Axiom's End (Noumena, 1)

It's hard to talk about what I liked about this book without spoiling it.If you like sci-fi, investigation thrillers, aliens, and stories of First Contact going sideways, you will enjoy this. While hard sci-fi, the relationship and character interaction is just as enjoyable and well executed as the handling of government cover-ups, alien language, and culture.If I had to describe it without giving too much away, I would say this is the best Transformers fanfic I've ever read. Truly, calling it Transformers fanfic is probably unjust, I've never read or dabbled in that fandom to be sure of that statement. However. I have seen the first few movies, and this is a lot better at exploring a similar concept and plot points, but going off in an original direction. A sister-series if you will ;)While the plot and story felt like an elevated, and much more interesting, take on synthetic space alien civilizations coming into contact with humans, I really enjoyed the details in this book. The language and dialogue with the aliens and humans really caught my attention. Ellis doesn't make up a language, or at least words, so it's not like a fantasy Tolkien language the aliens speak, everything is English and understandable. Alien concepts that don't translate (which the alien will point out routinely) do get an English word using different root words and such. My point it, everything is understandable, although it is a bit of work to understand at the beginning. It does get easier as you go. I was super engaged during the middle of the book where the human character have some pretty in-depth conversations.Surprisingly, the humans are pretty interesting in this book. Although we do get a limited number of aliens to compare them too, I did find myself enjoying them. The protagonist's family especially. I would hope we see more of her aunt and mother in the sequel. Her aunt especially. Her father was interesting as well, if not as a character I would like to have as a parent, he's an interesting character in fiction though.The setting actually really works. I really enjoyed the references to the pop culture and goings on in 2007 America. It's funny, I worried they might feel gratuitous, but instead they kind of took me back to the time itself and how things were back then. I never thought I would feel nostalgic for the Bush era, but since things did make me reminisce in the nostalgia.Ellis did a great job of making a likeable protagonist with a very strong voice. The story is told from Cora's POV, and I commend the author for making her likeable, relatable, and interesting. In a cast of CIA, federal agents, and aliens, it is pretty risky to make your Human Protagonist/Audience Stand In so ordinary. But it works. I felt invested in Cora as a person and look forward to seeing her in future installments, along with all the other objectively cooler characters.The character that really stood out to me is Ampersand. I thought of him as kind of weak character in the beginning. He was interesting, but he was so hostile and terse that I found myself, like Cora I assume, more interested in the answers that came from him about his species, language, and people than himself as a person. It's only during the later half of the book that he starts to let his guard down a bit and start to open up about himself that I really started to like him. I was absolutely tense during the Final Confrontation where I admit my heart kind of broke for him. The scene in the desert at night is just so wonderfully written. I highlighted the passage about their discussion about the Great Filter. That was a cool moment for me, realizing what the title of the book meant! I just really enjoyed that entire scene and it feels good that Ellis let's you draw conclusions yourself without spelling things out in text.Speaking of conclusions, I did have to put the book down and absorb a bit of what was being set up in the final chapter. Possibly slight spoilers in this paragraph. If it's not clear by the username, I love aliens in fiction, especially aliens that have human friendships. And I was getting some cryptid!lover energy while reading but I wasn't sure if this book was going there. Let's just say that when it hit me what had happened, which was confirmed a few pages later, I had to sit back and give thanks Ellis was unafraid to explore the softer sides of hard sci-fi.Overall, I enjoyed the hell out of this. I bought this out of loyalty to Ellis, as I've enjoyed her content for years. I went in completely blind as the marketing was pretty cagey on what this was going to be. But I am so glad this was not only decent, but it quickly has become one of my favorite novels I've read this year. I eagerly am waiting for news of a sequel. I'll be rereading it a few times while I wait. If you're in doubt, I would implore you to read it. If you enjoyed Animorphs, Ender's Game, Transformers, or Mass Effect you will enjoy this.

So I'm going to preface this with saying I know Lindsay and consider her a friend, so take my review with attendant grains of salt.That having been said: you could be forgiven for mistaking this as being a novel from a more established author, rather than a debut work. Linsday writes with a confidence and certainty that you don't see in a lot of first-time authors. The writing, pacing and characterization avoid a lot of "first-novel-itis" that you see in many people's first published works.Instead, we get an almost surprisingly efficient and well-paced introduction to our protagonist, Cora Sabino, her family and her connection to the Alex-Jones-meets-Art-Bell-esque Nils Ortega... a conspiracy theorist and government gadfly who, it seems, may be 100% correct.This framing actually works well to avoid issues of plot developments feeling too coincidental; it makes sense that Cora — a seemingly random twenty-something — accidentally becomes the only person who can facilitate First Contact with alien species. Rather than being another Bella Swan or Anastasia Steele, a character who's special and amazing but who's oblivious to it an absurd degree, Cora is understandable, relatable and entirely out of her element. The events that lead to her coming in contact with an alien species (and the government agents involved in covering it up) makes complete sense, her connection to them is organic and well established in the plot and her reactions are completely understandable. There's never a point where you think "OH COME ON" or "Who would react like this?"Part of what makes the book work is how well Lindsay crafts the characters makes you come to care for them — some in a matter of paragraphs. Even minor characters are sketched out in miniature, with enough personality and care that you begin to like them immediately. Woodward, Bernstein and Genie all come to mind...Little bits of world-building, like snippits from Ortega's dispatches, news clippings and more help fill out the world, give things much needed context and add color and texture to the events, helping ground the world very firmly in the early 00's. And of course, if you're a fan of Lindsay's video essays... well, you're going to have more than a few "I see what you did there" moments.And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that I admire Lindsay's skill and imagination in creating the world the characters live in, never giving up on a theme and her willingness to never letting the reader down. I highly recommend that you check out the websites she references within the books; they help fill in a lot of spaces not covered in the main text and help give you some much needed context. It's a full commitment that you're not going to get from any other writer.Highly recommended

Imagine transformers if it had been taken seriously and written and dealt with by an intelligent human being. This is basically Axiom's End.The book is clearly written by someone who knows how narratives work. Lindsay had an amazing control of the build up, the delivery and the action. The climax and final acts simply let you on the edge of your chair, and the plot twists not only make sense but also make you feel everything. The characters are flexible and human, the dialogue is very realistic and her imagining of our contact with an alien species is very down to earth and sweet and creative at the same time. I'm definitely looking forward to the follow-up to this introductory book, and I really don't know what to expect story-wise. I just know it will be amazing.

Great book, recommended

I came into this book knowing nothing of it, and when I started to see this was a 'first contact' story I was dismayed because I have a lot of trouble following sci-fi. I powered through the first 10% and it really payed off. Though it does have a lot of hard sci-fi elements and my low attention span had trouble keeping up with some terms, the author does such a good job of driving the plot forward along with the characters that it kept me reading and enthralled. Really really worth reading.

Axiom’s End is a stunningly thoughtful, and deeply fulfilling, first-contact story.Ellis sets herself an immense challenge with this premise, and she delivers in spectacular fashion. I absolutely consumed this book, I cannot recommend it highly enough - especially to anyone who may be a fan of, or looking for a gateway into, the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, Arthur C. Clarke, and/or Liu Cixin.Axiom’s End feels firmly rooted in the same pools from which those authors drew. Ellis handles these exciting questions about humanity, personhood, communication, expression, and our place in the universe, with exceptional wit and empathy.This novel is incisive, challenging, touching, and profoundly thought provoking. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Lindsay Ellis, sci-fi needs more authors like her.

Aliens have (maybe) landed and we cannot (allegedly) communicate with them because of the language barrier - so far, a solid if not unheard-of hard-ish Sci-Fi premise. From there, the plot goes deliciously mad, borrowing ideas from different genres up to and including fanfiction. The blend works surprisingly well: the novel is engaging and never ceases to entertain. Yet it becomes progressively weirder, creeping up on you boiling-frog style. At some point this reader was left with their mouth open and wondering if this is going where they suspect it is ("Did this turn into... a *hurt/comfort fic*? ELLIS!).As someone of the writer's generation, I was all for it. Here is something I had rarely if ever seen written with professional grace (and professional editing), fanfiction tropes, delivered with just enough restraint to make them actually work and just enough madness to make you wince while you remember your weird teenage dreams.In the end, I wanted to hug this book. It felt new, it felt honest, it stuck the landing.