Gabino Iglesias Reviews Ascension by Nicholas Binge

Ascension, Nicholas Binge (Riverhead Books 978-0-59353-958-3, $16.95, 352pp, hc) April 2023. Cover by Daniel Lagin.

Nicholas Binge’s Ascension is the biggest surprise of 2023 so far. Binge’s first book to be published in the United States, Ascension is a great mix of science fiction, adventure, and horror in which science, history, religion, and philosophy collide in an explosion of ideas and action that will un­doubtedly make its author many new fans.

Harold Tunmore was a brilliant man with an endless thirst for new mysteries and scientific discoveries, so when two strange individuals from a secretive organization contacted him about a secret research project, Harold went along for the ride. Harold was transported to an enormous snow-covered mountain that dwarfed all other peaks on earth with an altitude estimated to be between 38,000 and 42,000 feet. The mountain had recently appeared in the Pacific Ocean and a team of scientists was already there, waiting to participate in an exploratory mission to the mountain’s summit. No one knows when the enormous mountain showed up or how, exactly how big it is, or what might be waiting at the sum­mit, but even before they can start to find answers, Harold learns they aren’t the first group, and that something bad happened to those who tried going up the mountain before them. One of the survivors of that first expedition, and one of the reasons Harold decided to join, is Naoko, Harold’s ex-wife. It’s clear Naoko has seen something and is not the same. As Harold’s team ascends the cold, unforgiving mountain, things stop making sense, times begin to move differently, the past, present, and future seem to share the same space, some big monsters attack the group, and the personality of every member of the expedition becomes darker and much more violent. The cold is a problem and the creatures scare the team, but there’s a lot more happening in the mountain, and despite the para­noia everyone develops, the tension and secrets the expedition organizers seem to be keeping, they learn enough to know that they are in the pres­ence of creatures older than humans…and that the mountain has been on earth before, multiple times. What started as a scientific expedition to learn more soon turns into a desperate race to learn enough to survive the mountain.

Ascension is a kind of epistolary novel that starts with Harold’s brother recounting how he lost Harold and then found him again almost three decades later, living in a psychiatric hospital and very different from the strange, solitary, brilliant man he’d known all his life. The novel is almost en­tirely ‘‘told’’ by Harold’s unsent letters to his niece Harriet, and they tell a scary, bizarre, seemingly impossible story that pushes against everything we know about time, space, and science.

Ascension is part science fiction novel, part Lovecraftian horror story, part love story, and part adventure narrative, but Binge mixes all these elements very well and pulls off a novel that’s more than the sum of its parts. There are multiple conversations about the nature of humanity, art, time, and memory that make this a smart narra­tive with a lot to say, but it’s also an action-packed, chaotic tale complete with ice climbing accidents and running around in the dark while people get mauled by the huge, incredibly advanced mon­sters that call the mountain home. Also, while there is a lot going on here, the letters are written in a way that everything feels immediate, personal, and plausible. As readers, we become Harriet, and that makes us feel like we have some undeniable proximity to Harold and his wild story.

Binge is a talented storyteller, and Ascension has a lot going for it, but the passages that deal with the creatures that inhabit the mountain are the ones that push this into must-read territory, especially for fans of Lovecraftian horror and science fiction. The creatures are huge, ugly, and deadly, but they can also write and have built a complex system of caves in the mountain. They also have learned to travel through time and space. Time is the other element of the novel that demands attention. The letters have dates, but then the dates show Harold was confused about when he was writing them. Also, some of the letters have a date on them but the paper is older and far more brittle than the date would suggest. Up in the mountain, people can see things (even themselves), and the past, present, and future all swirl around each other and share the same space, which is not something the human mind – not even some of the most brilliant scientific minds in the world – is prepared to deal with.

Ascension is fast, dark, and wildly entertaining. It has everything an adventure narrative must have, plays well with the elements of mystery, and perfectly blends together science fiction and horror. With all of this, it’s a surprise that Binge also managed to pull off a strong emotional core, making Harold’s past and his greatest loss occupy as much space as all the mayhem happening on the mountain. If you love them weird, smart, and engaging, don’t skip this one.

This review and more like it in the June 2023 issue of Locus.

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