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midnightbagel 's review for:
Axiom's End
by Lindsay Ellis
*3.5 stars*
This was incredibly solid on all fronts, but also not exceptional on any. Ellis’s writing was very readable, and I especially liked the way she writes dialogue. I think she does have a tendency to favor certain words a bit too often (such as ameliorate), and some of her similes feel a little tired, but then again some feel spot on. The themes were a bit too laid bare for my liking, in that they worked and completely made sense and I liked what was explored, but I felt the themes were already woven into the story fine enough to grasp and could have done without spelling them out explicitly on page at the end. As far as everything else, I thought they were all original enough to feel like its own piece while also familiar enough to fit comfortably among other stories that it came as a result of. That being said, I don’t think any of the elements were so good as to elevate it above its inspirations to eclipse what came before. It felt very much like a debut in this sense, a very solid debut, but a debut nonetheless.
Oddly enough, the thing that I felt was the most exceptional about this book was its pacing. I feel like this book was perfectly based, and I don’t usually notice pacing unless it’s bad. Here, though, you could keep the clipped pace the novel was holding you accountable to, and it made sense for the high action, fast paced nature of it that was balanced enough so that it didn’t feel too fast paced. Pacing can often be a tricky thing, so I really commend Ellis for truly nailing it here.
All in all, I was happy with this and I think Ellis (who I will admit, I’ve been a fan of for a long while) did a really nice job with this debut. I think it’s a solid start to her work as a novelist and everything that didn’t work so well are things that I have confidence will be improved upon the more she writes. Would definitely recommend this to sci-fi and non-sci-fi fans alike, as it reads more like a fun action/conspiracy movie whose central motivation happens to be of a science fictional nature.
This was incredibly solid on all fronts, but also not exceptional on any. Ellis’s writing was very readable, and I especially liked the way she writes dialogue. I think she does have a tendency to favor certain words a bit too often (such as ameliorate), and some of her similes feel a little tired, but then again some feel spot on. The themes were a bit too laid bare for my liking, in that they worked and completely made sense and I liked what was explored, but I felt the themes were already woven into the story fine enough to grasp and could have done without spelling them out explicitly on page at the end. As far as everything else, I thought they were all original enough to feel like its own piece while also familiar enough to fit comfortably among other stories that it came as a result of. That being said, I don’t think any of the elements were so good as to elevate it above its inspirations to eclipse what came before. It felt very much like a debut in this sense, a very solid debut, but a debut nonetheless.
Oddly enough, the thing that I felt was the most exceptional about this book was its pacing. I feel like this book was perfectly based, and I don’t usually notice pacing unless it’s bad. Here, though, you could keep the clipped pace the novel was holding you accountable to, and it made sense for the high action, fast paced nature of it that was balanced enough so that it didn’t feel too fast paced. Pacing can often be a tricky thing, so I really commend Ellis for truly nailing it here.
All in all, I was happy with this and I think Ellis (who I will admit, I’ve been a fan of for a long while) did a really nice job with this debut. I think it’s a solid start to her work as a novelist and everything that didn’t work so well are things that I have confidence will be improved upon the more she writes. Would definitely recommend this to sci-fi and non-sci-fi fans alike, as it reads more like a fun action/conspiracy movie whose central motivation happens to be of a science fictional nature.