Ascension

When a mountain impossibly taller than Everest materializes in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, appearing out of nowhere in a matter of months, a shadowy organization assembles a team of scientists to climb it and learn its secrets. Among them is physicist Harold Tunmore, recruited by a man who calls himself the Warden—and who knows more than he says. The first expedition died, all but one, who came back mad.

As Harold and his fellow climbers ascend, the mountain warps around them: time turns elastic, faces de-age, visions bloom on the ice, and something vast and intelligent stirs beneath. Framed as letters Harold wrote before disappearing for three decades, Nicholas Binge's Ascension fuses hard science, cosmic horror, and a haunting meditation on grief and faith into a propulsive, mind-bending mystery whose truth is left hauntingly uncertain.