Axis (novel)

{{Short description|2007 novel by Robert Charles Wilson}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book |  | name = Axis | title_orig = | translator = | image = Axis(1stEd).jpg | caption = Hardcover, First Edition | author = Robert Charles Wilson | illustrator = | cover_artist = Dave Seeley | country = United States | language = English | series = ''Spin'' | genre = Science fiction | publisher = Tor Books | release_date = 2007 | english_release_date = | media_type = Print (Hardcover) | pages = 303 | isbn = 978-0765348265 | congress = PR9199.3.W4987A97 | dewey = 813'.54 | preceded_by = Spin | followed_by = Vortex }} '''''Axis''''' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer Robert Charles Wilson, published in 2007. It is a direct sequel to Wilson's Hugo Award-winning ''Spin'', published two years earlier. The novel was a finalist for the 2008 John W. Campbell Award.<ref name="url">{{cite web |url=http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/campbell-finalists.htm |title=John W. Campbell Award Finalists |access-date=2008-09-25 |archive-date=2011-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015115631/http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/campbell-finalists.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Plot summary== ''Axis'' takes place on the new planet introduced at the end of ''Spin'', a world the Hypotheticals engineered to support human life and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world — and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.

Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when showers of cometary dust seed the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world becomes very alien, as the nature of time is once again twisted by entities unknown.

A quasi-religious group of "Fourths" from Earth, led by Dr. Avram Dvali, lives in the desert seeded by falling dust. They've created a child they call Isaac with a Martian upgrade (fatal to adults) that connects him with the Hypotheticals. The Fourth-hunting "Department of Genomic Security" is searching for this group or for a visiting Martian Fourth who disapproves of Isaac's creation.

==Sequel== A third book in the series, titled ''Vortex'', was published in July 2011.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://locusmag.com/Resources/ForthcomingBooks.html | title=Locus Online: Forthcoming books | access-date=2010-09-28| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101009003722/http://locusmag.com/Resources/ForthcomingBooks.html| archive-date= 9 October 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *"Axis".'' Publishers Weekly ''254.31 (6 August 2007): 173–173. *Schroeder, Regina. "Axis", '' Booklist'' 104.1 (September 2007): 65. *"Axis". ''Kirkus Reviews'' 75.13 (July 2007): 8–8. *Cassada, Jackie. "Axis". ''Library Journal'' 132.15 (15 Sep. 2007): 54–55.

==External links== * {{ISFDB title|id=389901|title=Axis}} * [http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=1054 Axis] at Worlds Without End

Category:2007 American novels Category:Novels by Robert Charles Wilson Category:2007 science fiction novels Category:Canadian science fiction novels Category:Tor Books books