Leviathan Wakes is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. It is the first book in the Expanse series, followed by Caliban's War (2012), Abaddon's Gate (2013) and six other novels. Leviathan Wakes was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. The novel was adapted for television in 2015 as the first season-and-a-half of The Expanse by Syfy. Five short stories that take place before, during, or after Leviathan Wakes were published between 2011 and 2019.
For me, this was a frontier western story in space, and I was not sure why I should be interested. It made me question the whole premise of 'humanity conquers the solar system/universe' science fiction. Why would humanity settle Mars and the Asteroid Belt to begin with, and why would society change so little in that process?
If you like mystery, violence, horror and want it set in space, this might just be your thing; it did not appeal to me.
So I started reading this book 1 year ago... I remember very vaguely that it kind of bored me; the vocabulary was complicated, the author uses some technical words I don't understand, and it generally didn't entertain me... However, the idea of an interplanetary society that's set up in this novel, is very fascinating, additionally with the perspectives of 2 different, opposite characters, is also a very interesting way of telling a story.
Review of 'Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
“There’s a lot of science fiction that talks about the near future. There’s a lot about great galaxy-spanning empires of the distant future. But there’s not much that talks about the part in between. The Expanse is playing on that bridge” – authors’ reply to the question of ‘What kind of story are you telling in this series’.
Written under the pen name James S. A. Corey-a collaboration between fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the story revolves around two men Holden and Miller andImage - Leviathan Wakes their rising-above-human decisions that averts a catastrophe. Two men totally opposite in character, the former a ship’s pilot and the latter a tired and aging criminal detective. The men are similar in that they are solution-driven, in that they’d do anything ranging from lying-to governments, to the guiding systems of missiles and even to self-driven rocks to intimidation, extortion, to get …
“There’s a lot of science fiction that talks about the near future. There’s a lot about great galaxy-spanning empires of the distant future. But there’s not much that talks about the part in between. The Expanse is playing on that bridge” – authors’ reply to the question of ‘What kind of story are you telling in this series’.
Written under the pen name James S. A. Corey-a collaboration between fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the story revolves around two men Holden and Miller andImage - Leviathan Wakes their rising-above-human decisions that averts a catastrophe. Two men totally opposite in character, the former a ship’s pilot and the latter a tired and aging criminal detective. The men are similar in that they are solution-driven, in that they’d do anything ranging from lying-to governments, to the guiding systems of missiles and even to self-driven rocks to intimidation, extortion, to get the job done.The similarities end there. This big book is about everything that comprises our solar system, including the meta-physical.
The book is two-faced, chapters divided between Holden’s experiences and Miller’s. The former’s is fast-paced, full of incidents and action, while the latter’s is noir’ish.
Miller sets out to bring home a kidnapped daughter of a wealthy empire so she could forget her personal dreams and do what is best for her family but ends up seeing her having been devoured by something alien to mankind. Holden faces loss in form of his ship and team members and sets out to avenge it. How these two come into contact, understand the inner political workings, discover something totally bizzare and huge and thwart an end-of-humanity incident is what this book is about. It tries being an hard sci-fi but the latter half of the book, particularly the end throws the impression away.
Written by authors one of who’s name always gets followed with being ‘George R. R. Martin’s assistant, I can understand the scope of story includes meta-physical contacts and inter-species conversations, arguments and bargaining, but can’t say I buy it. It was a great ride and I’d like to stop by saying I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing is excellent and it felt I was eating a sweet moist cake that I could go on devouring for hours together without getting stressed. To the ‘Caliban’s war’ I go.
