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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
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
August 2022: I still think this is one of the best books in the series but in a more stealthy way than book five, which is a WHOPPER. The rest of the series is also more actiony and intense, but this one is more about showing the consequences of what's already happened, and laying hints for what's to come than it is about BIG moments. I really appreciate that the Corey duo can do both, and I think the series is better for it.
One of the things that has to be resolved before we can move on to the conflict in the final three books is the problem of Marco Inaros and the Free Navy, and the larger problem of the Belt and its inhabitants in this post-Earth world. I think all of that is handled very well, and I think the fact that the authors have SO many POV characters this time is to absolutely give us a widespread view of the expanse (heh) of the story and what's going on. This is the only book in the series with more than a handful of POV characters, and it's more than twenty.
I still have yet to watch the final season of The Expanse TV show, which adapts this book (and parts of the others?? I don't know) because I'm worried it won't be a satisfying ending to the series. This is an irrational fear, I think, because the book series could have stopped here with this one if the authors wanted and it would have been a satisfying ending, so why can't that work for the show, too?
On to Persepolis Rising. I am extremely interested to see how I feel about these last four books, because while I was reading them I was constantly getting the feeling that on re-read I would like them better.
January 2017:
“That’s the problem with things you can’t do twice,” Naomi said. “You can’t ever know how it would have gone if it had been the other way.”
“No. But you can say that if you don’t do something different it’ll happen again, and again, and again, over and over until something changes the game.”
“Like the protomolecule?”
“It didn’t change anything,” Holden said. “Here we are, still doing all the same things we did before. We’ve got a bigger battleground. Some of the sides have shifted around. But it’s all the same crap we’ve been doing since that first guy sharpened a rock.”
First, a warning. If you are looking for an objective review of this book, you can just go ahead and look elsewhere. My ability to be objective flew out the airlock last book and is now floating around out there cold and dead in space. Mayhaps eventually it shall encounter a black hole and spend the rest of eternity being crushed into nothingness. I am complete trash for this series.
Okay, but with that said, I also happen to think I’m right about it, and what I’m right about is that this series is awesome, and it just keeps getting better, and why aren’t you effing reading it. This is top-notch sci-fi, space opera. It has a believable hard science background, and yet the characters are the focus. So many delicious character arcs. So, so many.
It also manages to pull off being simultaneously epic and intimate. Solar-system and species-altering events occur, but they are always grounded in the characters, which of course makes them even more devastating.
“Politics is the art of the possible, Captain Pa. When you play at our level, grudges cost lives.”
This is also a series that, despite being on occasion terrifying and horrific, remains hopeful in tone. Just a bunch of flawed humans running around space, making a hash of things, and underneath that, a basic human decency, and a yearning to be better.
This book has the most POV characters of all the books so far, which was a smart choice. The scope of this story is much larger now, and we really need to be seeing the events from a lot of different perspectives. Holden is there, of course, and Corey manages to give him an arc, even this far into book six. And then we’ve also got POVs from Naomi, Amos, Alex, Bobbie (now a full member of the crew, yay!), Clarissa Mao (also now a crewmember), Avasarala (who breaks my heart), Michio Pa (the captain who can’t make up her mind which side she wants to work for), Fred Johnson, Anderson Dawes, Prax (haven’t seen him in a while), Naomi’s son (the little shit) Philip, Marko (the terrorist leader of the Free Navy), some random one-off chapters of people working on Medina Station, and the whole thing is bookended with a prologue and epilogue from our old friend Anna (the preacher from Abaddon’s Gate).
Listing them out like that, I’m realizing there are actually even more than I’d thought. I’m even more impressed now that the book juggled that many POVs, and did it well.
“Because Inaros and all the Free Navy people, they weren’t fighting for Belter rights or political recognition. They were fighting to have the past back, to have things be what they’ve always been.”
This book is great, hence my five star rating, but it is a bit slower (relatively speaking) than Nemesis Games. Really, though, I appreciate what Corey has done here. This is essentially a book about consequences and clean-up. You can’t just do what they did in book five and expect things to carry on as they were. In fact, I liked that things were slower. I liked seeing how each character (and group of people) reacted to the tragedy. I liked seeing how those reactions spiraled into action. I liked seeing our heroes fighting against the current.
I also found this book to be the most poignant and relevant to things I’ve been feeling in my own life lately. So many moments and quotes in here that hit like a gut punch, or where I found myself stopping the audiobook (and bookmarking) so I could just think to myself, yes yes yes yes yes somebody gets it.
“But she didn’t want the moment to end, either. Any of the moments with these people in this place. Even though eventually they had to. No, not even though. Because. Because eventually they had to. Nothing lasted forever. Not peace. Not war. Nothing.”
I can’t wait for Persepolis Rising. At least we’ve got season two of the show coming up on February 1st.
One of the things that has to be resolved before we can move on to the conflict in the final three books is the problem of Marco Inaros and the Free Navy, and the larger problem of the Belt and its inhabitants in this post-Earth world. I think all of that is handled very well, and I think the fact that the authors have SO many POV characters this time is to absolutely give us a widespread view of the expanse (heh) of the story and what's going on. This is the only book in the series with more than a handful of POV characters, and it's more than twenty.
I still have yet to watch the final season of The Expanse TV show, which adapts this book (and parts of the others?? I don't know) because I'm worried it won't be a satisfying ending to the series. This is an irrational fear, I think, because the book series could have stopped here with this one if the authors wanted and it would have been a satisfying ending, so why can't that work for the show, too?
On to Persepolis Rising. I am extremely interested to see how I feel about these last four books, because while I was reading them I was constantly getting the feeling that on re-read I would like them better.
January 2017:
“That’s the problem with things you can’t do twice,” Naomi said. “You can’t ever know how it would have gone if it had been the other way.”
“No. But you can say that if you don’t do something different it’ll happen again, and again, and again, over and over until something changes the game.”
“Like the protomolecule?”
“It didn’t change anything,” Holden said. “Here we are, still doing all the same things we did before. We’ve got a bigger battleground. Some of the sides have shifted around. But it’s all the same crap we’ve been doing since that first guy sharpened a rock.”
First, a warning. If you are looking for an objective review of this book, you can just go ahead and look elsewhere. My ability to be objective flew out the airlock last book and is now floating around out there cold and dead in space. Mayhaps eventually it shall encounter a black hole and spend the rest of eternity being crushed into nothingness. I am complete trash for this series.
Okay, but with that said, I also happen to think I’m right about it, and what I’m right about is that this series is awesome, and it just keeps getting better, and why aren’t you effing reading it. This is top-notch sci-fi, space opera. It has a believable hard science background, and yet the characters are the focus. So many delicious character arcs. So, so many.
It also manages to pull off being simultaneously epic and intimate. Solar-system and species-altering events occur, but they are always grounded in the characters, which of course makes them even more devastating.
“Politics is the art of the possible, Captain Pa. When you play at our level, grudges cost lives.”
This is also a series that, despite being on occasion terrifying and horrific, remains hopeful in tone. Just a bunch of flawed humans running around space, making a hash of things, and underneath that, a basic human decency, and a yearning to be better.
This book has the most POV characters of all the books so far, which was a smart choice. The scope of this story is much larger now, and we really need to be seeing the events from a lot of different perspectives. Holden is there, of course, and Corey manages to give him an arc, even this far into book six. And then we’ve also got POVs from Naomi, Amos, Alex, Bobbie (now a full member of the crew, yay!), Clarissa Mao (also now a crewmember), Avasarala (who breaks my heart), Michio Pa (the captain who can’t make up her mind which side she wants to work for), Fred Johnson, Anderson Dawes, Prax (haven’t seen him in a while), Naomi’s son (the little shit) Philip, Marko (the terrorist leader of the Free Navy), some random one-off chapters of people working on Medina Station, and the whole thing is bookended with a prologue and epilogue from our old friend Anna (the preacher from Abaddon’s Gate).
Listing them out like that, I’m realizing there are actually even more than I’d thought. I’m even more impressed now that the book juggled that many POVs, and did it well.
“Because Inaros and all the Free Navy people, they weren’t fighting for Belter rights or political recognition. They were fighting to have the past back, to have things be what they’ve always been.”
This book is great, hence my five star rating, but it is a bit slower (relatively speaking) than Nemesis Games. Really, though, I appreciate what Corey has done here. This is essentially a book about consequences and clean-up. You can’t just do what they did in book five and expect things to carry on as they were. In fact, I liked that things were slower. I liked seeing how each character (and group of people) reacted to the tragedy. I liked seeing how those reactions spiraled into action. I liked seeing our heroes fighting against the current.
I also found this book to be the most poignant and relevant to things I’ve been feeling in my own life lately. So many moments and quotes in here that hit like a gut punch, or where I found myself stopping the audiobook (and bookmarking) so I could just think to myself, yes yes yes yes yes somebody gets it.
“But she didn’t want the moment to end, either. Any of the moments with these people in this place. Even though eventually they had to. No, not even though. Because. Because eventually they had to. Nothing lasted forever. Not peace. Not war. Nothing.”
I can’t wait for Persepolis Rising. At least we’ve got season two of the show coming up on February 1st.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
This was probably one of the better Expanse books. It was a story that encompassed a number of characters, some of whom seemed pretty peripheral (although I suspect they will be more prominent in the next book). I enjoyed reading it.
adventurous
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated