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.
This book was massive in scope and the author pulled it off with full marks. Incredibly well done story. I will absolutely read the next in the series.
Um, here's a thought, but don't read it unless you've already read the book, okay:
I feel kinda horrible to say it, but I was kinda glad when Miller got killed off. Not that I wasn't sad; he was one of my favorite characters, and I really loved how he developed over the course of the novel. It's just like this: if I'm going to stick around for a what, nine-book series, I want to see that the authors aren't afraid of change. Too many books I've read are afraid to let anything happen because they want their readers to keep loving the characters they first saw. (The Oz series is predominantly on my mind; every book solved the conflict with yet another magic object to the point where one of the later plots--and in my opinion one of the more interesting ones--has an evil magician steal all their magic …
Um, here's a thought, but don't read it unless you've already read the book, okay:
I feel kinda horrible to say it, but I was kinda glad when Miller got killed off. Not that I wasn't sad; he was one of my favorite characters, and I really loved how he developed over the course of the novel. It's just like this: if I'm going to stick around for a what, nine-book series, I want to see that the authors aren't afraid of change. Too many books I've read are afraid to let anything happen because they want their readers to keep loving the characters they first saw. (The Oz series is predominantly on my mind; every book solved the conflict with yet another magic object to the point where one of the later plots--and in my opinion one of the more interesting ones--has an evil magician steal all their magic stuff, so they have to work without. I mean, seriously: how can you keep a story interesting when one character has a belt that lets them do literally anything?)
Anyway, by killing Miller, the authors have convinced me that they're going to do what's right to make an interesting story, even if it hurts the reader's feelings a bit. And that's all right. In fact, I much prefer that to static characters. I don't want a bunch of novels with practically identical plots. (I'm talking to you, Sherlock Holmes and Hardy Boys.)
And to those who have read further into the series (preferably until Cibola Burn):
Yes, I realize Miller came back. My point stands; he definitely was extremely changed and arguably not even the original person at all.
Truly fantastic book, I enjoyed it thoroughly. One of the best pieces of sci-fi I've read in years. I spent many late nights on this story. I bought it because I liked the series, and I'm SO glad I did!
This book had, to me, a slow crescendo. So slow, in fact, that I was nearly 40% through the book before I really felt like I connected with the characters. Once I did, though, the story continually ramped up, and by the end I was delighted with the direction of the story.
I decided to read this book due to my enjoyment of "The Expanse" on SyFy. I rather enjoyed the book, and while there are some major differences between the show and the book, I thought the show really captured the major themes of the book. If anything, the show downplayed some of the stronger sequences of the novel. I'm very much looking forward to both the next season of the show, and to reading the rest of the series. I think I'll start the next book now, as a matter of fact.
I really enjoyed this book. It's a solid space adventure with some nice plot twists and good reveals. I was worried at the beginning - particularly during the scenes on Ceres - that this was going to be an example of a story that just uses an SF setting but isn't necessarily SF. However things really kicked into full-fledged SF mode once the initial worldbuilding of the political situation of Earth/ Mars/ Belt was rounded out, and it never looked back after that. My only other (early) worry was that the character of Holden was just too damn 'goody-good' to be true. Luckily the other characters are more grounded and cynical and call Holden on his wide-eyed worldview. It's not as cutting-edge science fictionally as, say, Paul Macauley's Quiet War series or Charles Stross's work, but it's certainly got some interesting ideas and goes quite some way to creating a …
I really enjoyed this book. It's a solid space adventure with some nice plot twists and good reveals. I was worried at the beginning - particularly during the scenes on Ceres - that this was going to be an example of a story that just uses an SF setting but isn't necessarily SF. However things really kicked into full-fledged SF mode once the initial worldbuilding of the political situation of Earth/ Mars/ Belt was rounded out, and it never looked back after that. My only other (early) worry was that the character of Holden was just too damn 'goody-good' to be true. Luckily the other characters are more grounded and cynical and call Holden on his wide-eyed worldview. It's not as cutting-edge science fictionally as, say, Paul Macauley's Quiet War series or Charles Stross's work, but it's certainly got some interesting ideas and goes quite some way to creating a believable solar-system-spanning society that's just a century or so ahead of us. I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing what the mooted TV series makes of it all.
