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Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1)

by James S.A. Corey (Goodreads Author)

4.2 · Rating details · 84,944 Ratings · 6,980 Reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 561 pages

Published June 2nd 2011 by Orbit

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Jan 17, 2011 j rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, 2011, 52-in-2011, wssfbc

I complained in my review of Chasm City that the gee-whiz mechanics of space opera can't really sustain a 600-page narrative. It turns out I was perhaps incorrect: most of the lengthy examples I've sampled in the sub-genre (Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks) are of the "dark and gritty" variety, grim, nihilistic visions of the future starring amoral asshole protagonists who are impossible to sympathize with. Even with a bunch of cool ideas on display, spending 700 pages in these books is exhausti I complained in my review of Chasm City that the gee-whiz mechanics of space opera can't really sustain a 600-page narrative. It turns out I was perhaps incorrect: most of the lengthy examples I've sampled in the sub-genre (Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks) are of the "dark and gritty" variety, grim, nihilistic visions of the future starring amoral asshole protagonists who are impossible to sympathize with. Even with a bunch of cool ideas on display, spending 700 pages in these books is exhausting. Inevitably, I like them for about 400 pages and then I just... get tired.

But this book... this is the space opera I want to read. This book has the spirit of the genre's early days, characters who still marvel at the impossible immensity of the stars, but it isn't a pastiche or a throwback -- it's a natural evolution, and a remarkably satisfying one. The closest analogue I can think of is the oft-overpraised television show Firefly. Say what you will about the annoyingly zealous fanbase (or don't, you don't need the hate email); that show really did almost everything right in translating space opera to the modern age. The characters are complex, they operate in a world that is more grey than black & white, but each also has a clear moral center, so we know why they do the things they do, even when they are terrible things. You can make space opera (or epic fantasy or whatever) that is "dark" and "gritty" and still fun to read, with characters that are fun to read about. Because why would you want to explore the stars with assholes?

I'm having some trouble locking the tractor beam on my point here, but it basically comes down to this: if you want me to invest in your lengthy space epic, you better give me something more to care about than magic space technology macguffin crap, because I will get sick of that. This book gave me cool ideas and everything else: archetypal characters that nevertheless manage to be compelling and sympathetic, interesting and very well thought out politics and economics, constant narrative momentum without sacrificing character... It's the most fun I've had reading sci-fi in a long time.

I should have expected nothing less of Daniel Abraham, who is one-half of the pseudonymous James S.A. Corey; earlier this year, I gushed about the way he was able to do basically all the same stuff within the confines of the epic fantasy genre. And there is so much to like about the premise, just on the face of it: it's a few hundred years from now. Humanity has colonized Mars and invented an engine that allows fairly speedy travel, to a point. Our solar system has been colonized, with outposts on the moons of Saturn and spread across the asteroid belts, but we've gone no further because, come on, space is freaking huge and what are the chances we're going to invent warp drive and quickly stumble across the other needles in the galactic haystack? Besides, we've got enough to keep ourselves busy: colonizing space hasn't exactly united humanity, and Earth, Mars and the Outer Planets Alliance operate under an uneasy truce, with heavy prejudices on all sides.

This stuff is very well thought out. People in the outer planets have lived for generations free from the constraints of heavy gravity, and have started to differ physically from Earthers. Language and culture have shifted too. This makes racism easier. Meanwhile the sheer logistical challenges of sustaining life on dead rocks (from mining interstellar ice to diets of food manufactured from algae) mean the "Belters" are still beholden to their terrestrial cousins.

The plot is a potboiler, effectively combining space action with a noir murder mystery (the two storylines intertwined in chapters that alternate between two POV characters). The characters are, like I said, broad types in some ways, but you can do broad types very well; a stock character can still be well rounded and compelling. This book manages to star both a world-weary detective and an idealistic space captain (with a smart-mouthed love interest and some wise-cracking ship's crew in the background) and not feel like a retread, to give the characters tough moral choices (and sometimes they make the wrong ones), without turning them into unrepentant sociopaths. It goes back to what I was saying many, many paragraphs ago about honoring conventions while expanding upon them.

I don't know if I am communicating this very well, but this book is all of that and also just impossible to stop reading. It's also funny without trying too hard, and thoughtful without being overly constructed or preachy. It's the book I have been looking for every time I picked up a space epic. I just didn't know until I found it. ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Felicia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

I've been gorking out on Urban Fantasy and Romance lately, so mixing it with a FANTASTIC Space Opera was JUST what I needed!

I loved this book because in a lot of ways it humanized a BIG SF world in a way that is normally tough. I cared about the characters, I yelled at them a lot, and I enjoyed every minute! It felt modern and current, and created a really believable world that I wanted to live in and learn about. The politics of Earth vs Mars vs the Fringers, the mystery and vaguely noir-ish su ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Kemper rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery, sci-fi, 5-0, war, space, germs-viruses, vast-conspiracy, 2015, expanse, 2017-reread

I got nobody to blame but myself for this….

I’ve had a long-standing policy that I will not read an unfinished sci-fi/fantasy series because I spent over a decade waiting for a certain master of horror to get off his ass and finish what he started. Plus, I have no urge to join the ranks of fans of other fantasy writers who seem to spend more time coming up with excuses and side projects rather than producing new books to finish their on-going series.

Ignorance isn’t a good defense, but it’s all I I got nobody to blame but myself for this….

I’ve had a long-standing policy that I will not read an unfinished sci-fi/fantasy series because I spent over a decade waiting for a certain master of horror to get off his ass and finish what he started. Plus, I have no urge to join the ranks of fans of other fantasy writers who seem to spend more time coming up with excuses and side projects rather than producing new books to finish their on-going series.

Ignorance isn’t a good defense, but it’s all I can claim. I picked this up on a whim after hearing it mentioned on the Incomparable podcast. I was a little leery when I saw it was almost 600 pages, but I didn’t bother looking into exactly what I had gotten myself into until I started the book That’s when I freaked the hell out:

“9 novels?!? 9 goddamn novels and they’re all this long? Holy shit! Only 5 have been released? It’s an unfinished series?? IT’S AN UNFINISHED SERIES! Oh, sweet jebus what have I done? And holy shit snacks they’ve been releasing off-shoot novels! ARGGHHH!! This is a nightmare…. OK, calm down. Let’s see, there’s actually two guys writing it under one pen name. Two guys can keep each other focused and moving forward. They’ve been releasing books like clockwork and have a schedule to bring it home. That’s good news. And these off-shoots are Kindle shorts so it looks like they’re really just true extras and not them filling their pockets while dawdling on the main series. Oh, and the Syfy network is doing a TV series based on it? That could be cool. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all. Wait, one of the authors also works as an assistant to….Uh oh. Well, maybe he’s learned what NOT to do when you’re working on a series…Or maybe I‘ll end up not liking it very much and can just stop here.”

No such luck. Damn it. I’m a sucker for the kind of sci-fi where even though they’re in space the characters have dirt under their nails and skinned knuckles rather than lounging around in pristine uniforms on ships that look like corporate cube farms. I’m also much more of a believer in the idea that if humanity does make it to other worlds that we’ll be dragging all our collective baggage out there with us rather than being explorers from a utopian society. Plus, I’m a big mystery fan and one of the main characters is a burned out space detective with a cynical outlook. And I also like (view spoiler) Oh, yeah. I’m in.

I particularly liked the push/pull between the two main characters. Holden is an idealist who thinks that people will make good collective choices as long as they’re told the truth, and that contrasts well with Miller’s bleak outlook that people are stupid sheep. Put those two guys in a society built out among our solar system’s asteroid belt that is about to go to war with Earth and Mars as they try to unravel the conspiracy behind it, and you’ve got yourself a pretty damn compelling sci-fi story.

I still kinda feel like a rube though….

Update 2/7/17 - You can tell from the original review I posted that I had a lot of misgivings about starting an unfinished series back when I first read this. A few years later after re-reading it I'm happy to report that it all worked out for the best. The authors have stuck to their schedule and delivered a book a year since they started, and the entires series has become one of my favorite sci-fi things ever. I also got a bonus in a pretty damn good TV series based on the show since then which just started it's second season. So this gamble has paid off pretty well so far. ...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ Rabid Reads rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, aliens-i-love-em, space-travel, not-your-ordinary-creatures, favorite-secondary-characters, rabid-reads-reviews, diabolical, creeptastic, that-bastard, kickass-heroines, it-burns-us-precious, bat-shit-crazy, pirates, gross-man

9/6/17 - Today only, ON SALE for $2.99:

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

Here's another Jessica quirk: I LOVE sci-fi on screen, but I rarely like reading it. I have no idea why. Some things just are.

BUT. I binge-watched The Expanse last week, and it was good enough that it made me curious. There were no giant-insects-as-aliens, no surplus of tech gobbledygook, and no discernible artificial intelligence (the things that make me avoid sci-fi literature, even though I can usually handle the movie version ...more

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Sep 21, 2011 mark monday rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-gave-up, futuristik

EH? EH! this so-called space opera is anything but. no sense of wonder, no sense of truly divergent civilizations, no galactic span. and a clear lack of operatic emotions on display as well. perhaps this is due to the characterization, which is rote, uninteresting, and badly developed, with sub-par Firefly-style dialogue along for the ride. perhaps it is also due to the subject matter, which is confined to purely in-system politics between Earth and Mars (the two reigning superpowers) and the as ...more

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Dec 17, 2015 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, book-to-film

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ”Way I see it, there’s three ways this can go,” Miller said. “One, we find your ship still in dock, get the meds we need, and maybe we live. Two, we try to get to the ship, and along the way we run into a bunch of mafia thugs. Die gloriously in a hail of bullets. Three, we sit here and leak out of our eyes and assholes.”

Well, really, the story begins when some alien species shoot a payload of virus at Earth and misses. This virus is capable of turning the human race into piles of nasty, smelly ...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Carol. rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: fans of light sci-fi

Shelves: mystery, sci-fi, nebula, male-lead, awards, hugo, multi-culti, fast-and-fun

Leviathan Wakes broke my reading slump! Listlessly slogging my way through various reads--a couple of which came highly recommended--I was starting to wonder if it I had lost my book love. Then I picked this up for a Book o' the Month read. Expecting a detail dense sci-fi, within the first few pages I found myself hooked, and by page 100, thoroughly reeled in by this hefty genre mash-up. Space opera? Perhaps. Horror? Maybe. Military? Sort of. Mystery in space? Yes, definitely. And if by the end ...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Alejandro rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, military, novel

A fair option of new science-fiction book series.

FRESH SCIENCE FICTION

I have a lot of curiousity about this series since it seemed like a very good option in new sci-fi. I mean, out of the obvious well-known sci-fi space opera books in the market, this "Expanse" series sounded like a good way to read something fresh in the field of sci-fi.

And I was right. I liked the book.

First of all, maybe you already know but anyway, I want to mention that "James S.A. Corey", the author, is a pen name us ...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Richard Derus rated it it was ok

Rating: 2.5* of five

**UPDATE 22 December 2016** This is a mea-culpa of epic proportions. Syfy did a stellar job of making this series. I couldn't have been more wrong about the series, though I still don't like the books. This YouTube video of a Google Talk from 2014 is a terrific proof of why the series works so well. Excellent television! Binge on the series at Prime for the holidays.

**UPDATE 6 September 2013** More Suckass News Dept, from SFSignal: "Variety is reporting that scribes Mark Ferg ...more

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Sep 13, 2010 DMS rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 09, 2011 Becky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, science-fiction, favorites, politicalish, romance-y, mystery-and-thrillers, zombies, reviewed, audiobook, i-want-this, highly-recommended, leg-hump_worthy, 2012

Confession Time: I'm very bad at categorizing genres and sub-genres, so it didn't dawn on me that Leviathan Wakes would be considered a "space opera" until I saw it in the genre listing on the book's Goodreads page. I still don't really know what that is (space opera, not a Goodreads page), despite having read the Wikipedia page and stuff. I think of "space opera" and this comes to mind:

Probably not the same thing. But I did realize that my last attempt at reading a "space opera", The Warrior's ...more

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Jun 29, 2017 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction

3.75 - This space opera meets crime noir is a great start to a series I'm looking forward to continuing!

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Apr 07, 2015 Melki rated it really liked it

Recommended to Melki by: The Unholy Trinity - Tom, Dirk and Algernon

Shelves: crime-fiction, thriller, science-fiction

This is one of the many reasons why having Goodreads friends is so awesome.

I would have never read, much less even heard of this book had it not been for some GRs buddies with impeccable taste. And believe me, it took some coaxing to get me to read a 560 page space odyssey.

It's a real page-turner, they said, and indeed, it was. You'll fly through it in no time, I was told, and indeed, I would have, had I not picked one of the busiest weeks of my life to read it. This book should ideally be read ...more

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Mar 04, 2014 Sanaa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-books-i-own, favorites, 2016-read

[4.5 Stars] Ugh, I absolutely loved this one. It got half a star knocked off because I felt like the women in the book were really just there because they were love interests. I wanted something a bit more. I think we will get that, but still I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH OH MY GOODNESS. Miller, Miller... I just can't.

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May 12, 2012 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own, acquired-in-2012, must-read-in-2013

Authors foresee lots of trouble between humans making a living (hypothetically) in the asteroid belt of our solar system (or beyond) and those closer to home. Don’t believe me? Check out The Quiet War or Cold as Ice.

As you can see, the themes dealt with in Leviathan Wakes aren’t new. The blurb, drawing parallels with Peter F. Hamilton, is accurate enough, although any number of authors might have been referenced, interchangeably. That said… this book is a strangely rewarding beast, given some pa ...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Apatt rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

This is the first "inter-solar" space opera I have ever read (or remember reading). The era of the setting is also interesting, neither the near future nor particularly far-flung. This is set at a time where space colonization has been going on for some years but mankind is still restricted to our solar system, intergalactic travels are still a dream, or a science fiction concept. The year is not indicated in the book so my guess is about 100 years from now, 200 tops!

The book is an interesting h ...more

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Jan 08, 2017 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-5and4-5, 2017

4.75

“There were two sides fighting—that was true enough—but they weren’t the inner planets versus the Belters. They were the people who thought it was a good idea to kill people who looked or acted differently against the people who didn’t.”

There are many quotes I could have chosen but this one hit on one of the big themes and tropes of this novel - duality. James S.A. Corey (pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) offers us an exhilarating novel that uses dichotomy on nearly all leve 4.75

“There were two sides fighting—that was true enough—but they weren’t the inner planets versus the Belters. They were the people who thought it was a good idea to kill people who looked or acted differently against the people who didn’t.”

There are many quotes I could have chosen but this one hit on one of the big themes and tropes of this novel - duality. James S.A. Corey (pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) offers us an exhilarating novel that uses dichotomy on nearly all levels. On the surface, this is a fun space opera full of action and adventure, but at the same time it is also a character driven story focusing on socio-political factors.

The world building is brilliant and complex, presenting a world where humans have colonised most of the Solar system but not yet acquired the technology to go further. Power plays and monetary gains are still very much present, as is discrimination, permeating everything and creating palpable tension that will explode at the least provocation. And this is where our story starts...

The narration follows two characters, Holden, XO of an outer planets ice freighter, and Miller, a police detective. Both could be seen as stereotypes, as many of the other protagonists, but the authors seem to take these moulds and twist them into something much more interesting, giving them more depth. Holden is your 'perfect' hero in the making, always trying to do the right thing and 'save the day'. Things of course don't go as planned and it was fun to see his reactions, as well as his interactions with the rest of the crew - special mentions for Naomi and Amos (his deadpan attitude is just priceless). Miller is your usual middle-aged, cynical, hardboiled, cop, divorced and relying often on alcohol. Oh but he is much more than that too. His moral compass is completely unlike Holden's, unstable, and yet he stole the show for me. Both are of course the two sides of the same coin - both are right and wrong. They're also used to personify the two aspects of the plot: the scifi adventure and the noire detective thriller, as well as the realist politics and the surreal horrors!

Yes, I loved it and cannot wait to start the sequel!

bosch painting

Painting from Hieronymus Bosch ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 7jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(music: The Pastels - "Cycle (My Bloody Valentine remix)")

When Holden and his crew go check on an abadoned ship 'Scopuli' they find a secret and something that could (view spoiler) start a war. There is a certain missing girl of a wealthy family to be found, for detective Miller - of planet Ceres - that has been on this ship, who is now missing(view spoiler). What kind of damage can this secret make, if allowed to continue (music: The Pastels - "Cycle (My Bloody Valentine remix)")

When Holden and his crew go check on an abadoned ship 'Scopuli' they find a secret and something that could (view spoiler) start a war. There is a certain missing girl of a wealthy family to be found, for detective Miller - of planet Ceres - that has been on this ship, who is now missing(view spoiler). What kind of damage can this secret make, if allowed to continue to be so, and the missing girl will bring Holden and Miller together with interesting result.

Yeah, I could tell pretty early that this book was going to be a good ride. Now and then there was a shocking scene - to be honest, also pleasing this reader in a good way - like (view spoiler).

Holden having such a large family was interesting, and I love the appreciation of cheese funny. Holden and the gang's (view spoiler). Of course that will have consequences later....

The chatter in chapter 46: first one Italian, then there's a Finnish bit before English again. Have to admit it surprised me, but then I was like *yay*:
(translation of the Finnish): ....and I [they - a word needed here to make sense of the next verb which is plural] rose from the dead and cheapens fate forces me and my sister...

Clearly this is just the start, but the book delivers. No calm lulls, which sometimes lead to awkward moments in films (and maybe books), just flowing into the next part. Interesting characters, feeling of realism everywhere. There's new prejudices - Belters vs. Earth/Luna/Mars - not just because of the location, but because of language, body etc. differences. People feel real, and everyone has their flaws, some worse than other of course. Love the bits about food, about battle stuff (which will of course continue to happen), about language. I will certainly look forward to reading more ;) ...more

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Jan 29, 2011 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013

I'm not usually a fan of crime novels or crime noir, whatever you want to call them. I also can't watch CSI or NCIS because even though I acknowledge they are well done, I've even been known to enjoy them on occasion, they tend to be the same cookie-cutter plot.

However, add a little science fiction and the mix can be brilliant as demonstrated in Leviathan Wakes.

Leviathan Wakes (LW) takes place solely in our solar system, which is a rare thing for most SF works it seems and yet it felt just as fu ...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Brad rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, mystery, fanboy-goes-squee, biopunk, space-opera, worldbuilding-sf, cthulhu-goes-ph-nglui-mglw-nafh-ct, zombies-go-braaaaaaaaaains, top-one-hundred

Fantastic Space-Opera! I didn't know what to expect when I picked up the book besides the basic premise, and yet I was slowly drawn into situation after situation that got bigger and more bad-ass, contrary to what I was expecting in the first hundred pages or so. Sure, Solar-system action, big haulers, warships... I didn't expect the scope to become as large as it soon became, and believe me, I was quite satisfied with what came next. War? No problem. Expectation of high-level manipulation? Agai ...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Penny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, science-fiction, series, popular-should-read, books-they-say-i-should-read, highly-recommended, scifi-and-fantasy-club-bookshelf, scifi-fantasy-club-2014challenge, space-opera, hugo-nominee, locus-nominee

I've been hearing good things about this series for a while now and I'm so glad I finally got around to picking it up. What a fantastic start to what I can only imagine will be a great scifi series!

I loved the way the universe was set up, the way we've colonised the solar system but haven't managed to get further due to very practical concerns such as water and air. The political structure is really well set up and makes for a fantastic story.

Most interesting perhaps is the difference between th ...more

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Sep 27, 2014 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi-fan-group, fof-reads, 2015-sffbc-challenge, 2015-dark-room-challenge, specfic-buddy, read-owned-ebook

Love. Yes, folks, it is love at second sight.

I liked this book quite a bit the first time around, when I'd listened to the audiobook. Here's my review of that listen, from 2012. It's interesting to look back at that review now, as I enjoyed the book quite a bit more this time around. The things that annoyed me on that earlier review didn't bug me at all this time.

So I'm not sure if that's that I prefer the reading to the listening, or if I'm just getting more of the fine detail this time throu ...more

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Jan 24, 2015 Ɗắɳ 2.☊ rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, the-final-frontier

★★★☆☆

“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. Whatever drives us off Earth to the rest of the solar system or from there to the stars, the problems we have are the ones we bring with us.”

The gist is that, this “space opera” is kept to the small scale, at least initially. This is the first of a planned ★★★☆☆

“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. Whatever drives us off Earth to the rest of the solar system or from there to the stars, the problems we have are the ones we bring with us.”

The gist is that, this “space opera” is kept to the small scale, at least initially. This is the first of a planned nine novels, and soon to be TV series. The first five of which have already been published, along with half a dozen novellas, so there’s plenty of material available. They also appear to be churning them out at a fairly steady clip, allaying any fears of the dreaded waiting game *ahem* GRRM, Rothfuss, Stephen King’s DT, et al. But I digress, on to the snyposis.

Humanity has expanded beyond Earth, establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars, and various other locales within the asteroid belt. The story follows two main protagonists, alternating chapters back and forth throughout the entirety. Jim Holden, the earthborn XO on an old ice hauler, is a young, fairly naïve, idealist who sees the best in people. Josephus Miller was born out in the belt, and in many ways is the polar opposite of Holden. He’s your stereotypical, world-weary, burnt out, old detective, who spends most his time bending his elbow down at the local tavern.

Our story begins with Holden’s ship responding to a distress signal, far out in the belt. Things however, are not as they appear. They’ve unwittingly stumbled upon a conspiracy which, if unraveled, threatens to throw the entire solar system into war. Meanwhile, Detective Miller’s on the case of a missing girl. He’s been tasked with kidnapping and returning the girl to her rich parents, who somehow knew trouble was brewing. The two plots prove to be related, and each one turns up several guarded secrets. While Miller attempts to keep a lid on things, Holden continually sends out public broadcast of all he thinks he knows. One of these days, that decision may cost him everything.

This book may be a space opera at heart, but there are also elements of a classic noir detective story, horror (with vomit zombies!), political intrigue, and military sci-fi. This is not hard science fiction, more of a working man’s version. We’re shown many new technologies, but there are no in-depth descriptions of how everything works, it just does, so go with it! If you weren’t a fan of all the math and science in something like The Martian, you don’t have anything to worry about here.

3 stars: A slightly above average first entry. I’m not entirely sold on the series, but I do hope that upcoming TV show kicks ass, and I did enjoy this book enough to at least give the next one a look. I loved the setting and the premise, but I wasn’t overly thrilled by the plot, and I wish they’d do a better job at fleshing out some of the side characters. In fact, most all the characters were shallow stereotypes. I’d also like to see the future installments move away from the noir mystery to more of that promised “space opera.” Don’t know if they will, but a boy can hope.

♫ One of these days, the ground will drop out from beneath your feet… ♫
...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Jason rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-books, read-2011

5 stars for it delivers everything that you would expect...

I really love space operas, and Leviathan Wakes is a very good one, albeit a light one. This is not a hard science book like an Alastair Reynolds novel, but it is a true space opera in that outer space is one of the main characters.

The story centers around two very different protagonists that each view the world in a very different way. Miller and Holden are both good guys that try and make the world a better place by being the best at 5 stars for it delivers everything that you would expect...

I really love space operas, and Leviathan Wakes is a very good one, albeit a light one. This is not a hard science book like an Alastair Reynolds novel, but it is a true space opera in that outer space is one of the main characters.

The story centers around two very different protagonists that each view the world in a very different way. Miller and Holden are both good guys that try and make the world a better place by being the best at what each of them do. Holden is made Captain of his starship after his captain is killed. This is the job that he was meant for. He is a natural leader. He cares about the well being of his entire crew. He wears his moralities on his sleeves and is generally a good guy. Holden would be the priest in another story.

Miler is a detective that works on a large space colony station. He is a 50 year old cop that has seen what life can dish out. He has been around the lowest dregs of society for most of his life, and as a result, views the world through his graphic experiences. Miller, unlike Holden, does not see society and the average joe as all being good,God fearing people worth protecting.

The differences between our two heroes moralities is what really make this book work. They are polar opposites, yet they are on the "same side of the coin". Neither character wants to empathize with the other, and neither feels that the other one is justified in their beliefs. They have some great conversations where one tries to tell the other their point of view with little succes. I liked both men and found many reasons to side with each of them.

As a space opera this book rocks. Almost the entire book is spent on spaceships, in our solar system, and on distant moons and stations. The space travel is lightly explained, but it works. There are plenty of space battles, filled with lasers, cannons, protons, and other things that go boom...great stuff. There is an alien virus, and evidence of life outside of our solar system. Best of all there are VOMIT ZOMBIES!!!!

Miller is a detective and does solve a mystery, but I did not get much of a noir feel from him or his story. The mystery is an intergral part of the story, but to me, it came across as noir lite type novel. We needed more backstory, more dirt and grime, and more of it.

The writing is fun and descriptive.
" Way, I see it, there's three ways this can go, One, we find your ship still in dock, get the meds we we need, and maybe we live. Two, we try to get to the ship, along the way we run into a bunch of Mafia thugs. Die gloriously in a hail of bullets. Three, we sit here and leak out of our eyes and assholes."

I really enjoyed this space romp and cannot wait for more. If you like space opera's or like the lighter side of science fiction, than this book is for you... ...more

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Apr 06, 2012 Scott Sigler rated it it was amazing

Well I finally finished this book. And that took some doing, because it's a bruiser, weighing in at 560 pages. I mean, who writes books that long these days?

I really enjoyed it. My favorite part of the book was the setting. The Two Writers Who Together Are Known As "James S.A. Corey" created a space opera that is fully contained in our solar system. There are different governments, cultures, and we are even on the cusp of human speciation as the inner planets square off against the "belters" and Well I finally finished this book. And that took some doing, because it's a bruiser, weighing in at 560 pages. I mean, who writes books that long these days?

I really enjoyed it. My favorite part of the book was the setting. The Two Writers Who Together Are Known As "James S.A. Corey" created a space opera that is fully contained in our solar system. There are different governments, cultures, and we are even on the cusp of human speciation as the inner planets square off against the "belters" and the outlying element of our system. This concept made for a contained story that felt very familiar and accessible. Compared to the FTL, star-spanning efforts of most scifi tales, LEVIATHAN WAKES felt more like "home" than anything I've ever read.

The story itself is wonderful. The characters are solid, horribly flawed, and trying to do the best they can based on their individual (and widely varying) sets of morals, or lack therof. Like in life, no one thinks they are "the bad guy." You've got some good starship combat and enough action scenes to keep those 560 pages moving at a decent clip.

If you're looking for the "science" of science fiction, this is pretty much a magical fantasy tale. The "other" in the story is so drastically ahead of us technology wise that our protagonists are left wondering how such things could be possible. Biology, in particular, is dealt with via the wave of a wand and a "this is beyond our understanding" approach. I don't think there was any way around this for the authors, though -- if the characters are hundreds of years ahead of us, and the characters need to be frightened and mystified by some highly advanced tech, then the poor, primitive readers such as you and I aren't going to have the first clue. It all makes sense within the context of the story.

Will some of these elements be explained in the next two books? If the excerpt from Book II that's included in LEVIATHAN WAKES is any indication, probably not. And does that mater? Not at all.

If you dig spaceships, realistic scifi, and real-life situations that are more BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (new version) than STAR TREK (any version), you will probably dig this book. ...more

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Nov 08, 2013 Rick Riordan rated it it was amazing

It had been a while since I'd read a straight-up space opera sci fi, so I gave it a try and loved it.

I especially liked the scope of the novel, which is set a few centuries in the future, when humanity has colonized much of the solar system but still has not reached the stars (or found alien life). Sadly, human politics and jingoism haven't changed much. Earth and Mars are in an uneasy alliance, and the humans living out on the asteroids of "the Belt" feel like exploited colonists. A fringe grou ...more

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Aug 06, 2013 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This is an excellent book. I'm going to have a couple of negative things to say which accounts for it not getting into the 5 star range, but they're minor.

This is a multilayered story that deals with events on several levels. At base you get a "sort of" mystery story with a bedraggled cop drawn into a missing person's case that turns out to be so much more. It's also a "sort of" first contact story of a rather original type (yes you've probably seen this type of first contact but it's not been d This is an excellent book. I'm going to have a couple of negative things to say which accounts for it not getting into the 5 star range, but they're minor.

This is a multilayered story that deals with events on several levels. At base you get a "sort of" mystery story with a bedraggled cop drawn into a missing person's case that turns out to be so much more. It's also a "sort of" first contact story of a rather original type (yes you've probably seen this type of first contact but it's not been done often and this one is done well). You will also get a fairly involved political story. A futuristic cold war that could lead to the most destructive civil war humanity has ever face.

All in all an excellent read that kept me up late last night finishing it.

The negatives? Well, there's a section in the middle of the book that frankly got very slow. It was mostly part of Miller's story and it's possible that others won't find it as slow as I did.

There are also the characters. For an attempt at such an intricate story they seem a little shallow. This is a convoluted political story but there are some fairly surface views. Still, it doesn't hurt the book.

As far as the novel's plot goes there is a negative part to the story here. Not however a "negative" that calls for criticism or dropping the rating. I don't mean negative in that it's a problem or a failing but that it puts some very negative parts of human nature on display. The tendency for us to break up into, "us and them" groups and try to kill each other.

So, excellent read. 4 stars and a good read, I intend to follow it up, at least at some point.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Tom Merritt rated it it was amazing

This to me is perfect scifi. There's enough acknowledgement to reality and physics and tech, and loads of evidence that the writer(s) is(are) a geek (are geeks) that I don't feel put upon with unlikely scenarios. On the other hand it's also not a physics textbook. I like physics textbooks, especially ones with stories, but that's a different choice of reading. When I want fiction, this is what I want. Adventure, differentiated and believable characters tight writing, and mystery that pulls you t ...more

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Aug 04, 2013 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery, science-fiction, military, space-opera

Great escapist reading with a compelling mystery, battles in space, and a band of brothers with the fate of humanity in their hands. My interest in taking up this 2011 series entry was spurred by the production of a Syfy cable TV series “Expanse” based on the book. Set perhaps 200 years in the future when we have colonized the solar system, it doesn’t tax your imagination with amazing technological wonders like the far-future space operas of Alastair Reynolds or Peter Hamilton. Instead the focus Great escapist reading with a compelling mystery, battles in space, and a band of brothers with the fate of humanity in their hands. My interest in taking up this 2011 series entry was spurred by the production of a Syfy cable TV series “Expanse” based on the book. Set perhaps 200 years in the future when we have colonized the solar system, it doesn’t tax your imagination with amazing technological wonders like the far-future space operas of Alastair Reynolds or Peter Hamilton. Instead the focus is on the character development of two men, one an idealistic spaceship officer and the other a cynical detective on an asteroid colony, and on their converging and diverging approaches to dealing with a mysterious threat to humanity that may lie behind an impending human war among the colonies. We get one tantalizing taste of this threat in the prologue when a kidnapped woman breaks out of a locker where she was being held to find an empty ship and some kind of horrifying goo around the ship’s power plant.

The invention of a compact, cheap fusion drive is the primary new technology that makes it possible for colonization of the moon, Mars, and the moons of Saturn, for mining of the asteroid belt, and establishment of large space stations for manufacturing and shipping. The many millions of people living off planet tend to align their sympathies with the interests of either mother Earth, Mars, or the “Belter” residents of the colonies among the outer planets. I love the detail the authors went to in portraying the social and political complexities of this new distributed humanity, replete with ago-old conflicts over power and resources and hostilities between cultures and economic classes.

The book has great dramatic pacing which is achieved through the direct experience, action, and dialog among the characters. There is very little recourse to information dumps and interior monologues. One character, Jim Holden, is an Earth-born executive officer of an ice-hauler who ends up leading a small crew on the run after being lured to investigate an emergency beacon of a stranded ship and encountering an ambush. The other main character, Joe Miller, is a detective with the private security firm contracted to police the large shipping colony on the asteroid Ceres. The bonding and teamwork among the spaceship crew (team leader, an ex-military pilot, a sexy female navigator/techie, and an engineer) feels a bit like that in “Alien”, while the dogged work of the jaded, alcoholic detective in the multicultural seedy urban environment of Ceres station feels a lot like “Blade Runner.” Such derivative aspects are fine by me as it’s done well.

Holden’s broadcast of his suspicion that Mars was behind the attack spurs the outbreak of hostilities among the colonies, which progresses when the alternative becomes equally plausible that the revolutionary Outer Planets Alliance is orchestrating the conflict. Miller has to deal with the riots and unrest among residents on Ceres and, in between these crises, he becomes convinced that a certain runaway girl he is supposed to track down for a wealthy Earth family may hold a clue to a possibly conspiracy manipulating events toward war. Both Holden and Miller are desperate in their obsession to unmask the hidden puppetmasters because any full scale war is likely to be brief and suicidal. The domes of colonies are just too vulnerable to a few bombs and missiles and planetary civilizations can be sent the way of the dinosaurs with diversion of a few sizeable space rocks.

Ultimately, these two get together to fight the good fight, but the difference in their outlooks leads to severe disagreement on strategies. Holden is like a Boy Scout when it comes to dealing with bad guys, believing exposure of their deeds will lead the good authorities to apply proper justice, while Miller thinks nothing of manipulating people to achieve his ends, expects subterfuge at every point from others, and is quick to mete out justice vigilante style. As the authors note in an afterward, both are right, and both are wrong. After much harrowing action against their enemies, which I refrain from spoiling in any way, they eventually come to appreciate each other’s perspectives and make the solar system safer. Am looking forward to the cable TV series and glad I didn’t spoil the read by watching that first.
...more

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Jan 24, 2017 Tudor Vlad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, rereads

I forgot how much a reread can improve a book, the second part of this novel is brutal and amazing. I don’t know if it was because I kept imagining how the show is going to adapt some of the things but the last 200 pages got me so hyped, I can’t even describe. I was already anxiously waiting for season 2 to start airing, but now I’m begging for time to fly by because I just can’t wait anymore. I guess it’s time to rewatch the first season too… again.

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“There's a right thing to do," Holden said.
"You don't have a right thing, friend," Miller said. "You've got a whole plateful of maybe a little less wrong.” — 82 likes

“What kind of half-assed apocalypse are they running down there?” Amos said. “Give ’em a break. It’s their first.” — 49 likes

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