Caliban's War

Deel twee ook nog gelezen, voel niet direct de behoefte om nu ook de rest van de delen te gaan lezen.

Min of meer hetzelfde als deel 1, maar dan anders, zullen we maar zeggen. Grotere rol voor de ondersecretaris van de VN, een fijn vloekend en tierend Indiaas omaatje.

Caliban's War is a thrilling continuation of the The Expanse series, delivering a captivating blend of action, science fiction, and character development. The novel successfully expands upon the diverse cast of misfits introduced in the first book, providing them with compelling arcs and motivations.

I was particularly impressed by the inclusion of two strong female leads- Avasarala and Bobbie, each showcasing unique qualities and contributing significantly to the narrative. Their presence adds depth and nuance to the story, making it a more engaging and relatable experience.

While not without its flaws, Caliban's War is a remarkably well-crafted novel that effectively balances action, world-building, and character development. It's a must-read for fans of the genre and a worthy addition to the The Expanse series.

Even though this second book in the series has a premise very similar to the first book (a girl goes missing and our heroes have to find her), it builds on the world established in the first book. It expands on the political dynamics between Earth and Mars. It introduces badass new characters (Chrisjen "Potty Mouth" Avasarala is my favorite). It continues building the protomolecule mystery. The book gripped me from the very beginning and never let go. I started keeping notes after every couple of chapters just so I could follow the story. When I was done and when I read my notes, I couldn't believe how much was packed into this book. There were only a couple of chapters where I felt my mind wondering. But otherwise it was a thrilling ride. Can't wait to get to the next installment in the series.

This was a step up from Leviathan Wakes. I loved that the writers added more POV's with very different personalities. The characters are well written and I felt more emotionally involved with them than in LW.
I definitely liked the fast pace and all of the action in this book.

4.00/5.00 “Desparate psychotic people do desperate psychotic things when they're exposed. I refuse to grant them immunity from exposure out of fear of their reaction. When you do, the desperate psychos wind up in charge”.

Caliban's War, the second entry into The Expanse is an action packed, character driven story that lets us stew in this world for some more time before the plot moves on. One feels eirily like the characters in this world, watching the protomolecule's venusian occupation with anticipation for something to happen, while humanity reacts badly to the coming of the unknown. Paranoia cripples Earth and Mars, and war brews. While the plot of Cailban's was seems a realistic depiction of a civilization's reaction to the protomolecule, it lacks any inspiration, riding the coattails of the excellent existing and new characters, Caliban's War seems very much like a repeat of Leviathan Wakes in many ways.

However, the book is entertaining with action, wonderful, lovable characters who defy tropes and bring freshness to the science fiction genre, while expanding on the incredible world of The Expanse. Like Holden, I also wish to see the wonder of Io, basking in Jupiter's lethal glow, a testmaent to the terrifying beauty.

Emotional Impact -> Action takes a high spot in this book, and Avaserala-bobby plotline showing so much promise. I enjoyed this book, especially the yatch takeover and the confrontation between Avasarela and Holden, two very diametric characters trying to work together. The ending was very good and very satisfying, with Bobby's duel with the monster being nothing short of amazing. However, the plot is repetitive and nothing too big happens. This story isn't that different from book 1. It is the same or similar story with different characters. Characters -> Really enjoyed Holden's, although I think Holden's inital emotional shutdown was repeated so many times. We get it, he changed during the time jump. Avaserla is a very interesting character and is a lot of fun. She gave me strong Mary Sue vibes but she does fail a lot in this story. But I do think she has the potential to be very hard to like. Her cussing is a disservice to this story. Its a gimmick that doesn't add any value to the character. Many others characters seemed to take back seat as we learned more about the new memebers. I'm sorry, but Prax is a very uninteresting POV. Prax seemed like a more sympathetic reconstruction of Miller, but is almost one-dimensional compared to Miller. Some of the decision Prax makes are understandable, but the whole character is not compelling for some reason. Plot -> Here is the problem with this book. This plot is not very different from book 1. There is more "political" drama here, although that is not very interesting. Replace Miller with Prax, Julie with Mei, Fred with Avaserala and we are back to book 1. Even the villians are the same, which Amos acknowledges as a snarky comment at the end of this book. How is a kidnap-rescue a plot in The Expanse? I almost didn't want to get into the politics here, as I think James S. A. Corey is clearly not very good at writing interesting politics. We need to return to sci-fi world building, moral struggles and semi-rightenous crusades. Prose -> Very similar to book 1, but a slight step down in my opinion. World Building -> Excellent. Ganymede was so well flushed out. The orbital mechanics, the military world building takes a step up in this book. We learn more about earth and how the culture has changed there which is very intersting. Great!

Слабее чем первая книга, действия меньше, пустой болтовни больше. Но в целом это все еще годная фантастика.

Some of the “praise” on the back of this book mentions how it's a Hollywood blockbuster in book form. I'm sure that's appealing to a wide audience, but it's just not for someone like me.

The writing tactic that Corey uses most often is unrelenting escalation. Whenever one situation gets resolved, some news comes in, and the crew has to deal with a new crisis. This is probably why it can be considered a Hollywood blockbuster.

The tactic is utterly overused. By the end, I was so sick of this “disaster-after-disaster” style of narrative. I half-expected Venus to awaken as some big space monster and... I was disappointingly close.

Characters? Funny. Ending of the plot? Somewhat heartwarming. Everything else? So very lacking. Go see a Hollywood blockbuster if you want one.

Things go too smoothly to be entertaining. No real problem or tension until the far end of the book

Estoy obsesionado con este libro. The Expanse es la primera saga que leo del género space opera y me han sorprendido todos los detalles sobre la vida en el espacio: los cargueros de hielo para transportar agua, las adaptaciones del cuerpo humano a vivir sin gravedad durante generaciones, el cultivo de comida en el espacio, el concepto de naves espaciales generacionales y la comparativa entre las diferentes colonizaciones dentro de la Tierra y las que se plantean en estos libros para el espacio.

Mi parte favorita es el poema de Arjun: “If life transcends death, then I will seek for you there. If not, then there too”.

Cumple con entretener. Holden sigue siendo un personaje horrible y la constante “buena suerte” de los protagonistas es casi ridícula.

Було важко вникнути на початку, але чим далі, тим більше мені подобалось. Хоча все ще не знаю, чи буду читати цю серію далі. Хоча кінець цієї частини й дуже заінтригував.

Pros: still fun, fast, and funny. Does a really good job at showing how governments (especially big ones) aren't just a group of people who all agree with each other. I feel like a big problem in sci-fi/fantasy world is that oftentimes an organization or government has only one viewpoint on something, i.e. “Country X wants to go to war with Country Y.” But in the real world, any large group of people will have differing camps on any important issue, and this book shows that well. There's also several good uses of revealed information

Cons: has a little bit of the “your princess is in another castle” vibe, with a similar corporate villain as last time

Honestly somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. This was still pretty darn good and if you enjoyed the first book, you're likely to enjoy this one too. But I will say that the first book does feel a bit more intense and page-turning than this one did. I was also a bit less satisfied with the ending of this one, but I still gave it a pretty high rating because 1) Avasarala and 2) that epilogue.

I have to give props to Corey for just being so masterful at writing some delightfully entertaining science fiction. Like the first book, this really feels like a TV show in a book, in the best possible way. It's the kind of TV show that keeps you at the edge of your seat as you uncontrollably binge the whole season. This isn't going to be as deep and philosophical as a lot of major science fiction works, but the entertainment value of this one is through the roof.

Avasarala is probably one of my favourite characters introduced. She's a grumpy, possibly Indian grandma who also happens to be one of the most influential political figures on Earth. She cusses as much as she breathes, but her curses are some of the most delightful pieces of savagery I've seen around. Though clearly Avasarala's job is pretty much her whole life, we also get to see her as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Hey, who knew career women could also have a wholesome family life? Everything about her was so relatable tbh.

I continue to like Amos more and more, and also to have a complicated impression of Holden. I like him being around inasmuch as that we get to see his heroics being continually shot down by the Rocinante crew. He's definitely got a case of annoying-heroism but I like that the book uses him to dismantle that male-protag stereotype that's all too common in SFF. I just love it whenever Amos or pretty much anyone else in the crew hauls his ass back in line. I also gotta say that I didn't look forward to reading Prax's chapters in the beginning because they were just so depressing. Maybe it's the time of life I'm at now but anything to do with children being treated badly really just gets me.

The plot in itself is actually... kinda similar to book 1? We start the book with the POV of someone who goes missing, and then the POV of someone who witnesses a massive amount of death and destruction and is generally discredited. A character in the book wants so badly to find the missing person. We then spend a lot of time in the book hunting around for said missing person, and as usual we have Earth and Mars perpetually threatening to go to war in the background. That's pretty much the same beats in books 1 and 2.

Spoilery thoughts: I am very indifferent towards Prax for most of the book, but felt that he was sus near the end. Unfortunately though there was no big reveal at the end of this book to make that pay off. Aside from his love for his daughter and botany, it kinda felt like Prax didn't really have much substance - which made me wonder if he was hiding something. It was all very subtle (and may also be me overthinking things) but I felt like when other characters like Avasarala etc. observed him casually, something always felt a little weird, or off, or just not right. However, I'm glad that Prax and Mei were reunited in the end, it's just all so happy that it leaves me a little sus, like it's too good to be true.And that's also my issue with the ending, really, and which probably made me knock a star off. The stakes felt higher in book 1 and the ending sequence to it was suitably intense. In this one, I don't think I ever felt like the stakes were as high, but I was still expecting a similarly explosive ending - it didn't happen. Holden's short sojourn aboard the Agatha King was pretty anti-climactic, and then even the confrontation between Amos, Prax, and Merrien went by pretty quickly. Nobody was in any danger in that one. I fully expected Mei to have been in some way affected by the protomolecule, if not infected exactly, but that didn't happen either. I expected her to exhibit some worrying sign suddenly after they brought her back to the ship - but that also didn't happen. I'm not sure if this might possibly be a development in later books, but my philosophy for series in general is that if there are not even hints about it in this current book I'm reading, it still counts against it as something unanswered, as not everyone would read to the end of a series.What did pull me back was that epilogue. The bit with Holden endlessly watching the video of Venus, Naomi leaving the area, and then... Detective Miller appearing. That sent chills down my spine. The reveal was done so well there and it made me exclaim out loud. What the hell is he still doing here? How is he still alive or in one piece? How did he get onto the ship without any one knowing? Is he infectious?!?!?! Ahhhhh!!!!

This is increasingly shaping up to be a series that I'll likely see all the way through to the end and good luck to me on that, seeing as how many books there are in it.

Okay, this was awesome!

At 25% I was considering a DNF and I am soooooo happy I gave it a chance!
The pacing is perfect and the action is sublime. The plot is absolutely amazing and so epic!
I took away a star because I see some unaddressed hypocrisy in the characters, which was a bit frustrating for me (and the reason for me considering to DNF).

Either way, I loved this book and even more excited to continue with this series!

Avasarala is the best!

This really took it up a notch from Leviathan Wakes for me, the new POVs are the best characters so far! Bobbie is really cool but my favourite is Avasarala! Hilarious and an absolute powerhouse for a tiny grandma!

What a cliffhanger too.

4.5/5 for me

Honestly better than the first book; better characters, building deeper relationships with the original cast (although Naomi is flat and just a love interest prop for Holden). Fun to be in space!

Even better than the first one!

My instant reaction to the end was, “Ew, this is about to get interesting.” Before launching into the next book, I had to write down some of my thoughts. For one, I liked the new characters and enjoyed what they brought to the team. Two, the journey was fairly captivating, but I felt that it wrapped up a bit too nicely. Three, I need a few more action sequences thrown into the mix. I'm not asking for a lot more, just a bit here and there to raise the heart rate a bit. And four, I need more character development. There are small, I mean, itsy bitsy moments here and there, but I just need more. 

May the brown goo be with you

My review: https://mattstein.com/books/calibans-war

Caliban's War is just as enjoyable as the first book in the Expanse series. There's a little more going on – two plotlines that eventually converge into one. Ganymede, the belter bread-belt is destroyed and what the fallout is of that is basically the whole novel. There are some interesting twists and turns and I couldn't put the book down, really. Bobbie Draper the Martian marine is introduced, and she's fanTASTIC. Seriously. New favorite character. Chrisjen Avasarala is also introduced and she's equally awesome. Definitely cool to add some more lady characters to the series.

Totally loved it.

Damn was I entertained with the plot and characters in this book. I could not put it down and needed to know what was going to happen next. And that ending! I think having the world and backstory established really helped with the pacing for me, and not having Miller's POV was a welcome change. Plus the new female POVs was also a nice addition. I agree with people who say this is like a blockbuster movie in book form. It was thoroughly entertaining and a fast read.

It's the writing again, like in the first book, that brings the rating down for me. There are a few bits of repetitiveness (in addition to the writing style) that I couldn't overlook. The authors sure do love to mention that humans still have gestures and motivations and other things that are “primitive” in the future. And primates. They LOVE to mention PRIMATES. I get why, but I really don't need the reminder that humans made it to space but are still humble creatures of Earth. We're two books into this space opera series, we established that a loooong time ago. It's a little irksome sometimes but generally not too hard to gloss over. I still think the writers squash each other's voices/personalities when editing rather than make them better, which is sad. The final downside to the writing is that it's just so obviously written by men. It's very noticeable throughout. But the plot kept me so entertained that the writing ultimately took a backseat and didn't really hinder my enjoyment too much this time around.

One major negative I have to mention though... I'm extremely frustrated by the two male authors' choice to make a female character publicly and falsely accuse a male character of sexual abuse. Though it's fiction, I feel it will feed the fire for people who love to not believe rape victims. It felt exploitative and very pointed, like the authors included it because, to them, it would be believable... because, to them, that's what women do. And that just a gross viewpoint. These are the kinds of stories that silence real life rape victims. Stop implying women cannot be taken at their word. Stop showing perfect men who are victims of women accusers. Just stop. That's not the story that needs to be told.

If it weren't for the false sexual abuse claim, I would rate this book 4 stars. I thought it was more entertaining and had better characters than the first.

No time for a real review so let me just leave this here: This was just as great a read as the first one at the very least.

I have not seen the show after season 1 so this is new material for me to imagine. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Finally getting all the disparate characters together in one ship. Really great scifi.