Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Through the Arch, 22 Nov 2008
Sequel to the Hugo Award winning "Spin" (on my list of recommended books) this novel follows the story of the people who have travelled through the Arch created by the alien Hypotheticals to a new and distant world. Presumably you've read "Spin" if you're reading this - Do you want to read "Axis"? Most definitely yes. Is it as good as Spin? No. But that's not much of a criticism. Spin was a great book, because it was a deep story with believable, complex characters, both primary and secondary that just happened to be set in a sci-fi environment. The triangle in that book between Tyler Dupree, Jason and Diane was a touching coming of age story set against a backdrop of alien contact and apocalyptic events. Diane made me think about some of the women that have passed through my life and I doubt I'm alone in that. "Axis" recreates that feel with a new triangle between Lise Adams, her husband Brian and Turk Findley. A more traditional love triangle here then. I won't detail (spoil) the plot here, but the book develops the new earth-like world in a very believable way and we gain further insight into the Hypotheticals and their nature while finding out the fate of the characters from Spin. This book is very similar to Spin in that the elements above are combined with a new technological mystery relating to the Hypotheticals, focused on events that are not understood, involving characters who's motivations are sometimes unclear. However, the book does not develop the main characters as poignantly as Spin, secondary characters are not developed much at all, and the plot is not quite as gripping. If you like the genre and enjoyed Spin, you'll want to read this and nothing I'm going to write will stop you anyway - nor should it. But whereas Spin was a book that you couldn't wait to recommend to anyone, whether they liked sci-fi or not, this one is isn't.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Axis wobbles, 18 May 2009
I was looking forward to the sequel to Spin. But although I enjoyed it, it was nowhere near as good. Where Spin was pacy, Axis was slow. Where the characters in Spin were well filled, many of these were hollow.
The Fourths seemed to spend days without saying or doing anything and even lacked curiosity. Accepting that may be intended to be deliberate, this Second (or probably Third) didn't find it gripping.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
ashfall, 25 May 2009
a new novel from science fiction writer robert charles wilson that is a sequel to his earlier book Spin. if you haven't read that then getting into this won't be much of a problem, since it's a whole new story with new characters set in the future history of the previous book. and it does fill in enough details to get you up to speed. suffice to say that mysterious aliens dubbed the hypotheticals have interfered big time with the course of human development. and now as a result humanity is spreading out on a new world that has been provided to us.
some humans are genetically enhanced and have their own agendas, which brings them into conflict with human authorities. some would love to try and talk to the aliens. and in the middle of all this are lise, a woman searching for her father, and turk, a driter. they are thrown together with a boy called isaac who has been designed to be rather speical, and they and some of the genetically enhanced seek the truth about the aliens and a few other things.
meantime lise's strait laced ex husband brian can do nothing but sit and fret many miles away.
this is good science fiction and a good read but it's not quite ground breaking. there are some thought provoking moral dilemmas and some very well realised aliens. the book is a story of the characters journey to an encounter with them and what happens as a result. and the characters and the setting are more than enough to draw you in and keep you turning the pages. you won't find what happens to be ultimately very amazing or something that will live long in the memory. but it will stay with you for a little while.
a book that succeeds in presenting believable and sympathetic characters caught up in greater things. not a great book. but not a bad book at all
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