Wilson, Robert Charles: Axis
Axis (2007)
Written by: Robert Charles Wilson
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 355 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book Two (Spin)
Why I Read It: I was so surprised that I loved Spin so much that it was a no-brainer that I'd have to get my hands on the sequel, Axis, even though I'd heard it wasn't nearly as good as Spin was. Still, the third book of the trilogy, Vortex, just came out, so if I'm ever going to read THAT, I need to read the second book first, right? Right!
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Wildly praised by readers and critics alike, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin won science fiction’s highest honor, the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Now, in Spin’s direct sequel, Wilson takes us to the "world next door"-the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world-and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.
Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world will become very alien indeed-as the nature of time is once again twisted, by entities unknown.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Nay. In truth, there's not a whole lot I want to talk about short of discussing how this is different from Spin and why that's not wholly a bad thing. So with that, I'll avoid the spoilers, though I will spoil some things for Spin itself, so if you haven't read that, I recommend skipping to "My Rating." Otherwise, feel free to continue.
Wilson sets the stage right away and makes it pretty clear that our main POV characters will not be the same characters we came to know and love in Spin. To be honest, anyone reading the backcover blurb would be able to figure THAT much out, though if you're like me and tend to avoid those things for authors you'll read regardless, I feel it's fair to warn you. :) It's not that Jason, Diane's, and Tyler's story is ignored in this book either: events of Spin make it possible for Axis to happen, but Axis takes place MANY years after Spin, and there's more to uncover about the Hypotheticals. Notice I said uncover, not answer. I can't say there's any real answers about anything in this book.
I'll be honest: I'm okay with that. I think it's because before I ever even picked up Spin, I knew that 1) some people were dissatisfied with the ending of Spin and many of those same people were 2) highly dissatisfied with Axis as a whole. So I was VERY PREPARED for flaws, and honestly, I'm glad I loved Spin so darn much, because while Axis is a fine book, it doesn't reach out and GRAB the reader. It doesn't really stick with me, which means if Spin had been a lesser book, I wouldn't be continuing. Not because Axis was bad, mind you. But because it just wasn't truly engaging.
Why not? Wilson incorporates the third person POV here, and we get multiple POVs besides. I'm not going to say this is the SOLE reason I didn't connect to the characters. After all, Tyler's voice is Spin, combined with the events of the book and the wonderful work put into fleshing out his childhood and overall story, is hard to beat, and that's just not what we get here. It's not necessary. It's not the say the main mystery of the book isn't engaging either: it was rather fascinating, especially at the climax. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure what was going on there either, but I feel confident that when I finally get around to Vortex, I'll be somewhat satisfied in terms of being able to put answers together that make sense to me.
Because the dust was fascinating. I loved how it fell, how things in the dust were kind of fossilized and would collapse into nothing if touched, and if left alone, would take seed for just a short period of time and sprout some kind of weird marvel. At first I was convinced it was some kind of terraforming project by the Hypotheticals, but Wilson disproves that theory by book's end, so even though I'm still perplexed, I've got plenty to be fascinated by.
Like Isaac, whose story is linked to Jason Lawton in a fascinating way, and a way that expands our knowledge of what's happening in the universe at large. Then there's Sulean Moi, whose story was quite interesting. Lise and Turk, the two main characters, weren't quite as interesting, but I liked the personal dynamic between them, especially by the end, with Turk's connection to Isaak. I'm wondering if that goes anywhere in book three, but I'll have to wait to find out.
I read this book at a pretty quick pace, without taking any real notes. So I was definitely engaged, and Wilson does do a good job of crafting characters, even if this experience wasn't as visceral as Spin was.
My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations
Reservation: It's not Spin. It's not even close. As long as you go into this novel knowing that, and that it's not a direct sequel (regardless of what the premise says, this book does NOT pick up where Spin left off), you should be able to enjoy Axis on its own merits. And it's own merits are pretty interesting. Because while Axis is not a direct sequel, it does build and expand the nature of the world-building first explored in Spin. It doesn't answer any questions, but I'm hoping that the third (and final?) book in this series will tie everything together in an illuminating way. Jason, Diane, and Tyler's legacy from Spin isn't forgotten either, and their stories continue to expand in unexpected ways. The Hypotheticals are getting more and more fascinating, as are the reactions that various people have to the Hypotheticals: what they think they are, what they want them to be, etc. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Vortex one day, because I'm really excited to see how Wilson ties these two books together. Any fan of Spin's world-building should pick this up, but only as long as they are aware that this is a good book, not a GREAT read like Spin. But let's face it: Spin would be pretty darn hard to duplicate. :)
Cover Commentary: It's very colorful, and more appealing to my eye than the cover of Spin was. I'm still not sure what the cover is supposed to signify in the book, mind you, but it's nifty-looking!
Next up: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin