Reviews with content warning for Torture - Axiom's End

This is YA. That’s not a positive or negative judgement, just an observation. It wasn’t marketed as YA fiction as far as I recall but that is absolutely how it reads – a college-age protagonist who needs to learn a lesson or two about responsibility, an intermittently-relevant family, awkward romance, drama, angst, queer rep, etc. I enjoyed it but I can see I’m not the target audience.

Also,

I feel like a lot more could have been done with the fact that Ampersand’s knowledge of Earth culture was hundreds of years out of date. He could have spoken Middle English, for example. The point was that he thought humans were violent and backwards, owing to the fervent religious fundamentalism and purges he witnessed in the wake of the Black Death. But then that seems kind of unnecessary, because we’d already seen him horrified by humans eating meat – there was no need to invoke medieval atrocities when there are already aspects of modern life which he finds abhorrent.

This may seem nitpicky but it’s superfluous details like this that end up making the book at least a hundred pages longer than it needed to be. Thankfully, the quick pace prevented the story from feeling like a slog.

I’d recommend Axiom’s End to fans of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. It has a similar vibe.

Content Warnings

cfell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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peytonktracy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Okay, so I downloaded this audiobook to have something to listen to while I did chores and I listened to all 16 hours of this book in just over a day. Holy moly, ET, this was a ride.

I have seen critique about how the writing style of this book was off, that the pacing was funky, and it could be tightened and expanded in places. While I kind of agree, I didn't have much of a problem with this because Ellis' writing style had all the je ne sais quoi of fanfiction writing, which is a writing style I am familiar with, comfortable in, and frankly adore.

I have also seen critique that our main protagonist, Cora, was passive and uninteresting. While I agree about passive, I didn't see this as poor writing, I saw this as a part of her character. I, too, in her shoes, would probably freeze up and watch and beg direction much more than act when surrounded by aliens and federal agents. It was endearing to have, I dunno, a normal person who would not be your typical heroine be our main character. And furthermore, I didn't feel the point of the book was to be a big character study of Cora or her family or even Ampersand, but a musing on how American society would react to first contact, through the actions of one particular family.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this wild ride and how thought-provoking it was about the limits and lengths of empathy, how the world might respond to learning of extraterrestrial life, and spanning a big cultural and language gap. I'm eagerly diving into book two!

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meliroo's review

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adventurous tense slow-paced

3.0

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apersonfromflorida's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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