Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, 1)

Leviathan Wakes is, without a doubt, the beginning of something amazing. I have the next two books in the series and I am looking forward to reading those as well as the additional novels I don't own yet. I owned this book for about three years without ever picking it up from my book shelf (I had pretty much forgotten about it) and I may have continued to neglect it were it not for The Expanse being produced by SyFy. Sadly, I watched the first season of the series before reading this novel and I don't like doing that...but I don't feel like it was detrimental in any way. I'd like to discuss a couple of the differences for those who have only either read the book or seen the television show before I do anything else. There are some pretty dramatic differences between the book and the series, the biggest being that the first season ends about 3/5 of the way through the narrative of the first novel, which is something I truly hope SyFy addresses with the second season since there is a lot going on in that third act of the story. The other major difference between the book and the television series is that we aren't introduced to the political environment and maneuvering taking place on Earth in the novel, though I appreciate that additional subplot from the show and actually kind of wish it had been part of the book. Beyond that, the differences are really quite minimal, some characters who don't quite line up between the two mediums (either because of descriptions that don't match up with the casting for the series or because the personalities/interactions are just a little bit off) and a couple of plot points that play out a touch differently or occasionally in different sequence...but those aren't as troubling as they could be. Written by James S.A. Corey (a fictional person, really the collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), this is one hell of an ambitious novel, successfully weaving space opera, militaristic science fiction, and noir mystery into an exciting, intense, and sometimes even scary tapestry. The stated goal of the authors was to fill in the gap that is almost always present where science fiction is concerned. Typically we either end up with near-future cyberpunk or dystopian stories or distant future space operas and the like taking place after we have spread throughout the galaxy or even the universe itself. This book (and presumably the whole series) provides the reader with a suitably rich and detailed vision of what we have between those intervals, during the time when we are still colonizing our own solar system and only just considering setting our sights further into what we have beyond our galactic neighborhood. The interactions between Miller and Holden (as well as their separate storylines) are fantastic and well-written enough that the two protagonists really do provide vastly different lenses through which the same events are being experienced. We see a lot of that in The Expanse, but there is a lot of subtext that gets lost in translation between the two mediums. After reading this book I am determined to pick up some of Daniel Abraham's fantasy novels, which I might have ended up doing anyhow. The man is an excellent author and Ty Franck clearly learned a thing or two while working for George R.R. Martin where grand, sweeping narratives and visceral (almost punishing) inevitability in narratives are concerned. Whether you have already seen The Expanse or simply want to read an excellent science fiction novel, I have to recommend reading Leviathan Wakes.

If you like the TV series, read the books. It’s not really the same story. If the books are a chronicle of what actually happened, the series is the folk tale that evolved from it—compact, sensationalized, action packed, and contrived to serve a different narrative. After reading the whole story, the series feels like a multi-faceted disappointment. I’m glad that I watched the series first, because at least I was impressed with it for a while. If I had read the books first, the series would have been a disappointment from the start.

If the thought of reading nine 550-page books seems daunting, like it was to me, the rewards are worth the effort. I had not read a fiction book in more than 20 years. I’m reading the collected stories, Memory’s Legion, right now, so the story is still fresh in my mind.

The story is as good as science fiction gets. The setting is close to home, only a few hundred years in the future, and the premise is plausible. The world-building is thoroughly convincing and rich with detail. The character-building is equally as successful, which makes it a special treat for this genre. The story is masterfully imaginative.

The TV series is disappointing, primarily because the story it tells is not faithful to the story the books tell, in very important ways. To do the story justice, with live actors, would be a huge undertaking with a financial commitment to match. Even then, it would be difficult to portray the physical differences between Earthers, Martians and Belters that the books describe. The most sensible approach would be to make an animated series geared for adults.

Read the books.

Actually, I didn’t even know the book existed until I opened this one up on my iPad with my Kindle, unlimited plan and read the first few pages, and went holy crap. Without a doubt, the expanse was one of the best sci-fi shows ever produced -only Farscape was better – and for once, I hadn’t read the book before hand. We all know that there is no way Hollywood can ever do a good book justice, at least I thought that until now. Look what they did to Game of Thrones, or the Lord of the rings, or any Stephen King novel. Although, I have to admit, Turning Kings novels into TV or movies will always be difficult since you cannot capture the nuance of his characters, and he rarely knows how to end the story. I barely watched HBO’s version of the Game of Thrones because I knew there was no way they could do the booksany justice. And if you are one of those people who only watch the HBO version, you are missing out on probably one of the best series of novels Ever produced. I just wish they could make a movie out of Adrian Cikowski‘s children of time, but it would be impossible. How do you get spiders that don’t speak to speak? Yes I know I spelled Adrian‘s last name wrong, but I don’t have time to look it up. I cannot wait to read the rest of this series and see how they wove the story into five seasons. Well, the TV series was way out of sequence, they did a great job with a very good novel. I can recommend this book on its own. Usually, I leave my reviews for the author, but this one was so unusual in the fact that I had not read the book before I saw the show, that was going to be my primary review. To Mr. Cory, I hope you got rich off of selling the rights, and we all owe a great thanks to Jeff Bezos for making sure they finished the series – at least to the point where this first book in the series ends.

For some reason I just up and decided to read James S.A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes (Book One of The Expanse) even though my TBR stack is sky-high already. I’m so glad I did.

Julie Mao, of the ship Scopuli, was captured along with her shipmates by some sort of invader. When everything falls silent she escapes the locker she was thrown into and looks for her crew. What she finds is inexplicable and horrific–they’ve been transformed into something else. When XO Jim Holden comes with his ship the Canterbury in response to Scopuli’s distress signal, they find it’s a trap. While Jim and several other crew members check out the Scopuli, stealthed ships blow up the Canterbury. Preliminary evidence would make it seem that the Martian Congressional Republic Navy is to blame–but why? As tensions in the solar system escalate–between Earth, Mars, the Belt, and the OPA (Outer Planets Alliance)–Holden and his crew find themselves manipulated from side to side. Meanwhile, Detective Miller, a cop on Ceres station (part of the Belt) is tasked with looking for Julie, the missing girl whose parents are wealthy and influential. As conditions on the station deteriorate, he becomes obsessed with finding her. Could she be the key to finding out what’s going on?

There’s a strong element of body horror that makes itself apparent at the beginning. It then vanishes for so long that I was beginning to think it wouldn’t come back, but rest assured that it does. It turns the story into an excellent dark blend of sci-fi and horror that’s right up my alley.

The solar system is in a precarious balance, and it makes a great setting for tensions to blow sky-high. Mars and Earth are at an uneasy sort of truce. The Belt relies on others for necessities like water, so it doesn’t like to make enemies, but many Belters do see “Inners” (people from the inner worlds) as outsiders at best, enemies at worst. The OPA isn’t helping matters any, and there are various corporations sticking their noses in where they don’t belong. There’s also organized crime on Ceres station, and Miller has noted that various low-level members have gone missing lately without a trace.

The characters are wonderful. Okay, so the image of the grizzled old cop who drinks too much is old, but Miller is rescued by his obsession with Julie, which becomes more important to him than alcohol ever could be. He starts imagining her speaking to him after he’s looked through all of her belongings and files, even to a point of hallucination at one or more points. Jim Holden is great–he’s naive and idealistic, which means he doesn’t really belong in the time he’s in. Every time he finds something that he thinks shouldn’t remain a secret, he blasts it out to the universe and nearly every time triggers unintended violence. He also thinks he’s falling in love with his chief engineer, Naomi, but she’s watched him fall in and out of love with so many other people that she’s skeptical. It does become difficult to keep track of all of the characters given the scope of this book, however.

I love things like: when a couple of people suffer radiation poisoning, while it’s true that they have very advanced means for treating it, it’s still a slow, agonizing process with permanent damage caused and pills they have to take for the rest of their lives. Too often in sci-fi the treatment comes after agonizing damage, yet somehow miraculously heals all. Also, Holden’s ideal that all knowledge should be transparently available is tested deeply and in a variety of circumstances.

This is a long, complex novel with a lot going on, and it’s absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it.

Content note: body horror, bigotry, murder, gore, suicidal ideation, mass murder.

I suppose if there was a competition between genres of fiction for who had the most sub-genres, Science Fiction would most likely win that competition hands down. One of the reasons is that authors often try to differentiate their work by inventing a new sub genre. I don't think the authors of this series have tried to do this, but I feel compelled to. I think of this type of work as "Blockbuster Science Fiction." Basically, that just means that the stories read like a big budget sci-fi film. Leviathan Wakes might just be the penultimate example of this kind of book.

I have been tempted to watch the television series based on this series of books but I wanted to try reading them first. So I finally took the plunge and dug into Leviathan Wakes. I had very high expectations and was ready to dismiss this book if it didn't really jump through some interesting hoops and razzle dazzle me. Well, it did that and more. Most importantly though, the basic story structure and character development is rock solid and doesn't try to re-invent the wheel. All the tropes here are familiar and nothing is groundbreaking in terms of building the dramatic narrative. However, all the pieces dovetail in a very slick way that makes you think of watching a supremely talented musician performing and thinking "She/he makes it look so easy!" Lately, I have noticed many of the books I'm reading will have some editing misses later in the book, like a grammatical hiccup or misspelling that was just missed in the editing process and made it through to the final product. I didn't see a jot or tittle out of place here and the story follows suit. There are no strands left hanging, plot holes or nonsensical story elements that drove me crazy. Of course, this is the first in a series so things are left open at the end story-wise but I was just impressed with the level of polish. All of the characters are fully formed and mesh very well. Again, the characters here all fall into basic Science Fiction/Fiction types, but they are polished and well developed.

This story is built with two protagonists and two slowly intertwining story arcs that meet in a very satisfying way. When reading this I could just "see" these scenes in my head very clearly. The dialogue is nice and tight and the authors don't over explain things or sail off into inconsequential avenues of exploration. I read this book straight through and couldn't wait to pick it up every time. When people use the term "page turner" it can be a cliche' but in this case, the cliche' fits.

If you enjoy sci-fi with huge backdrops but drilled down and focused well developed characters, you will dig this. Bonus points if you are a noir fiction fan. One other note: this series aims to illuminate what the authors imagine as an "in between" or middle stage of humanity's journey out of the solar system. While many sci-fi stories focus on the near future and many others use the far-flung future as the grist for their tales, The Expanse series aims to explore the era where humans have settled other planets and/or bodies in the solar system but have yet to reach beyond that stage of exploration. In Leviathan Wakes, this has set up an inner/outer dichotomy of political and social division between Earth/Mars and those humans who have been born and developed in "The Belt" referring to the area of the solar system around the asteroid belt. These humans have been physically modified by living their lives in a different gravitational environment and are viewed by planetary residents as a lesser class of human. This division informs much of the backdrop of dramatic tension in Leviathan Wakes. It's a great concept and is executed perfectly here.