If you have ever wondered about how Quarians take a shower in or in spite of their enviro-suits, this is the book for you. 
 Mass Effect: Ascension plays around two months after the ending events of the first game and gives interesting insights into Quarian history, the Migrant fleet and Quarian social culture. 
 First and foremost, it tells the story of Paul Grayson, a Cerberus member, and his biotic and autistic daughter Gillian though. 
 Gillian receives training at the Ascension Project because Cerberus believes that unlocking new and amazing biotic potential could be crucial to the survival of the human race and that Gillian could be the saviour of humanity. 
 This leads Cerberus to conduct illegal experiments on Gillian, and when Kahlee Sanders finds out, she tries to save Gillian. 
 The story didn't really catch my attention until I was at around 60% in the book. 
 Hats off to Karpyshyn though, because even though there are many different ways in which the first game can end, he manages to leave things vague enough for them all to fit. 
 Some of the characters are really well written. Days after finishing this, I still feel conflicted about Grayson, for example. 
 On one hand, I want to slap and shake him and scream at him for what he let Cerberus do to Gillian, and on the other hand I feel bad for him, can understand why he believes what he believes and can see that he does care for his daughter: 
 Grayson knew he had no choice in the matter, but it was still hard to let her go. For ten years she had been an integral part of his life. 
 He missed seeing her in the mornings and tucking her in at night. He missed the rare moments when she broke through the invisible walls that separated her from the outside world and showed him genuine love and affection. But, like any parent, he had to put his child's welfare above his own. The program was good for Gillian. The scientists at the Academy were pushing the boundaries of biotic research. 
 Then there are appearances of the Illusive Man, one of the most interesting, charismatic and morally gray individuals in the whole Mass Effect universe and surely deserving of his own story. 
 I would absolutely love to read a story or spinoff just about the Illusive Man and get some insights into how his mind works. 
 And who could ever forget him since that scene... 
 Kahlee Sanders is less interesting here than in Mass Effect: Revelation. She sure cares about Gillian, but I couldn't really connect to her. 
 One thing that is really fantastic about this book are the locations. 
 Take Omega for instance, which in all its wickedness, gloominess, with its criminals and social outcasts is maybe my favorite place in the games. 
 The aliens couldn't even agree on a single name for the station. Each speaker called it something different in his or her native tongue. The unpronounceable asari name loosely translated as "heart of evil," the turians referred to it as "world without law," the salarians called it "place of secrets," and the krogans knew it as "land of opportunity." For the sake of convenience, the automated translator Pel wore strapped to his belt translated all these terms into the human word "Omega"-- the absolute end of all things. 
 Collectors and Reapers are still widely regarded as "myths" here, and I loved to read all the theories and feel the horror evolving around them. 
 All in all, I liked this book a little less than Mass Effect: Revelation just for how long it took me to care about the story, but I still recommend it to Mass Effect players and especially fans of Quarians. 
 This was a buddy read with Sorina at Buddies Books and Baubles.