Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Published in 2011. Science Fiction. Jim Holden is the Executive Officer on the Canterbury, an old galactic transporter ship, now a water hauler. It’s carrying a glacier to its next destination when it spots an abandoned ship on an asteroid. Jim and his team are sent to investigate, but as they do, the Canterbury is destroyed by six unknown vessels. Jim takes his ship to the closest port, Eros, to ask for sanctuary until he can figure things out.

Meanwhile, on the asteroid Ceres, Detective Miller receives a special mission to find the daughter of a rich client, Julie Mao. As he begins to investigate, he rubs his boss the wrong way on another case and is fired from the Security force. But he can’t let mystery of Julie go and has a hunch she may be in Eros. There, he meets Jim Holden and his crew and helps them escape an attack by a bunch of gunmen. In the process, Miller finds Julie.

Even though this book was long, I enjoyed reading it. The plot was interesting, and I liked the characters. The story is set in the future after Earth has sent out humans to colonize much of the solar system. Although very little is given about conditions on Earth itself, conditions in other parts of the system were hostile, but managed with the help of artificial atmospheres, artificial food, and technology. It didn’t sound pleasant, more like gritty. To live out there took guts.

This is the first book in the Expanse Series, and I will be looking for the rest of them. I hope they will be as captivating as this one was. The name James S.A. Corey is a pen name for two authors—David Abraham and Ty Franck. They were assistants to G.R.R. Martin.