Where The Axe Is Buried by Ray Naylor (book review)
Ray Nayler is a Canadian author who largely grew up in California and who has been publishing SF since the early 2020s. He has won both Locus and Hugo Awards in that time, with numerous other nominations. ‘Where The Axe Is Buried’ is his third novel and the first that this reviewer has read. In the section ‘A Note About The Author’, it is revealed that Nayler spent twenty years working in Russia and a lot of the middle east, including Kazakhstan and Afghanistan as well as Vietnam.
As we start ‘Where The Axe Is Buried’, we quickly find out that the story starts in a country east of Europe known only as The Federation. This is ruled by a totalitarian dictatorship headed up by The President. Neither the country nor The President are ever actually named but most of the characters thereabout have Cyrillic names. Meanwhile most of Europe have adopted a new form of government lead by PMs. While this acronym suggests a Prime Minister, the PMs are in fact artificial intelligences more powerful than but, not entirely unlike, the AIs that are becoming more popular as I write such as ChatGPT. So far, this form of government has been remarkably effective. Because the main decisions are made by an AI, most people accept them as they know the decisions are made rationally and not by a bias politician.
This is known as Rational Government. The PM takes all the available data into account and makes the most rational decision. Indeed, countries run by PMs have achieved stable economies with low unemployment and relatively equal opportunities for all the population. As such, if a PM makes some add seemingly odd decisions they will probably be followed through on as history shows that PMs have always been right in the end.
The first character we meet in this book is Zoya, who is an elderly woman who once was part of a rebellious uprising against The Federation. Now she is a political exile living out in the woods and finding solace chopping the logs for her fire. In the past, she wrote a very popular book named ‘The Forever Argument’ that was quickly banned in The Federation as subversive. Now she remembers her rebel husband fondly, despite the fact he was murdered six months into their marriage by The Federation. Then along comes a modern rebel who seeks Zoya out with the intention not of freeing Zoya from her exile but instead to duplicate her.
Next, we meet Lilia who is a computer genius. Indeed, she has invented a technique never before created that allows a live diorama to be formed based on the instinctive state of a person’s mind. Although Lillia was born in The Federation, she spent some time being educated in London. It was here that she invented her diorama technology and it was also here that she met and fell in love with Palmer. He’s a fairly simple fellow who does industrial jobs and, initially, would not seem a good fit for a computer genius. But he accepts her for herself and does not constantly ask about her work, which she finds refreshing and honest. However, Lillia left her ailing father Vitaly back in The Federation and has made the mistake of going back to visit him. Now The Federation will not let her leave again. As it happens, she left her two dioramas with Palmer. One shows his state of mind and the other shows Lilia’s. Given that this technology could have serious implications for spy work both the east and the west have sent agents to secure it. Palmer, however, determines to go and rescue Lilia and promptly vanishes.
Next we meet The President and his doctor, Nikolai Agapov, who knows that The President’s health is failing. Indeed, he only has a week or two left. This means that The President’s mind will need to be transferred into a new body. This has happened several times already and so The President is significantly beyond his natural lifespan. However, no-one is entirely certain how effective the transference is as The President often seems slightly different afterwards. To be honest, I found the chapters with Agapov and The President very evocative of Robert Silverberg’s ‘Shadrach In the Furnace’ but I suspect this was accidental.
The final strand of story introduces Nurlan, who is a minor civil servant in one of the eastern European countries run by a PM. Unfortunately, the PM has decided to double all the energy prices several times in a row and the population is rioting in protest. Now Nurlan and several other civil servants, as well as a couple of politicians themselves, are holed up in a government office hoping the rioters won’t be able to break in. They hope the riot will end, either peacefully or maybe as security forces close in. Alas, the PM keeps doubling the energy prices every half hour and the riot is just getting worse.
Not all of the characters will meet each other. Indeed, only a few actually do meet up eventually. Lilia ends up being helped and influenced by shadowy rebels who may or may not be the same ones inspired by and using Zoya. Of course, various government spooks are after Lilia as well, so her story is quite fraught with distrust. Dr. Agapov struggles with the head of The Federation’s intelligence services, Krotov. Agapov has his own thoughts but wonders how much the scary Krotov actually knows. Meanwhile, Nurlan is in a relationship with Hazal, whom he has never actually met but from whom he receives warm and concerned messages from over his terminal. Of course, in the end, many of these characters will turn out to be rather more than they first seem and a lot of the fun of the book is watching the plots twist and turn.
Ray Nayler writes with a great fluidity and expansive realism. It has been said that a writer should write what they know and Nayler certainly uses his experience in Russia, etc. to weave a believable setting for his totalitarian state. There is a certain skill in weaving a convincing near-future tapestry but this is a skill which Nayler has certainly nailed. I will fetch my coat.
This book does not outstay its welcome and wraps up quite at the right time. This is a very smart book that knows exactly what it is aiming for. It is probably close enough to contemporary that a non-SF reader might get along with fine, much like some of Margaret Atwood’s work. There is not much fantasy in ‘Where The Axe is Buried’ so be aware of that before you pick it up. However, if you want a smart and clever novel that somehow seems oh so plausible then this is a good read. Thoroughly recommended to fans of social SF everywhere and to everyone else I say this is still a pretty fine novel. Methinks I might try some more of Nayler’s work.
Dave Corby
March 2026
(pub: Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion, 2025. 322 page hardback. Price: £20.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-39962-788-7)
check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk