Axiom's End

Lindsay Ellis’s debut novel, Axiom’s End, is my first encounter with a science fiction novel that is all about first contact with extraterrestrial beings. I must confess that, while most of the typical first contact tropes are present—Area 51’s presence being a huge one—I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobooks narration. Stephanie Willis does a solid job of conveying Cora’s emotions in dealing with Ampersand, government officials, and even her own family who are knee-deep in concealing Ampersand’s existence alongside the other extraterrestrials (Similars). Oliver Thorn does the same for conspiracy theorist, Nils Ortega, by reading off excerpts from the Broken Seal between chapters.

Between the both of them, they made Ellis science fiction novel feel more like a thriller from the word “go” to its conclusion. I would sometimes listen to it for a couple of hours—almost non-stop, because I did not want to be left in the lurch as to what happened next.

I’ve watched Ellis’s video essays on YouTube in the past, and there are some minor references—at least one of them anyway. While Willis does emphasize said reference, they do very little to dampen the narrative.

In sum: Axiom’s End is an interesting take on alien encounters and government conspiracy with an audiobook duo who hit the right notes.

Enjoyed this book for the most part although I didn't find the main characters extremely likeable. Nonetheless there are interesting ideas about the ways in which alien species communicate (or fail to) and how different species (or even cultures) will always have areas where they don't understand each other, and in these areas are where the problems arise. The aliens were very alien, and very interesting. The protagonist, Cora, has her new position as translator somewhat inexplicably thrust upon her, and ends up the sole translator between human and alien, trying to understand both sides and, of course, finding both sides are withholding certain information (or outright lying at times).

I found it odd that the fact Cora's father is a conspiracy whistleblower type trying to force the government to admit they know about the presence of aliens is presented as the key framing of the entire story, when in fact it seems entirely irrelevant to almost the entire book. I also found it a bit unbelievable how many cultural similarities the aliens seem to have with humans despite the author trying to emphasize their difference (like the value on kindness, for example). The behaviour of the government and military was also a bit hard to believe. But, it was still a fast and interesting read and a very well envisioned alien species. I suspect fans of the Mass Effect series of games would probably enjoy this book too.

This first contact story is such a refreshing break away from what I have come to expect from first contact stories. I loved the reimagined modern setting, which I felt lent itself very well to the themes of the book. I have to say, I loved just about every character in the book, and the appropriate characters had well thought out development, but some of the relationships between characters I found to be hit or miss.

While engaging, the pacing of the story was all over the place. It started at breakneck speed, but quickly came to a screeching halt to establish a lot of worldbuilding, only to pick back up again in the final ~70 pages. Speaking of, I greatly enjoyed the worldbuilding, but I wish it were dispersed a bit more homogenously throughout.

I found that my favorite parts of Ellis's storytelling were highlighted the least. The humans' limited understanding of the aliens, the sociopolitical impact of sensitive information wreaking havoc in the United States, the complex hierarchies among the alien species... all of these were fascinating to me, but often took a backseat to character relationships and variable plot movement.

Overall, really liked the story and I'm excited to see what more comes from Ellis.