A review by sugarpal
Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very happy to have won a giveaway for an ARC of this book! I hoped the sequel would be better, and I’m glad to say that it was. (Also, I freaking adore the cover.) 
 
Though it certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, I found Truth of the Divine to be very well executed, and extremely thought-provoking. (Think: Ender’s Saga by Orson Scott Card, but with a non-homophobic author.) This book is much better than its predecessor Axiom’s End, but it’s very different too: much denser; more political, philosophical, and personal; far less focused on action, although there is still some in there. There are new aliens, new humans, new conflicts. One thing’s for sure: though there’s some humor in here, this is not a fun book. These characters go through some shit (CW: trauma, PTSD, suicide, self-harm). Ellis is far more concerned with the philosophical and political implications of aliens coming to call than she is with happy endings. 
 
Much of the improvement from Axiom’s End, though, is because to me the characters were much more interesting. In Axiom’s End, Cora didn’t seem to have much of an arc; the focus was on the development of her relationship with Ampersand. In this book, however, she has more of an emotional journey, and her complicated relationships, especially with the new character Kaveh, are well depicted –– in that they left me feeling very conflicted, as I’m sure Ellis intended. (She does not sugarcoat things.) Speaking of, I really enjoyed reading Kaveh’s perspective alongside Cora’s. Not only does he have a refreshing and entertaining voice, he also has a unique viewpoint on both Cora and the aliens. I always enjoy seeing contrasting perspectives on the same characters. But be warned: I wouldn’t call them likable. Ellis’s characters are all deeply flawed, which in my book is one mark of a skilled writer. 
 
These books are fundamentally about people’s relationship to the alien, whether that’s between groups of humans or between interplanetary peoples. These relationships are defined by conflicts of values, of beliefs, of power. Yet Ellis still treats her alien characters with as much empathy as she does her human ones, giving them individuality and depth. Her discussion of how to apply ‘human rights’ to non-human persons, who happen to have an enormous technological advantage, was fascinating. And I found her exploration of how America would react to the arrival of extraterrestrial refugees to be depressingly realistic. 
 
I think the ending fit, and it left me sure the next book will be even bigger and better than the last. It’s been a few days, and as with Axiom’s End, Truth of the Divine is sticking with me. I’m definitely going to be picking up the third book when it comes out! 
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