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mediaevalmuse 's review for:
Leviathan Wakes
by James S. A. Corey
I watched two episodes of SyFy's The Expanse before I felt myself getting hooked, so I decided to stop watching the show and read the first novel in the series. I was a bit afraid to do so at first, because I'm somewhat picky about my sci-fi, but I'm so glad I did because Leviathan Wakes is one of the best-executed sci-fi novels I've ever read. There are no heavy info-dumps, no dry prose, and no white man conquers all. Instead, I got a diverse space opera with flavors of other genres that kept me on my toes throughout the entire plotline.
Things I Liked:
1. Genre: Leviathan Wakes is best described as a mash-up of space opera, horror novel, and noir. It’s set entirely in space and brings all the political tension you’d expect from a book primarily about planet colonization - but it also weaves together elements you’d not readily expect in a straight-up space opera. There’s a kidnapping case handled by a classic noir detective and a secret that, once revealed, gives us monsters that send chills down the spine. All of these things are blended together seamlessly so it doesn’t feel as if the reader is being violently tugged between one genre and the other.
2. Characters: The whole novel is told from the perspective of two characters, Holden and Miller, and they’re every bit as flawed as they are heroic. I loved how they were realized so that they felt like real people and not just archetypes. Holden is idealistic (typical of a protagonist, right?) but he’s idealistic to a fault and his unwavering morality gets his crew (and even the solar system) in trouble. Miller is everything people love about noir detectives, but he’s also very cognizant of how messed up his life has made him and begins seeing/talking to an imaginary woman as a coping mechanism. They’re both engaging for readers and make the story as a whole feel like it’s about real people.
3. Setting: The author(s) describe Leviathan Wakes as a book that fills a gap - sci fi can typically be set before interplanetary colonization or way after it has been done. This novel fits in the middle in that it shows a universe in which people have been living on other planets and asteroids for some time, but nothing is stable without Earth. There’s also a huge emphasis on the relationships between planets and asteroids in terms of economies and resources, which I haven’t much seen before. As a result, readers get more of a sense that everything is a working system rather than a bunch of independent planets that happen to be working together.
4. Racial Diversity: Many of the characters in this novel are described as having dark skin or Asian features. A lot of the entertainment (such as music, etc.) the characters listen to is in multiple languages. It’s very clear that Leviathan Wakes isn’t a novel dominated by white men and their personal doubts about being a hero. Instead, we get a diverse, multi-cultural solar system with race and ethnicity being prominent, but not the sole defining characteristic of each person in the narrative.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Women: Leviathan Wakes is told from the perspective of two men, which is fine. However, there is definitely a lack of female characters elsewhere in the novel that are fully realized. Julie and Naomi are definitely stars in their own right, but I still felt a lack, since Julie was largely absent over the course of 500+ pages and Naomi was the only woman on a crew of 4 people. I would have liked to see more of a gender balance (which I think the adaptation of this book on Sy Fy, The Expanse, is helping to fix by giving us Chrisjen).
Recommendations: Definitely read this book if you're interested in space operas, planet colonization, and interplanetary conflict. You might also like this book if you enjoyed Ancillary Justice or if you like your sci fi to have a noir feel.
Things I Liked:
1. Genre: Leviathan Wakes is best described as a mash-up of space opera, horror novel, and noir. It’s set entirely in space and brings all the political tension you’d expect from a book primarily about planet colonization - but it also weaves together elements you’d not readily expect in a straight-up space opera. There’s a kidnapping case handled by a classic noir detective and a secret that, once revealed, gives us monsters that send chills down the spine. All of these things are blended together seamlessly so it doesn’t feel as if the reader is being violently tugged between one genre and the other.
2. Characters: The whole novel is told from the perspective of two characters, Holden and Miller, and they’re every bit as flawed as they are heroic. I loved how they were realized so that they felt like real people and not just archetypes. Holden is idealistic (typical of a protagonist, right?) but he’s idealistic to a fault and his unwavering morality gets his crew (and even the solar system) in trouble. Miller is everything people love about noir detectives, but he’s also very cognizant of how messed up his life has made him and begins seeing/talking to an imaginary woman as a coping mechanism. They’re both engaging for readers and make the story as a whole feel like it’s about real people.
3. Setting: The author(s) describe Leviathan Wakes as a book that fills a gap - sci fi can typically be set before interplanetary colonization or way after it has been done. This novel fits in the middle in that it shows a universe in which people have been living on other planets and asteroids for some time, but nothing is stable without Earth. There’s also a huge emphasis on the relationships between planets and asteroids in terms of economies and resources, which I haven’t much seen before. As a result, readers get more of a sense that everything is a working system rather than a bunch of independent planets that happen to be working together.
4. Racial Diversity: Many of the characters in this novel are described as having dark skin or Asian features. A lot of the entertainment (such as music, etc.) the characters listen to is in multiple languages. It’s very clear that Leviathan Wakes isn’t a novel dominated by white men and their personal doubts about being a hero. Instead, we get a diverse, multi-cultural solar system with race and ethnicity being prominent, but not the sole defining characteristic of each person in the narrative.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Women: Leviathan Wakes is told from the perspective of two men, which is fine. However, there is definitely a lack of female characters elsewhere in the novel that are fully realized. Julie and Naomi are definitely stars in their own right, but I still felt a lack, since Julie was largely absent over the course of 500+ pages and Naomi was the only woman on a crew of 4 people. I would have liked to see more of a gender balance (which I think the adaptation of this book on Sy Fy, The Expanse, is helping to fix by giving us Chrisjen).
Recommendations: Definitely read this book if you're interested in space operas, planet colonization, and interplanetary conflict. You might also like this book if you enjoyed Ancillary Justice or if you like your sci fi to have a noir feel.