AXIS by ROBERT CHARLES WILSON
Tor Books hardback, 304pp, $25.95

Reviewed by Chris Hill

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Starting with 1986’s A Hidden Place, Robert Charles Wilson has written a sequence of solid, competent sf novels (not to mention a fine short story collection, The Perseids and other stories) which contrast small human stories with big science fictional concepts, often involving an outside agency imposing change on a community. Some critics have pointed out a resemblance (particularly in the early novels) to the works of Clifford D. Simak, which does not seem unreasonable. Spin finally won Wilson the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

In Spin, a mysterious outside agency, nicknamed by scientists ‘the Hypotheticals’, ‘spins-up’ time around the Earth and moves it billions of years into the future. During the spin, Earth manages to start up a colony on Mars which is in ‘real time’, giving the Martians the opportunity to develop more advanced science (that is until the Hypotheticals catch on and also spin-up Mars.) The Martian science includes a drug treatment that extends the human life-span, with side affects tending to reduce aggressive behaviour.

By the end of the book Earth is back in real time, being somehow protected from the aged, swollen Sun, the Fourth treatment is illegal and an experiment to contact the Hypotheticals has failed. Meanwhile, the Hypotheticals have also built an archway in the ocean which provides an instantaneous link to another habitable world.

Spin does not offer any real answers about the nature and purpose of the Hypotheticals, but with the archway to another world opened at the end of the book it is no surprise that there was a sequel in the offing.

At the start of Axis it has been 30 years since the Spin-down and the creation of the archway to the ‘next door’ world, just called by most ‘the New World’. Parts of the world have been colonised and heavy industry, in particular oil drilling, is starting to spring up.

Turk Findley runs an aircraft rental on New World and was briefly the lover of Lise Adams, a visitor from the USA. Lise returns, trying to find clues to the disappearance of her scientist father fifteen years earlier. She suspects that Turk has some connection with the mysterious ‘Fourths’ who may be implicated in her father’s disappearance.

But shortly after they meet again dust starts falling from the sky which seems to contain the remnants of Hypothetical machines, which seems to be somehow linked to a young boy, Isaac, living with a hidden group of Fourth scientists.

Axis tells a more intimate story than Spin did. While in the first book the fate of the entire world, not to mention the Mars colony, rests on the events described in the novel, the sequel recounts smaller events that are only really seen through the viewpoint of the small number of people who are closely involved.

In the novel we find out that the Fourths have become factionalised; in particular there are those who want to try and make contact with the Hypotheticals (refining the failed experiment described in Spin) and those that not only think it best to leave well alone, but that the Hypotheticals are intrinsically not understandable. In fact, this is the central question the book asks: do you treat the Hypotheticals as a natural force or as an intelligence that can be communicated with?

There are many conflicts both between and within the characters: Lise is recently divorced from Brian, who works for an organisation which searches for illegal Fourths. Brian himself is not as sure of the rightness of his actions as he pretends. Turk cannot return to Earth because of a criminal record, but is struggling to make his business successful. The Martian, Sulean Moi, is both against the contact experiments, which she believes are both unethical and pointless, but also has a more personal reason for wanting to stop them.

I found the isolationist viewpoint – that the Hypotheticals are working entirely on instinct – to be a bit of a Straw Man. I am not sure I can understand how actions this specific could possible arise out of the instinctive actions of the purported nano-machines Anyway, it is human nature to want answers, so while the actions of the opposing Fourths may be reprehensible, they are understandable. It is difficult to guess where Wilson’s sympathies lie between these opposing views and maybe that is how it should be.

It is not spoiling much to say that in the end no final answers are given, although some guesses about the nature of the Hyphotheticals are confirmed. However, the lives of the lead characters have been irrevocably changed. The story still does not feel complete and I was not particularly surprised to hear that a third book is planned.

It should be noted that in Axis Wilson does a good job of dropping in information about what happened in Spin in a casual way, maybe not quite enough to help those who have not read the first novel, but certainly enough to jog the memories of those who have.

If it has a particular flaw it is that many of the past events which motivate the characters are described rather than shown. For example, we are not shown anything of the life Lise had with Brian before the divorce, we are only told about it. This seems a missed opportunity, particularly given that showing that sort of domestic background is something that Wilson is usually so good at (see for instance Blind Lake.)

On the whole though, Axis is an enjoyable read with likeable characters and a good sense of mystery - I would recommend it. But if you have not read Spin I would suggest starting there first.

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Chris Hill is married with 2 cats and works as a business analyst in a publishing company. He has been an sf fan for as long as he can remember, has been active in fandom since 1996 and has been a regular reviewer for the BSFA’s Vector magazine since 1997. For four years he also served as the BSFA Awards Administrator.

When not reading he performs with the local Musical and Operatic society and spends way too much time watching TV and playing computer games. Find him at: http://bookzombie.livejournal.com

Tags: Axis • book • review • Robert Charles Wilson • Science Fiction • sf