Not as satisfying as Spin but Scott Brick did a marvelous job on the narration. ( )

This is book two in Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin Trilogy. He won the Hugo for best novel with book one - ‘Spin.’ I feel a bit guilty judging book two before finishing the trilogy – as I think it’s in large part a set-up for the final book in the trilogy.

The book has some cool concepts, building on the excellent ideas in book one. Earth has been connected to a string of planets via an alien megastructure Arch in the Indian Ocean. The adjacent planet is habitable and is quickly being colonized by humans. We still know very little about the alien entity(s) (the Hypotheticals) that are responsible for the tech in both books. The book only carries forward one character from book one. You’ve probably read a similar plot before in sci-fi. A group of characters have come together and are being drawn to a location where something amazing is going to happen.

So, this book was much less of a soap opera than book one. It largely focused on the sci-fi elements, along with a minimal ‘love affair’ story line, and some shadowy quasi-government characters adding to the tension. The best parts are the sci-fi elements carried forward from book one – this is what got me through to the end. I have to say, the book dragged for me. There was opportunity – a new world, a post-human group of people (the Fourths), and the mysterious Hypotheticals. However, the new world is only slightly different than Earth, the Fourths are just crusty, emotionally stunted humans. So, it’s really the mystery of the Hypotheticals that pulled me through. And while there was a climax of action, the answer to the central questions of the series were not answered (of course not, it’s book two!) I’m invested enough to continue with book three (partially because I bought the whole trilogy up front).

A serviceable middle-book that unfortunately fails to stand up to its predecessor. Three stars for this continuation of a fantastic apocalyptic sci-fi saga, established in ‘Spin.’ ( )

Hmm.

This is the middle book of a trilogy so it has neither a beginning nor an end. It's also a slow book. I'm a bit stuck as to how I currently feel about it because of the "middleness" and the story pace.

The characters were enjoyable. But I don't know how I feel about the story and I guess I'll just have to read the next one before finalizing my thoughts about this one.

Hmm. ( )

This is the second volume of the trilogy after Spin.

This one is set on a different planet from Earth, entered through a portal in the Pacific Ocean. The portal, constructed by the entities that placed the barrier between Earth and the stars in Spin, is an arch that rises hundreds of miles up (and presumably miles down into the sea).

The new world is being settled by refugees from Earth, and is still a frontier world undergoing development, its rich natural resources being exploited. Will humans make the same mistakes they made on Earth? Will they ever figure out who placed the barrier, who created the portal, and why? This is set some years after Spin ended, but there is some (minimal) character spillover.

I liked Spin better than this one, but this was still a good read.

3 stars ( )

I really liked [b:Spin|910863|Spin (Spin, #1)|Robert Charles Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383726s/910863.jpg|47562] a lot. It had a Big Hook - the world enclosed in a bubble while the rest of the universe ages 4 billion years - and that hook was essential to my enjoyment of the book.

Axis had no Big Hook.

Granted, not every book requires a Spin-level Big Hook, but there should be SOMETHING there to attract you and keep you engaged.

Axis had no Big Hook.

I kept waiting for the Big Hook to arrive, and it never did. So, ultimately - I was disappointed with this book. The premise was lacking (altered human boy seeks alien enlightenment), and the characters were uninteresting.

I'm going to give the next sequel ([b:Vortex|9359796|Vortex|Robert Charles Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312034516s/9359796.jpg|13438392]) a shot solely on the strength of Spin, but I might bail if there's no Big Hook apparent early. ( )