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pagesplotsandpints 's review for:

Ascension by Nicholas Binge
3.5

Read Completed 5/1/23 | 3.5 stars
This ended up being really interesting but I felt like the beginning was really, really slow. The synopsis sounded incredible and the reviews were so good that unfortunately, I expected a lot out of the gate. 

It did need some significant set up BUT it also felt like it took too long to get to the good stuff. There was a cool hook around 27% - 30% that pulled me back in because I was toying with the idea of not finishing. I’m glad I did continue because I really liked the concept but I’m also a little disappointed that I didn’t get to spend as much time with it as I had hoped. 

I didn’t love the style with nearly all of the book being told in letter form. I guess it’s technically no different in narration, but it felt like there were no chapter breaks and that it just went on and on. I never really thought about how much chapter breaks make a difference but they really do! (Note: I was listening to the audiobook so there may have been physical breaks in the print version. In the audio version, it felt like nothing.) 

I also didn’t love the narrator. His voice was fine but I felt like he was kind of fast so I really had to slow down my pace. It wasn’t a huge deal but it irritated me 😂 I’m not taking any ratings off for that or anything — just an experience note. 

This really was a cool concept. I’d be interested if the author writes more sci-fi type books like this! An author’s writing and vibes can be so different from book to book that there’s always potential I’d like another one more.