Leviathan Wakes
Ratings1,215
Average rating4.2
I'm angry because the prologue tricked me into thinking this book was going to have a female protagonist, but actually that was the only part of the book from her POV, she was fridged in order to provide motivation for one of the dude protagonists
at some point I said “this book loses a star if Julie ends up murdered” and yep
and then I was like “if Holden ends up with Naomi this book loses another star”
so here we are
tbh I just feel really bad for Julie because she starts the book stuffed in a locker, spends the entire book as Miller's imaginary friend (so female and nurturing and compassionate and understanding!) and then ends up stuck with him FOR EVER in weird ass alien goo mind meld situation
it had some interesting ideas in it but it's such a super generic space opera, with so much DUDES SHOOTING THINGS and NEEDLESS VIOLENCE and DUDES HAVING A FEELING BETTER SHOOT THINGS and like every character making a needless sexual comment about Naomi honestly it was super tiresome and masculinity is boring
Two disparate stories come together. Creepy aliens. Cool space ships.
The writing on this is amazing.
This put me through an emotional wringer! At first it was a bit of a slog, and the detective story didn't really draw me in. But then the overall mystery and the political machinations really got me interested, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Then it seemed like every time we were closing in on a climax and resolution, there would be a new, more difficult threat or challenge. The repeatedly rising tension eventually drove me to look up the plot summary of the last 15% or so, because my nerves just couldn't handle any more “What NOW?!” revelations.
Despite my anxiety, the ending brings together the emotional threads of the story in a pretty damn satisfying way. And the plot elements are resolved, though I found it a little confusing. Or unsatisfying, or something. Without giving spoilers, a big issue that drove the plot in a very urgent way suddenly gets treated as relatively trivial, and it didn't sit right with me, but I guess I can see the argument in the other direction (that it truly became relatively trivial given what develops).
Anyway, this was a really good story with some wonderful characters. Still, I'm not sure I'll read the next one, since the pacing wasn't a terrific match with my tastes. In addition to the ratcheting spiral of tension, there was a lot that could have been trimmed and suited me fine - less navel-gazing by the characters and more economical action scenes would have been nice. But I can also see why people love this book, and might welcome the slower pace and investment in detail. The characters you get to know are beautifully drawn and feel like friends by the end.
J'ai le lu dans le cadre de mon petit-dejeuner exercice de lecture. Habituellement il prend plus que 3 moins pour finir un livre de presque 700 pages, mais j'ai l'avantage ici de deja etre amoureuse avec les caracteres. Plus, de connaitre la plupart de l'action. Evidemment grace a etre une fan de la version televisee.
There were some good parts, but I was expecting more. Miller didn't do much for me. He's your typical hangdog noirish detective with questionable work practices (apparently) and an alcohol problem told to find a missing Earth girl whom he promptly falls in love with because...I have no clue. She's hot? Her emails made her seem cool? He's only interesting when he's being pragmatic in response to our hero Holden's quintessential naive idealism. I was more interested in the side characters than these two. My favorite parts were actually the Eros horror parts. There are some interesting things going on, but I don't feel compelled to read the next one soon. Eventually. But I think they hype was too built up for the book to meet it, for me.
Pros: brilliant world-building, great characters, lots of plot twists, excellent pacing
Cons:
James Holden is the XO of the ice harvester Canterbury. When the Cant encounters a distress beacon, they're the closest ship and must send aid. Holden's sent with a five man crew to check out the damaged ship. But something's not right and things for Holden start to go very, very wrong.
Miller is a cop on the asteroid Ceres. He's given an off the book ‘kidnap' job to send the daughter of a rich magnate home. He becomes more invested in the case than he should, and uncovers more than he was supposed to.
First off, if - like me - you've seen the show and were wondering if it's worth reading the book, the answer is yes. It covers the entire first season (from the POVs mentioned above) and a fair bit of the second, but there's enough new information, nuance, and divergence to keep you entertained. Most importantly, the pacing of the book is brilliant. While not all of the reveals will be a surprise, the novel propels you forward into the next crisis.
The novel is told from two points of view. The opposing chapters help ramp up the tension as you're often given hints that something has happened but switch POV to find out what that thing is.
The world building is brilliant. I love that belters shrug with their hands, because you can't see shoulders move in a space suit. I loved the (unfortunate) realism of racism between belters, Earthers, and Martians. There's a lot of nuance with language - how it's changed and melded by having people from all over Earth living in close quarters outside of Earth. The fact that there's low-brow belter slang and Martian accents was great. The physics were real, aside from the drive that makes interplanetary travel possible (which, while not currently real, is plausible).
I found that some of the motivations and actions made more sense in the book than they did on the TV show (as much as I LOVE the show). It was nice seeing more nuance with character development and gaining a better grasp of who everyone is.
The characters were great. Holden can be a little to ‘righteous' at times, but he firmly believes he's in the right. I did like some of his interactions with Miller, where he's forced to realize that his POV isn't necessarily the right one and that the world isn't as black and white as he seems to believe. The Rosi's crew works together well. Naomi's brilliant! I love her smarts, her intuition, her observations, her skill. I was impressed with how concentrating profanity to Amos's character worked in terms of releasing tension and creating some comic relief. I'm not usually a fan of swearing but this was well handled.
I found the romance sub-plot slow moving enough to feel realistic. It was great when the couple finally got together.
I had high expectations going into this book and it exceeded them. If you like hard science fiction and space mysteries, this is for you.
Început și sfârșit de 5/5, dar restul de 90% de 2-3/5 (mai degrabă un 6/10). E captivantă, alertă, corect scrisă, cu o atmosferă noir bine construită. Un SF numai bun pentru trecut timpul în mod plăcut.
Dar are personaje șablon și 0% idei originale, fiind doar o reciclare (reușită) din alte cărți și filme (mai ales Total Recall, Alien și Moon is a Harsh Mistress), asamblate după o rețetă de tip serial TV (da, chiar s-a făcut unul, pe care nu-l recomand). De ex, tipic TV este cârligul de la sfârșitul fiecărui episod, aici capitol, care mă deranjează: chiar atât de retardat sunt încât trebuie să mă duci cu zăhărelul ca să citesc? Asta e părerea lor despre cititorii pe care-i vizează?
Ca să fac un rezumat: e o carte destul de mișto, dar nu bună.
Cât despre autori, se simte foarte clar că unul e mult mai bun decât celălalt, doar că nu știu care.
update 2 luni mai tarziu: reorganizandu-mi biblioteca, am realizat ca nu am deloc intenția să-i cumpăr continuările. poate fi această decizie potrivită unei cărți de 3/5? nu, evident, motiv din care, după sedimentarea părerii, îi mai scad o stea, la 2/5.
update 2: m-am lămurit între timp și care e scriitorul bun din duo: Daniel Abraham, fiindcă i-am citit și fantasy și după gustul meu e de 5/5.
The Expanse series is astonishingly good science fiction. Corey paints a future that depicts humanity having ventured out deep into our solar system, but it's a fractured future, where the inhabitants of Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt (“Belters”) find themselves having less and less in common. Ships and stations are cramped, dark, unfriendly places, and these are where much of the book is set.
This story is written primarily from the perspective of Belters, who feel forgotten and abused by the inner planets. It's here that the hunt for missing heiress Juliette Andromeda Mao begins, initiating a series of events that bring together a Ceres detective and a small crew of ice miners. Characters are flawed, and rough edged, but they find a way to come together against an unlikely and terribly mysterious antagonist and display the best of their humanity.
I like the way Corey writes dialogue, and how he illustrates mood through body gestures. Technology is treated very nonchalantly, and feels not entirely unfamiliar. Drama is used sparingly, and punctuates the story at well timed moments. The story is complex, and layered, but I'm excited to continue it.
My kind of SF, this was interesting and fun.
I watched the TV series and this first book in the series contains much that wasn't (yet) in the show.
I didn't realize I was in the mood for a 500+ page “space opera” until shortly after starting Leviathan Wakes. A little mystery, a little horror, a little action thriller, and a lot of fun.
Very entertaining
Great story, characters, and dialog! Corey pulls you into the world he created and makes you feel at home while you explore.
Epic space thriller. The pages absolutely flew by. Looking forward to reading the rest!
Someone pitched this series to me as “sci-fi Game of Thrones.”
Eh. Maybe. And that is a good thing. It is a rich, well-built world that is consistent with its own rules. The story is solid.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, plan to read the rest of the series.
This was a pretty good space yarn. It was well written and nicely paced. I'm not sure I'll dive into the sequels though. Mibbe.
Book has complex character play and interesting plot and twists. There is nothing science fiction-y about this book. Had it been the political drama instead of sci-fi book, author still able to keep the same story. But that doesn't make it a bad book, I just had different expectations. Its more of ‘dune' type of science fiction book than ‘foundation' type. Sometimes author unnecessarily tries to make situation science fiction-y by using technobabble and falls flat on face. But nevertheless, it's interesting read.
I should have written my comments earlier, a few months later and I can't precisely remember which parts happened in each book since they all fit together in the same story. I started reading Leviathan Wakes based on the recommendation by John Moltz on The Talk Show.
As you can see by the fact that after the first book I continued through the rest of the series, I liked the books. I kept wanting to read more about the compelling characters who make up the crew of the Rocinante. Besides the crew I also loved the characters of Avasarala and, in Abaddon's Gate, Reverend Doctor Annushka Volovodov.
I enjoyed the future that the authors write, especially that it is not all rainbows like Star Trek. Except for the Nauvoo, which was intended to be a generational ship used by the Mormons (I love that idea!), the future was pretty bleak. And then that one glimmer of hope was hijacked and stolen.
Another thing that jumped out at me is that, with the exception of the Epstein (fusion) drive, none of the human technology in the books is magic. Even the fusion drive doesn't challenge our knowledge of physics, a few hundred years of new technology makes everything seem very plausible. Well, the gates are magic, but they're alien technology, so I give them a pass.
Last item of praise for the series: the aliens are alien! We don't understand the alien technology, we can't communicate effectively with it (Miller shows just how much we can't) and it is just so weird. I don't recall a story that presented such truly alien aliens. And, despite that, the second book covers how we tried to exploit their technology, even though we don't understand it at all.
Leviathan Wakes starts out strong, dumping you into the mystery of Julie Mao and the destruction of the Canterbury. I was captivated immediately and loved how the mysteries progressed and intertwined.
This absolutely hit the spot. The Miller storyline was pulpy in the way any classic detective story should be, and the Holden plot line told a story that was simultaneously epic and deeply personal, claustrophobic and expansive. I loved the characters and the world that James Corey built here, and can't wait to read the rest of the series.
4.5 stars.Oh my days THAT WAS GOOOOOD.I can't even say I really came out of that book particularly LIKING anyone in particular. It was just a damn good story, about people. People don't act like they “should” in every situation. People are flawed. Even good people. I really enjoyed the development of Miller as a character, though I wouldn't say I liked him. The battle scenes were brilliant, I'm not usually one for battle scenes, but something gripped me about these ones. When they were in dialogue, it felt like Star Trek - but better! The story itself went all over the place, and it had me hooked. Admittedly, coming out of reading [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 24956528 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424178658s/24956528.jpg 42270825] to reading this, the start felt a little dry, and I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it. But into it I got, and thoroughly enjoyed it I did. If you like pretty sci-fi, and you don't like gritty, don't read it! Because pretty it aint. Space Vomit Zombies. Nuff said.Lost a half star, as there were points where the story dragged just a tiny bit more that I would have liked. But definitely worth a read!
I love this series and ever since I read it back in 2016 (ack!) and felt like it was time for a re-read. I still love it as with all re-reads, you notice things each time you read. Here are some spare thoughts:
-Miller is SO copaganda-y at times and I didn't notice it the first time I read through. I do like that the other characters push back against his sometimes “above the law” actions. Not that the Roci crew doesn't do some shady stuff...
-Amos has a throwaway line that he'd sleep with Naomi if she was interested and that shocked me because I don't recall any of that my previous read through or in the show. They feel very much like siblings to me so perhaps that was an idea the authors abandoned which is fine by me.
-Sam! I forgot about Sam! It was great to see her and I always liked when she shows up in the next books.
-Holden and Miller's escape from the Eros Zombies is still the weakest part of the book for me. I just think it could be a little shorter. It drags a bit.
-I can't wait for book two because it introduces two of my favorite characters in the whole series: Bobbie Draper and Chrisjen Avasarala!
Very fun read with interesting characters and a great creep factor. I think my favorite moment is when the detective realizes who he is and it spirals away from him.
Leviathan Wakes is good old-fashioned space opera which manages to strike a perfect balance between building a brilliantly detailed future universe and a fast-paced, thriller like plot. Set several hundred years in the future, humans have colonised the Moon, Mars and the asteroid belt, but inevitably this has not been an entirely peaceful process. The author, James S. A. Corey, is the pen name of two collaborators, Daniel Abraham (fantasy author of the Long Price quartet and the Dagger and the Coin series) and Ty Franck (sci-fi author and George R. R. Martin's assistant). This is the first book in the Expanse series, which has recently been adapted for television by SyFy.
What immediately drew me into the world of the Expanse was the distinctive development of each of the new human worlds. So-called ‘Belters', those who have lived all of their lives on stations bolted on to asteroids with only small amounts of spin gravity, are tall and lanky with hand gestures developed to allow communication in environment suits. Each chapter is written from a different character's viewpoint, in style very similar to Abraham's Dagger and Coin series, which quickly introduces the reader to life in these new, challenging environments. Throughout the book, there are constant reminders of the adjustments made to everyday life in space in a way that I found constantly satisfying without ever getting in the way of the plot. The level of detail reminded me slightly of Andy Weir's The Martian, but on a much larger scale. These insights are not limited to science and technology – the distinct cultures developed around the solar system are rich and diverse, never feeling too far removed from our own.
The main story kicks off within the first few chapters of the book, when the fragile peace which existed between the human outposts is broken by a seemingly random attack. We then follow our two main characters – Holden, executive office ‘XO' of an ice freighter, and Miller, a disgruntled police detective on Ceres – as events begin to unfold. Earth is not the central focus of the book, remaining a somewhat mysterious political and military force that felt detached and slightly alien to me. I really enjoyed this perspective, learning about the world first from the furthest reaches of human civilization.
This is a fantastic page-turner, followed by four books currently released with a further four planned for the future. If only a UK network would pick up the TV series!
