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booksthatburn's review against another edition
Not my thing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Death
Minor: Excrement, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual assault
mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Pedophilia, Misogyny, Sexual violence, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Medical content
ekcd_'s review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
This is definitely going on the re-read list. Probably on a list of books to buy, which is meaningful considering I’m broke.
I read the book after watching the first episode of the show and fell in love so hard I don’t think I can be impartial about evaluating the books good-ness.
Deep characters, realistic dialogue, deep lore and world building.
A note on the writing of relationships …
It’s the one and only sci fi book I have ever read, written by a man (men?) that had a sex scene WITHOUT bodily objectifying women. Without bodily objectifying anyone. Such a minor plot point, less than two pages, but for me it reframed my expectations of the book. No weird porny misogyny. Just an earnest description of what it means to share intimacy
One aggravating, potential plot hole (hence the half star deduction)
Why the fuck wouldn’t they just crash Eros into the sun as planned? It’s great for the plot to have it land on Venus but it was so out of character and out of dynamic
I’m not mad though, because I would have hated for this to only be one book. But I hope they get their shit together on the next one tbh
I read the book after watching the first episode of the show and fell in love so hard I don’t think I can be impartial about evaluating the books good-ness.
Deep characters, realistic dialogue, deep lore and world building.
A note on the writing of relationships …
It’s the one and only sci fi book I have ever read, written by a man (men?) that had a sex scene WITHOUT bodily objectifying women. Without bodily objectifying anyone. Such a minor plot point, less than two pages, but for me it reframed my expectations of the book. No weird porny misogyny. Just an earnest description of what it means to share intimacy
One aggravating, potential plot hole (hence the half star deduction)
Why the fuck wouldn’t they just crash Eros into the sun as planned? It’s great for the plot to have it land on Venus but it was so out of character and out of dynamic
I’m not mad though, because I would have hated for this to only be one book. But I hope they get their shit together on the next one tbh
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Excrement, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Body horror, Death, War, Cursing, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Drug use, Racism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Cancer, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt
yoursupremereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
You know how when you read a Crichton novel you felt like you were smart because his books had a way of just laying out the scientific rules of the worlds he created? Well James S. A. Corey has done that but based everything in Leviathan's Wake on actual science. This is an adventure on a galactic scale. Literally. Humanity is spread over the Milky Way from Earth all the way to the asteroid belt and the consequences of that expanse (ha see what I did there?) of space when it comes to the analysis of this world's political intrigue was awesome. If something was happening in the Belt, because humans have been colonializing asteroid satellites in our galaxy's asteroid belt for generations in this world's timeline, then news about what's happening there would take lots of time to reach other pockets of civilization spread across the galaxy. Add to that a crew of of Belters and Earthers who are set up to solve a mystery regarding a newly discovered alien bioweapon that threatens to throw the galaxy into full out war and you have yourself an modern sci-fi epic that's deeply captivating and arresting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Racism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Murder, Drug use, Genocide, Violence, and War
mazomazli's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The premise was super interesting and I enjoyed the mystery aspects. It could’ve been a 4.5 star rating if it weren’t for the constant gross man writing. I was so exhausted from being constantly pulled away from the story to hear about underaged or unlicensed ‘whores’ who were constantly brought up by the detective main character the entire book despite never meeting one of these characters. Both of the main perspective characters were not very likable to me mostly because of how they interacted with women. It was extremely weird. When Holden starts describing how ‘exotic’ Naomi was and breaking down her ethnic background I legit sat there listening to this book going ‘don’t do it don’t do it oh my god stop don’t do that’.
Also
did the authors REALLY have to have cosmic horror coming out of a dead woman’s VULVA?! What was the reason? WHAT WAS IT?
I still really enjoyed the mystery but I will not read any more of these books. I do not want one more chapter in the head of these authors. I will however check out the TV show and maybe it will be less blatant without the narrator going off on unnecessary horny and weird tangents.
Also
I still really enjoyed the mystery but I will not read any more of these books. I do not want one more chapter in the head of these authors. I will however check out the TV show and maybe it will be less blatant without the narrator going off on unnecessary horny and weird tangents.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Gun violence, Body horror, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape
idksamiguess's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, Medical content, Death, and Vomit
Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer
featherbrain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Police brutality, Rape, and Trafficking
iviarelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
2020
In hindsight, I like this book somewhat less than I did before. It's still a promising first entry to a series, no doubt, and there's a lot to be done with the intrigue and mysteries it sets up... but there are also a lot of little problems that add up to a much less enjoyable experience when I start looking a little deeper.
Maybe the best example of this is that the way the story treats rape is downright insensitive, to understate it vastly. At one point, Miller assumes that Julie must have been raped, because she suddenly starts taking a martial arts class, and gets really good at it quickly. The story never indicates in any way that he's wrong about this assumption; on the contrary, Miller's "hunches" are proven right time and time again. In Holden's case, at one point he thinks about how he's drunk and Naomi's drunk and he would hate himself in the morning for taking advantage but he should go for it, ask her to sleep with him. Later, their first sexual encounter begins while she's been drinking and he hasn't. The word rape isn't ever brought up in conjunction with this, possibly because the writers only viewed rape as a violent act by a stranger, as so many people (particularly, people who are under significantly less threat of being raped) do. Maybe she'd be okay with it in the morning (as she was in the latter instance) and maybe she wouldn't, but... the very fact that Holden's thoughts admit that sleeping with someone drunk would be "taking advantage" shows that at some level, he and the writers know it would be rape... and yet they do it later anyway, not just with no consequences, but with the actual reward of starting a relationship with her.
And I can't go without mentioning the extraordinarily shitty cops in the story. Miller more or less considers himself accountable only to his superiors, not any real sort of law. He has his own moral code and his own definition of justice and will carry those out no matter what orders he's been given or by whom. And the worst part is that, again, he's shown to be right to do so by the story. That's... not a good look.
It's a little frustrating, because it was so recently that I first read this book, I feel like I should have looked a little closer all this time. I think the later books do less of this sort of thing? But I can no longer be sure, and that's frustrating to me.
=====
2017
This was a pretty good book. The science felt solid (except for the acceleration giving ships gravity thing, I never felt like that was quite as well explained as everything else, why should acceleration forward give gravity downward?), the characters were all given depth, none of the men were particularly rewarded for toxic masculinity. I could've done with a few more women in major, active roles in the narrative, especially who don't end up love interests, but it was generally enjoyable. When I want another hard science fiction fix, I'll likely turn to the next book in the series.
In hindsight, I like this book somewhat less than I did before. It's still a promising first entry to a series, no doubt, and there's a lot to be done with the intrigue and mysteries it sets up... but there are also a lot of little problems that add up to a much less enjoyable experience when I start looking a little deeper.
Maybe the best example of this is that the way the story treats rape is downright insensitive, to understate it vastly. At one point, Miller assumes that Julie must have been raped, because she suddenly starts taking a martial arts class, and gets really good at it quickly. The story never indicates in any way that he's wrong about this assumption; on the contrary, Miller's "hunches" are proven right time and time again. In Holden's case, at one point he thinks about how he's drunk and Naomi's drunk and he would hate himself in the morning for taking advantage but he should go for it, ask her to sleep with him. Later, their first sexual encounter begins while she's been drinking and he hasn't. The word rape isn't ever brought up in conjunction with this, possibly because the writers only viewed rape as a violent act by a stranger, as so many people (particularly, people who are under significantly less threat of being raped) do. Maybe she'd be okay with it in the morning (as she was in the latter instance) and maybe she wouldn't, but... the very fact that Holden's thoughts admit that sleeping with someone drunk would be "taking advantage" shows that at some level, he and the writers know it would be rape... and yet they do it later anyway, not just with no consequences, but with the actual reward of starting a relationship with her.
And I can't go without mentioning the extraordinarily shitty cops in the story. Miller more or less considers himself accountable only to his superiors, not any real sort of law. He has his own moral code and his own definition of justice and will carry those out no matter what orders he's been given or by whom. And the worst part is that, again, he's shown to be right to do so by the story. That's... not a good look.
It's a little frustrating, because it was so recently that I first read this book, I feel like I should have looked a little closer all this time. I think the later books do less of this sort of thing? But I can no longer be sure, and that's frustrating to me.
=====
2017
This was a pretty good book. The science felt solid (except for the acceleration giving ships gravity thing, I never felt like that was quite as well explained as everything else, why should acceleration forward give gravity downward?), the characters were all given depth, none of the men were particularly rewarded for toxic masculinity. I could've done with a few more women in major, active roles in the narrative, especially who don't end up love interests, but it was generally enjoyable. When I want another hard science fiction fix, I'll likely turn to the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Violence, Police brutality, Mental illness, Gun violence, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Medical content
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
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