"Aestus Book 1: The City" by S.Z. Attwell--Fiction Review

Today, Obscurists, we’re traveling to the city—in S.Z. Attwell’s “Aestus Book 1: The City.” It’s a post-apocalyptic story where the status quo isn’t what it seems, and it underlines that in nearly every conflict, there are heroes and villains on all sides.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

That ending! A lot goes down quickly, and it was like getting a jolt. The energy and tension suddenly crescendo at the end of the plot, and it’s been in my head since I finished reading “Aestus: Book 1: The City.” I’m of more than one mind about the end, but I’ll get into more later. Overall, I’d say I loved it.

I’ve brought this up in a prior review, but I like my post-apocalypse(s), in fiction, unexplained, hinted at, but never spelled out. This book pulls that effect off well. The end of the world probably came about because of runaway global warming, but the exact causes, timeframes, et cetera are left up to the reader’s imagination. The world is this way now, and the characters that inhabit that world don’t ever digress or pine for a long-lost world. They’re too busy surviving. No one has time to break into a soliloquy about the folly of humankind and bemoan the paradise lost.

Even though there were many of them, I enjoyed the characters in this novel. Attwell pulls off so many characters so well because there is clearly a defined core group and major and minor characters supporting that group’s story. This is partly achieved because “Aestus: Book 1: The City” is a long book.

What I don’t love about this book:

To reiterate from above. It is a really long book. And sure, there were a lot of characters to flesh out and give them their moment in the sun, but it also felt like every scene was at least twice as long as it should have been.

Also, I hated the uncle character from the jump. Nobody says “my dear” that much and isn’t awful. I don’t care—you get four or five “my dear(s),” and then you’re officially a wackadoo—yes, that’s the clinical term for it.

I like Jossey, our protagonist in this story. She’s intelligent, resourceful, and not afraid to take action. But she has some Katniss Everdeen levels of obliviousness when it comes to anyone—literally anyone—showing even a modicum of romantic interest in her. I get it’s an intentional character flaw that rounds the character and makes her seem more like a real person to give her this insecurity, but from a taste perspective, it’s an eye roller for me.

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Author’s Website: https://szattwell.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

We’re introduced to our protagonist, Jossey, through a childhood memory—not a good one. It was the day she was attacked when visiting the surface to see the moon. Her brother also disappeared during the attack.

Micro Mention "Babylon's Ashes"

"Babylon's Ashes" by James S.A. Corey has my absolute favorite moment in all of the expanse—and that's the moment when Avasarala is screaming at her personal trainer. I remember saying that if Shohreh Aghdashloo didn't get a similar moment to it in the final season, I would be supremely disappointed.

Sadly, as much as I liked the show's final season, we didn't get the personal trainer scene, which is the real tragedy, in my opinion. Well, you know, other than there is no more show and still a good number of novels of material to cover. Too soon?

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Author's Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

Micro Mention "Project Hail Mary"

"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir absolutely scratches that same itch as "The Martian." If that book was about how the world showed up to save one man, then this novel is the inverse and is the story of how one man shows up to save the world.

Even though there are many differences between this novel and "The Martian," Weir maintains the same sort of atmosphere. It's a mix of danger and excitement combined with exploration and intelligence. Plus, his writing is often unexpectedly funny, which is a quality I never fail to appreciate.

If you'd like to read my full review of this novel, you can find it here.

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Author's Website: https://www.andyweirauthor.com/

"Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem--Fiction Review

What do you think extraterrestrial life would be like? What would it be like to try and communicate with it? Clearly, Stanislaw Lem has given it a lot of thought in his book, “Solaris,” which is the science fiction story we’re talking about today, Obscurists.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

“Solaris” is a weird story, and I love a good, weird story. Ultimately it’s a story about first contact, but how Lem goes about first contact with an alien species or—in this story’s case—with a single vast sentient entity is he throws out pretty much all of our expectations. If we ever do make first contact with an extraterrestrial form of life, I’m sure the supreme frustration of attempting it, like in this book, will be true to life.

The sentient ocean of “Solaris” is one of those few exceptions to my prohibition on unknowable characters—rarely do I like them. Typically I ascribe this quality to malevolent or at least unscrupulous characters, but the living ocean of Solaris just is. 

For an old sci-fi novel, “Solaris” not only does atmosphere very well but character too, which is often not what the genre is known to focus on, typically those elements get sacrificed for big ideas. I should temper that praise, though, mainly I found Dr. Kelvin and his “visitor,” to not spoil too much, to be the most compelling characters in the story. The atmosphere and setting are always uncanny, so there is no higher praise from me—I love uncanny settings like I love a good haunted house.

What I don’t love about this book:

There is a listlessness to this book at times. It sometimes feels like things are just happening to happen and then to be discussed by the characters. A lot. 

While I find its peculiarities interesting and the characters engaging, the plot isn’t, well, much of anything. It can be summed up as; an odd planet with an odd living ocean is visited by waves of baffled scientists, who remain baffled after studying the planet with great interest and vigor. One day our protagonist visits Solaris and is likewise baffled. The end.

So we ultimately start and end in the same position, and while the marking time in place might be interesting and compelling in its own way, the story doesn’t progress anywhere.

There are also themes of self-harm in this book, so if that’s going to be a problem, I’d suggest skipping this novel. I believe those themes are legitimate things to talk about in a story, and even some of my favorite stories bring it up, but still, not my favorite bits of any story.

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

Dr. Kelvin, our main character, arrives at Solaris Station, which researches primarily the vast living ocean present on the planet Solaris. Right from the jump, things are weird. One of the crew, an old mentor of Kelvin’s, had killed himself right before Kelvin arrived. The two surviving crew members of the station don’t seem all that broken up about it. 

Micro Mention "Nemesis Games"

"Nemesis Games" by James S.A. Corey represents yet another seachange moment in The Expanse series, a series of stories known for those moments. It's a story about how a little bit of vainglorious stupidity mixed with a lot of anger can get a lot of people killed.

This is the story that, in my opinion, sets the tone and contributes the most to how the latter half of this excellent series would be shaped. The earlier novels are certainly related and flow from one to the next, but they still feel like self-enclosed containers. Each book has its own story that is distinct in time and place. Starting with "Nemesis Games," though, the macro, overall story, becomes the A plot, and that feeling of discreet, individual stories strung together fades away.

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Author’s Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

Micro Mention "Cibola Burn"

If "Abaddon's Gate" told us why "The Expanse" series is called "The Expanse," then "Cibola Burn" by James S.A. Corey gives us a glimpse of what that means.

I think I'm a minority opinion on this one, but I liked that this story was a bit of a detour from the main action of the series. We get to explore an alien world with the Rocinante crew. And sure, there was still the geopolitical struggle going on between the belters and inners, in miniature. But what really took me in is the creepy setting of a colony on a world with a dead civilization. Ever since I played "Mass Effect," that shit has been my jam.

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Micro Mention "Abaddon's Gate"

I'll admit that when I first read "Abaddon's Gate" by James S.A. Corey, I didn't know if I liked it quite as much as the first two books in The Expanse series, but with a bit of time and retrospective, it has really grown on me. 

It introduced one of my favorite Expanse side characters, Bull, who recently made it into season five of the show. Not trying to spoil the show too much here, but with how they used Bull in season five, I have no idea why he isn't in season six. 

They had a need that his character filled. He clicked right into the story, and then poof, he's gone after the last episode of season five. No explanations were given. The need his character filled is still there. They just decided, "eh, Holden can do it." No, Holden can't do it! Holden is the captain, and captains can't do everything on the ship, or else there would be no point in having a crew and being a captain!

Sorry, I get fired up about this injustice to my boy Bull.

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"Leviathan Falls" by James S.A. Corey--Fiction Review

We’re finishing off my favorite series that I’ve read in the past two years, obscurists. Today we’re talking about “Leviathan Falls” by James S.A. Corey, the ninth and final novel in The Expanse series. Get your anti-aliens from beyond space and time security blankets on because it’s going to get bumpy.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

I have loved this series since about the middle of the first book, “Leviathan Wakes.” I remember diving into the second book immediately after finishing the first because I just had to know where Corey would go after the deeply unsettling setting of Eros. Oh, how things would change since that first novel by the time we get this novel “Leviathan Falls” yet still be so compelling.

I bring that first novel up because one of the chief things I like about this book is how it mirrors the first novel. It’s as if the whole series describes a perfect parabola leading to an ending a lot like the beginning but different—history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme. 

The Expanse has always been a pretty intense series, but this novel takes the prize. The stakes could not be higher, and everyone is on edge from beginning to nearly the end. But while its nail-biter of a plot unfolds, “Leviathan Falls” still makes time to chew the fat on some of the biggest ideas in sci-fi.

We also get to see more of a story where Naomi is more in charge overall rather than Holden, which I found interesting. Holden is still captain of the Rocinante, and Naomi is still ostensibly the XO. But, she is also the leader of the underground and resistance against the Laconian empire, which makes her more of an Admiral than just a mere executive officer. The dynamic could lead to tension, but I love how Naomi and Holden have been together for so long that they make it work without a single hiccup to distract from the primary plot.

What I don’t love about this book:

There are a lot of samey metaphors and phrases that come out of different characters’ mouths who aren’t remotely similar or even share similar geography. And sure—I get it—how many ways are there to describe dark gods from beyond space and time or god emperors? But, it feels like it should at least be more than one. It’s a quibble, but for a series that does individual characterization so well, it was disappointing to me that all those wonderful characters—with all their distinct voices and styles—all started sounding the same on literally the most significant issue in this universe. 

I don’t want to get into spoiler territory, but “Leviathan Wakes” doesn’t take enough time wrapping up all the loose threads and story arcs of all the major supporting characters introduced in this series. It doesn’t even finish off the stories of all the characters prominent in this novel. It wraps up the story for the main core characters—sorta—well, really only definitively for two characters the others just kind of end, and we never see them again in the narrative.

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Author’s Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

After the battle at Laconia, where the underground led by Naomi Nagata successfully beat the Laconian navy on their own home turf—the crew of the Roci is laying low. Naomi managed to recover her lover and the captain of the Rocinante James Holden during that conflict. Holden also brought with him Teresa Duarte, daughter to Winston Duarte, High Consul of the Laconian Empire. She wanted to escape her father’s empire after his mind was shattered during events before this novel.

Micro Mention "Caliban's War"

"Caliban's War," the second novel in The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, is still firmly in what I mentally categorize as the sci-fi horror section of the series. The Protomolecule is still so new and creepy that it dominates the narrative—and I love it.

I actually just finished the whole novel series a few days back, and it's hard to capture how satisfying the entire series was to read. By the time I got to the later books in the series, it was startling to think about how much ground Corey covered in these books. 

True to its namesake, the book series's scope gets bigger and bigger as it goes on, and the events in "Caliban's War" are what set the story down the road it takes and where we end up is, well, unexpected.

I expect that I'll be working on a full review of "Leviathan Falls" the last book in this series, soon. So keep checking in for that.

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Author’s Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

Micro Mention "Leviathan Wakes"

I picked up this novel because I wanted to get into the expanse show, and per my usual preference, I like to read the source material before watching the show. That said, "Leviathan Wakes," by James S.A. Corey, is one of my favorite sci-fi novels I've read in years.

This series is firmly space opera, and it's the kind of multifaceted political struggle that appeals to a lot of my sci-fi leanings, which I talk about more in my full review and again on my podcast. I really like this series.

But what I really want to bring up today is the audio experience. I know I bring up I'm a fan of audiobooks quite a lot on this blog, but the narrator for this book, Jefferson Mays, is amazing. There is just something about the tempo and quality of his voice that makes any sort of dry humor hilarious. 

It isn't inherently a funny book or series. It's a very life and death kind of serious story, but the number of times Corey got me to laugh in this and future books in this series—well, I lost count long ago. Mays, as narrator, enhances this quality with a sly sense of timing and oft deadpan tone. 

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Talking In Obscurity, "Leviathan Wakes," by James S.A. Corey

Or Download This Episode Here: 

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/n6nk9b/Leviathan_Wakes_Edited60t8d.mp3

So it's the end of July, Obscurists! Steven and I are back to discuss one of my favorite books I read during the pandemic, "Leviathan Wakes" by James S.A. Corey. 

This is the first book in "The Expanse" series, and it's a mixture of Hard Sci-Fi meets neo-noir and all-out horror. There is also a show on Amazon Prime based on these books, which I love as well.

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Author's Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir--Fiction Review

Today’s review is on one of my favorite author’s newest book. Get your space suits on obscurists because we’re talking about Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary.”

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

   

What I love about this book:

This book does exactly what I love about “The Martian,” but more so, and you can tell how Weir has evolved for the better as a writer. What I mean by this, it takes a hard science fiction plot, sticks with it throughout the novel—with only minor flights of fancy such as astrophage itself—and wraps it around a character-driven story.

I was happy that Weir’s humor is also preserved in this novel. The density of this book’s technical details would be dry if it weren’t for the numerous chuckles throughout this book. The protagonist’s battle with the robotic arms of the Hail Mary at the beginning of the novel was especially funny to me.

Storywise, for all its similarities to “The Martian,” “Project Hail Mary” is a darker story than that novel. That book was all about the incredible survival of one man, but this book is about the survival of Earth itself—so, to put this as delicately as possible, death is never far in this story. I know I often get accused of enjoying bleak fiction, but it isn’t all that grim of a story—trust me.

The protagonist of this novel isn’t Mark Watney, and that’s a good thing. Don’t misunderstand, I love Mark Watney, but he’s such a strong character that it would be easy for a writer to fall back and create lesser versions of him. This protagonist shares certain qualities with Watney, to be sure, but still, I feel that his individual character is distinct from his predecessor’s—for one, he’s not nearly as technically handy. Also, I can’t bring it up here due to spoilers, but there are revelations about him in the latter half of the book that really demonstrates his not Watney-like qualities.

As a great lover of audiobooks, I was practically giddy—ok, there wasn’t anything “practically” about it—I was absolutely giddy when I heard that my favorite narrator Ray Porter read this book. Porter’s performance was terrific—as always—and I genuinely feel this novel is an entirely different experience without him, and the musical sound effect touches added to the audiobook edition.

What I don’t love about this book:

So this book features a case of amnesia, and it’s why I’m referring to the main character as the protagonist, even though the publisher’s summary just comes out and says his name. But anyway, amnesia is a bit of an overused cliched plot device, and that warrants mentioning. It’s used to set up the novel’s B plot, which tells the story of how the protagonist got involved with project hail mary and how the ship was created. Having read the whole novel at this point, I can’t imagine it any other way, so this literary device does its job, which means I don’t hate it. I might not love it, but I can’t say it isn’t well done. There is undoubtedly an emotional gut-punch toward the end of the novel because of it. That story beat wouldn’t be so effective without the amnesia. 

This also happened in “The Martian” for me, but I never grew as invested in the other crew members of the mission as literally every other character in the book. That was a bit disappointing to me that the Hermes and the Hail Mary crews outside of the protagonists themselves weren’t as well developed as, say, the NASA engineers on Earth in “The Martian” or the project administrators in “Project Hail Mary.” The protagonist certainly thinks about his crewmates a bunch, and I assumed his memories would be supported in the B plot to make their fates more tragic, but no, not really.

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Author’s Website: https://www.andyweirauthor.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

The story begins with our protagonist waking up with all kinds of tubes and medical instruments connected to him. In his weakened state, not only can’t he remember why he’s there, but he can’t even remember who he is or even his name. This is a problem since the computer that is taking care of him with two robotic arms that come out of the ceiling keeps asking him what his name is. Eventually, he regains his strength enough to get up and survey his surroundings, there are two other beds in his room with him, but both occupants are long dead.

Micro Mention "The Science of Sci-Fi"

The Great Courses “The Science of Sci-Fi” is a short course by Erin Macdonald, but it offers a wonderful survey of the technology in Science Fiction and how it relates to actual physics and quantum mechanics at a pop-science intro level. 

If you're ever interested in common science and technology tropes in science fiction stories, and how to think about them, and how they relate to real-world science, then this course is worth a listen. Honestly, any aspiring science fiction writer would be served well by taking the time to listen to this short course.

Micro Mention "The Martian"

While I loved R.C. Bray’s narration of Andy Weir’s “The Martian,” I am also a big fan of Wil Wheaton—so now I own both versions, and if I’m honest, I think Bray did it a little better… sorry, Wil.

I think what's happened is I'm so biased by how much I enjoyed the initial audio version of "The Martian" with Bray as narrator that I was unconsciously prejudiced against Wheaton's performance before it even started. So, I've considered that there is a possibility that if I had heard the Wheaton version first, maybe it would be my preferred version of this audiobook. 

But! To play devil's advocate against that point, Wil Wheaton is an immensely talented guy who does many different things. Primarily, though, I'd say he's an actor, which certainly gave him a leg-up voice acting out this book, but RC Bray's whole bread and butter is his talents as a voice actor. To me, at least, there seems to be a whole depth of skills when just using your voice to act out a story that Wheaton hasn't quite sharpened yet to the same level. In short, Wheaton's acting skills are more generalized while Bray's are more specialized to this task.

If you'd like my full review of "The Martian" you can find it here.

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Author's Website: https://www.andyweirauthor.com/

"The Martian" by Andy Weir--Fiction Review

Like with my “Red Rising” review, let’s return to Mars, obscurists! Today I’m talking about Andy Weir’s fantastic hard science fiction novel, “The Martian.” 

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

“The Martian” might be the greatest hard sci-fi I’ve ever read—sorry, Arthur C. Clarke—because Weir is excellent in a dimension that most authors within the subgenre struggle with, and that’s character development. His protagonist, Mark Watney, isn’t just a guy you’re rooting for but is also really funny along the way—kinda impressive considering the whole being stranded on Mars thing.

Weir goes above and beyond on the technical details of how everything works on a Mars mission, which is what you would expect for this subgenre. Watney has a way of explaining material that could have been presented incredibly dry and makes it interesting in his own mixture of serious yet goofy style.

Clearly, I’m partial to space stuff, and this book is so—so much fun as an interplanetary adventure/survival story. Think “Hatchet” but with an adult and on Mars, which I guess is kinda like saying think, “Robinson Crusoe,” but on Mars—and fun fact “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” is actually a Sci-Fi movie from the 1960s. Anyways, Robinson Crusoe, the literary character, always came off to me as a bit of a dickhead, so I prefer the “Hatchet” but on Mars comparison. In any case, the high concept is: an uncommonly self-reliant person has to use their wits to survive in a hostile environment for a long, long time with limited tools. It’s a story archetype I’ve always liked.  

What I don’t love about this book:

So I’m an audiobook fan—as I’ve mentioned ninety billion times—and I love this book so much I actually own two different audiobook editions of this book. The latest version, and the only one currently available in English on audible.com, is read by Wil Wheaton—who I love, yes even when he was Wesley Crusher—I’ve listened to many an audiobook narrated by him. He’s got talent, which makes this next part awkward for me, but R.C. Bray—who read the older edition—did a better job. I think that performance really adds an extra dimension to audiobooks, which is why I like them so much. The fact that unless you already own that version, you can’t buy it today, while it doesn’t impact me personally, still kinda irks me. But who am I to question almighty Amazon.

I have few complaints about the story’s narrative—the pirate-ninjas thing garners a chuckle the first few times you read it but quickly becomes tedious.

I noticed that while Weir’s character work with Mark Watney was excellent, and the NASA administrators/engineers back on Earth were compelling. Mark’s crewmates on the Hermes shined a little duller than the others. Martinez was great, but Dr. Beck and Commander Lewis were OK. Lewis’s big trait is she likes old music, and Dr. Beck is the guy who fell in love with his crewmate, and he’s also the professional other-guy on the team. I’m forgiving of this shortcoming, though, because it’s hard to hit home runs on every single character, especially when there are so many of them. 

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Author's Website: https://www.andyweirauthor.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

The book starts with us reading Mark Watney’s Mars log right after he’s stranded on Mars when the crew had to abort the mission because of a storm. Mark was thought killed in the storm when he was hit by an antenna and lost in the sand. His crew tried their best to find him, but the sensors said his vitals had ceased, and their assent vehicle, and the only way off Mars, was about to tip over in the wind at any moment.

Micro Mention "The Fountains of Paradise"

 

Typically the classics of science fiction are known for their big ideas and dedication to hard science fiction, rather than plot and character development. Still, that last chapter of “The Fountains of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke got me right in the feely bits.

This is a story about building a first-ever of its kind mammoth construction project. What is that project? The first space elevator. Clarke goes into great detail about the challenges of building such a device and what its advantages would be if it were constructed, and I know of several sci-fi novels that took his cue after this book was written. 

I didn't expect how the story in the later bits would turn into a disaster rescue story, and the creator of the space elevator himself would have to use his knowledge of his creation to save a crew stranded miles up in the air on the elevator. The story took a real unexpected emotional turn for me in the closing pages that I really enjoyed.

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Micro Mention "Auberon"

With “Auberon” done, I have to say the man with the Titanium arm is the best—think of the arm-wrestling tournaments. But now I’m out of The Expanse novels and novellas, so it’s time to return to screaming futilely at the sky until James S.A. Corey finishes the next one.

Of the expanse novellas, "Auberon" is my clear favorite. It takes a minor character I liked from the main series and greatly expands on his golden years as a mob boss with an entire colony world under his thumb. Normally, you'd think that would make him the bad guy of the story, and maybe it does from some people's perspective. I, however, felt that this short story had a "Casablanca" feel to its narrative.

Anyway, I know I bang on about this a lot, but an element I really enjoy about the audiobook version of this story is the intro and outro music, before and after the story. A lot of audiobooks do this, and usually, it's just a nice garnish, but in Auberon's case, I really feel like it adds to the atmosphere of this short Sci-Fi story.

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Author's Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

"The Ark," by Patrick S. Tomlinson--Fiction Review

Today we’re going to escape Earth for a new beginning in a new solar system—sounds pretty good given everything going on right now—in this science fiction/detective mystery “The Ark” by Patrick S. Tomlinson. Don’t worry—people are still shitty generations later and in space.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

It’s an interesting concept because the plot is essentially a murder mystery baked into a science fiction setting. You might think that blending the two genres might weaken both elements, but Tomlinson has the chops to do both justice.

I was pleasantly surprised that “The Ark” is pretty consistently hard science fiction despite having one of those high-concepts that could easily shift into soft science fiction. You’d think a murder mystery in space would be more focused on the more psychological elements, typical of crime fiction, and shared by soft science fiction. Tomlinson does address the psychological motives, so it isn’t unaddressed, but he also never takes his hand off the wheel when describing the science and engineering behind “The Ark.”

 

What I don’t love about this book:

Our main character, Benson, for the most part, is a likable gumshoe to be following around, but his follow-through feels inconsistent to me at times. So when they discover the body of a murdered crew member, floating out in space outside of the ship, he personally goes out in a maintenance pod to retrieve it. Then there is the bit where he alienates the owner of his favorite restaurant and another time where he storms onto the bridge to demand answers from the captain, to get the truth, damn it! So you’d think, this here is a guy that will do anything to get the job done right. Except he also sleeps with his girlfriend at a crime scene. Then there is the time he calls off a manhunt half-way through because, eh, he doesn’t feel like they’re going to find anything.

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Author's Website: https://www.patrickstomlinson.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

So the story begins with Benson at a sports event. It’s a game called zero played at—you guessed it—zero gravity. Benson is a big fan because he used to be a captain of one of the teams when he was younger and before he was a cop. Now, he’s “chief,” such as it is of his own police department on his side of the Ark, the great generation starship humanity created to save a select few and find a new homeworld when Earth was destroyed.

"Leviathan Wakes," by James S.A. Corey--Fiction Review

Happy Friday obscurists, it’s May the 15th —the 15th is always a happy day for me because it is always a new book(s) day for me. Today’s review is of the first novel in “The Expanse” series, “Leviathan Wakes” by James S.A. Corey, a science fiction space opera. There are arguments to be made that it could be classified as science fiction/horror, but I personally think of it as Space Opera with horror elements.  

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

A lot—it’s in space, there are big titanic spaceship battles, there is a scary biological weapon that at first transforms people into zombie-like husks that mutate further into horrible glowy abominations. It’s got that “Game of Thrones” feel with several parties all following conflicting motivations/political machinations. Oh, and it’s quite funny here and there.

For this first book, there are only two perspective characters, and they have dueling outlooks on life. Holden is the idealist, and Miller is the pragmatist. I’ve only read the next three novels in this series as of today, but you never get that dichotomy again with the perspective characters. So in this first novel, since the perspective characters are separate at first, you get a feeling for the scope of the world and then that scope contracts—ironic for a series called “the expanse”—when they meet. After they part ways, the world opens up again, or you could say expands, get it—get it? No, that’s not why the series is titled that, but it’s a funny little observation.  

I love the attention to detail to the practical realities of life in space, especially over generations. People who were born in, and lived their entire lives in near null gravity, would be strikingly different in physiology to people who live on Earth. My admiration also extends to the realities of life on ships operating in space. Save for little details like the protomolecule or the Epstein Drive—not that Epstein—everything is presented hard science fiction style as practical outgrowths of technology we have today or can at least describe the mechanics of how they would function. There is no gravity other than what can be generated by either enough mass, constant acceleration, or spin—like reality, so far as we know.   

What I don’t love about this book:

Maximum pettiness here, but I hate the cover art, and I continue to hate the cover art for every subsequent novel in this series. The perspective is always odd, and I can never get a sense of what is going on, or the full definition of the objects shown. For me, if you’re not going to go with a clear moment from the story for your cover art, then make it meaningfully symbolic, or have a picture of a character so your audience can go: “hey, that’s so-and-so.”

Also, the ships are described as ugly, which is probably more of an accurate assessment of ship design in a zero-g environment than star wars’ x-wings. But still—I don’t like it, I like my sleek aerodynamic starships even though logically why would you design something to be aerodynamic when it operates in an environment where there is no air.

It may seem like I’m reaching for things that I don’t like about this book, and that’s because I am. “Leviathan Wakes” is one of those novels that hit on nearly every sweet spot for me for a story to have, so it’s a struggle just to find things I don’t like. There isn’t any element of the story that I hate. 

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Author's Website: https://www.jamessacorey.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***