Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

 

My husband convinced me to watch The Expanse on Amazon, as a new season was coming out and he thought I'd like it. I didn't realize until after we had breezed through the first couple of seasons that it was a book series. I wasn't really into science fiction until I was an adult, and even then I had a hard time with harder sci-fi. I've really grown to love the more science-based science fiction and especially enjoy stories about the implications of space colonization.

Leviathan Wakes does everything right for me. It's a face-paced, quick read, despite its almost 600 pages. Narration is traded back and forth between two main characters, Joe Miller and Jim Holden. The world building is phenomenal and dealt with in a way that doesn't just plop the reader into head cannon that makes no sense. Nor does it over emphasize the references to its history. The characters are all well written. The main protagonists, Miller and Holden are polar opposites who, at their core, do the right thing--they just have wildly different methods and maybe different ideas on what the right thing looks like. The supporting cast is funny, endearing, and give the two protagonists depth with their interactions. It's truly a well rounded story that I can't find any fault with. I especially enjoyed the references to other bits of science fiction, i.e. a Dune quote: "Fear is the mind-killer." I appreciated that it didn't get bogged down in talking about science--my frame of reference here is Seveneves, which killed me with the extremely detailed scientific explanations of physics and genetics. Leviathan Wakes gives just enough to make sure the reader understands without going overboard. The concept of gravity, and its lack, is pretty important out in space. The body suffers under extreme gravity and Corey describes that without being overly scientific.

I think this would be a great starting place for someone who wanted to get into harder science fiction. Anything it references is pretty easily explained. The more important material here is the ethics and theory of space travel with a very light dusting of evolutionary theory. Leviathan Wakes takes a meaty topic along with hefty political themes and makes them a digestible, exciting space opera. I honestly couldn't ask for more in a book.