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A review by ingo_lembcke
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
5.0
“Seriously. Now?” she said. “We’re talking about your captain going off to his death, and all that’s going through your head right now is ‘Ooh, boobies!’ ”
Most of what I said for the first book can be applied here, with Holden again playing a major role, alternating the POV with a politician who is a regular professional Spin-Doctor. The slang which made it sometimes hard to get in the context of the story in the first book is not as heavy or I am now used to it. Thinking back to the first book and the first few episodes of the TV-Series, I found it difficult to understand at first, part of the reason may be that I am German, English being my second language, with a leaning to British English, so I am no Native, and notice the differences between US and UK (which will soon not be a U anymore, and cutting the ties to Europe, sadly).
Some commented rightly, that the story-line is similar to the first book: searching for a girl. That could have warranted 1 star less, but I am ok with that, as long as the next book is different, hopefully it is. Also I wonder, why they suspected during searching the girl may be dead, avoided discussing it, but did not think not discuss the far worse outcome that I saw coming, that she would be alive but genetically enhanced becoming protomolecule?!
In hindsight I think the banter between Holden and other crew-members seems lighter than the first book, also a bit more realistic.
One strange thing is the title, which I had to Google, it is a character from Shakespeare "The Tempest", see Wikipedia for more (also, as it is in the Public Domain, you could download an ebook): Wikipedia The Tempest.
Thinking about what happens, the title should have been "The Cascade". Think of a chain-reaction of tumbeling domino-pieces in a row.
The technology and biology, as far as I can tell, is solid and based on extrapolation of current technology logically into the future.
Not really working as a standalone, you should have read the first book "Leviathan Rises".
For me a solid 5 star, but some may think less of it.
The book ends with a whopping cliff of a hanger I did not see coming.
Highly recommended. Will certainly read the short stories, novellas and the next books in the series.
Most of what I said for the first book can be applied here, with Holden again playing a major role, alternating the POV with a politician who is a regular professional Spin-Doctor. The slang which made it sometimes hard to get in the context of the story in the first book is not as heavy or I am now used to it. Thinking back to the first book and the first few episodes of the TV-Series, I found it difficult to understand at first, part of the reason may be that I am German, English being my second language, with a leaning to British English, so I am no Native, and notice the differences between US and UK (which will soon not be a U anymore, and cutting the ties to Europe, sadly).
Some commented rightly, that the story-line is similar to the first book: searching for a girl. That could have warranted 1 star less, but I am ok with that, as long as the next book is different, hopefully it is. Also I wonder, why they suspected during searching the girl may be dead, avoided discussing it, but did not think not discuss the far worse outcome that I saw coming, that she would be alive but genetically enhanced becoming protomolecule?!
In hindsight I think the banter between Holden and other crew-members seems lighter than the first book, also a bit more realistic.
One strange thing is the title, which I had to Google, it is a character from Shakespeare "The Tempest", see Wikipedia for more (also, as it is in the Public Domain, you could download an ebook): Wikipedia The Tempest.
Thinking about what happens, the title should have been "The Cascade". Think of a chain-reaction of tumbeling domino-pieces in a row.
The technology and biology, as far as I can tell, is solid and based on extrapolation of current technology logically into the future.
Not really working as a standalone, you should have read the first book "Leviathan Rises".
For me a solid 5 star, but some may think less of it.
The book ends with a whopping cliff of a hanger I did not see coming.
Highly recommended. Will certainly read the short stories, novellas and the next books in the series.