bbbhltz reviewed Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Review of "Axiom's End" on Goodreads
3 stars
I liked the story but I really disliked the way it was written.
paperback, 384 pages
Published Aug. 10, 2021 by St. Martin's Griffin.
4 stars
(93 reviews)
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to …
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.
glasnt ✨ reviewed Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Review of "Axiom's End" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This entire book is delightful, augmented delightfully because I self inserted Thorn as the voice of Ampersand, not the start-of-chapter excerpt narrator, as I later learned by listening to the first chapter on Audible.
Kibrika reviewed Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Review of "Axiom's End" on 'Goodreads'
A lovely, competent book, especially for a debut novel. Feels "American" in that it has some action, some drama, but it didn't really challenge me. Bonus points - doesn't have a romance shoehorned in. I feel ambivalent about the ending. It's definitely not a happy ending, but since the ones suffering the most are not humans, not our protagonist, it doesn't quite feel like the miserable tragedy that it was. So it feels like the emo impact the book has (had on me) is contradicting it's theme of "recognising the other as a person".
I also don't particularly like the protagonist. She seems a bit self-unaware.
johnny dangerously. reviewed Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Review of "Axiom's End" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book is a bit messy, but not in a terrible way. It shows the sign of a promising new author finding their voice, and the strong plot makes it easy to forgive the slow start and under-defined protagonist. I look forward to the sequel, because this is the first time in a long time I'm genuinely excited to see where a series goes just in terms of plot. Hopefully the next book will be less bare-bones, and flesh out not only the alien worldbuilding, but also the smaller details of Cora's life, to make her feel more, well, human.
