Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

(Titan Books, 2021)

Reviewed by John Dodd

If you haven’t read Axiom’s End, there are things discussed in this review that will reveal parts of the plot, take the time to go and read that book before looking at this review.

What if aliens existed and they came down to Earth, what would first contact really be like? This was the question that was answered in Axiom’s End, the first book in this series.

Where this goes, is what happens after first contact, when you know aliens exist, but the truth of who and what they truly are is still unknown. At the end of the first book, when Ampersand bonds with Cora, a new perspective of life begins, where what was just a story of physicality goes further into the psyche than the first book ever considered to do.

The writing is dense and rich, as befits the first book, but there’s so much to take in, this isn’t a book for someone wanting a casual story that can be put down. This story demands to be read and have the tale within slowly digested rather than gorged upon. The quandaries posed in the first book—how would we (humans) react, how would we behave—are expanded upon. What would you do if you understood the alien more than anyone else on Earth? Would that knowledge change you and give you insight, or worse, fear?

There’s a content warning at the front of this book; it clearly advises that there will be a lot of things that may prove unsettling within it. This is not an idle message, the content within is both unfiltered and graphic, and there are many scenes that were brutal in their telling.

But what about the story itself?

How do you deal with the unknown when every time you think you have some understanding of it, it mutates into something else? Ampersand is helpful and restrictive in equal measure, and you never really get the impression that they’re trying to be one or the other. Cora is a flawed protagonist in many ways, and Ellis doesn’t hesitate to reveal Cora’s true feelings, her vulnerabilities, and her passions, which goes all the way to making her that much more human even though there’s a part of her that’s anything but. Enola Gay, the name given for the newest arrivals, chosen by the press, is a perfect reminder that we fear anything we don’t understand. The possibility that the new arrivals may understand the name that we’ve given them and the significance it has, how would we feel if someone named us after something that famously wrought so much destruction? At no point do we feel that there’s a sense that things are moving towards a better, a brighter, conclusion.

This is how the book goes on, a step towards understanding, a step away, onward and onwards, till we wonder if this is the way things are doomed to go. Will there ever be a true breakthrough, will there ever be a lasting peace between humans and other races? Is death the end that we believe it to be?

Not all of these questions get answered, there’s the feel that there is more to come, and that there are still answers to be had. I would hope that this is the case because this book is every bit as compelling as the first, and has the feel that Ellis is coming into her own as a writer.

I enjoyed this a lot, still not entirely sure I’ve got the whole picture, but I’m looking forwards to being able to see the whole canvas someday.

Review from BSFA Review 18 - Download your copy here.