Reviews with content warning for Death - El Despertar del Leviatán

A strong start by the authors coming to symbolise modern sci-fi. The Expanse has it all: complex characters, moral quandries, political intriques, class warfare, intriguing sci-fi concepts... I hope the rest of the series is as good!

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dwellordream's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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gwooby's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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blakethebookeater's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

https://youtu.be/5qZ6UKSyTqw

This is a reread for me! And it was just as good the second time around. Read this because I'm hosting an Expanse readalong this year in prep for the final book coming this fall! The live show discussion for this book is linked above and you can follow the Twitter account @ReadTheExpanse for more information/announcements!

So this book follows two main plots: Joseph Miller is searching for the missing Julie Mao, and James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are...just constantly on the run. Eventually their two narrative intersect and then this book finishes off with quite an explosive finale!

Now I do think I was inclined to like this book more because I do already have a knowledge of where these characters go from here and seeing how their arcs started out was just a joy. I will have to say that this novel doesn't quite focus on character, and moreso focuses on plot, but that is a-ok because the plot really needs to be focused on. A LOT happens.

The Expanse takes place in a future where we have three main factions: Earth, Mars (technologically superior), and the Belt (basically everyone else living on various space stations). An event at the beginning of the novel sparks a solar-system-wide war and Holden and his crew race to discover the cause/stop it and Miller's mystery might have something to do with it as well.

I highly recommend this book is you're a fan of science fiction, and recommend the series as a whole. Because as crazy as this one is, it only gets crazier and more epic.

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stubbornlybookish's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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futureofmydays's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

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gbaty's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book has probably made me swear the most of any book so far this year.
And I read it directly after reading Harrow the Ninth. So that's saying something.
But wow, I need to put some greater distance between the scifi's.

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