Leviathan Falls (The Expanse, 9)

Book number nine of an nine book science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback weighing 1.3 lbs published by Orbit in 2023. Ah, Science Fiction by the pound, cool ! This book is the end of the series as far as I know. BTW, James S. A. Corey is two guys writing under a single nom de plume.

James Holden has escaped from the fallen empire of Laconia. The ancient central station with the 1,300 gates, shortcuts around the Milky Way, is a free for all now. But, somebody else has awakened and wants to destroy everything. And the leader of Laconia, Winston Duarte, has turned up at the central station.

I really enjoyed the series. It was almost hard science fiction if you skip the protomolecule and the central station at the edge of the Solar System.

You can watch books one through six converted to a six season tv series on Amazon Prime. The series was started on the Syfy channel and moved to Amazon for the fourth season.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I held off as long as possible because I didn’t want it to end, but here I am.

The entire series is well written. Descriptive enough to visualize this world in the minds eye but also concise and not overly florid. Having watched the show (many times lol) also helps.

The end was interesting but it left me with more questions than answers. What exactly happened during the thousand year jump forward? How did everyone fare and tell me more about this 30 worlds. Nothing can quite replace the Roci and her original crew, but surely other larger than life characters are waiting to have their stories told over a thousand year span.

There’s also a thirty year gap that I wouldn’t mind reading about. Thirty years is certainly a lot of time for plenty of adventures. While I understand the writers wanting to branch out, it seems to me that this particular universe they’ve created has barely scratched the surface, and there are still stories to be told and more adventures to be had.

It’s rare to find such a compelling story and I’m selfish and greedy for more.

It's always a strange feeling to finish a long series of books that has entertained, enlightened, and inspired you over years of your life, sometimes even decades. The stories are like a part of your history, the characters like friends you've joyously reunited with again and again. There's a unique excitement in a new book coming out in a series you love, afterwards followed by years of extensive discussion and anticipation for the next book, for those of us fortunate enough to be involved with communities of fans . But eventually, that next book will be the last one.

I started reading Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" in 1997, when I was in high school. WoT and the wonderful community of fellow fans who'd become like a family to me saw me graduate high school, struggle through some very difficult years, then go to college, followed by law school. The final book in the series came out while I was working my first job post-law school, a few months after I graduated. I read that book with both love and sorrow, because a part of my life was ending, something I had been able to look forward to for fifteen years. After I finished it, my life was different.

The same thing goes for The Expanse. I've been flying around with the crew of the Roci for eleven years, many of which were very hard times; this series helped keep me sane and hopeful in those times. When the book finally appeared on my Kindle, I felt some trepidation, because I didn't want this story to end. I had pre-ordered it what feels like ages ago, and actually forgot it was coming up until it was there, downloaded. I read the first couple of chapters, and then I stopped because, as always seems to happen, real life intruded on my reading-for-fun.

I didn't pick it back up until around the end of November, 2022; I tried to parcel it out gradually, so I could spend as much time as possible with these old frirnds. And now it's over, and once again my life is different.

But, it was very well worth the journey. Leviathan Falls is a fitting and satisfactory conclusion to what I personally feel is the best science fiction series, so far, of the last twenty years, and indeed one of the best series in all of speculative fiction. The authors have done an excellent job of wrapping almost everything up. The biggest plot threads get a suitably epic send-off.

The only thing I found wanting was a few minor loose ends from the series that either didn't get a mention at all, or were concluded off-screen and barely registered in the story (coincidentally, I felt the same about the final Wheel of Time book). All in all, however, it was excellent, as we've come to expect from this series. Reading the last couple of chapters had me crying by the end.

Perhaps I get "too involved" with books, if a series' ending can hit me with such strong feelings, but books and the worlds in them have always been dear to me. And truthfully, it's not all over; there will still be discussions, and rereads, and speculation, and most importantly, inspiration to share with folks just starting out with the series.

So, if you're a fan of the series, although you may feel sad that the series is finished, I'll bet that you'll very much enjoy the end of the journey.

I was a little worried about how these books would end, what with how the previous 2 were and the fast-pace’ness of how the series was progressing. Needless to say, I was surprised and very happy. I held off on writing a review or reading any of them until after I finished LF. Reading a lot of these reviews, I can see why certain people weren’t happy with the ending. It leaves a couple plot lines open and doesn’t explain as much as what you would come to expect with the series. Honestly, I thought the character progression was amazing (seeing as how these characters are all around their 60’s at this point). You need additional characters and POV chapters to really tell the story, and it adds to the primaries. Also, the point of this series idle the vastness of the human experience, and how much occurs during our brief lives as well as well after we die. I love stories that have sad or ambiguous endings, so people that didn’t like this book probably like everything to be finished off with a big bow and everything wrapped up and all story-lines closed. This left lots to the imagination, and really added to the universe. Anyway, not going to compare this to other series, but it definitely gave off Neal Stephenson vibes with the nature of time. Good read, ending and everything in between. Highly recommend

An era in excellent science-fiction writing comes to a close with the final book in The Expanse series. At the time of writing this, two episodes of the television show remain and will have aired by the time this post is published. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in this universe via both mediums, especially since the writers (Corey being the duo of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) are also involved in the show’s production.

In this epic conclusion, it’s immediately obvious that not only have our heroes aged, but they have also suffered in many ways through their escapades over the years. Some of it is obvious, as in the case of Amos and those lost over the years, but the subtle touches of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety are clear in the entire crew, new and old. Well, Amos is pretty much the same mentally, despite his otherwise significant changes. He continues to be my favorite character in this entire universe (page and screen), hands down.

The opening appears to set up the return of a previous villain, but the authors flip the script almost immediately. Enter Tanaka, who is set up to be our antagonist in exchange. She quickly evolves into more of an anti-hero as Corey depicts her to be slightly more sympathetic (still in a fairly villainous way) as she is also forced to confront the same overarching issues as the Rocinante crew. I did not want to like anything about her. I failed.

In true space opera fashion, the characters as a whole fight a larger-than-life threat, even outside the interpersonal and governmental conflicts. Despite literally decades of work, there is still so much unknown about the protomolecule creators and the mysterious force who wiped them out (even referred to as the “dark gods” by scientist Elvi). However, in the end, the true bad guy is always just that—a guy. Corey remains true to the heart of the science-fiction genre with this dichotomy of conflict while revealing excellent plot twists and character development along the way. Nothing about any layer of this book’s conflicts is black and white, with even mental health care set up as a legitimate method of protection and combat. (Just don’t do anything Tanaka does regarding brain drugs. Seriously.)

But from the first book, the heart of this story has been Jim Holden and Naomi Ngata. I have adored their love story from the very beginning, as quiet as it is, and through all the hurdles they have faced together and apart. Holden might be set up as the protagonist more typical to the genre (and even in this book he pulls the most Holden of Holdens near the end that had the spouse and me freaking out as we read). Still, I loved that Naomi is the true heart of everything they have fought for and that Corey did not shy away from staging her as the true leader of her cause.

On a more craft-specific note, it did not escape my notice that Holden’s chapter headings change from Holden to Jim between Leviathan Wakes and Leviathan Falls, as we all become closer to the character. That’s the sort of touch that not every reader might notice but that all should appreciate.

I highly recommend this series (both book and show) to all science-fiction fans. Both are solid stories regardless of the medium, and each can be appreciated without the other depending on preference. The big question throughout is whether the cost of humanity becoming an interstellar species was worth the price. I look forward to continuing the discussion as it relates to this series for years to come.

When you read something over so long a period of time—investing hours and years into one story, one set of characters—the ending is always a bittersweet thing. Bitter, because it's over; you shall not return again. Sweet, because all good things must come to an end. And The Expanse is a very, very good thing.

Closing Leviathan Falls, I am left with a strange feeling of malaise, almost. Like something isn't quite right. Because though this is the final book in the series, and the capstone to a long journey among the stars, it didn't really feel like an ending. Or, it did, but it also didn't. Certainly, the plot threads that have been woven for the last nine books were brought to a satisfying and poignant conclusion. That is true. But there was a part of me that book down the book and thought, "It's over? We're really done?" But the thing is, I'm not sure it could be otherwise.

James S.A. Corey (Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) have, in The Expanse, written a story about humans. Yes, it's a story in which people sail the stars; in which alien gates to other planets open; in which an extraterrestrial molecule sailed millions of light years through space to infect and co-op the minds of humanity. But really, it's a story about people. All the best science-fiction stories are. And so how could it be otherwise that the 'end' of the story feels conclusive, powerful, beautiful even, but also... unfinished? Because humanity's is a story that goes on. It doesn't matter if it's now, or ten thousand years from now, we are a species that adapts, survives, and goes on being exceedingly human. Being human is getting angry with someone when they get a better seat on the bus. Being human is holding the door for someone even though they're a little too far away. Being human is justifying another scoop of ice cream when you just promised yourself to lay off the sweets, or getting jealous of someone's new phone, or holding onto a secret so tightly that it eats away at you like acid. Being human is as simple as a smile on the lips of a baby, and as complex as the ever-present mysteries of love. And humanity is exactly what Ty and Daniel have put on display in The Expanse. It's humans writing humans. Real ones.

And so if Leviathan Falls is about preserving humanity, then it is about no more or less than each of the eight books that preceded it were about. And every time it gave me chills, or made me sad, or made me miss the characters between its pages, I was all the more human for it. — [4.25]