Review: Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

Published: Orbit (2017)

Series: Book 7 of the Expanse

Awards Nominated: Locus SF Award

The Book:

“In the thousand-sun network of humanity's expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace.

In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity and the power to enforce it.

New technologies clash with old as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient patterns of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity -- and of the Rocinante -- unexpectedly and forever…” ~WWEnd.com

This is the latest book of the Expanse series, and I read it in a community read-along, from which you can read our spoiler-filled discussions here, here, here, and here.  The 8th book, Tiamat’s Wrath, will be coming out this December.

In other Expanse news, the TV show was picked up by Amazon Prime (after being cancelled by Syfy).  Three cheers for having at least one more season of this fun space opera series!

My Thoughts:

This is the first book to come after a really significant time jump, and I’m still not sure how I feel about that.  Persepolis Rising takes place 30 years after the events of Babylon’s Ashes. It makes sense that the threats humanity faces now are slow in coming to fruition, but at the same time this means that we’ve missed 30 years of our heroes’ lives.  The Rocinante crew is still together and tight-knit, but they are now an aging family.  By the time the adventure kicks off, there have been discussions of retirement and end-of-life preferences.  They’re still the same people, still great characters to follow, but there is some existential pain in seeing fictional characters approach the end of life.  This novel does make clear, though, that they aren’t quite yet removing themselves from the center of action, and that there are still miles to go before they sleep.  

Instead of traveling around in the Rocinante righting wrongs, the crew is deprived of their ship and trapped in Medina station.  This story is not one of open conflict, but of resistance against a superior occupying force.  Here we see the crew reaching out to the more extreme OPA factions, and working underground to find anyway they can to undermine the enemy. Persepolis Rising is also the first novel of the final arc of the series, as the threat foreshadowed by the hints of alien civilization-killers in previous novels are now starting to come to the foreground.  I’m excited to see how this will be addressed in the rest of the series, and to see what we might learn about the alien civilization who created the protomolecule.

The non-Rocinante viewpoint characters were not as compelling this time around.  On the Sol System side, we follow Drummer, who is now the head of the Transport Union.  The highlight of her storyline, for me, was the revelation that Chrisjen Avasarala is still alive and relatively healthy.  She’s an amazing character, and I was deeply saddened that she might have died off-page when I saw the large time jump. Other than that, Drummer was attempting to conduct war against an enemy with vastly superior technology, so the story was predictably depressing. Our other point-of-view character, the head of the Laconian occupation, is a terrible person.  I initially thought that he might be included to show the human side of the Laconian group, but he’s just an incompetent and morally bankrupt leader, lacking in any redeeming qualities. I supposed he underlines the fact that the Laconians are short-sighted, cruel, and deserving of whatever karmic justice is coming to them in the rest of the series.

My Rating: 3.5 /5

Persepolis Rising makes a massive time jump, and it was somewhat uncomfortable facing the mortality of the characters I have come to love.  Holden, Naomi and the rest still have adventures ahead, though, and it was exciting to see that the story is finally moving into addressing the implications of the alien technology and the ruins it has left behind.  The Rocinante crew’s story is more claustrophobic than usual, following their resistance efforts in an occupied space station. I enjoyed the change of pace, even though I was less interested in the arcs of the two new viewpoint characters.  I am looking forward to seeing how this series will come to a close!

Review: Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey

Published: Orbit (2015)

Series: Book 5 of The Expanse

The Book:

“A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price.

And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.” ~WWEnd.com

I read this book as an audiobook for a community read-along, and you can see our spoiler-filled discussions here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.  This is my favorite of the series so far. I’m planning to post my review of Babylon’s Ashes later in December, and I’ll be joining a read-along for Persepolis Rising in January!

My Thoughts:

Nemesis Games takes a different approach than previous novels in terms of the viewpoint characters. Instead of introducing new characters, it gives the reader the perspective of characters they already know and (at least in my case) like a great deal.  Holden remains our continuing hero through the series, but the other chapters are through the eyes of Alex, Naomi and Amos, the crew of the Rocinante.  I was so excited to see the universe through their eyes, and also to learn more about their pasts and how their experiences have shaped them. Each of them has a distinct personality and voice.  By the end, I felt like I understood each of them so much more than I had before. I was especially impressed with Naomi’s tenacity and intelligence, and she has quickly become one of my favorite characters in the series.

While I loved these characters in general, their differing backgrounds also made them ideal for this particular story.  The four of them scattered--to Mars, the Earth, and the Belt--to address their own personal matters. Meanwhile, solar-system-wide mysteries and civilization-changing events were afoot, and these large-scale events ran through and wove together the viewpoint characters’ individual stories. Unlike my complaints with Cibola Burn, this time every chapter felt necessary to the whole, and the characters always seemed integral to the events happening around them. There were some really spectacularly fun bits, too, like Amos’s blunt conversations with Chrisjen Avasarala and Alex’s collaboration with Bobbie.  I enjoyed how well the novel balanced funny or emotional character moments with the consequences of major system-wide events.

On the larger scale, this novel deals with the consequences of the opening of the gates on the existing status quo of the solar system.  While having loads of new planets may seem like a good thing, it does have negative effects.  The great project to terraform Mars is beginning to look a little pointless, and Belters worry that an increased focus on planetary living will push them out of existence.  These conflicting human motivations drive the story, and alien-related problems move to the back-burner.  When the crisis point comes, it is a game changer for humanity and for this series.  I’m still curious to learn more about the ancient alien civilization, but I have enjoyed the focus on human actions in this stage of the story.   I’m excited to see what will happen in the final four books of the series!

My Rating: 5/5

Nemesis Games, 5th book of The Expanse, is my favorite of the series to date.  Instead of introducing new major characters, the viewpoint characters were the members of the close-knit Rocinante crew. The story was full of suspense and action, and each character’s personal arc tied into the momentous events that affect humanity across the solar system.  There’s very little to do with aliens this time around, and instead the focus is on how the current events have affected the various slices of human civilization.  I think Nemesis Games will be hard to top, but I’ll be happy if the rest of the series proves me wrong!   

Review: Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

Published: Orbit, 2014

Series: Book 4 in The Expanse

The Book:

“The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonise has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity's home planets. Illus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire. Independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey a new and alien world.

James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the heart of chaos. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail. And the whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilisation which once stood on this land is gone. And that something killed them.” ~WWEnd.com

I’ve gotten back into The Expanse, by participating in a months-long read-along of the series to date!  Right now, we’re in the middle of Babylon’s Ashes, and I’m finally starting to catch up with my overall reviews. Cibola Burn is discussed in spoiler-filled detail here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.  I don’t intend to give away any major plot points in this review, but do keep in mind that it is the fourth book of a series.  This is a series that needs to be read in order, so there are necessarily some plot spoilers of previous books.

My Thoughts:

At the end of book three, it seemed clear that the next novel would involve the many planets opened up to humanity through the gates.  Cibola Burn does not disappoint on that account, revolving as it does around colonization rights to a new planet known as Illus or New Terra by Belters and Inners, respectively. The planet itself is really interesting, and I like that this series has a bit more of a twist on the ancient, vanished alien civilization.  Illus has its own alien flora and fauna, while also bearing the marks of occupation by the gate makers.  There’s also the lurking threat of whatever destroyed the gate-maker civilization, and the fear that some remnant of it might remain.  Sparking things into action, Holden is bringing the protomolecule to the planet through the form of ghost-Miller.  Safe to say, the planet has a complicated history and biosphere, and it presents some interesting and dangerous challenges to the sudden human intruders.  This ‘alien’ side of the story kept me well and truly hooked.

The human side of the story was in some ways less compelling.  Holden arrives to mediate a dispute between a corporation that has mounted a scientific expedition, and colonists who have settled the planet with no authorization.  This might sound like a story about an evil corporation against plucky survivalists, but the corporation actually seems to intend to act in good faith all around.  The conflict that pulls Holden to the system is perpetrated by a very small subset of people on each side.  Unfortunately, one of those people is the violent, cardboard villain who holds control of the corporation’s security force.  His motivations seemed incredibly thin, so I didn’t ever fully understand why he was so dedicated to causing suffering. I appreciated the more complicated villains of Abaddon’s Gate, and this felt like a step back.  While there were plenty of legitimate reasons for friction between the two populations, having this plotline pushed primarily by a single evil person made the conflict feel forced.  I was much more interested in how the people would respond to the threats that arose from the alien planet itself.

For another thing, the viewpoint characters, aside from Holden, were also a bit bland. I didn’t really dislike any of them, but none of them really had the strength of character of Bobbie or Avasarala, for example.  Their perspectives are worthwhile--corporation scientist Elvi, angry colonist Basia, and corporation security member Havelock--but there seemed to be pretty long stretches of downtime in each of their stories.   Some of their subplots felt more like filler than necessary for the overall story.  It was nice to see the situation from each angle, but at the same time I just wished there was a bit more for them to do.  In a broad sense, though, the events of Cibola Burn have interesting implications for the future of the series.  Finishing this novel left me eager to move on to the next, because I am still invested in the overall story of this universe and the adventures of the crew of the Rocinante.  

My Rating: 3.5/5

Cibola Burn is probably my least favorite of the series to date, but I am still on board for continuing the series.  The story features an alien planet with a complicated history, and I enjoyed watching our characters slowly unravel its story. On the other hand, the human conflict of the story was driven by cardboard villains and shown through the perspectives of some unremarkable viewpoint characters.  I felt like most of the non-Holden storylines had just too much filler and not enough of the main story.  It’s still an important volume in the continuing story of The Expanse, it just didn’t thrill me as much as some of the others have.

Read-Along: Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey, Part 2

Welcome to week 2 of the read-along of James S.A. Corey’s Babylon’s Ashes, book 6 of The Expanse!  This week’s questions cover chapters 14-27, and are provided by The Illustrated Page. If you’re interested in joining in, check out our Goodreads page.  Beware of spoilers from here on out!

 

1. So far we've gotten POVs from Namono, Pa, Filip, Holden, Salis, Clarissa, Dawes, Avasarala, Prax, Alex, Naomi, Jakulski, Fred, and Bobbie. Do you have any favorites? Least favorites? Of the characters who's POVs we haven't gotten yet in Babylon's Ashes, who do you most want to see?

It’s kind of dizzying, seeing the story from so many different angles.  I guess my favorite so far would be Holden, mostly because he has multiple chapters that appear to be building to something.  I am enjoying his “People of the Belt” series, and it was great to see that others are starting to pick it up as well.  Pa and Filip also have recurring chapters, but I don’t really like them very much.  Their chapters sort of feel like they’re trying to make me have sympathy for people who are pro-genocide, and I just don’t.

Out of the one-off chapters, I really enjoyed seeing the world from Fred’s eyes.  He’s a character that I’ve really come to appreciate over the series, so it was neat to have a little insight into how he sees the universe.  My least favorite one-off chapters would be the people I don’t really know--Salis, Jakulski, Dawes.  I don’t have any emotional connection with the characters, positive or negative, and there isn’t really enough time in their chapters for me to try to build it.

As for who else I want to see, I would like to see Pastor Anna (or Namono again).  She was hurt very badly, and I’m worried their family is not going to make it.  It’s also a little odd we’ve had no Amos chapter yet, so I’d like to see what’s going on in his mind.  Finally, it would be neat to get some Earther refugee chapters, maybe Erich or one of Holden’s parents.  I’m trying to resist looking up who’s coming in the second half of the book, in order to preserve the surprise!    

2. Marco's left Ceres. Is this a smart move? Is he abandoning the people of the Belt? And what do you think has happened to Dawes?

I think this is a case of “whatever happens, I win”.  I think he realized he couldn’t hold the station, so he needed to come up with a way to retreat and still claim a victory.  He’s absolutely abandoning the people of the Belt, but I think any Belter who’s been paying attention must know that he doesn’t actually care about them by now. I have no idea what happened to Dawes.  Was he not with the Free Navy after Ceres?  Maybe I missed something while Pa was breaking off.  I wouldn’t put it past Marco to kill him, but that’s mostly because I wouldn’t put much of anything past Marco.   

3. Pa's got a temporary truce of sorts with the OPA. Do you think accepting her supplies is the moral thing to do, or is it condoning piracy? And who do you think fired on Pa when she was with the Rocinante?

I think they had to accept her supplies.  They’ve already been stolen, and there are people who need them.  I can’t think of any other solution that would have been more moral.  When this is all over, I expect Pa and her ships will have to answer for their piracy, but using the spoils to help people will count in their favor.  As for who fired, I expect Marco left some loyalists behind on Ceres as spies.  I would guess it was one of them, trying to prevent Pa from making a deal with Fred Johnson’s OPA.

4. Filip appears to be having some unusual feelings. Do you think he's any closer this week to edging towards redemption?

I guess?  He couldn’t have been much farther than he was before.  I’m going to be seriously upset with his character arc, though, if he turns on Marco for not being as competent as he believed.  Given everything he’s done, he needs to have a moral turning point if he’s going to have any chance of forgiveness from anyone.

5. Prax's home is unofficially being occupied by the Free Navy, and he went and sent potentially lifesaving information to Earth. Do you think this is going to come back to hurt him?

Oh, probably.  Things seem to be a fair bit tenser on Ganymede than he’s noticing.  I especially enjoyed his clueless conversation about “resistance” with his kid. His answer was a nice explanation, but I can see why she was confused!  I get the feeling he’s going to be forced to be more involved than he has been so far.  I just hope his family doesn’t get hurt.

Review: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey

Published: Orbit, 2013

Series: Book 3 of The Expanse

Awards Won: Locus SF

This is the third book of a series, so bewares spoilers of the first two books!

The Book:

“For generations, the solar system -- Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt -- was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared in Uranus's orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artifact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.” ~WWEnd.com

I’ve been really enjoying Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck’s series up until now, and Abaddon’s Gate is even better than what had come before.  I’ve also been thrilled to hear that the series is going to be adapted into a television series. I have always thought this series would translate well to visual media, and I can’t wait to see how Syfy will handle the adaptation!

My Thoughts:

This third novel in the space opera series The Expanse keeps up the excitement and adventure of the previous two novels.  The wonder and horror of the alien protomolecule once again plays a major role, and the story’s heart lies with its strong cast of memorable characters. I enjoyed Caliban’s War, but I felt that it was in kind of a holding pattern with respect to the overarching plot of the series.  The story repeated a lot of the elements of the first novel, and the protomolecule spent most of its time stewing on Venus. In Abaddon’s Gate, things are moving forward rapidly again. Much is revealed about the purpose of the alien protomolecule, though many dangerous questions remain unanswered. Even without running afoul of impersonal alien technology, conflict seems unavoidable between the different political factions that rush to investigate the gateway structure. There are so many future possibilities opened by the events of this book, and I can’t wait to see the direction the story takes in Cibola Burn.

I feel like Abaddon’s Gate also shows an improvement on its predecessors in terms of its antagonists and the complexity of its plot.  While I felt that the first two novels suffered a bit from one-dimensional villains, the antagonists this time around were much more carefully developed.  One of them, Melba Koh, is even a viewpoint character. While her personal motives are relatively simple and I don’t see her actions as forgiveable, I appreciated the internal conflict that haunted her each step of the way.  Other antagonists are genuinely doing what they think is best for humanity, but good intentions don’t guarantee good results. Of course, the gathered spacefarers also have to contend with the danger represented by the alien technology of the gateway, and what may lie beyond it.  There’s a lot going on in this novel, and I appreciated how well all of the pieces fit together.

In terms of the characters, Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are still central to the story, and I appreciate seeing how they change as a result of their difficult experiences.  Holden is no longer the idealist of Leviathan Wakes or the violent, traumatized man of Caliban’s War. There were also hints about the histories of the other crew members, which highlight how little we actually know yet of their lives before they joined the ice hauler in Leviathan Wakes. The new viewpoint characters this time include pastor Anna, who has come to discuss what the gateway means in terms of her faith, and an outer-planets security officer, Bull, who is determined to keep the political situation from falling apart. I thought they both provided interesting new perspectives, though I would have enjoyed a bit more philosophy from Anna.  The touches of humor in character interactions helped to lighten up some otherwise grim situations.  I am looking forward to seeing where the Rocinante will go next!

My Rating: 4.5/5

Abaddon’s Gate is an excellent addition to a highly entertaining space opera series. Familiar old faces, like Holden and his crew, are still a major force, but a handful of new major characters also bring life to the story.  I felt like the antagonists were much more well-rounded characters this time around, as opposed to the one-dimensional villains of the previous two stories, and I think this helped support a more complicated plot. The novel provides some exciting reveals about the purpose of the protomolecule, and raises yet more questions.  The conclusion opens many possibilities for the future of the series, and I am excited to see which the story will follow!

Review: Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey

Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey (Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham)

Published : Orbit, 2012

Series : Book 2 of the Expanse

Awards Nominated : Locus SF

The Book :

“On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun…” ~The Expanse Wiki 

I loved the first novel of this series, and it has taken me entirely too long to get around to book 2!  I was hoping that I’d be able to read Abaddon’s Gate before the next one comes out (this June), but I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Also, it looks like Syfy is picking up this series as a television show, so here’s hoping they do it justice!

My Thoughts:

Caliban’s War occurs in the aftermath of the events of Leviathan Wakes, and it features a number of the same characters. It also seems to repeat many of the same beats as the first novel in the series—missing daughter, alien protomolecule, vomit zombies, etc.—but, given how much I enjoyed the first novel, a little repetition did not deter my enjoyment of the continuing story. I still find it impressive that this novel was written by two authors, since their writing seems to merge seamlessly at this point.  I could pick out Abraham’s point-of-view character in Leviathan Wakes, but I honestly couldn’t tell who wrote which character this time around.       

Speaking of the viewpoint characters, Caliban's War features four.  Jim Holden remains from the first novel, though he’s been going through a rough patch after his traumatic experiences in the previous novel.  Holden has lost his idealistic certainty, and I was much more engaged with his search for how to live as a good person.  I also still love the rest of the Rocinante crew, and I really enjoyed the direction the novel took Holden and Naomi’s relationship.  The viewpoint character Prax Meng, a scientist desperately searching for his missing daughter, was an interesting counterpoint to Holden and his crew.  After the callousness of Julie Mao’s parents, it was refreshing to see Prax’s devotion to his daughter.

The other two additions are Bobbie, the Martian marine, and Avasarala, the foul-mouthed, elderly politician. Bobbie was a pretty simple, straightforward character, but it was refreshing to see a macho fighter character portrayed as a woman.  As for Avasarala, I found her political skill a little unconvincing, but I assumed she must have been more charismatic on her climb up the ladder of power. I thought the simplistic Earth-Mars politics angle of the story was one of its weaker points, but watching Bobbie and Avasarala interact livened up the plotline considerably.  In fact, altogether, I really enjoyed the interactions of the characters, and the complementarity of their various perspectives.

While the plot does bear some similarities to Leviathan Wakes, it's still entertaining in its own right.   The story has a good balance of humor, horror, action and adventure, and the heroes are faced again with a potential disaster for the human race.  Also, the search for Meng’s daughter gave the story a more personal, emotional push than Miller’s obsession with finding Julie.  However, There were a few areas that seemed a little weaker.  The main plot was more political, and the machinations were a too blatant for my tastes.  Following from this, I thought that the villains were a little too mustache-twirling, shortsighted, and unintelligent.  All the same, the novel was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s up with the protomolecule in Abaddon’s Gate.

My Rating: 4/5

Caliban’s War is a thoroughly entertaining addition to The Expanse saga. Holden and his crew return as major characters, and I enjoyed them just as much this time around.  There are also a number of interesting new viewpoint characters, which provide perspectives from a scientific community, the military, and the political sphere.  However, the novel repeats a lot of the successful notes of the first novel of the series, the politics are a little obvious, and the villains are pretty one-dimensional.  Despite that, it was easy to get caught up in the excitement, horror, action and humor, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for the crew of the Rocinante!

Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (AKA Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham)

Published : Orbit, 2011

Series : Book 1 of the Expanse

Awards Nominated : Locus SF and Hugo Awards

The Book :

“Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.” ~WWend.com

Leviathan Wake is my last review of this year’s Hugo novel nominees, so I’ll have a summary post up about this year’s Hugos soon.  I’ve never read anything by Ty Franck before (I believe this is his first novel), but I’ve enjoyed Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, in addition to some of his shorter work published in Asimov’s. I’d been looking forward to reading their collaboration, and I think they work well together.  Apparently, Abraham wrote from Miller’s point of view, Franck wrote from Holden’s point of view, and then they edited each other’s work.  The result is a very smooth and coherent novel that felt as though it were written by a single author.  From what I hear, this is planned as a six novel series.  The second novel, Caliban’s War, is already out.   

My Thoughts :

When it comes to excitement and adventure, Leviathan Wakes definitely did not disappoint. Leviathan Wakes was mostly a solar-system-bound space opera, but it also contained elements of noir and horror. Frequent humor helped to lighten the mood in darker places, but the characters still remained appreciative of the seriousness of their predicaments.  The story was full of explosions, disasters, large-scale space operations, and horrifying surprises.  It didn’t take long for the story to get into high gear, and the stakes were fatally high for both the heroes and the human race as a whole. In general, the story seemed like the novel equivalent of a well-crafted sci-fi adventure film.  It featured a team of heroes caught up in world-shatteringly significant events, and it pitted them against some unmistakably evil villains.  There was also a romantic subplot and a few regrettable action film cliché moments.  All of that added up to a highly exciting and entertaining story, which kept me eagerly turning the pages.

The two heroes of the story were Holden and Miller, whose viewpoint chapters alternated. Holden was an idealist who believed that all information should be freely broadcasted, and people tended to treat him as something of a holy fool.  While I can respect Holden’s standing by his convictions, I felt that he needed to take more responsibility for the destruction his ‘free information’ could cause.  Miller was contrasted with Holden by his belief that information should be guarded, and released with care in order to bring about a desired result.  I liked the idea of the heroes, but their characterization seemed a little too deliberately extreme to be realistic, especially near the beginning.  All the same, it was interesting to see how these very different characters interacted with one another, and how they developed throughout the story.

Holden and Miller were strengthened as characters by their supporting casts.  With the inclusion of Holden’s surviving crew, Miller’s colleagues, Martian soldiers, people who worked at research stations, and a rebellious ‘belter’ organization, the universe of Leviathan Wakes felt real and highly populated.  Of course, few of these supporting characters were especially developed, but most of them still felt distinct in personality and voice.  To me, the most interesting supporting characters were the members of Holden’s crew.  They each had memorable personalities and meaningful roles in the unfolding story.  Even the love interest character was interesting in her own right, and I hope she plays a large role in the story to come.

In addition to an exciting story and memorable characters, the “Expanse” universe seemed very well designed.  Though the setting of Leviathan Wakes was limited to our solar system, the novel showed that this was more than enough space to create a compelling and complex universe.  The descriptions of the physical spaces and of the different levels of social, political, and economic structure were sufficient to make the solar system feel like a real place where people lived and worked. I enjoyed the examination of the physical and cultural differences between the ‘belter’ and ‘inner planet’ citizens, and of the difficult relationship between them.  I loved this fictional future setting, and I feel like it has a lot of potential for future novels.

My Rating : 4.5/5

Leviathan Wakes is a highly engaging, exciting space opera set solely within our current solar system.  While most of the story is a space adventure, there are also some noir and horror elements.  To me, Leviathan Wakes seemed to novels what especially well-crafted action movies are to films.   It was very exciting, it had humorous moments to break up the darker segments, it had characters that were  painted in extremes, and it had occasional moments of cliché.  Behind the action of Leviathan Wakes were characters that were easy to care about, and our colonized solar system made for a very interesting setting. In short, Leviathan Wakes was thoroughly entertaining, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!