Leviathan Wakes

In this expansive (pun intended) space 0pera, we follow 2 main POVs: Holden, who is on the crew of a large ice hauling ship, and Miller, a cop in the Belt. When Holden's ship is shot down during a distress signal rescue mission, he broadcasts to the universe that he found a Mars-built item on the ship, starting off an interplanetary war. Miller is assigned to a mission to find a wealthy family's daughter. During these 2 characters story arcs, we get to see all of the politics that go on, with Mars and Earth always at each others' necks to be the better planet, and the Belters treated as expendable. All of this tension builds up into a full-fledged war. But what Holden, Miller, and the crew discover is bigger than anyone could have predicted.

I enjoyed this book. The disease was the most exciting plot point of the book. It created this really tense, honestly terrifying story of these people trying to survive. The whole arc of Eros had my heart pounding. One of the main reasons I'm giving this 3 stars is that I really did not enjoy reading from Miller's perspective, which was about half of the book. I understand why his character is necessary to the story, I've just never been a big fan of reading books about cops. However, Holden and his crew are great, and the last quarter of the book really redeems Miller for me. The politics took me a while to get the hang of. I could not keep up with what was going on for a while. Also, the ship-to-ship combat was confusing to me. All of the science involved with the ship combat, however, was fascinating and kept me intrigued during these scenes.

All in all, I liked this book and am excited to continue with the series. I'm hoping now that I have a better understanding of how this world works and who the key players are, I'll have a better time with the next book.

TW: body horror, gore, death, violence, gun violence, alcoholism, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, vomit, suicide, blood, police butality, murder, war, drug use, chronic illness, genocide