Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Very much enjoyed. No, not the best writing or story... But I love the Expanse universe and this book fulfilled some of the thirst for an alien world that I've been aching to see. It also showcased some of the worst (and sadly, believable) aspects of how terrible humans can be when faced with a primitive and volatile situation.
Very good continuation.
Though I had let the series aside for a time, I'm not disappointed by this installment.
It explores the openings left by the previous in interesting ways, and keeps moving forward and setting new expectations and potential paths difficult to foresee, while remaining a self-contained story within that larger scope.
On the characters side, either old or new ones are good. Murtry is a particularily well done one, great in nastiness.
Be he also also puts in perspective the chasms that can exist between people's ethics, and how moral evolution is not necessarily an ascending path but can be driven back to levels thought to buried in history, if the right circumstances arise.
Though I had let the series aside for a time, I'm not disappointed by this installment.
It explores the openings left by the previous in interesting ways, and keeps moving forward and setting new expectations and potential paths difficult to foresee, while remaining a self-contained story within that larger scope.
On the characters side, either old or new ones are good. Murtry is a particularily well done one, great in nastiness.
Be he also also puts in perspective the chasms that can exist between people's ethics, and how moral evolution is not necessarily an ascending path but can be driven back to levels thought to buried in history, if the right circumstances arise.
Very enjoyable scaling and conflict in this one but it does leave me wanting to see more from previous POV characters.
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great installment in the Expanse series. This one is more narrowly focused on a single location - less space travel adventures and more inter-personal conflicts.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was probably the most emotionally frustrating book yet. I was constantly angry at the head of security and Holden's inability to just solve his problems old west style. The engineer's and their little fighting squad were also impossible to tolerate. I spent a lot of time wondering if this is really how it would play out in real life with real people, and sadly I think this may not be too far off the mark. It's incredible how quickly groupthink can get wrapped up in justified violence.
Thematically, much of this book seemed to be focused on how small groups stratify, dehumanize, and become violent towards each other.
I did feel that the head of security was a little bit of a flat bad guy. He was kind of all corporate evil with little to make him feel like a real human being. We could argue sociopath, but I'm getting kinda tired of having a sociopath character in every book.
There were some little moments that I thought were so good. Like when the kid is about to go try to do something to Holden, but the lady scientist intervenes. It felt so tense, so real.
Side note, I also thought it was kinda ridiculous how long they dragged out the thing with Holden's medicine. You really expect me to believe that wouldn't have been one of the very first things they tried?
I'm not loving how Holden always wants to abandon everything. This man has absolutely no sense of exploration or discovery. Also kinda wild to me that they broke all the systems. I'm kinda on the evil guy's side with this one. Destroying a fully functioning billion year old system is peak arrogance. Also, if I read this correctly, it killed Miller for realsies? Why in the hell would Holden remove the slime from the ship then. Miller has been a key ally and source of information for two books in a row, and we seem to have thrown away humanity's only connection with the protomolecule.
Anyway, still a very enjoyable book, and I look forward to the next ones.
Thematically, much of this book seemed to be focused on how small groups stratify, dehumanize, and become violent towards each other.
I did feel that the head of security was a little bit of a flat bad guy. He was kind of all corporate evil with little to make him feel like a real human being. We could argue sociopath, but I'm getting kinda tired of having a sociopath character in every book.
There were some little moments that I thought were so good. Like when the kid is about to go try to do something to Holden, but the lady scientist intervenes. It felt so tense, so real.
Side note, I also thought it was kinda ridiculous how long they dragged out the thing with Holden's medicine. You really expect me to believe that wouldn't have been one of the very first things they tried?
I'm not loving how Holden always wants to abandon everything. This man has absolutely no sense of exploration or discovery. Also kinda wild to me that they broke all the systems. I'm kinda on the evil guy's side with this one. Destroying a fully functioning billion year old system is peak arrogance. Also, if I read this correctly, it killed Miller for realsies? Why in the hell would Holden remove the slime from the ship then. Miller has been a key ally and source of information for two books in a row, and we seem to have thrown away humanity's only connection with the protomolecule.
Anyway, still a very enjoyable book, and I look forward to the next ones.