Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

What kind of half-assed apocalypse are they running down there?

I’ve been wanting to get into The Expanse by James S.A. Corey since the tv-series came to Scify channel. I finally finished reading the first novel and I thought it was okay.

Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Rating:


Title & Author: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Genre: Science-Fiction, Adventure
Release Date: June 2 2011
Series: The Expanse
Publisher: Orbit

Synopsis

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 that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

I give Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey three out of five hearts because I did not think this novel was anything special. There is not much character development, mostly Miller spiraling down a mental cavity and Holden trying to hold everything together.

The story itself is good and well written. Most of the science is true (as far as I know), except for one titchy bit that annoyed the crap out of me (might be because I actually work with radiation and know a lot about it, but whatever).

Overall Leviathan Wakes is good novel. It is pretty thick but it is worth going through it and take in every detail of it. For me it just lacked character development and the bit about the radiation bothered me throughout the novel a bit, which I could not shake it.

The TV-series

The Expanse was brought to my attention because of the tv-series. I think I like it, it is very much a good adaption of the novel as far as the first few episodes go. I have not gotten to watching more.

The world is gritty, which is the way I imagined it to be. I did not have that much of an idea for the prologue of the novel so it was good to get an impression of what situation Julie was in during that part. This might have been something the prologue chapter was missing, but in the moment I did not miss it.

Let me know what you thought of this book and/or tv-series!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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