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What our customer's say!

"Book one set before the game. Fantastic!", In the year 2148 Earth learned that humanity was not alone when they stumbled across a long abandoned alien bunker on Mars. The items found within the bunker gave humanity major leaps in many technologies and catapulted human society forward hundreds of years, allowing them to conquer the solar system. Then they found a massive piece of dormant technology call a "mass relay" which allowed ships to be instantly transported thousands of light-years away. The first human through the mass relay was Commander Jon Grissom. His bravery made him a legendary hero, whether he liked it or not. (And he did not.) Within a single year of finding the Mars bunker, the entire world united together for the first time and formed the Systems Alliance Military. The Alliance is to defend Earth against non-Terran threats. The First Contact War began when an Alliance patrol accidently trespassed on Turian Empire territory. Luckily, it was short. Humanity became the newest member of a vast interstellar, pan-species society under a governing body called the Citadel Council.

The SSV Hastings receives a distress call from the Sidon Research Facility. Staff Lieutenant David Edward Anderson heads the ground team into the top secret military research station and finds the remains of a massacre. No one knows who attacked the post or why. However, one of the Alliance's top computer and systems technicians, First Lieutenant Kahlee Sanders, had left Sidon without permission only a few hours before the attack. Sanders immediately becomes the prime suspect and it is Anderson's top priority to locate her. Once Anderson learns her father is Retired Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, Anderson races to the planet Elysium in hopes of finding Sanders with her father.

Kahlee Sanders has evidence that Sidon is conducting illegal experiments. The project head, Dr. Shu Qian, is the galaxy's foremost expert on artificial intelligence research. Due to past issues, it is illegal for anyone to conduct AI research. Dr. Qian had not only been breaking that law, but went much further. Sanders leaves Sidon with the evidence, planning to turn him in. She is sitting in a bar when news of the Sidon attack breaks. With all the possible implications going through her mind, Sanders goes to the only man she can trust to actually listen to her side of events, her dad.

Soon Anderson is the only hope of survival Sanders has. Someone has hired a Krogan Battle Master to find Sanders. Anderson cannot trust anyone, not even Spectre Saren who has been assigned to partner with him. (A Spectre is an elite agent of the Citadel's covert Special Tactics and Recon branch. They answer ONLY to the Council and are allowed to act above and outside the law to get their mission done.) But more is going on than any of them could possibly know.

***** I recently purchased the PC version of the game MASS EFFECT. I have played through several times now. Anderson and Saren are large characters in the game. This story is set before the game's time frame. You do not have to play the game or know anything at all when you begin reading this book. It is totally separate. I only mention it because if you are a Gamer, then you may want to pick up a copy of the game to play. The plot/mission in this book are even discussed between characters in the game. By playing the game AND reading the books, you feel as though YOU are an intricate part of the whole thing. It is an awesome feeling!

If you only prefer to read and not play the game, do not worry about possibly feeling lost. As I said, you do not have to know a single thing about anything at all. The author does a fantastic job weaving a web of realistic sci-fi drama that will have you, not glued, but cemented to your seat. The characters are well developed and explained in such a way that you will not feel as though you are being lectured to. The story never slows down in the middle, as most tend to. Be sure to have plenty of alone time before beginning this title. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

"insightful for the game", This book does a good job as a prequel to the video game. Gives good insight to the current state of things in the universe and for those of you who have played the game I think its more entertaining than reading thru the codex (which I mostly thought was boring) for some info. Also the story is about Captin Andersons mission that he does not go into detail about in the game so that is cool. As for the scifi action its fairly steady and a good read

"a true renegade spectre", Ever since playing the video game Mass Effect for the X-Box 360 i have become completely obsessed with the universe that the was created by the makers of this game. This novel does great job of expanding the Mass Effect universe by filling in some of the blanks that take place before the video game.

SPOILERS FOR THE VIDEO GAME BELOW
This novel tells the story of how the the Spectre Saren acquired his flag ship Sovereign, which we all know by now is a Reaper. I wont give away any of the books details but if you are a fan of the game you owe it to your self to give this book a chance. You wont be disappointed. This is how a true Renegade Spectre acts. Very good writing

"A rarity", Ascension is one of a few books based on a pre-existing media that can be read by itself. Of course, the style of the writing is also the cause of this, which is the primary reason for the 5 star rating.

The style of the writing is in such a manner that it lets the story itself progress without being hindered by the world building in the background. The two complement each other and are at times hard to distinguish. Information is given on Mass Effect's races, their culture, technology, history, etc. while maintaining linkage to the story. Simultaniously, events in the story act as catalysts for this information to be given.

Overall, Revelations is a novel that gives a good story and a good introduction to the Mass Effect universe and can easily be read as a stand-alone. It's difficult to find fault in it.

"Simply Amazing", From the Prologue to the Epilogue it was mind blowing, Revelation answered a lot of questions in the Mass Effect world and then some. it even went down to how it effected the religion and economy of earth after finding a bass on Mars and a Mass Relay orbiting Pluto which they all thought was the moon Cheron. I loved how they talked about the reason behind Saren Hating humans. and it also shows how he acts when he behaves during a mission, and how he executes it as well. i was simply blown away by Revelation and cant wait to read Ascension

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Great Set-up", After finishing Mass Effect, the game, I was yearning to experience more of this awesome universe created by Drew Karpyshyn. I have played KOTOR and read the Darth Bane book, so I was familiar with him, but this one just felt fresh and enjoyable. It certainly was a fairly quick read, with an ending that you will want to play the game immediately after!

This universe has much potential and I believe that this book sets it up very well and is an enjoyable read either before or after playing the game!

"Awesome prequel!", Okay I will admit, I played and beat the game before I read this book. I know that's not what it's intended for but the damage is done. In some ways I'm kind of glad that I did because it gave me a much better understanding of the imagery. This book is pretty well written in that regard, but having the image in your head of what it actually looks like adds so much more weight to it! Normally I wouldn't go for that kind of thing, but this is a video game based novel, so I prefer seeing the created world. Also I should point out that Shepherd isn't in here at all, remember the game develops that character FOR you, because it is you. Just in case someone wanted to know for whatever reason... I thought it was obvious.

If you've played the game then everyone will know what I mean when I say that this is really the story of Anderson and Saren. I think the author left out the development of Anderson's character quite a bit because you get to see him and interact with him a lot more in the video game, so the author didn't feel the need to be overly redundant, probably realizing most readers will play the game first anyway. Overall this book is a pretty quick read and I didn't find it overly technical in its explanations, rather it focuses a lot more on the adventure and intrigue. It does go into detail about some of the specific weapon systems, but it's by far not a majority of the book. I don't think it's any secret that this game's world is pretty obviously influenced by the world of Star Trek, and I would dare say it's more like "The Next Generation" with its political intrigue between species etc. Maybe a touch of Deep Space Nine with the story based around a space station, but that could easily be Babylon 5 influence as well. There is a heavy layer of warlike concepts in here, but that usually comes with any Science Fiction world so I really couldn't pin down an example very well for that.

I'll be honest; I wasn't truly engaged in this book till around page one hundred. This is when the story really came together. Unfortunately it was slightly predictable the way the characters met, but frankly, I loved it. I read that part with sheer anticipation and then when my wishes were granted I actually smiled. It's not often I actually enjoy this in writing, but Drew Karpyshyn did it beautiful in my opinion. From that point on I was absolutely hooked and couldn't put the book down.

I have to give Mass Effect praise for creating one of the best bad guy characters I've come across. He has this ruthless duality where he rationalizes all of his actions down to the smallest detail and really blurs good and evil concepts. I know this kind of character may have been done before, but the way it's culminated in Saren is just perfect and I really identified with him in a very odd way. I really don't want to go into anymore detail and ruin his character for everyone, but he is brilliantly methodical in his actions and that's something that really makes him interesting to read about.

Mass Effect deserves further praise for really tying in a novel correctly! It was a breath of fresh air for me after I had just finished reading the Star Trek: The Next Generation book debacle. The lead writer on the Mass Effect video game also wrote this book, so all the characters are presented correctly. Saren clearly being the most interesting one. It's pretty clear to me that the author is purposefully leaving the series very wide open, maybe to spawn more writers to write in this world, kind of like we have with Diablo and the other Blizzard releases or Halo. Mass Effect gives us a very specific time and it's a very small piece of a larger universe, so maybe another author will be commissioned to write the story of the Protheans for example. I get the feeling this author is specifically leaving that detail out to give us a more in depth tale much later. Again, if you enjoyed this video game you definitely have to read this book, especially since you'll want to know much more about Saren and Anderson by the time you finish the game!

"Max Effect", This book is excellent. It really had the "MAX" effect to me. I like Star Wars universe but this book kept my attention. I had it open nearly every spare moment I had. I have never read through a book like this so fast. Drew Karpashyn knows how to build characters and shape a story. He used Sci Fi to incorporate Racism, Politics, Criminal Investigation/Activities, Love, Family Ties, Action. I actually spent more time reading this book than playing the xbox 360 game==>Excellent Book<== Hope he'll do more from the Mass Effect storyline. Mass Effect: Revelation,Mass Effect,Mass Effect: Revelation

"Good introduction to the Mass Effect Universe", As the game finally is coming to PC I decided to first buy the book. The book is a great introduction to the Mass Effect universe, the alien races, the locales, the history of how humanity fits into the picture. The story is pretty straightforward fare about good vs bad but everyone seems to have their own agenda nevertheless.
If you are purely after a great sci-fi story you might want to look elsewhere as this isn't exactly the most fascinating sci-fi story but if you plan to play Mass Effect then I can certainly recommend this book.

I will certainly be getting the second book once I have played the game.
The whole concept of adding a book into a gaming franchise with the aim of immersing you into the overall story you is a great idea!

"Good supplement to Mass Effect Storyline", I would recommend this book to anyone who has played through Mass Effect and enjoyed the storyline. It provides some backstory to events mentioned in the game. Those familiar with Mass Effect will like finding more about such characters as Captain Anderson and Saren. The end of the book also answered a key question that I had from the game's storyline. The writing is nothing spectacular and is standard sci-fare, so I would only recommend it for Mass Effect fans.