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Axis (Spin Saga #2)

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 2,159 ratings · 204 reviews

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 Ind

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Hardcover, 304 pages

Published September 18th 2007 by Tor Books

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Aug 22, 2008 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Axis is entertaining and expands on Spin's novel idea, but seems incomplete. By the time it really starts to pickup and get interesting, it ends rather abrubtly. It doesn't exactly leave at a cliffhanger but it doesn't exactly answer all of my questions either. Good thing wikipedia shows a sequel in the works, Vortex, so I know we'll still have more to look forward to.

As always, Wilson writes good characters. The main character, Lise, actually seemed a tad underdeveloped, but her companion Turk...more Axis is entertaining and expands on Spin's novel idea, but seems incomplete. By the time it really starts to pickup and get interesting, it ends rather abrubtly. It doesn't exactly leave at a cliffhanger but it doesn't exactly answer all of my questions either. Good thing wikipedia shows a sequel in the works, Vortex, so I know we'll still have more to look forward to.

As always, Wilson writes good characters. The main character, Lise, actually seemed a tad underdeveloped, but her companion Turk was definitely interesting. One of my favorite aspects of Wilson's writing is that he always takes the time to focus on the characters and how they mould to the events that take place around them. His books always read like character dramas where the theme happens to be sci-fi. In my opinion, that is a trait of a good writer. Care about your characters first and make your reader care about them and the events and plot that surrounds them will seem more believable and engrossing. The characters here didn't quite have the depth that they did in Spin, but that could be becaue the book is shorter than Spin and focuses on more characters. Still, that's a definite strong point here.

I do wonder, however, whether we may have been better off waiting until this story was complete, with Axis and the next installment simply as one book, even it it were a lenghty read. I don't want to get into any spoilers, but the events that happened at the end of this book didn't quite seem... monumental enough to warrant writing an entire book about it. Wilson definitely shows us a new and bizarre aspect of the hypotheticals, but not much has really changed by knowing this. At least not yet. it felt like a pit-stop on the way to an even greater revelation that we've yet to know about. I'm sure that'll be revealed in Vortex, but who knows when that'll be out?

Also, seeing as how the book takes place entirely on Equatoria (the newly colonized world given to humans by the Hypotheticals), we don't really learn that much about the planet. It almost seems... boring really. A group of the characters lived in the desert on this planet, but the environment isn't described for any of the other characters with the exception of the major city, Port Magellan. Are there large plains areas or large forests or rivers or anything like that? Because of this, I pictured the entire planet to look like a large, mostly-empty desert. I'd also love to hear if there was any wildlife native to the planet that they'd discovered or if wildlife from Earth had been brought there and how they'd adapted. These little things aren't necessary to the story, but would help to make this new world believable and interesting.

Also, concepts of the story that seem important and pretty interesting are barely touched on at all. Like the arches. Not only is there an arch leading folk from Earth into Equatoria, but there's another arch on Equatoria that leads to yet another world and one from that world to another and so on. It's explained briefly that there are expeditions into the other world but it's just a barren rock. So there's not much there, but after several decades wouldn't they have found something? Doesn't anyone wonder why this barren planet was linked to theirs? These are things that I'd like to hear more about.

Another thing that bothered me was a character from Spin that makes an appearance. I won't say who, but this almost seemed cheap, like an added attempt to keep us interested in the story. The character makes a cameo at first and I liked that; just a nice reference to Spin to remind us that we're reading about the same world. But then the character becomes a major player and I didn't feel that the character was very distinguishable from many of the others in the book and I wasn't entirely convinced. Just one more thing that could've been expanded on to make the book fell more complete.

I did enjoy this book, for all I complained about it. The ashfall scenes were creepy and Wilson instills a sense of realism, even with something so strange as ash and decaying machinery dumping from the sky. He does a great job of making you feel like you are there. The ending of the book isn't bad. It's definitely interesting, but still I left wanting so much more. Granted, Spin is a hard act to follow and is also one of my favorite books of any genre, so maybe that's why I'm being so picky here. I'll still be buying Vortex as soon as it's out. (less)

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Jul 11, 2010 rivka rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone who enjoyed Spin

Shelves: other-spec-fic, bookswaps

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Not as good as the excellent Spin, but a fairly good sequel. A few complaints:
* Diane doesn't show up until almost page 70; Tyler isn't in Axis at all (although Jason is, sort of, at the end!). Since they -- especially Tyler -- were the POV characters of Spin, this was both disappointing and disconcerting.
* This was touted as the answer to who/what the Hypotheticals really were, and the reason behind the Spin. The characters imply and/or state this repeatedly, and it was implied by at least some...more Not as good as the excellent Spin, but a fairly good sequel. A few complaints:
* Diane doesn't show up until almost page 70; Tyler isn't in Axis at all (although Jason is, sort of, at the end!). Since they -- especially Tyler -- were the POV characters of Spin, this was both disappointing and disconcerting.
* This was touted as the answer to who/what the Hypotheticals really were, and the reason behind the Spin. The characters imply and/or state this repeatedly, and it was implied by at least some of the official or semi-official summaries of the book. But really, at the end of the book, we still have at least as many questions about the Hypotheticals as we did at the beginning. Which may be the point, in a way, but is nonetheless frustrating and confusing. Even the few answers we've found don't make much sense. (I just found out this is meant to be a trilogy, so this is probably simply symptomatic of middle-book-itis. :P )
* Since Spin took repeated potshots at Christian fanatics, it seems Wilson decided Axis should give other religious fanatics their turn in the crosshairs. He mentions in passing that Muslim extremists irrationally loathe the idea of Fourths (why is not explained), and then we have the late husband of Rebka and father of Isaac. I believe his name is given once, in passing, but for the most part he is deliberately nameless. Rebka tells us that because he was a devout orthodox Jew, he refused the Fourth treatment, even though it could have saved him from dying from an aneurysm. As a devout orthodox Jew, I call BS. Exactly how Jewish Law (halacha) would view a theoretical and not well-explained medical treatment is purely speculative, of course. However, while I could see it being forbidden for a healthy individual to take the risk merely for the heck of it, I can see NO reason why it would be forbidden as a life-saving measure; it might even be required in some cases, were it a viable option. (The legal issues add another kink to the equation, but in cases of life and death, would not be sufficient to forbid it.) And if this nameless husband were so devout, why did he marry a woman who is clearly not? A woman who planned to abort her own child, not for reasons of health but simply because the child was an inconvenience?
* Names! Why, oh why, is she named Rebka? Pick the English version of the name: Rebekah, Rebecca, or another spelling; or the Hebrew: Rivka, Rivkah, Rifkah. The spelling Rebka is Czech or Polish, and completely out of place among a group of academics associated with the American University! And why is her child Isaac? Biblically, Isaac was Rebecca's husband, not her child. If we're going for the symbolism of the sacrificial child (and given that Divali's name is Avram, I must assume we are), why name her Rebecca? Call her Sarah! Or give her a name not associated with Isaac at all. Call her Hannah, mother of another child given to God.
* Lise, Brian, and Turk: Unlike the main characters in Spin, this time the main characters are just interesting enough to get my attention . . . and then never really made three-dimensional. Wilson can do better than this -- why didn't he?
* What is with the little metal tangs on the first page of each section? I mean, they're obviously compass pointers. But why are some gold and some copper? What does their position on the page indicate? And why bother with them at all?

All this aside, every reader of Spin will want to read Axis. And then, apparently, bide their time waiting for the forthcoming Vortex. (Why do I keep getting sucked into unfinished trilogies without knowing that's what they are?)(less)

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Aug 08, 2008 Osho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

The sequel to Spin, Axis is yet another tightly-woven, thought-provoking novel from one of my favorites, Robert Charles Wilson. Wilson's earliest novels were very enjoyable but almost too tightly constructed. In his later works, there is some room for the reader to breathe, and thus, I think, to identify more with the protagonists. Spin described the enveloping of Earth by a mysterious barrier, and made some revelations about its origin and purposes. It is not necessary to have read it to unders...more

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Jan 16, 2009 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I noticed this book received very mixed reviews, most of them not very complimentary. I’ve read most of Robert Charles Wilson’s books, and enjoyed them to one degree or another, so it was with a bit of trepidation that I started this one.
I found I enjoyed this one as much as I liked the others. To quote the blurb at the back of the book, the premise of the story is in the post-Spin world, the planet “next door” was engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

Critics enjoyed Axis as much as they did Spin

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Jan 07, 2009 Elze rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like character-driven soft SF

"Axis" is a lot less ambitious than its predecessor "Spin", but what it does it does well. It does not attempt to span decades of history, and so it avoids long stretches of tedium with which "Spin" is riddled. In "Axis" we don't have to watch the characters live their pedestrian lives while mysterious events unfold somewhere in the background. The main characters are always in action, and plot tension is sustained from beginning to end.

However, "Axis" is also a lot less conceptual than "Spin"....more "Axis" is a lot less ambitious than its predecessor "Spin", but what it does it does well. It does not attempt to span decades of history, and so it avoids long stretches of tedium with which "Spin" is riddled. In "Axis" we don't have to watch the characters live their pedestrian lives while mysterious events unfold somewhere in the background. The main characters are always in action, and plot tension is sustained from beginning to end.

However, "Axis" is also a lot less conceptual than "Spin". It does not introduce new ideas, only elaborates (and only minimally) on the ones introduced in "Spin". My biggest disappointment with this book was that we don't really learn more about the Hypotheticals than we knew at the beginning. The idea that the Hypotheticals come to Earth to collect memories and upload them into some kind of vast cosmic network, is so basic and vague that it does not advance our understanding of the Hypotheticals very much. We still don't know why they want those memories, what they are going to do with them, or why did they have to move the Earth billions of years ahead in time. Or why did they attach a parallel universe to it, joined by the Arc. I wonder if the author chose an ignorant and simple-minded protagonist, a 12-year-old child, to communicate with the Hypotheticals, so as not to have to intelligently speculate about all that. I would have been more interested if the communicator was someone educated, especially someone who had studied the Hypotheticals, such as Lise's father. If Lise's father had enough material to write a book about them, he must have had more than just vague speculations?

Apparently the focus of this trilogy is not the Hypotheticals, but how the contact with them will affect humanity. At the end of "Axis" it becomes clear that the third book will be about humanity having to deal with uploading and the "5th age". This makes me look forward to it despite the underwhelming second book.

Although scientific mysteries go unanswered, "Axis" is still a good character-driven novel. With just a few brushstrokes Wilson sets up a wide range of believable characters. There is a determined truth-seeker (Lise); a person whose purpose in life is to preserve the existing order (Lise's ex-husband); a drifter who is nevertheless courageous and likeable (Turk); there are characters who and resist change kicking and screaming, like Lise's mother; and ambitious opportunists who seek to manipulate the change for their own purposes, like Dr. Dvali. For some reason secondary characters like Brian the ex-husband, and Dr. Dvali came through as the most vivid, while the protagonist, Lise, somehow didn't feel like a real person to me. But overall the diverse cast of characters and the plot tension made this book an enjoyable read.(less)

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May 13, 2012 Darin Ramsey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-sf

This book reminds me, in unfortunate ways, of Greg Bear's Eternity. I really enjoyed Eon, and was happy about there being a sequel... which then had almost nothing connected to the first book. Axis eventually drops in a couple of lines to let you know what happened to Tyler and Diane after Spin, but we're pretty much meeting people utterly unconnected to that first book.
This is a problem for me because it's very difficult to do well. The Foundation Trilogy manages to skip like a stone across the...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Alex Telander rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

Robert Charles Wilson’s sequel to the Hugo Award winning Spin, Axis, does what not a lot of sequels do: it continues readers on this most unique story, but with a whole new world and cast of characters that helps to give everything a new pristine look, as if one were reading a individual, stand-alone novel, and not a sequel.

The god-like beings known as the Hypotheticals are doing what they do best: messing with the ways of the cosmos. In Axis, the reader travels through the giant arch gate locat...more Robert Charles Wilson’s sequel to the Hugo Award winning Spin, Axis, does what not a lot of sequels do: it continues readers on this most unique story, but with a whole new world and cast of characters that helps to give everything a new pristine look, as if one were reading a individual, stand-alone novel, and not a sequel.

The god-like beings known as the Hypotheticals are doing what they do best: messing with the ways of the cosmos. In Axis, the reader travels through the giant arch gate located in the Indian Ocean and into the new and different world known as Equatoria, which was apparently created for humanity by these Hypotheticals. Lise Adams travels to Equatoria in search of her missing father. She hires Turk Findley, who has a less than clean rap sheet, to fly her to her father’s last known destination. Lise’s father was obsessed with the Hypotheticals, so now she hopes to not only find out what happened to him, but perhaps get some answers to these mysterious beings.

Then there is Isaac, a genetically engineered child who is to serve as a conduit between humanity and the Hypotheticals, and now he is coming of age and his true fruition will come to pass. Lise and Turk meet up with Isaac and they continue their journey deeper into Equatoria in search of answers. And it seems as if the Hypotheticals are making things happen, as underground something mighty is awoken and the earth begins to tremble.

While it’s not required that one read Spin before you tackle Axis, it certainly helps to provide a foundation for the reader, nevertheless Wilson does a good job of answering the questions and covering a little of what happened in the previous book; one of the characters even shows up as a surprise. Axis also does what Spin did very well: provide a good story with some great characters. Readers will be hooked with the captivating duo in Lise and Turk, as their unusual pasts are explored while the book progresses; and then there is the unique Isaac. Readers will be not be able to put down this worthy sequel leading up to an important climax that gets resolved in the final book of the trilogy, Vortex.

Originally written on September 21, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to the BookBanter site.(less)

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Feb 28, 2011 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh boy was this book a nice surprise, especially after so many lukewarm reviews! I really put off reading it for a long time, because I was afraid I'd be disappointed. Spin definitely earned its Hugo because Robert Charles Wilson pulled off the near impossible with his great ending. Stephen King has said something to the effect that once you show the monster in the closet, it's all over; your readers aren't going to be scared any more. This is so true - so many endings just don't live up to the...more Oh boy was this book a nice surprise, especially after so many lukewarm reviews! I really put off reading it for a long time, because I was afraid I'd be disappointed. Spin definitely earned its Hugo because Robert Charles Wilson pulled off the near impossible with his great ending. Stephen King has said something to the effect that once you show the monster in the closet, it's all over; your readers aren't going to be scared any more. This is so true - so many endings just don't live up to the build-up in the book, and yet somehow Wilson came up with a spectacular conclusion totally worthy of the rest of Spin. I just didn't see how he could keep this going in the next part of the story. I should have had more faith!

I'm not a big fan of sequels that just are just retreads of the original story, and I really felt that Wilson had taken Tyler and Diane about as far as he could go with them. So I was not at all disappointed to find that the next part of the story is about different characters. I think readers who are looking for more of their story might be let down, but Diane does make an appearance in this book as an old woman, and it is fitting that she does so, with her personal history being more relevant to the themes that are covered here.

And it is the themes that are the really interesting part of this story. Wilson created a fascinating world and what-if scenario with Spin, and Axis starts picking up threads that he had no time to deal with there. How would people react to the existence of the Hypotheticals? How would humans deal with a brand new world given to them - would they take a smart environmental approach the way they did on Mars - or would business as usual continue? How would Earth humans and Mars humans relate to each other, with 100,000 years of civilization separating them? Where did the Martians get their life extension treatment in the first place? These are just a few of the fascinating ideas explored in this novel.

Now I just can't wait for the next one!(less)

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Jan 25, 2010 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Second of Spin, Axis, and Vortex trilogy. This was hard to put down. After the first chapter or two (which weren't too slow), it started moving. It continued that pace until near the end, when it seems to extend the story a bit too much. The ending seemed weak to me, but overall, it was a good book.

Axis is set a few decades later than Spin, and I was a little frustrated that the characters from Spin weren't there. I wanted to know what happened to them. Later in the book, he takes care of that.

S...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was a decent middle book of a trilogy that added depth to the events in the new world after Spin had completed. It did seem to drag and devotes significant time to subplots that have impact on the characters that adds dimension, but didn't have much impact on the story arc.

It delves into the characterization very well like Spin did, but it seems to do so at the detriment of the greater story. Lise's story seems like this complex mystery that should be a central thread to the story, but drops...more

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Oct 31, 2009 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, biopunk, time-travel, near-future, social-sf

***STOP***
Axis is the sequel to Spin, the second book in a trilogy. If you haven't read Spin, and want to read it unspoiled in the future, don't even think about reading my review or any reviews about Axis. Don't ruin your experience of Spin -- it's so, so good on its own.

Otherwise, if you've already read Spin or Axis, or have no intention of reading them, feel free to continue...

The vast differences between Spin and Axis make the sequel hard to digest and hard to rate. It has a different struc...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars

While technically a sequel to Spin, it's only a sequel in the sense that is takes place after Spin in the same universe. It doesn't follow the characters of Spin, except one who was fairly minor and then only peripherally.

The story lacks the cool ideas of Spin, and it seems like this book was written purely to set up the next in the series. Very little is resolved. The storytelling suffers from the switch to third person POV. And Wilson still over-utilizes time-jumping and flashbacks, except now...more

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Mar 12, 2013 My Inner Shelf rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Wilson fait désormais partie de mes auteurs que j’aime d’amour et s’il arrive que certains romans soient un chouïa moins bien que d’autres, ou plus enthousiasmants pour X raisons, globalement, c’est un auteur qui décoiffe. Je l’ai découvert en 2007 avec Spin, la première partie de cette trilogie. Ce fut un coup de cœur immédiat. Avec Axis l’action reprend sur Equatoria, continent cosmopolite du Nouveau Monde, à des années-lumière de la Terre. Nous retrouvons certains personnages de Spin, mais l’...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

I don't not like this book, but it's no Spin.

I agree with the other reviewers about this book: it's really less sci-fi and more about a spiritual journey; it hangs out in the realm of vague, even mystical speculation; it's a bridge between Spin and Vortex and reads like it.

The last item - about the book being a bridge - may be its most redeeming assessment. The book has a very transitional feel. The plot involves constant motion/travel almost exclusively in one dedicated direction (east to wes...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Andres rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I picked up Axis right after it was published because I remembered being frustrated with the somewhat open ending of Spin. The fact that it didn't draw me in like Spin did should have clued me in that this is a very different book.

I didn't finish it that first time, and I only picked it up again now that the third book in the trilogy is coming out (and after reading Spin again to refresh all the forgotten details.) All I can say is I was exhilarated reading Spin again, and terribly deflated read...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Aaron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

Although not the greatest, this book has cemented Robert Charles Wilson's position in my personal top five favorite SciFi authors (the others? Arthur C. Clarke, John Scalzi, Dan Simmons, and Paul McAuley -- at least currently; the list changes from time to time, depending on my mood and what I've been reading).

In fact, if this book were written by someone else and was not a sequel to one of the greatest scifi novels to have been written in the past decade, I would not hesitate to give it four s...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Hugo Rodrigues rated it 2 of 5 stars

Estava bastante empolgado antes de começar este segundo livro desta trilogia, visto que o primeiro me deixou em êxtase com uma historia original e absolutamente viciante, mas este livro desiludiu-me bastante, parece que o autor tinha um prazo bastante curto para continuar a história maravilhosa que deixou para trás com o livro precedente "SPIN", algo que me chateou bastante foi que não continuou a história onde deixou e as personagens que tanto me afeiçoei só faz uma pequena referencia no final,...more

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May 16, 2012 Gyula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

I enjoyed Spin, the prequel of this book, and I was looking forward to read Axis. The story is interesting. It picks up the storyline 30 years after Spin ends, and it is about the alien race who caused Earth's spinning. Scientists try to establish a connection by altering the DNA of a child, who - according to the hopes of the scientists - would be able to "speek" with them.

While the idea is compelling, I was disappointed at the end. I felt the book unfinished. The whole purpose of the story was...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, science-fiction

This picked up where Spin left off, but with a (mostly) new cast of characters. I liked this one a lot. Not quite as much as I liked Spin, but it was still a really good read. It's more like 3.5 stars, but I rounded down to 3 since I gave Spin 4 stars, and it wasn't quite at the same level.

The whole concept of these books is still fascinating to me. This one had some pacing issues.. It was a little slow in parts, and then felt slightly rushed in the end, but not so much that it ruined the overal...more

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Sep 15, 2008 M.D. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

A very disappointing sequel to Spin, Axis is mostly an explanation of who the Hypotheticals are. The characters are uninteresting and flat, as is the ending. The only redeeming quality is Wilson's writing itself. As usual, it's of a very high caliber.

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Jan 17, 2013 Sargeatm rated it 3 of 5 stars

3 Sterne
Im Gegensatz zu Spin ist der zweite Teil der Spin-Trilogie kein episches Werk, das viele Jahrzehnte abdeckt. Stattdessen gilt es, sich an zwei neue Hauptfiguren zu gewöhnen, die auf dem Planeten Äquatoria, der am Ende von Spin an die Erde "angedockt" wurde, den geheimen Vorgängen rund um die Vierten nachgehen. Zu diesen gehört auch eine der Hauptfiguren aus Spin, die hier allerdings eher auf eine Nebenrolle beschränkt bleibt.
Leider ist das schon weitaus weniger spannend zu lesen. Relativ...more

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May 04, 2012 Traci rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I loved Spin. In that giddy new love have to rush out and buy every book by the author way. I was nervous that my second opinion wouldn't hold up to my first. Well, it did and didn't.

New characters. New planet. New mysteries. And for the most part it is interesting. Just not on the same scale of the first. This one seems smaller. In scope. And in content. It just doesn't seem like a lot happens until the end. And then things happen a little too fast.

So, I liked it. I highly recommend the first b...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Ghilimei rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

A slow read and a disappointment to me as the sequel of Spin, which had me dreaming with my eyes opened about Hypotheticals and the disappearance of stars. Oh, well... Looking forward to Vortex :)

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Oct 09, 2007 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

_Axis_ is Wilson's sequel to his Hugo Award-winning novel Spin. The book is both enjoyable and interesting, but the "wow factor" from the first book has diminished somewhat.

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Jul 10, 2011 Don Viecelli rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From my Newsletter #14:
http://home.comcast.net/~viecelli/new...

Back in Newsletter #11, I described a book called “SPIN” written by Robert Charles Wilson. Since I enjoyed that book, I looked for a follow-up story. Sure enough, he wrote a novel called “AXIS”. Instead of continuing the original characters of the first book, he created some new characters to continue the story of the Hypotheticals and their time twisting exploits on a new planet. I did not find the book as interesting as the first,...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

Mild-mannered sequel to the ass-kicking (kick-assing? Where did that come from, brain?) Spin. Hostile geopolitics, more attempts to understand what the hypothetical alien intelligences are doing, etc.

Spin is so good partly because it has the breath-catching scale of good hard SF – literal galactic mega years – while not losing the accessibility of a single personal narrative, and a good one, too. Axis loses the sensawunda, and the personal narrative – a woman forging new connections after the en...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Randy rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I finished Spin, like most books I really enjoy, I immediately purchased the second book in the series Axis. This is still after the fact of me reading numerous reviews saying how Axis doesn't live up to the bill Spin set, but knowing that it'll kill me if I couldn't continue the wonderful universe Robert Charles Wilson created, I would forever wonder how the story continued. Axis isn't better than Spin, in fact it fails in many ways for me, but the funny thing about it all is how when I fi...more When I finished Spin, like most books I really enjoy, I immediately purchased the second book in the series Axis. This is still after the fact of me reading numerous reviews saying how Axis doesn't live up to the bill Spin set, but knowing that it'll kill me if I couldn't continue the wonderful universe Robert Charles Wilson created, I would forever wonder how the story continued. Axis isn't better than Spin, in fact it fails in many ways for me, but the funny thing about it all is how when I finished the book, I went online and purchased the final book in the set.

The bar was set high in Spin, and sadly most of the time we get bigger ideas that are not entirely fleshed out. I know if I'm reading a sequel to a story, I need some closure to certain situations that were brought up in the previous book. Axis doesn't tell you much of who/what the hypotheticals are, except it questions their motives and opens up new problems that already existed, and this is where I have a tough time enjoying the book, you get these characters that I really never connected with like the first book did. In Spin, Tyler, Diane, and Jason were sequential to the entire story, and even Tyler was the narrator describing his point of view throughout. In Axis, we are introduced to completely new characters and no mention of either Tyler or Jason (except toward the end). I was especially angry at the fact Tyler's story was finalized the way it was, it really is one of the worst summations I've read in a book, it knocked off a star at that point. Diane on the other hand plays a pivotal role throughout Axis, but again it doesn't seem legit. I didn't feel the same emotion I did with her in the first book because she felt out of place without Jason and Tyler.

The more I think about how Mr Wilson is taking the series, the more I grow sad. Spin was full of big ideas and unforgettable characters. I'm only hoping the last book of the story, Vortex, can bring everything together and make me not scratch my head at what could potentially have been.(less)

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Dec 15, 2010 Mukta Mohapatra rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 15, 2011 Mitchell rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

Since this is the sequel to the very good 'Spin,' I was surprised at how much this book fails. 'Spin' addressed large SF concepts; 'Axis' mostly gives us another government-chasing-aliens-and-abetters story.

I credit a lot of the problems to glaringly bad editing. Aside from a couple bits about a mysterious boy, the first 140 pages are superfluous. The remainder of its 355 pages includes too much time spent on unimportant minutiae and often redundant explanations of situations and environments. T...more

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About Robert Charles Wilson

Born in California, Robert Charles Wilson lives in Toronto. Darwinia won Canada's Aurora Award, The Chronoliths won the John W. Campbell Award, and Blind Lake is a New York Times Notable Book. All three were Hugo finalists. Spin won the Hugo for best novel.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...

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Axis (Spin Saga #2)

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