Do You Wish to Know the Truth of the Divine?

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, Axiom's End, or don't mind knowing spoilers for it. This book, however, will not be spoiled.
SPOILER ALERT

~Truth of the Divine~
Noumena
Book 2
By Lindsay Ellis
Amazon ~ Powell's

The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?

Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.

Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.


No complicated backstory with this one. I follow the author on YouTube, read the first book, knew the sequel was coming out, and picked it up when it did. After the quasi-cliffhanger we were left, with regard to Cora and Ampersand's newly formed bond, it was really a no-brainer that I'd feel compelled to continue the series. And so I did.

The Men of the Hellfire Club Were Thus Bound Together Forever

~The Hellfire Club~
Charlie & Margaret Marder Mysteries
Book 1
By Jake Tapper
Amazon ~ Powell's

Charlie Marder is a World War II veteran and popular academic. He's also an unlikely congressman, thrust into office by his power-broker father's connections. Idealistic and determined, Charlie wants to use his new position for good. He quickly learns, however, that in 1950s Washington, little is as it seems. Struggling to navigate the treacherous waters alongside real-life figures such as President Dwight Eisenhower, Senator John F. Kennedy, and Roy Cohn, Charlie is confronted by a world in the throes of McCarthyism, where no one trusts anyone. His education in the compromising and occasionally illegal ways of Washington makes him question his own ethical compass and the morality of men he admires, including his father.

Alongside his pregnant wife, Margaret, a zoologist with ambitions of her own, Charlie struggles to do what is right while learning more about the mysterious circumstances of his predecessor's death. Amid the swirl of glamorous and powerful politicians and businessmen, a fatal car accident plunges Charlie and Margaret into an underworld of dark bargains, secret societies, and a conspiracy that could change the course of history. When Charlie learns too much, he has to fight not only for his principles and his newfound political career...but for his life.


I saw this one when Tapper was doing the rounds on Late Night (I believe he was on both Colbert's and Meyer's shows) and decided to pick it up. Actually, he was doing the rounds for the sequel, The Devil May Dance, which sounded like an interesting depiction of the Kennedy's and their possible mob ties, so I figured I'd need to read its predecessor. I don't read much historical fiction these days, and even less centered around USA politics, so it was a bit of a gamble for me. In the end, I think I came out about even.

The Civilization That Disproves This Axiom

~Axiom's End~
Noumena
Book 1
By Lindsay Ellis
Amazon ~ Powell's

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.


I've been following this author for a good while now. I thoroughly enjoy her video essays, her deep dives into the Transformers movies, her work with PBS, and especially her exploration of (and cynical look at) YA fiction with Awoken and Booze Your Own Adventure. So when she announced that she was releasing her own novel this year, I knew I had to jump on it. Obviously, yes, I am biased in that I already enjoy her content, and so went into the book expecting to enjoy it (ideally, one would go into every book they decide to pick up expecting to enjoy it). But by no means am I about to gush about it like it's a must-read for everyone, cause it's definitely not.