"Mass Effect: Ascension"

Mass Effect: Ascension (Drew "Should Have Added This Name To my Spellcheck Library" Karpshyn)

Yes, here's another Mass Effect novel. This one takes place after the first game, instead of being a prequel like the last one, and I think comes off better for it; The universe is fairly established now, so instead of "And here's what a Turian looks like!" it goes right into the action, which is pretty good. I still can't really recommend this book for non-Mass Effect fans - by now you'll be confused if you don't know what a Quarian or a biotic is - but it's a good read. In the way the original novel lead into the first game, this book leads into Mass Effect 2, although I found it entertaining even having played Mass Effect 2 already. I never want to bust out the old IF YOU'RE A FAN OF X, YOU'LL LIKE THIS trope, so we'll leave it at this: If you've played any of the Mass Effect games, there's certainly worse uses for your $8.

Grade for N7s: A-
Normal Civilian Grade: C