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A review by eesh25
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
4.0
I loved Leviathan Wakes. It was fun, fast paced, and had a great mystery. So there were, of course, certain expectations for the sequel. And while I can’t say this book met all of them, it was still very good.
One of the things I couldn’t get past was the lack of Miller. Miller was such an interesting character and I'd felt that he had so much potential. I didn’t think his story was done, or would be done anytime soon. And I’m never gonna be over the fact that they killed him the first fucking book. So, a part of me was just whining about him not being there for the first third of the book at least.
Also, the book took some time to really get started. There was an inciting incident and mystery, like in the first book, but it didn’t pull me in immediately this time. Maybe because we already knew that the protomolecue would be involved somehow and had to wait for the characters in the story to catch up.
The story, when it got going, was great. There were a few new characters and some old ones. Holden is a decent protagonist. His self-righteousness pisses me off but I don’t dislike him. Amos and Alex I love. They make the Holden chapters better. And Naomi I’ve started to dislike. She’s this background presence that’s constantly judging Holden and talking shit about Miller. She’s just as self-righteous as Holden but where he gets called out on it and is often told he’s wrong, Naomi isn’t ever allowed to be wrong. I hate her and Holden’s relationship too. I don’t give a fuck if they date, but I never wanna read about it.
Anyway, new characters. There’s Prax, who's looking for his daughter whose disappearance is somehow related to the inciting incident. He was a sympathetic character, if not the most likable. And his story was easy to get invested in.
Then we have Bobby and Avasarala. Bobby is great. She’s smart, bold, and genuine. She starts off okay, but grows on you fast. Avasarala is epic from the start. She’s an old politician who works behind the scenes a lot—a scheming grandma, one might say. She’s clever and foul-mouthed and I love her. She’s even a good person and has some of the most emotional scenes in the book. My favourite part of the book.
Overall, Holden, the protagonist, might have been the weakest part of the book for me. Not sure how that'll fares for the series, but I'm still looking forward to the next book.
One of the things I couldn’t get past was the lack of Miller. Miller was such an interesting character and I'd felt that he had so much potential. I didn’t think his story was done, or would be done anytime soon. And I’m never gonna be over the fact that they killed him the first fucking book. So, a part of me was just whining about him not being there for the first third of the book at least.
Also, the book took some time to really get started. There was an inciting incident and mystery, like in the first book, but it didn’t pull me in immediately this time. Maybe because we already knew that the protomolecue would be involved somehow and had to wait for the characters in the story to catch up.
The story, when it got going, was great. There were a few new characters and some old ones. Holden is a decent protagonist. His self-righteousness pisses me off but I don’t dislike him. Amos and Alex I love. They make the Holden chapters better. And Naomi I’ve started to dislike. She’s this background presence that’s constantly judging Holden and talking shit about Miller. She’s just as self-righteous as Holden but where he gets called out on it and is often told he’s wrong, Naomi isn’t ever allowed to be wrong. I hate her and Holden’s relationship too. I don’t give a fuck if they date, but I never wanna read about it.
Anyway, new characters. There’s Prax, who's looking for his daughter whose disappearance is somehow related to the inciting incident. He was a sympathetic character, if not the most likable. And his story was easy to get invested in.
Then we have Bobby and Avasarala. Bobby is great. She’s smart, bold, and genuine. She starts off okay, but grows on you fast. Avasarala is epic from the start. She’s an old politician who works behind the scenes a lot—a scheming grandma, one might say. She’s clever and foul-mouthed and I love her. She’s even a good person and has some of the most emotional scenes in the book. My favourite part of the book.
Overall, Holden, the protagonist, might have been the weakest part of the book for me. Not sure how that'll fares for the series, but I'm still looking forward to the next book.