The Ascension Factor cover art

The Ascension Factor

The Pandora Sequence, Book 3

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The Ascension Factor

By: Frank Herbert, Bill Ransom
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Summary

Set 25 years after The Lazarus Effect, this final book in the Destination: Void collaboration between Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom concludes the story of the planet Pandora.

Pandora's humans have been recovering land from its raging seas at an accelerated pace since The Lazarus Effect. The great kelp of the seas, sentient but electronically manipulated by humans, buffers Pandora's wild currents to restore land and facilitate the booming sea trade. New settlements rise overnight, but children starve in their shadows. An orbiting assembly station is near completion of Project Voidship, which is the hope of many for finding a better world.

Pandora is under the fist of an ambitious clone from hibernation called the Director, who rules with a sadistic security force led by the assassin Spider Nevi. Small resistance groups have had little effect on his absolute power. The Director controls the transportation of foodstuffs; uprisings are punished with starvation.

The resistance fighters' main hope is Crista Galli, a woman believed by some to be the child of God. Crista pools her talents with Dwarf MacIntosh, Beatriz Tatoosh, and Rico LaPush to transcend the barriers between the different species and overthrow the Director and the sinister cabal with which he rules.

(P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Adventure Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Celebrity
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Continues on shortly after the previous book without adding too many new concepts but tends to drag on some plot points. Missing that other worldly sci-fi charm that void and Jesus really had that its core. Overall as a fourth book it does a good job of finishing all the loose ends and sending off the finale without a cliffhanger.

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