Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1) in Beyond Reality

Sep 21, 2011 mark monday rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-gave-up, scifi-modern

EH? EH! this so-called space opera is anything but. no sense of wonder, no sense of truly divergent civilizations, no galactic span. and a clear lack of operatic emotions on display as well. perhaps this is due to the characterization, which is rote, uninteresting, and badly developed, with sub-par Firefly-style dialogue along for the ride. perhaps it is also due to the subject matter, which is confined to purely in-system politics between Earth and Mars (the two reigning superpowers) and the as ...more

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Sep 24, 2013 Kerry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: rereads-in-2016, 2013, media, reread, 10-out-of-10, sf, 2016, ebooks, comfort-read, rereads-in-2021

FIRST REREAD: 13 December 2015 - 8 April 2016

8/4/16: I read this up to the point where The Expanse TV series stopped (after the crew and Miller escaped from Eros). I was rereading it to go along with the show, so I'm calling myself done for now rather than leaving this sitting stagnant in the Currently Reading list. When season 2 of the show starts I may well pick up from where I've stopped (82% by the way). Goodness knows how I'll catalogue that, but we'll worry about that later.

17/1/46: I star ...more

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Aug 30, 2011 Matt rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, war, thriller, gaming

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A couple of gamer geeks made good.

About 30 pages into this story, I turned to my wife and said, "This guy has done all the same research I've done." As it turned out, this only makes sense - we are both game masters.

It's hard for me to review this book. I can't separate my thoughts about the book from my biases the way I feel that I am usually able to. I don't know if the book was really a triumph or merely a mediocre space opera that I like more than I should because I'm sympathetic to the set A couple of gamer geeks made good.

About 30 pages into this story, I turned to my wife and said, "This guy has done all the same research I've done." As it turned out, this only makes sense - we are both game masters.

It's hard for me to review this book. I can't separate my thoughts about the book from my biases the way I feel that I am usually able to. I don't know if the book was really a triumph or merely a mediocre space opera that I like more than I should because I'm sympathetic to the setting, authors, and failings of the story. There are so many things to like that I want to overlook the somewhat serious flaws. So, lets start by getting the serious flaws admitted and then I'll talk about my biases and what this book really does right.

One of the most serious flaws in most recent sci-fi is the problem of childishness. By that I don't mean that the writers are childish, or that the genera is childish, but the genera has begun to reflect the trend toward irresponcibility of the larger society. In sci-fi this turns up as the trope that sometime in the near future, whenever it would be hard to solve the difficult problems of space travel, humanity helpfully encounters some alien artifact or species that gives Earth the technological jump start it needs to overcome the more intractable problems. Where once sci-fi celebrated a can do attitude and engineers with thews of steel, we now have space travelers as intellectual and moral coach potatoes waiting around for their parent to do all the hard work for them. It's annoying when it shows up, and though it's a minor element of this book, it still manages to invade this story as well.

Another problem with this book is the basic plot structure can be described as: "An alien species which parasitically infests its hosts is encountered which is extremely lethal to earth life, so much so that it threatens to destroy humanity if unleashed. An attractive female is infected early on, and ultimately it turns out that the real bad guys are a degenerate corporation that wants to weaponize the alien species." If that doesn't sound familiar to you, it should. So, while there is a lot of good research in the story and a lot of creativity on display, ultimately, there isn't nearly as much originality as there should be. It's standard trope bad guys and trope threats and all the twists are rote and predictable.

Lastly, the plot of the story suffers from several glaring gamerism which will probably be jarring to anyone who isn't a gamer, and which breaks suspension of disbelief from time to time for any one who is. One of the most obvious ones is that the protagonists enjoy PC level plot protection that manifests in their ability to cut a deal with any smart NPC because the smart NPC ultimately recognizes the PC's hero status as the only characters capable of saving the world. If you didn't understand that, what it means is that the protagonists though apparantly lowly and unimportant nonetheless are able to on the basis of no real evidence whatsoever convince really important individuals in the setting to trust them implicitly, to hear them out, and to agree to their seemingly fool hardy plans.

My biases in this of course are that as a gamer, I'm fairly willing to forgive gamer tropes. Sure, there are plot holes in the story, but compared to many authors, a writer with a gamer background is going to pay a lot of attention to certain sorts of plot holes and work harder to fill them. The setting is tight, internally consistant, and well thought out. The heroes are cunning and resourceful and the plot doesn't depend on the heroes doing stupid things, and there aren't obvious alternate strategies that the reader wonders why they don't employ. While you can occasionaly see twists coming that the characters in the story are oblivious to, you don't want to throw the book across the room because the characters haven't seen the problem yet because you can sympathize with how the characters are being emotionally manipulated.

There is so much though that the novel gets right. It's smart and often witty with several bits of dialogue that could show up in a Hollywood Summer blockbuster. The characterization is great, and the two principle protagonists are some of the more sympathetic and well realized in all of science fiction. The setting is Earth's glorious solar system, and the technology is believably a few centuries removed from our own in all areas but artificial intelligence (the absence of which is not really explained). The space combat is almost spot on best guess for the available technology level, and the military strategy, economics and physics are well thought out and explained. This is one of the best 'hard' (or at least semi-hard) space operas you'll encounter.

The story telling is artful. One of the things a good author will do when they know that they have a weak twist is layer the more obvious twists on top of each other so they climatic twist is hidden by the others. This strategy counts on your most sluethful readers to guess the first couple of twists within the first few pages, and then - cocky and sure of themselves - to underestimate the author and to not keep looking. Sure enough, they caught me perfectly in this trap (one I've fell to before, so I should have been looking for it). I was well on top of the twists, but they managed to successfully conceal the last twist not through having a really original twists, but by having enough twists along the way that you aren't looking for the last one until the same time it dawns on the protagonist. I love being outsmarted like that. Thanks guys. You made my day.

It's also probably the best collaborative novel I've read. Normally collaboration on a novel is a disaster, but here it works perfectly and seamlessly. I attribute this to gamer backgrounds of both authors, as they are clearly used to sharing a story with another author and make the most of their collaboration. ...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Banner rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

I really enjoyed this one. The dual protagonist of Miller and Holden played well. (Not to give anything away,but you'll enjoy Miler's thought conversations).

I guess you could say there is some hard sci-fic here, but it seemed natural and did not bog down the story as it does in some books.

The moral dilemmas gave it a bit of a postmodern flavor, but it was not preachy by any means. The characters were dealing with some real tuff problems.

Knowing that this is the first in the series, don't worry ...more

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Aug 13, 2013 Oni rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera

There are two types of sci-fi readers. The ones who read for the cultivation of mind, and the ones who read for fun. Of course, there are intersection between these two groups. The first group can be divided into two faction: hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi; the natural science and social science, respectively. While the second group is usually plot driven. This book belong to the second one.

The setting is not too far from our present time, given approximately 100 years from now. The epstine drive i There are two types of sci-fi readers. The ones who read for the cultivation of mind, and the ones who read for fun. Of course, there are intersection between these two groups. The first group can be divided into two faction: hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi; the natural science and social science, respectively. While the second group is usually plot driven. This book belong to the second one.

The setting is not too far from our present time, given approximately 100 years from now. The epstine drive is invented, which provide an economical inner solar system travel, even though it is still not enough to power inter stellar travel. Humanity has spread to planets, moons, and asteroids. Earth is overpopulated. Mars is colonized, and still undergoing terraforming. Ceres, Tycho and several other moons and major asteroids are also colonized. Humanity is divided into two faction: inners, including Earthers and Martians, and outers, inhabitans of asteroid belts (Belters), and moons of the giant gas.

The events in this book is triggered by an unprovoked attack on a space ship by an unknown faction, creating a chain reaction that ignites the entire solar system. The story is told using two points of view, a retired navy officer, and a "just-being-fired" cop. The interaction of these two characters is the best part of this book, since they are representing two opposing views, while working towards the same goal.

The science part in this book is not too special, either the natural science or the social science. Outside Newtonian standard inertial mechanics for space travel, there are nothing interesting to ponder on. I cannot help to compare it with a novel that I just read, 2132. 2312 is without doubt a better read, if you are looking for the science.

This novel can also be classified as a military sci-fi, since it includes some military conflicts. But the military atmosphere is not to thick; a pale picture in comparison with other military sci-fi such as Dominion series by Jerry Pournelle or Robert A. Heinlein novels.

The plot is fast paced with a little twist here and there. The plot is definitely suitable for a sci-fi film scenario (much better than average Hollywood sci-fi nowadays). The plot is also designed for a larger tale, thus serves as the beginning of the series.

As conclusion, it is a good plot driven space opera, with not-so-good science. If you consider only the plot, I would have give it a 4-stars. But I am a hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi lover, and tend to be a little harsh on space opera. Therefore I give it only a 3-stars. I will still read the next installment. ...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides marked it as decided-not-to-read

Shelves: science-fiction

A group read ... I think the place where it's going much be interesting, but the bouncing around between viewpoints way of getting there was rubbing me the wrong way. ...more

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Dec 29, 2013 Chessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf_fantasy, series, space

Space opera crossed with noir sprinkled with idealism and a bit of horror - Leviathan Wakes is a very good read. Adventure, suspense, and I really didn't see where the plot was going - I highly recommend it. Very much looking forward to the next in the series, Caliban's War. ...more

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Feb 10, 2017 Alen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-read

The first third to half the book was pure genius. The last half was a mix of Frodo in Mordor boredom mixed with a Fifty Shades of Grey ending where it just fell of a cliff and ended.

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