Where the Axe Is Buried
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Average rating4.4
All systems fail. All societies crumble. All worlds end. In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Meanwhile, on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favor of ostensibly more efficient, objective, and peaceful AI Prime Ministers, an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning, threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world. As the Federation and the West both start to crumble, Lilia, the brilliant scientist whose invention may be central to bringing down the seemingly immortal President, goes on the run, trying to break out from a near-impenetrable web of Federation surveillance. Her fate is bound up with a worldwide group of others fighting against the global status quo: Palmer, the man Lilia left behind in London, desperate to solve the mystery of her disappearance; Zoya, a veteran activist imprisoned in the taiga, whose book has inspired a revolutionary movement; Nikolai, the President’s personal physician, who has been forced into more and more harrowing decisions as he navigates the Federation’s palace politics; and Nurlan, the hapless parliamentary staffer whose attempt to save his Republic goes terribly awry. And then there is Krotov, head of the Federation’s security services, whose plots, agents, and assassins are everywhere. Following the success of his debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler launches readers into a thrilling near-future world of geopolitical espionage. A cybernetic novel of political intrigue, Where the Axe is Buried combines the story of a near-impossible revolutionary operation with a blistering indictment of the many forms of authoritarianism that suffocate human freedom.
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I was a big fan of The Mountain In The Sea, and rated it as one of the most interesting debuts to come along in a while. This one also deals with non-human intelligence, but one closer to today’s headlines. Yes, it’s an AI novel. But what’s most interesting here is the form. It’s told from many different viewpoints, all of whom of have different levels of access to what’s really going on, and it ends up reading like a classic twisty espionage story. More than anything, I was put in mind of Dave Hutchinson’s fantastic Fractured Europe books. And like those, be prepared to be left scratching your head at the end, as you piece together what was really going on. A reread will, I think, throw lots of new perspectives on the novel, but even after a single read through it’s clear Ray Nayler is a hugely promising talent.
4.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
The world is divided into rationalized economies run by AIs, and the Federation, run by the same autocrat for decades. But both societies are about to break down, with substantial help from shadowy but powerful cabals whose aims and allegiances aren't entirely clear. Each of a half dozen characters have an important part to play, despite never being quite sure what it is.
Review
The central theme of Where the Axe is Buried is a familiar one – systems containing the seeds of their own collapse – but Nayler's approach to it is astonishingly good. I liked Nayler's previous novel, The Mountain in the Sea, but it also left me a little cold. Here, there's also a bit of a clinical, distant feel, but the story is so well done that he gets away with it. This is one of the best constructed novels I've read for a while.
There are a lot of characters in the story; Nayler shifts among half a dozen to allow each to give us snippets of information and perspective on systems collapsing. None is really at the center (one is slightly more central) and none is indispensable. For the first third of the book, that left me intellectually interested, but not really emotionally invested. After that, my emotional engagement grew in small increments, though it never quite reached my heart.
It's generally clear where the story is going, though there are enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. One final twist toward the end feels like a step too far, and unnecessary. That's in part because, despite the emotional distance, Nayler is focused on the characters' experiences, and the system collapse that is the story's backdrop is too vague to really fit the pieces together. In that sense, this is an impressionist story – you get the gist of the theme without ever really seeing quite how the pieces fit together (and my feeling, frankly, was that they don't). The key, though, is that it works. It's an impressionist sketch without a central focus point or character, but it's also extremely well executed.
It probably helps that it appears Nayler draws on a professional background quite similar to my own, so the names, cultures, and concepts are familiar. In any case, just as the last book moved me from uncertain bystander to impressed onlooker, this books is moving me closer to enthusiast status – I still can't really say ‘fan', because I look for more emotional involvement, but I certainly enjoyed this story.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
