this book has left me reeling. in a good way.
the chapters are told from the perspectives of our main characters, which sometimes cross each other.

there’s two elements that i found the most interesting. disclaimer - i am not knowledgeable about all topics and geopolitical aspects that have served as inspiration for this novel, so i will speak of what i know. as a person with russian heritage and family that lives there in near poverty but still blindly and actively supports the regime, or shrugs in apathy, the tale of zoya hit close to home. as someone who has not seen that part of the family in years, lilia was relatable to me. nayler also touched upon the topic of refugees and their worth, depending on their home country. does a refugee from an agressor state deserve pity? in general, i felt like „where the axe is buried“ presented a pretty accurate account of the way russia has been functioning.

„In the years that followed, Zoya and her allies would come to understand that they would never win. Their resistance to power was purely symbolic.“

„And when the West makes their accusations,“ Krotov said, „we accuse them of lying. And we repeat our own lie to them again. Forever.“

these parts of the book reflected the feeling of helplessness that i see in russian speaking anti-authoritarian communities. what can be done against such a system? in „where the axe is buried“, the author describes an ending so not in tune with the bleak starting situation, it gave me whiplash. for that, i am deducting one star.

the second aspect i found interesting was the setup and fall of the PMs.

„We mystified the public with the idea that the machines were intelligent, maybe even conscious, when they really were nothing more than incredibly advanced statistical calculators, designed to give us the kinds of solutions we needed them to give.“

the next person that says „oh let me just ask chatgpt“ to my face will get slapped with this book. the gen ai craze is costing me my last nerve. that is all i will be saying on this matter thank you :)

one last thing - the book was well written, i really enjoyed naylers style. however, my knowledge of the russian language and folklore did help me out at multiple points. if this book is meant for people unfamiliar with russian, perhaps it would be smart to include a glossary. i feel like some small but interesting aspects of the story would be lost otherwise.