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Axiom's End

A Novel

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About this listen

The instant New York Times best seller

The alternate-history first-contact adventure Axiom's End is an extraordinary debut from Hugo finalist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis. Truth is a human right.

It's fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn't spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the internet, the paparazzi, and the government - and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father's leaks are a hoax and wants nothing to do with him - until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human - and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"Axiom’s End is one of the most unique science fiction novels in years. It’s a heartfelt story of alien first contact, but, luckily, unlike so many 'big idea' sci-fi books, it’s utterly unpretentious." (SYFY.com)

©2020 Lindsay Ellis (P)2020 Macmillan Audio
First Contact Political Science Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Espionage Fiction Exciting Heartfelt Government
All stars
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Good story but found the narration took a bit of getting used to. Overall would recommend.

Enjoyable science fiction

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I really struggled to finish this. If it wasn't written by Lindsey Ellis I probably would have quit half way through. I found the pace was often killed by extended internal monologue. It's influences seen to include The X Files, Twilight, the Iraq war, and Transformers, only the last of which really interests me. So maybe I was doomed not to like it from the start. I'm trying to be forgiving as I know it's her first novel and she worked really hard on it, but I just didn't enjoy it that much.

It's... ok.

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I loved this book, it was a refreshing take on first contact with an interesting narrative about truth and the omission of truth by governments and individuals. I loved the way thr extraterrestrials were conceived and how they were so alien yet relatable to an extent. It made me think about what commonalities there might be with other intelligent species. It was just an exciting story, good sci fi, well written, and a good time.

fantastic, imaginative first contact story

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I was worried that it would be cliche and by the numbers but it isn't! The world building is very organic, the characters are likeable and the ones that aren't seem justified in how they became that way.

Such a great story

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I was hooked from the start to finish, Ellis proves herself a great author.

A masterful debut, and a pleasant first audiobook

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