Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of The Expanse series, which is very well regarded among sci-fi fans. I recently watched the TV show, which is surprisingly good, and decided to go back and read the series. I had read the first and second novels, but stopped along time ago. With an upcoming RPG videogame by Owlcat Studios, this seemed like a good time to brush up on the books. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

James S.A. Corey delivers compelling SF that ranks with the best in the field. In Leviathan Wakes, ice miner Jim Holden is making a haul from the rings of Saturn when he and his crew encounter an abandoned ship, the Scopuli. Uncovering a terrifying secret, Jim bears the weight of impending catastrophe. At the same time, a detective has been hired by well-heeled parents to find a missing girl, and the investigator’s search leads him right to the Scopuli.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This is a pretty good book and the TV show follows it very closely. I liked the alternating chapters between Holden and Miller, the two main characters, though the TV show also introduces characters from future books (like Avasarala) which helps even out the pace. The setting is interesting, though we only get a tiny picture from the perspective of these two characters.

Plot

This novel alternates chapters between the two main characters. In one we follow Holden as he works on an ice hauler and investigates the mystery of an abandoned ship. In the other, we follow Miller, a detective on Ceres, who tries to keep things under control, especially when Holden throws the whole Solar System into chaos. That makes it exciting when the two plot lines converge.

The story does a good job of moving through the plot at a good pace. There are mentions of week-long travel between stations in the solar system, which is typical, but we never spend too much time on it. There are a few moments of calm when we do get to see characters on the ship just chilling around and those feel good and well-earned.

Characters

We have two main characters and they are extremely different from one another. James Holden is from Earth and has an almost nauseating moral compass heavily skewed towards doing the right thing at any cost. This constantly causes issues for him, the rest of his crew, and the Solar System itself. On the other extreme we have Josephus Miller, a belter detective from Ceres. He is stubborn and cynical, sometimes using underhanded methods to get the job done, even if someone gets hurt or killed. For Miller, the ends justify the means, for Holden they never do.

There are some other secondary characters, like Naomi, Amos, Alex, Fred, Havelock, but they don't stand out as much as they do on the TV show. They do have some cool moments, but the book focuses a bit much on Holden/Miller at the expense of these or maybe the TV show just benefits from having more screen time/dialog with them.

Setting / World Building

The Solar System of The Expanse novels is a realistic take on how human exploration could expand out over the next few centuries. The Moon and Mars have been colonized, with the later undergoing the slow process of terraforming it to be more Earth-like. Countless moons and asteroids in the asteroid belt and the outer planets have been colonized even if just by small research or mining stations. People do long space flights between them moving resources like food, water, and other raw resources. Space is big, even with a new type of drive that runs more efficiently.

Despite all this, humans are humans and so there are tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. That is, again, another realistic take on human society. We don't get to see much of the big picture with this book, so I look forward to the others to get a sense for the rest of the Solar System and how they're handling the mysterious alien molecule they've discovered...

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a fun book and I can see why so many people enjoy the series. It's not perfect, but only because it's the first part of a series. I'm sure that the rest of the books flesh out the characters and setting a lot more which is probably why the TV show was so good as it benefited from that extra context. Regardless, the setting here is intriguing, the characters and plot are good, and we're left with a mystery that we want to learn more about.