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Mass Effect  By  cover art

Mass Effect

By: Drew Karpyshyn
Narrated by: David Colacci
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Publisher's summary

It's humankind versus a race of machines bent on harvesting organic life in this second official novel based on the BioWare video game.
©2008 Drew Karpyshyn (P)2008 Tantor

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What listeners say about Mass Effect

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Overall
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A definite for ME fans!

This book covers the the space of time from the end of ME1 and the Start of ME2. This is done from the inner workings of Cerberus and their machinations in respect to creating superior biotics. I won't go into anymore detail but to say this let's you see the Illusive Man from a different perspective.
I gave it 3*'s due to David Colacci I think this is better read than the last ME book. However I think it would have been better served if they divided up the feminine voices to a female, Mr. Colacci's female voice grates on me.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Still for fans but more accessible than Revelation

Like the first book in Drew Karpyshyn's Mass Effect novel series, Mass Effect: Ascension is set in the world of the Mass Effect video games. Unlike the first book, however, I felt that Ascension was more able to stand alone. It had far fewer "infodump" sequences and because the first Mass Effect game had already been released by this point (unlike with Revelation), it actually felt like more a part of the galaxy than its predecessor. In addition, while two of the three main characters of Revelation (David Anderson and Saren) were main characters in the first game, the only character from the games to appear in Ascension is The Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus (and he wouldn't appear until Mass Effect 2, released after this book).

The entirety of Revelation seemed to be hinting at plot points that would become important in the first game, but this book was able to stand more on its own merits with its own story. It also manages to tell a larger and, in my opinion, a more interesting story. The quarians, seen primarily through video game character Tali'Zorah, were seriously fleshed out in this book, a touch I particularly enjoyed. That said, while this book is more its own entity than Revelation and can be enjoyed for its science fiction action, it's still not something I'd recommend for people who aren't already fans of the video games.

Like the first book, the narration by David Colacci was good. Not great or anything to write home about in terms of narrators, but he covered a wide range of individual voices and I had no problems listening to it for many hours.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable work, a little short for me...

I very much enjoyed both Mass Effect books and wished that there was a bit more depth to story and character resulting in 20 to 40 more hours of listening enjoyment. I have played Mass Effect on a high powered PC through several times, each time with a little different strategy. The audio books very much enhanced the enjoyment of the game and vise versa. The result is I intend to purchase Mass Effect 2 for PC and any audio book that follows, it's a great combination. Kind of wished I had done that with Halo...

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • MR
  • 08-29-13

Mass Effect

Any additional comments?

Mass Effect - the game, is a mulch-layered universe - featuring multiple alien societies striving to co-exist. The book is somehow less deep than the game. While I enjoyed the story - it focused mostly on human characters and didn't delve too deeply into the alien races - though it did touch upon some (and at times seemed to be at odds with the information available in the game).

Also - one of the main characters in the book had a small part in the game, however her name was pronounced differently in the recording - which drove me crazy. The voice actors in-game were of such superb quality the narration of the book seems to suffer because I can "hear" how different characters "should" sound. Not that I expect one narrator to be capable of reproducing all those voices - it just felt a bit shallow

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent, exciting, emotional ride!

Where does Mass Effect rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Seeing that this is only my fourth Audiobook, the Mass Effect books have been my favorite so far. I enjoy the Mass Effect universe and this particular book has been my favorite so far!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mass Effect?

omg so many great moments. ill list my top 3.
3. Jillians outburst in the cafeteria.
2. The escape from Omega with the help of Lemm'Shal nar Teslya (when on Pilgrimage).
1. The end battle with Cerberus and the Idenna. Grayson's change of heart & Jillians change in mood.

Have you listened to any of David Colacci’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have, this story was one of my all time favorites! he nailed it! I really felt the emotion over the voices he depicted for each character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did! There were so many great moments. the story of Jillian and how Cerberus wanted to experiment on her was cruel, but at the same time you can feel the emotion behind Cerberus's actions. The story was excellent!

Any additional comments?

Easily one of my favorite books. Excellent read/listen. the story and background on the characters was excellent! The story was not what i was expecting either. I thought it was going to take another direction, but following Jillian through the Ascension Project was incredibly enjoying!
Since Quarians are my favorite race, i thoroughly enjoyed the background on their species and learned a lot of their way of life aboard the Migrant Fleet.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great supplemental story

Obviously, only fans of the Mass Effect game(s) need apply here. For those people, this is a great supplement to them and contributes much to the Mass Effect universe.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrative slip ups.

While I enjoyed David Colacci’s reading, it was impossible to get past the verbal mistakes as he read, the part where he pronounced “lived” with a long i as though he were saying “lively.” There were other parts where he substituted words or wasn’t consistent in the pronunciation of names and places.

Other than that, this was a fun read-along.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    out of 5 stars

Well Done!

well done. enjoyable

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quarians are still my favorite

Good story with a good narrator. If you like Mass Effect and would like to learn more about the Quarians and The Illusive Man, I definitely recommend checking it out.

I think I would've liked the young girl to have been given a little more time to shine. And the pacing is pretty slow at the beginning. But overall I enjoyed it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed Every Minute

I’m a huge Mass Effect fan. I love the way the books fill gaps and deep dive into characters that didn’t get as much attention in the games. The narrator was too notch with the voices.

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