I thought this was an intriguing idea for a sci-fi novel that takes place in the recent past and mixes fictional and real persons regarding the first contact of an alien race. Of course it has super-duper powers, and of course a relatively naive 20-year-old woman is at the center of trying to communicate with the aliens -- actually, just one of them -- and trying to save the Earth from total extinction. There are some heavy issues that are debated, such as the Great Filter (http://astrobiology.com/2020/03/observational-constraints-on-the-great-filter.html) and whether we will ever understand aliens and they us given that we could come from such wide frames of reference. I found the novel enjoyable, thought-provoking, and with some more-than-cardboard characters that drew me into the work. Highly recommended.

I was very excited to read this since I'm a big fan of Lindsay's video essays. I'm happy to say this is an ambitious, yet well-written debut. Right from the start, I thought the format and framing was really interesting, connecting the main story to historical context and following what the whistleblower father is up to while everything unfolds.

Cora is a great complex and well-developed character to lead the story. I felt her relationship with Ampersand was really rich and complicated, to the point where I'm sure it could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. However, since their relationship was so strong, it made any of Cora's other relationships with her family or her aunt really pale in comparison.

The descriptions of the aliens were really unique (or at least they seemed that way to me). I couldn't exactly picture them, but some of their distinct features really stuck out in my mind and that certainly differentiates them from the typical alien type.

The ending is a bit weak and didn't total land for me, although maybe that's just the way it's supposed to be, staying open ended for the reader to form their own opinion. Overall, I was really hooked and it was very intriguing and suspenseful from beginning to end.

I really liked the premise of this as it reminded me in part of the plot from the movie Arrival. The story begins a bit slowly as we're introduced to Cora, our main character, who is just kind of unmotivated to do much in life. However, that rapidly turns around and the pacing picks up once she encounters the aliens and becomes an interpreter. While I never completely warmed up to Cora, I really enjoyed seeing her friendship with the alien develop. The alien is by far the most interesting character in the book.

We do get to learn about the alien society and hierarchy, which was interesting and confusing. We do have a good amount of terminology thrown at us, and I'll admit that I didn't entirely remember everything and the identities of the different aliens. In general, I felt like there were some somewhat complex concepts and ideas in this story, so it does require some close attention at times.

I really liked the focus on interpretation. Cora really strives to accurately translate things while also providing human context and softening sometimes harsh ideas. There's also an interesting exploration of being human and how dominating cultures/species press beliefs and other societal ideas onto others. There is also a good amount of talk about consent throughout the book, so I appreciated that.

I felt satisfied with the ending, though as other reviewers have mentioned, it does take a bit of a departure from the themes in the rest of the story. I do think that this feels like a debut book with some sometimes uneven pacing and serviceable prose. That being said, I think that this would lend itself well to being adapted into a show or movie.

Overall, I do think that sci-fi readers will likely enjoy this book.

I obtained an advance copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 6:46-11:21) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt6Eg6BAjlc

An interesting, and not at all bad, book. In the end, it's a well written first contact story that's unlike most of what you've seen before, so it's worth the price right there. The knocks come from the amount of exposition dumped in large blocks, essentially two people talking to each other or excerpts from articles/speeches. It kept the story from being as dynamic as it could've been. It's a solid debut, and I think fans of Ellis' other work will be very pleased.

Axiom’s End is not the first book about first-contact that I’ve read, and it won’t be the last. It was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020—so my expectations were on the higher side. The story had a lot of promise in its premise from the beginning, and I ended up having an inordinate amount of fun reading this novel. Plus I thoroughly liked Ellis's take on first-contact.

Axiom’s End was good. It deals with first contact alongside an alternative and politically tumultuous version of 2007, where a memo about aliens gets leaked to the public. During the ensuing fallout is where the story begins and where the main character, Cora was introduced. From the start, the premise was a pretty exciting one, and I thought the author did a good job with developing the different parts of the story. In particular, I liked the details about Cora’s connection to the memo—through her estranged father—because it added tension to the earlier parts of the story even before aliens got involved. It also added a personal edge to the conflict, and I thought it presented an interesting contrast between Cora and other characters in the story—particularly for those who weren’t her family members—and how different their reactions to the memo were.

I also enjoyed Ellis’s take on aliens. The ones features in the story were kind of cool to say the least, and they were by far one of my favorite aspects about Axiom’s End. Since Cora becomes an interpreter for one of the aliens, there were plenty of details about them—such as how they looked, some of their societal norms, the reason why they were there, and their technological advancements. It was an interesting bit of world building that fleshed-out the aliens.

Cora was a pretty entertaining protagonist, and I enjoyed reading from her perspective. I liked how the author approached her character, including her conflicted feelings about the aliens as well as her father. It grounded her character amongst the extraordinary circumstances of the story. It was also an interesting emotional contrast, with the fear, confusion, and determination she experienced throughout much of the story. I did enjoy the few scenes Cora had with her other family members though, particularly with her aunt. Cora’s father was a different story. Some of his tactics and writings leaned more towards manipulative, and it was clear where his concern was focused.

Overall, I enjoyed Axiom’s End. There was a lot to like about the story, and the end wrapped up the plot in a satisfying way. I will definitely check out more work by this author in the future. Have you read Axiom’s End? Do you plan on reading it?

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by St. Martin's Press (publisher) via netgalley for this review, thank you!

Wow. This was really an unexpectedly fun read and provocative, at times bordering on brilliant, at times dissonant as the magic momentarily dispersed before sucking the reader back in. I got hooked and eagerly await a further unrolling of the scroll. Great job, Lindsay. Thanks!

Cora Ortega is a hot mess. She's dropped out of college, killed her beater of a car through neglect, and is about to lose her shitty job.  It doesn't help that she's probably being followed by the CIA to see if she has any contact with her dad, the guy who leaked the news that the government was holding aliens somewhere, leaving her mom, younger brother and sister and her on their own while making himself a media star.

Not that she knows anything about that, or even if it's true, which is ironic because she's very possibly humanity's best hope for survival, or will be when an alien who came to find the others kidnaps her and implants her with alien tech, making her the only human who can talk to him. Understanding. takes a bit more.

Lindsay Ellis has written a thoughtful and engaging novel of first contact complete with the usual suspects, a government conspiracy hiding the truth, a media figure leaking it, aliens hiding from their own government's, and a bond between human and alien that changes them both. Recommended.

i'm familiar with ellis's work on youtube, i've been watching her for years. it's because of this that i was even remotely interested in this book, mainly because the premise is so strange and hard to define. very obviously a debut and draws from many of her pop culture loves. worth the read. thanks for providing me the arc

I cannot remember the last time I saw such a large cadre of enthusiasts anticipating a debut novel , but Lindsay Ellis’s fan base has seen what she can do in film and TV and is eager to see what she can do in the novel. I think they will be pleased.
Young Cora Sabino’s life was torn apart when her estranged whistleblower father Nils revealed that extraterrestrials had landed on earth and the US government had been aware of their existence for years. Nils fled overseas to escape the authorities who were trying to arrest him for disclosing classified material, but the authorities have not given up searching for him. As the book opens, Cora is being followed to work by men she suspects of being CIA. When aliens apparently try to invade her own home, Cora flees to her aunt Luciana, who had worked with the group reputed to have engaged with the invading aliens. Cora’s mother and siblings are taken into protective custody by the US authorities. Cora herself is ultimately abducted by Ampersand, one of the aliens, and agrees to act as his intermediary in dealing with humanity. She soon learns that there is at least as much dissension among the aliens as there is among the humans, and she and Ampersand find they must work together despite the differences between them.
Given her background in visual media, it is not surprising that Axiom’s End is vivid and seems tailor-made for the screen. The first part of the book focuses on the struggles among the humans, and it is full of thrills. The latter part focusses on the battles among the aliens, with their complex and, well, alien loyalties. Fans of good space opera will be rapt during this latter part, but it was somewhat protracted for my taste. In addition, as the book unfolded, the aliens kept coming up with a few too many unexplained powers, like becoming invisible or healing human injuries, but once Ellis has you under her spell, it is easy to suspend your disbelief for a while.
The best SF is more than dramatic encounters and exciting battles, and Axiom’s End also tackles the kinds of questions that make fans like me keep coming back. Cora and Ampersand are from two different planets, two different species, but they face the same issues. Who can I trust? Can I trust my family, my government, my own people? Given those questions within my group, can I ever trust members of a completely different culture or species? Can I even know someone outside my own “tribe”? How widespread is life in the universe, and why is it common or rare? These questions emerge in the book and are explored by both species.
Overall, the book is a promising debut. It may be Axiom’s End, but I predict it will be Ellis’ Beginning.

I have been a fan of Lindsay Ellis for years and was beyond excited that she was writing a book. I really had no idea what to expect but she delivered! I've not read a whole lot of books like this but it's a great combination of contemporary, science fiction and even some social commentary. I cannot wait for the next book in the series!!!

Solid first-contact debut. Lindsay Ellis is a master at analyzing pop culture media, and the book avoids the worst parts of a usual modern-day sci-fi tale:
• It stays personal, focusing in large part on the developing relationship between Ampersand and Cora and how we can make connections despite incredible differences (instead of blowing things up. But don't worry, things are blown up).
• Cora is a more human and more normal protagonist than we usually get— certainly not a Dan Brown-esque hero. She's not a Mary Sue, which was welcome. She's not a prodigy of science or martial arts. Other characters are not stunned by her beauty. She has myriad imperfections. She flunked out of college. She's not particularly informed. She has a fraught relationship with the adults in her family, especially her father, a Snowden-like character.
• There's a subtext about how things get lost in translation and how damaging lies can be. I think this is where the setting, the early 2000s, makes a lot of sense.

There were also some elements that troubled me as a reader:
• The core relationship of the book didn't get enough screen time for me, especially when Cora is virtually ignored while in the government bunker. As a result, the closeness between Cora and Ampersand felt rather forced.
• While I think some of us can relate to aspects of Cora's character, but I found it difficult to connect with her despite a fair amount of Cora self-reflecting near the beginning of the book. Hard to say what I wish had been different.
• Cora's father comes up again and again the book but ultimately plays a very minor role. This was disappointing, but I'm fairly certain it's a wind-up for a sequel.
• It feels like there's a mismatch between the voice and the plot. The book reads/is paced like a mainstream thriller, especially with the "government spooks are out for you" but the relative lack of outrageous heroics combined with a focus on the relationship between the protagonist Cora and the alien Ampersand gives it a different feel. That contrast is neat, but I'm not sure it worked.
• As one of the other reviewers points out, the ending is a curious departure from the emphasis on consent.

Axiom's End is okay. Full disclosure, I am a fan of the author and support her on Patreon to the tune of $2 USD a month because I love her Youtube videos. I, maybe, had higher hopes for this than I should have. It's a good start, but I can't give it an unqualified recommendation.

The good is the plot. This is a well told story of an alien needing a human. It's got a half dozen well timed reveals that kept me interested. It is a bit of a sluggish start, but the plot works and that says a lot for a debut.

Where I have the biggest problems with this novel is in the characters. The only character that displays any development is the alien. We're on this ride with Cora the entire time, and she's largely just there. I struggle to remember defining characteristics, except her complicated relationship with her father. Speaking of her father, he looms large at the start of the novel, but fades into the background as soon as the alien arrives. He's this big Alex Jones/Julian Assange antagonist for the first quarter of the story, and all but vanishes by the end of it.

And then we get to the relationship between Cora and the alien. It's not good. What starts as sort of symbiotic and almost consensual ends up obviously abusive with a clear mismatch in power. The alien transforms in front of us from prey to predator, and it's obvious we've been lied to about it from the start. While the alien shows growth than any other character, by the end of the novel, I'm really unclear as to why I should root for this protagonist.

I would have less problems with this if I thought this was an "everyone sucks" story, but it's pretty clearly not. Ellis has said that this is the first part in a series, but it feels a bit like it leaves a bit too many loose ends. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that next novel.

SHE'S FRIENDS WITH THE ALIEN, GUYS.

This book is good. There's so much linguistics. So much xenocultural exchange. So much weight on the relationship between one college dropout with abandonment issues and one lost alien with PTSD. First Cora finds herself kidnapped, but then she BECOMES FRIENDS WITH THE ALIEN. SHE TEACHES IT TO HUG. SHE ENDS UP PLATONIC SOUL BONDED TO THE ALIEN.

I stayed up until 3 AM reading this accidentally. It was effortless. If there's ever more in this series I will eagerly consume it. So yeah. I liked it a lot.

I’ll be honest here, I was browsing through NetGalley and the cover of this book popped out at me. I’m not usually one to fall in love with the cover of a book, but this is just so exactly my kind of aesthetic. I requested an ARC before I even really checked out what the book was about, and boy was I glad I did. This book has quickly moved it’s way up my own personal favorites of the year.

I have seen in multiple different places online that the book is billed as “Stranger Things for the early 2000’s” and honestly that is about as accurate as it gets. The book follows the story of Cora who’s father is the most notorious whistleblower of all time. He blew the lid on extraterrestrial coverup and left their family to deal with the scrutiny. I don’t want to get too much into the story because it had such a grip on me personally that I didn’t even want to put this book down. I’ll say though that the idea of a twenty-two year old woman acting as the only means of interpretation between an alien life-form called Ampersand and the entire United States government is one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The book is set in the early 2000’s, namely 2007, and the references used are perfect. We read about things you might expect with this type of story, George W. Bush is the president and is lovingly referred to as Dubya by Nils. There are references to the music of the time and even to video games like Oblivion. We even get the obvious Star Wars references you might expect from something like this. Lindsay Ellis did a great job of portraying what it felt like to live in the 2000’s and makes it feel natural even with the looming alien invasion that everyone is afraid might be happening.

This was a fun read, but one that really ramped up toward the last quarter. If not for the fact I had to sleep I think I would have finished the last half of the book in one go. There were moments where I legitimately did not know what to expect for Cora and I couldn’t read the words fast enough. I wanted to yell out to her that something was coming or that she shouldn’t be doing something, which I guess says a lot about the author’s ability to write a thriller. This is the kind of story that begs to be shown as a Netflix original, much in the vein of a Stranger Things, I think it might honestly be better.

There was something about the characters, both human and alien, that felt genuine and made me care. I wanted to see Cora find her way through this book safely and see her reach her goals, she seemed like someone that deserved that. I wanted to see some of the higher up government figures be taken down a peg, which is usually the case with any sci-fi book that includes government officials. I just can’t say enough about how Lindsay Ellis was able to craft such a believable and likable story for a young woman and an extraterrestrial being.

Everything felt so well thought out and detailed that at times I forgot this was fictitious. The way the aliens interacted with each other made sense and was explained in a way that made it feel like something that had been heavily researched and was presented as fact. Anytime I felt myself questioning something that was happening, there was an answer as to why or how that thing occurred. When reading fantasy or sci-fi I feel like all too often things are left to the imagination or it is assumed the reader will fill in the blanks, but Ellis really leaves nothing unsaid and it goes a long way to making the story feel legitimate. By the time I was finished with this book I felt as if I could go find a myriad of research topics on Ampersand, like this was the story of some real cover up.

Overall I have to say this is one of the best books I have read this year. I didn’t expect it, but I was completely engrossed from cover to cover and my only real disappointment is that it had to end. I hope that she writes a sequel, if only selfishly to continue living in this parallel 2007 world where aliens made contact. Regardless of what she does next, Lindsay Ellis has made a fan here and I can’t wait to read anything she puts out!

As always, thank you so much for reading! Let me know down below if this is one you plan on picking up when it officially releases in July! Check back for more posts (at least) every Wednesday and Saturday and sign-up via email or follow on social media to make sure you never miss anything! Have a great day!

Let me start by saying that I adore Lindsay Ellis' pop culture criticism. She's smart and funny and really, truly insightful--I feel like her YouTube videos take you on journeys that are often unexpected, that make you look at culture in new ways. That's a rare thing in a landscape filled with rehashed opinions and "hot takes."

So I was deeply jazzed to read this, her first novel . . . and ultimately saddened to feel a bit let down by it. Which is in no way to say that it's a bad book! On many levels it's an intriguing first contact story. But I also struggled with it quite a bit. In part, this is because, while Ellis is a brilliant video essayist, I found her novelistic prose to be . . . well, it's fine. "Workmanlike" is the condescending term often used, and that I hate myself for quasi-using. Honestly, I can see her style not bothering most readers: remember, my expectations were high! But to my mind, the writing itself is not great.

It's very fast-paced, however: characters constantly charging from one location to the next, being captured by various forces, escaping capture, being recaptured, capturing <i>their</i> captors. I found it a bit frenetic, and liked the book best when the plot slowed down, and we just got scenes of our main character, Cora, conversing with the alien central to the first contact story, called Ampersand. Their relationship is the highlight of the novel.

(Because it's an obvious play on <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>. Like, <i>especially</i> obvious if you know Ellis' other work. If this makes it sound like I am mad at this aspect of the novel, let me assure you I am <i>not</i>. It was genuinely my favorite part of the story -- I maybe wish Ellis had leaned into it <i>more</i>? But lol.)

However, all around them, there's plot happening, and it's really really complicated plot: lots of alien politics that I think ultimately <i>mostly</i> hung together, but that never interested me. And then there are the Earth politics. The book is set in 2007. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Robert Gates all make cameo appearances, which is either clever or weird, I genuinely cannot decide. One thing I'm fairly firm on: I don't believe for a second that <spoiler>George W. Bush would <i>instantly</i> resign after getting caught lying about government knowledge of the existence of aliens. Even if you see him solely as the puppet of Cheney, he was a <i>useful</i> puppet, and the Republican Party would have never allowed it. Recent events, let's say, have made it very, very hard for me to buy this plot development. But also: the fact that we have a worse liar in the White House currently should not make us forget that reality's George W. Bush was also a massive and consistent liar, and he completely got away with it.</spoiler>

This is all engineered, by the way, by Cora's estranged father, who is basically Julian Assange but less immediately repulsive. This familial connection played into the plot less than I thought it would; it feels like something that Ellis may be saving for a sequel.

Quite a bit did, and that may be my other big issue. After some dragginess in the middle (I got a bit bogged down during the Cheyenne Mountain section), the book rockets toward its conclusion. And really, all the most interesting stuff happens right at the end! It does make me want to read a potential sequel -- but also ensures that my expectations will be much more tempered for that volume.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book. I've been on GoodReads since 2007 and this was my first NetGalley! I'm finally a real girl!</i>

I expect that this will be pretty well received. It has an interesting plot, as well as ideas. The dialog is a little clumsy at times, but good pacing, and decent characters. And there's some humor. A pretty good first-effort scifi tale. I hope there's more to come.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

I found this science fiction novel of first contact with aliens arriving at Earth thrilling and exciting. Cora, whose aunt works on a secret government project, is convinced by an alien who has landed on Earth to become the alien's interpreter. She discovers a tangled maze of politics and deception, both from the US government and from alien factions. Soon she and her alien are on the run from other aliens. Cora is naive with low self-esteem (which I did not like), but her empathy allows her to connect with "her" alien. This fast-paced story, with its twists and betrayals, kept me riveted. Four out of five stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

I wanted so badly to love this book, but the entire time I was reading it, I felt like it was fighting me on that front. Sci-Fi is one of my all-time favorite genres, and unfortunately, I just think this one was too flawed for me to fall for. I'm not sure how to describe it - like there's too much and not enough going on all at once. Maybe a little pretentious? But I think there is going to be a sequel and I'm interested, at least, to see how the story progresses!

I requested this arc because I really enjoy Lindsay's film criticism on YouTube, and hoped that would be enough to overcome the sci-fi, as that remains one of my struggle genres.
Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with the characters, at any point. I could buy into trauma leading to an emotional connection between Cora and Ampersand in the macro - but upon a mild second ponder, what would attract him to Cora? And I'm speaking mentally, not in judgement of her (oft discussed) rachet root situation. I just felt we lost so much of her character while she acted as interpreter for Ampersand - there isn't a lot of room for development when your MC's main function in the story is to be the mouthpiece for another.
I also didn't understand why this needed to have the backdrop of the financial crisis - the NINJA mortgages still exist in a world also grappling with first contact (!?), you don't need both problems to blow up the stock market.
I don't want to harp on, as this is a debut, and judging by the other reviews posted so far, I am the outlier - but it really didn't work for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc for review. This has in no way influenced my opinion.