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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't know what I can say right now that will do justice to this book. It's been years since a novel made me feel so much and go so far. I've always been a fantasy reader and I tend to just watch science fiction. I've been converted. The characters in this book are so real to me and the plot is so close to home. This isn't a sprawled out of the galaxy space thriller. What it is can be summed up in limbo. The in between time of earth colonizing the solar system right before branching out further. I loved every second of this book. Can't wait to start Caliban's War.
I loved this. Couldn’t put it down, helpful that I also had the flu so a lot of time on my hands but still - a testament to how much I liked it that I read it very quickly when I felt very crummy! Felt very similar to the show “Firefly” which I am of course a big fan of.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So so good. Just. Yep.
Space opera done right — not bogged down in technical details but developed, rich characters.
Space opera done right — not bogged down in technical details but developed, rich characters.
This book was so close to a five stars. It had all of my favorite things, aliens, space opera, sci fi zombies, and my personal favorite genre: zombies in space. However, in a technical manner, this book is uselessly dense. 532 pages and around half of it was all prose; Rather than technical aspects, physics or other worldbuilding, this was all descriptions of a setting or a character's-no matter how minor-facial features, clothes, disposition, etc. This did not perform well in physical form a couple years ago which is why I DNFed it a few chapters in. As an audiobook, however, it translated very well; Even without the production quality of a typical immersive podcast, Leviathan Wakes in audio form is worth it, as well as miles better than print. However, even while this all should've garnered 5 stars, there were a few things I couldn't over look.
The Bad:
1) The only two pov's we hear from are both men Miller & Holden, both of whom wax poetic about these two women in their head. And I'm pretty sure the bechdel test never passed in all 1000 pages of the book or whatever.
2) Miller? falls in love with a woman he never even meets until SPOILER. Furthermore she is soo much younger than him that he constantly calls her "kid." he never even meets this woman yet, builds up this idea of her in his head and uses her as his driving force to not commit suicide-which is quite frankly insane. AND YET, He is a far superior character to our other narrator; Holden.
3) Holden is a pathetic little worm of a man. He's a terrible leader and captain, has the moral ego of a god & thinks he's better than everyone for it, and genuinely only survives out of sheer luck. But the thing I hate the most about him is how halfway through the book, after all the women he has immediate access to get blown up, he considers himself in love with the only woman who didn't. And she herself tells him that! she says "you never even considered me until I was the only one left." He spends most of the book imagining her the way he'd want her to act when she's right next to him and then getting angry when she doesn't conform to his fantasies. And then she says she's loved him the entire time??
4) If it weren't more obvious that this book was written by men, Naomis character could make that clear 10 times over. She's literally the epitome of female character written by a man, who furthermore, made Holden into a self-insert. Guys it was sooooo obvious.
5) Also I didn't like how Holden had this moral superiority when it came to killing people. I don't know why authors do this-like sure you wouldn't want to go sponsoring murder, & I'm sure the publishing houses wouldn't be on board with that either, but jesus christ Holden cried like a bitch when literal SPACE HITLER was killed! Like dude genuinely genocided a whole population of billions and Holden started whining about a fair trial??
6.) Dawg there was so much useless prose. How many times did the author talk about what shoes this one dude was wearing? The angle some dude's hat was tilted at? Like yes I get it, theres a time and place for details to set the scene or describe a character, but I genuinely think at least 300 pages could have been cut from the book on useless information.
Enough ranting; the Good:
1) Zombies. In. Space.
2) The space physics when used for describing the mechanics of modern warfare in space was excellent. No spoilers, but incredibly imaginative and accurate. Technology made sense.
3) the plot & execution. Not that it was any different than what you could expect from a Virus in Space-Space Opera, but the pacing, plotting, foreshadowing, and sequencing were all superb with nary a deus ex machina in sight. love to see it. Furthermore, it's an excellent setup for the expansion of the universe (AKA the 8 other books). The blurb for the 2nd and 3rd book falls in line logically with the sequence of events in this one & its obvious that Leviathan Wakes' ending was a precursor to what the Authors really wanted to do with this universe. Excellent use of the Shrek 2 Sequel Rule.
4) Space politics. Belt lore & its intra-political ramifications with Mars & Earth was REALLY well done. Usually space opera either only involves Earth & Mars or it involves some kind of republic & the fringe planets.
5) Audiobook, which I've explained before, but basically don't bother reading all 1000 or so pages, the audiobook is like it's own cinematic production & a great use of your money at 21 hours long.
Review over.
The Bad:
1) The only two pov's we hear from are both men Miller & Holden, both of whom wax poetic about these two women in their head. And I'm pretty sure the bechdel test never passed in all 1000 pages of the book or whatever.
2) Miller? falls in love with a woman he never even meets until SPOILER. Furthermore she is soo much younger than him that he constantly calls her "kid." he never even meets this woman yet, builds up this idea of her in his head and uses her as his driving force to not commit suicide-which is quite frankly insane. AND YET, He is a far superior character to our other narrator; Holden.
3) Holden is a pathetic little worm of a man. He's a terrible leader and captain, has the moral ego of a god & thinks he's better than everyone for it, and genuinely only survives out of sheer luck. But the thing I hate the most about him is how halfway through the book, after all the women he has immediate access to get blown up, he considers himself in love with the only woman who didn't. And she herself tells him that! she says "you never even considered me until I was the only one left." He spends most of the book imagining her the way he'd want her to act when she's right next to him and then getting angry when she doesn't conform to his fantasies. And then she says she's loved him the entire time??
4) If it weren't more obvious that this book was written by men, Naomis character could make that clear 10 times over. She's literally the epitome of female character written by a man, who furthermore, made Holden into a self-insert. Guys it was sooooo obvious.
5) Also I didn't like how Holden had this moral superiority when it came to killing people. I don't know why authors do this-like sure you wouldn't want to go sponsoring murder, & I'm sure the publishing houses wouldn't be on board with that either, but jesus christ Holden cried like a bitch when literal SPACE HITLER was killed! Like dude genuinely genocided a whole population of billions and Holden started whining about a fair trial??
6.) Dawg there was so much useless prose. How many times did the author talk about what shoes this one dude was wearing? The angle some dude's hat was tilted at? Like yes I get it, theres a time and place for details to set the scene or describe a character, but I genuinely think at least 300 pages could have been cut from the book on useless information.
Enough ranting; the Good:
1) Zombies. In. Space.
2) The space physics when used for describing the mechanics of modern warfare in space was excellent. No spoilers, but incredibly imaginative and accurate. Technology made sense.
3) the plot & execution. Not that it was any different than what you could expect from a Virus in Space-Space Opera, but the pacing, plotting, foreshadowing, and sequencing were all superb with nary a deus ex machina in sight. love to see it. Furthermore, it's an excellent setup for the expansion of the universe (AKA the 8 other books). The blurb for the 2nd and 3rd book falls in line logically with the sequence of events in this one & its obvious that Leviathan Wakes' ending was a precursor to what the Authors really wanted to do with this universe. Excellent use of the Shrek 2 Sequel Rule.
4) Space politics. Belt lore & its intra-political ramifications with Mars & Earth was REALLY well done. Usually space opera either only involves Earth & Mars or it involves some kind of republic & the fringe planets.
5) Audiobook, which I've explained before, but basically don't bother reading all 1000 or so pages, the audiobook is like it's own cinematic production & a great use of your money at 21 hours long.
Review over.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not badly written, I can understand why people like the series, but I don't think it's for me. I didn't dislike any of the characters, but I wasn't invested enough in them to want to commit to however many books there are left, and tbh the body horror aspect was a little much for me 😅 Oh well, I gave it a shot!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes