Axis | Robert Charles Wilson | A disappointing follow up to a Hugo Winning Novel

Axis | Robert Charles Wilson | Another Messiah in the Desert

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Axis

	Axis Robert Charles Wilson Tor Science Fiction, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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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.

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A disappointing follow up to a Hugo Winning Novel

Axis is the second novel in a trilogy, the sequel to the Hugo award-winning novel Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson.

I loved the first novel in this series (although I thought at the time that it was a standalone), which sets one of Wilson's classic Big Ideas in motion and takes us through it with interesting characters. What if unknown aliens put a time bubble around the Earth, so as to slow its aging relative to the rest of the universe?

At the end of that novel, the shield changes subtly, and a gateway to another world appears, a chance for a new world, a new life, and a new opportunity.

Axis takes us to that world, and continues to develop the universe of the Hypotheticals, once again through the eyes of his characters.

Honestly, though, this suffers from middle book syndrome. It's clear that Wilson hasn't written many series (any, I think) and the book's pacing suffers for not being a self-contained work. It relies heavily on the first book (reading this one without the second is futile) and the characters and events don't sing like the first novel. This one is much more reliant on the interesting ideas (a la Mysterium) than the actual writing and characters themselves. The characters (even one from Spin) aren't as well developed as the ones in Spin. In this respect, the book is a disappointing step backward for Wilson.

Its predecessor won the Hugo award for best novel, I do not expect this one to be nominated, except perhaps in a weak field. It's not a terrible book, merely an average one.

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Another Messiah in the Desert

Continuing the theme that presences larger than the human species must, therefore, be gods of some kind, the Hypotheticals now treat humanity to even more weirdness. This weirdness is interpreted by the various characters differently: there are skeptics and true believers, pragmatists and ascetics, all interacting with one another during a journey into the desert to learn the true nature of the Hypotheticals.

Although the story was somewhat enjoyable, this sequel does not carry the same weight and scope of "Spin". "Axis" reads like a mystery novel with elements of "Hyperion" woven in. The plot develops slowly, with teaser lines that never fully deliver. The characters from "Spin" make their appearances but are not central to the plot. Some of the new characters are sympathetic, but they don't quite throw any emotional switches in the reader. And the ending is somewhat anticlimactic.

Still...I enjoyed the book overall as an exploration into the complex nature of belief systems. It is a reasonable sequel to "Spin" but does not provide closure to "Spin's" concepts. I doubt that the story will end here.

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What happened?

What happened here? I was expecting AXIS to be at par with the first book, SPIN. I was anxious for this book, and even bought the hardcover version. However, after having read AXIS, I have to say it disappointed me a lot. SPIN succeeded in touching the hearts of readers and bringing the them to the world of the characters. AXIS simply propped up some stereotypical characters just to get the story along. You just can't seem to get involved with the characters. It was also repetitive at times - especially in describing the central mystery of the book. SPIN didn't dwell on the mystery - it simply made you experience the life of people in a world that has gone beyond their understanding. If you have read SPIN, I suggest you hold buying/reading AXIS until the third book comes out and you get reviews. You won't miss a lot.

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Good book but the ending left me fealing empty

Axis starts out as well written as Spin, and just like spin I could not put this book down once I opened it. But unlike Spin the ending left me feeling very empty. The ending seems very rushed. As many people have stated this must be the 2nd book in a trilogy, but I would almost recommend waiting until the 3rd book comes out before I read this one. That being said its still a good book, and its one where I really felt connected to the characters.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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