But the ideas are big and the journey is a whole lot of fun.
Some of the supporting characters, including, frustratingly, Naoko, remain as thin as the upper atmosphere. We also get more than a few references to the mythical climber Sisyphus.īinge’s crisp prose moves well between science fiction concepts, Gothic terror and fast-paced action sequences. Between reveals, characters theorize about extra dimensions, alien life and the meaning of existence. The novel is smartly paced, deploying twists and turns strategically to keep the reader moving. Harold contains his own traumatic secrets that spill out in flashbacks. Although the characters ascend, mysteries accumulate like a snowball rolling downhill. These are only a sample of the mountain’s secrets. Naoko Tanaka, who is the last survivor of the previous expedition.īelieve it or not, I haven’t spoiled the book. Harold is coaxed along by the scientific enigma and a personal one: Waiting on the giant rock is his ex-wife, Dr. “Until a couple months ago, it wasn’t,” he is told. “How does nobody know this is here?” Harold asks. Harold, an engaging narrator, describes being recruited in 1991 by a well-funded yet shady organization to explore an inexplicable phenomenon: A mountain far larger than Everest has appeared in the middle of the Pacific. The rest, and the bulk of the novel, are delivered in the form of Harold’s collected letters. This intriguing frame narrative is the first puzzle of many. …” That night, Harold burns himself alive. When Ben is alerted to Harold’s presence in a psychiatric hospital, he finds his brother alive yet seemingly driven mad by his experiences. Harold Tunmore, a genius physicist, vanished decades ago, leaving a series of bizarre letters in the possession of his brother, Ben. The novel, Binge’s second and the first to be published in the United States, opens with a mystery. They’re ideal settings, in other words, for horror-tinged speculative thrillers, including Nicholas Binge’s “Ascension.” The home of gods and demons, they are simultaneously sacred and - as any viewer of alpine climbing documentaries can attest - hostile. Mountains have long loomed over humanity, both physically and in our imaginations.
0 kommentar(er)
