Axiom's End

Axiom's End is a delightful race from a first contact to the beginning of understanding on a very individual, even intimate level.

I have been, as I assume many of the early readers have, a long-time follower of Ellis' works. Of course, going from video essays on film theory to a novel is quite a leap, so I still went into this not quite knowing what I expected. I knew that there were aliens, I think? And it took place in the Bush years? Not much beyond that.

Well, there were indeed aliens, and as promised, there was indeed W in the world. Beyond that, however, was some pretty dang good action, some emotional heaviness that I very much was not expecting, and a question of how well one can truly empathize with someone different from you on a so fundamental a level as planet-of-origin (as well at trying to empathize with other humans, too, which we have a hard enough time doing as it is.)

The prose was a bit coarse at the beginning, but quickly smoothed out. I suspect if I were to reread the book, I may even revise this assessment, too. Ellis' writing is well suited to both action- and emotion-filled scenes; though the prose itself never really wowed me it still very much worked. I got notes of Orson Scott Card (without the zealous homophobia), Cixin Liu (without the what-if-women-were-bad-actually), and Dan Simmons (with less John Keats) from the page, all authors whose writing I enjoy for their ability to get me wrapped up in a book. I may have stopped reading Card and Liu, but I'm definitely looking forward to more Ellis!