshyn's other books, he completely drops the ball, ham-fists the characters and situations so that everyone and their dog come across as jackasses and assholes. He dumbs it down, coming across as, "that's how you heard it, this is how boring an predictable it really was." Synopsis: Every advanced society in the galaxy relies on the technology of the Protheans, an ancient species that vanished fifty thousand years ago. After discovering a cache of Prothean technology on Mars in 2148, humanity is spreading to the stars; the newest interstellar species, struggling to carve out its place in the greater galactic community. On the edge of colonized space, ship commander and Alliance war hero David Anderson investigates the remains of a top secret military research station; smoking ruins littered with bodies and unanswered questions. Who attacked this post and for what purpose? And where is Kahlee Sanders, the young scientist who mysteriously vanished from the base–hours before her colleagues were slaughtered? Sanders is now the prime suspect, but finding her creates more problems for Anderson than it solves. Partnered with a rogue alien agent he can't trust and pursued by an assassin he can't escape, Anderson battles impossible odds on uncharted worlds to uncover a sinister conspiracy . . . one he won't live to tell about. Or so the enemy thinks.

The novel opens with Admiral Jon Grissom and then-N7 Lieutenant David Anderson preparing to head off into the first naval conflict of the First Contact War/the Relay 314 Incident with the Turian Hierarchy. Eight years later, humanity was recognized by the Citadel Council and granted an embassy. During a patrol of the Skyllian Verge, Anderson happens upon an SOS coming from the destroyed human research station on Sidon. Once there, he finds and fights mercenaries and a couple of dead scientists. Meanwhile, on Elysium, scientist Kahlee Sandershas gone AWOL with several classified files, intending to report her superiors for conducting illegal research. Kahlee is attacked by a merc posing as an Alliance MP, but she fights him off and realizes that her escape from Sidon hasn't gone unnoticed; she flees to find help. On Camala, a rich batarian named Edan Had'dah meets with the Blue Suns and hires them to attack the human research facility on Sidon. But he learns too late that Sanders has fled and fears that the information she has would point to his involvement. He sends the mercs to deal with her, but he received news of their failure and hires krogan bounty hunter Skarr to assassinate her. Anderson arrives at the Citadel to meet with Ambassador Anita Goyle, who informs Anderson that the Sidon facility was researching AI, which is illegal. She sends Anderson to locate Sanders, who may know who was behind the attack and the whereabouts of Dr. Shu Qian, the brilliant scientist in charge of the Sidon facility.

Meanwhile, the turian Spectre Saren Arterius has tracked an illegal weapons exchange to a warehouse on Juxhi. As a Spectre, Saren is above the law and, unfortunately, bears a grudge towards humanity after losing his brother in the First Contact War. After killing most of both sides, Saren interrogates a survivor, and learns that the weapons were meant for the Blue Suns, who were planning a major operation, but pulled out at the last minute to avoid Spectre attention. Saren's interest is piqued. After hunting a Blue Sun mercenary named Groto Ib-ba, Saren learns about Skarr and his new target. Anderson tracks Sanders to her father's home--that of Jon Grissom--but Skarr turns up, so Anderson fights him, but Saren turns up and drives Skarr off. Saren interrogates Sanders, but she lies and says she was studying human biotics. Saren departs, but Sanders warns Anderson that the equipment for her project came from Dah'tan Manufacturing on Camal. The pair leave for Camala; Skarr reports to Edan, who sends the Blue Suns to help the krogan destroy the facility. They're mostly successful, but Saren interrogates the surviving member, Had'dah's contact, Jella. Meanwhile, the Council finds out about the AI research, and admonishes Goyle, but Goyle works out an arrangement with the Council. Sanders tells Anderson that Dr. Qian was responsible for the destruction of the facilty and that it was to cover his tracks because he was studying an alien artifact that might even pre-date the Protheans, and that after he started studying, he became obsessed with it.

Sanders believes Qian's working with Had'dah, so the Council send Saren after him--Goyle asks that Anderson be taken along, as a Spectre candidate. They plan to smuggle Sanders off Camala, but Saren alerts Had'dah to this. Had'dah sets up an ambush using Skarr and the Blue Suns; Sanders gets captured and Anderson is furious with Saren--who has become fixated on Qian's research more than his mission. Saren gives Anderson some time to save Sanders, but blows up the facility just as Anderson is about to rescue her. Saren kills Had'dah and Qian, then takes the research for himself. Anderson and Sanders return to the Citadel to find out that Saren gave a damning report on his conduct during the mission, and because of this, the Council isn't willing to induct a human Spectre yet, nor do they want to chase after Qian's "artifact" without evidence. Despite attraction between Anderson and Sanders, they part ways: Anderson to follow his military career; Kahlee's been promoted and reassigned a new classified posting. Saren, meanwhile, studied the stolen research and is fascinated by Sovereign, an enormous starship of devastating power. He believes his whole life, even his career as a Spectre, has just been a prelude to this discovery. Saren plans to use the data to find this warship, and use it to exact his revenge upon humanity.

All in all, a short, rushed novel that barely has anything major happen. It's all ham-strung with the game characters acting like they were always that way: Saren has always been an utter bastard who hates everyone; Anderson is too pious. I wouldn't recommend this to any fan of the Mass Effect series.

Up next: Mass Effect: Ascension by Drew Karpyshyn. 

Book Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleahsed II SPOILERS!

In 2010, W. Haden Blackman returned to LucasArts with another shitty script for a four-hour game called The Force Unleashed II. Galen's not dead, he's been cloned trillions of times, and he seeks Juno. Synopsis: The dark side could not seduce him (like it even tried), the Empire could not control him (like they even tried), death could not defeat him (which is BS, by the way). And now, nothing can stop him from seizing his destiny (what, to have the worse cliffhanger in the history of cliffhangers? There's not even going to be  a TFU3). As ruthless apprentice to Darth Vader, Starkiller was mercilessly schooled in the ways of the dark side, commanded to exterminate the last of the purged Jedi Order, and groomed for the ultimate Sith power play: assassination of the Emperor. He served without question, killed without remorse, and lost his heart without warning to beautiful Imperial fighter pilot Juno Eclipse, never suspecting that he was just a tool in the schemes of his masters—until it was too late to escape their lethal betrayal. Juno mourned Starkiller as dead . . . but now he is back, purged of all memories and programmed to kill. And as fate brings Juno and Starkiller closer to reuniting, with Darth Vader determined not to lose his assassin a second time, they will both have to make a stand. The prize is freedom. The punishment for failing will be eternal enslavement to the dark side of the Force . . . .

The novel opens with Juno Eclipse, now part of the Rebellion, on Salvation, watching as the raid over Cato Neimoidia happens, and she warns Rahm Kota to stay out of trouble and that the Rebellion can't officially sanction his actions. Juno helps Bail, Leia, Mon Mothma, and Garm Bel Iblis by agreeing to lead a team to help take Dac from the Empire. This goes well, even with Ackbar appearing, but Imperial forces manage to chase them off. (By the way, this all takes place two months before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.) Starkiller, the insane clone of Galen Marek, awakens to a training room, but he doesn't know who he is and destroys the cloning facility on Kamino to cover his escape. He ends up on Cato Neimoidia where he frees Kota from captivity and they flee in the Rogue Shadow. PROXY is there as well, having been retrieved and repaired since the events on Corellia. Kota tells him that the Rebellion needs him, but Starkiller doesn't agree. Meanwhile, Juno's trying to get back to the fleet, and finally manages to succeed in some of the best Rebellion scenes in the book, or would be if she didn't keep harping about how great and holy and noble Galen is. Starkiller has a ridiculously stupid meeting with Yoda on Dagobah. Starkiller, Kota, and PROXY arrive at the main fleet to find it under attack in the Itani Nebula. He also notes that his family's symbol is everywhere. Boba Fett leads the Imperial Forces and they manage to steal Juno before Starkiller can get them. Starkiller leads the Rebellion to Kamino to destroy the cloning facility there. Once there, the Rebellion bombards the facility while Starkiller fights his way to Vader and finds Juno dead. Starkiller defeats Vader, then revives Juno spares Vader's life and the Rebellion takes him hostage, but Boba Fett follows the Rogue Shadow in the Slave I.

And that's how it ends. Seriously. No afterthought or mention of how Vader gets free, or what happens to Starkiller, Juno, PROXY, Kota, and the storyline. It just ends badly. Oh, and throughout it all, both Juno and Starkiller declare their love for each other, which is still weird considering they only knew each other for a month and aren't together until the end in this bit. And that stupid placing of this book almost before A New Hope. How does that make sense? When Luke goes around, looking for Jedi training between ANH and ESB, why does no one remember Kota or Starkiller? Were they embarrassments to the Rebellion? See, these are the sort of questions W. Haden Blackman and Sean Williams ignored in favor of a crap story, like Troy Denning in the post NJO section of the Expanded Universe. Anyway, rant over. 

Up next, Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn, which isn't a revelation at all, more like a bland one-dimensional story with one-dimensional characters.