The Third Annual BeerRantsAndBooks Blogger’s Choice Awards

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Ann Leckie, Becky Chambers, Blog Life, Blogger's Choice Awards, Brandon Sanderson, James S.A. Corey, Kim Stanley Robinson, KJ Parker, Liu Cixin, Madeline Miller, Peter Watts

Welcome to the Third Annual BeerRantsAndBooks Blogger’s Choice Awards!  I certainly came across many wonderful characters in 2019, and it is time now to pause and recognize some of my favorites.  We once again have an incredibly strong list of nominees, so I had to make some really hard choices in declaring a winner in each and every categy.

For a quick reminder of the rules, I am considering here all characters I came across in my 2019 reading.  The original publication date of the book for which they are nominated is irrelevant. With that out of the way, let’s bring on the nominees!

Best Leading Male Character

Orhan (Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker): An outsider on account of his race, Orhan is able to secure the respectable rank of Colonel of Engineers in the Robur Empire through skill, determination, and a shrewd understanding of graft.  When he finds himself leading the defense of a seemingly doomed city, he uses every last bit of strength and ingenuity to fight for every second of its survival.

Vasher (Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson): Hailing from the Shardworld of Nalthis, Vasher is a skilled swordsman and one of the Five Scholars devoted to mastering the local form of Investiture and pushing the boundaries of what it can do.  Irritable and often difficult to get along with, he nonetheless is a rather honorable man willing to help those with pure intentions.

Hamed Nasr (The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djeli Clark): A veteran detective in Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, Hamed finds himself partnered with a rookie to investigate some unusual happenings in a magical tram car.

Luo Ji (The Dark Forest, by Liu Cixin): A cynical and not particularly motivated man who finds himself one of humanity’s last hopes for resisting an alien invasion.

And the winner is: Orhan.  I really enjoyed his story and the tales of his engineering feats.  His outsider status, engineering brilliance, and dark, self-effacing sense of humor made it pretty easy to look past some of his less desirable traits (and unreliable narrator status) and really root for the guy.

Best Leading Female Character

Swan Er Hong (2312, by Kim Stanley Robinson): A brilliant, eccentric artist and scientist, Swan found herself caught up in a conspiracy that spans the Solar System following the death of her grandmother, Mercury’s charismatic and influential ruler.

Elvi Okoye (Tiamat’s Wrath, by James S.A. Corey): A hard working and determined scientist whose unique understanding of an alien technology has landed her a prestigious research position.  The only problem is that is on behalf of an authoritarian regime forcing her cooperation.

Circe (Circe, by Madeline Miller): The sea nymph probably best known for her role in The Odyssey, she is given an entirely new and powerful voice in this retelling of her life.

Gen Octaviasdottir (New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson): An NYPD detective who grew up on the poor side of town, her presence in a story full of great characters looms even larger than her person: With her police boots on she was six foot four, and now she was helmeted, pistol in hand, a look that could freeze blood.  A big scary black woman cop, mad as hell and calm as heaven.

And the winner is: With many, many apologies to Gen I think this goes to Circe.  I went back and forth about this decision at least thrice, but I am pretty sure I got it right.  Circe carried her story single handed and put in such a powerful and emotional performance it was just too hard to pick against her.

Best Non-Gendered Character

Breq (Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie): Formerly the AI of a ship named Justice of Toren, Breq is presently confined to a single ancillary body that is for all other purposes mostly human.  A skilled leader and tactical mastermind, Breq also possessed a keen sense of social justice and responsibility.

Nightblood (Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson): A sentient sword with the unnerving ability to project its thoughts and emotions into the minds of the people around it.  Self-centered and always very eager to be of use, Nightblood was easily one of the highlights of Warbreaker.

Chimp (The Freeze Frame Revolution, by Peter Watts): The AI serving aboard a ship on a 65 million year mission building wormholes.  Despite its seemingly friendly nature, however, some in the crew suspect it is not only hiding information from them, but also starting to view significant numbers of them as expendable.

And the winner is: Nightblood, just barely edging out Breq.  I just find the story behind this character absolutely fascinating at the fact that it turns up again elsewhere in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere leaves me wondering about the possibilities ahead for this character.

Best Supporting Male Character

Mutt and Jeff (New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson): A pair of financial coders who after years working odd jobs decide the time is right to level the economic playing field.

Daedalus (Circe, by Madeline Miller): Friend and lover of Circe, Daedalus offered both a calming and tragic presence to a rather emotional tale.  He of course has a few rather interesting inventions to share as well.

Shi Qiang (The Dark Forest, by Liu Cixin): Former detective and bodyguard to Wallfacer Luo Ji, he earned his second nomination in this category once again on account of his cunning mind and hard outlook on life.

And the winner is: Mutt and Jeff.  I suppose it’s a bit unfair to give this to a duo, but there’s really no separating the two.  Imagine fusing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with the guys from Waiting for Godot and then making them hackers with a passion for social and economic justice.

Best Supporting Female Character

Sawdust (Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker): A former slave with a renowned talent for carpentry, she plays a key role in defending her city and in the process makes several significant advances in siege weaponry.

Kizzy Shao (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers): A fun loving machine technician aboard the Wayfarer, her side interests include video games, electronic dance music, and smoking something called Smash.

Amelia Black (New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson): Star of a viral environmental series and captain of her own personal airship, Amelia is willing to put everything she has on the line for the causes she believes in.

And the winner is: Sawdust.  She was an intriguing character and I have a soft spot for medieval siege engines.  She also made the perfect counterpart to Orhan (see above), making her one of the few people he could rely on without reservation in an emergency.

And with that I bring the awards season to a close.  I met a lot of great characters in 2019 and can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store!

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Book Review: Tiamat’s Wrath, by James S.A. Corey (Book Eight in The Expanse Series)

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Book, Book Review, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

If you’ve been following my reviews for the past couple of years, you may have noticed that I have had some rather mixed feelings about The Expanse series.  I’m in way too deep to turn back now though, so here we go with book eight, published in March 2019.

The story picks up several years after the end of the previous novel and deals with the aftermath of its events.  The action focuses specifically upon the fledgling resistance to Laconian conquest, James Holden’s imprisonment, and High Consul Duarte’s continued experiments with protomolecule technology despite increasingly severe push back from some unknown force.  These stories unfold from the perspective of old friends Elvi Okoye, Naomi, Alex, Bobbi, and Holden along with newcomer Teresa Duarte, daughter of the Laconia colony’s ruthless ruler.   

Wow, now this was the book I’ve been waiting for!  Here is where the series finally steps up to its potential and delivers a huge payoff for the reader following all the starts and stops I’ve written about in the past.  No longer held captive by the often frustrating whims of James Holden, this intriguing universe has now fully opened up to stories on many fronts, each headed by a character we’ve come to know and care about.

It was for precisely these reasons that this installment hit all the right notes for me and avoided many of my previous criticisms.  The story was excellent and advanced both the galactic politics and protomolecule arcs to some really interesting place while simultaneously providing plenty of action, intrigue, and philosophical quandaries.  That it also at long last starred a full cast of characters you could actually care about (Holden included), made this read even sweeter. The former Roci crew really do feel like old friends at this point, Elvi remained fantastic, and the addition of Teresa offered a very interesting perspective on the enemy camp.  Not to give away too much, but when certain prominent characters die each hurt in a way I don’t think would have been possible in the previous books. My only complaint here is that I wish the authors more slowly revealed a certain character’s true identity.  I knew immediately who it was and I think the impact of their death would have been even greater if they kept us guessing until closer to the end.

At this point I am now pretty excited about the upcoming finale, even though I am a bit worried that it will have a lot to wrap up in a relatively short amount of space.  Shortly after finishing the book I came across another post in which the reviewer mentioned that reading the novellas associated with this series made the read even better and for the first time in eight books I am tempted to do so.  If you were like me and on the fence about whether or not to continue this series, my answer to you now is to do so. This story was totally worth getting through the occasional disappointing read for.

Zombie Apocalypse Book Tag

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Book Tag, Brandon Sanderson, Dune, Frank Herbert, Harry Potter, James S.A. Corey, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Mistborn, The Expanse, Zombies

Here we go with another fun book tag I unearthed.  Who doesn’t want to assemble characters from their favorite books into a zombie apocalypse survival group?  Let’s see who I wind up with.

The Rules:

• Choose five books
• Set up your books in any order
• Flip to a random page and write down the first two names you see
• Put the names in order in the categories down below
• Watch the world burn

Books I Chose:

• Persepolis Rising, by James S.A. Corey – James Holden and Naomi Nagata

• Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson – Kelsier and Vin

• Heretics of Dune, by Frank Herbert – Darwi Odrade and Alma Mavis Taraza

• Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien – Bilbo and Frodo Baggins

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling – Severus Snape and Hermione Granger

Uh-oh, not a redshirt in the bunch.  This might get painful. On paper, though, I couldn’t have asked for a much better crew.

Categories:

First Person To Die –

James Holden (Persepolis Rising).  Eh, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.  Holden has a tendency to draw a lot of attention to himself that greatly complicates life for those in his wake.  I could see him getting the group killed or worse in the zombie apocalypse.

The Person You Trip To Escape The Zombies –

Naomi Nagata (Persepolis Rising).  I feel bad about this one, but let me try to rationalize.  Naomi’s expertise is in advanced computing and engineering which probably won’t be needed in the zombie apocalypse.  More importantly, her physical inability to handle Earth’s gravity after a lifetime in space would make her a huge liability.

The Person That Trips You To Get Away From The Zombies –

Kelsier (Mistborn: The Final Empire).  I’d like to think that it was a situation where it was either him or me, or perhaps karmic retribution for Naomi, but I can kind of see this one.  Especially if I hadn’t proven my usefulness to the group at that point.

The First Person To Turn Into A Zombie –

Vin (Mistborn: The Final Empire).  Ouch.  That’s a significant blow to our survival chances right there.  Not only do we lose her formidable fighting and scouting abilities, but we also lose her experience as a scavenger and thief.  This one hurts folks, but I’m sure she went out a hero.

The Team Idiot –

Darwi Odrade (Heretics of Dune).  If she is the idiot, the rest of the team must be exceptionally intelligent.  The only way I believe this is if you factor in melange withdrawal.

The Brain of the Group –

Alma Mavis Taraza (Heretics of Dune).  Seems highly likely.  Taraza has a formidable intelligence along with superior skills in leadership, tactics, and leveraging social and political influences.  Melange withdrawal is again a concern though.

The Team Medic –

Bilbo Baggins (The Return of the King).  We might be in trouble here unless old Bilbo has some tricks up his sleeve.  I hope pipe weed and ale have medicinal powers way beyond what I am aware of.

The Weapons Expert –

Frodo Baggins (The Return of the King).  Frodo is one brave and resourceful Hobbit, but he wasn’t exactly a fighter.  Fortunately this is a pretty veteran group that doesn’t need much advice on weaponry.

The Brawler –

Severus Snape (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  Yeah, I can get behind this choice.  Especially with Vin out of commission and Kelsier busy tripping me.  No chance he beats either Odrade or Taraza in a duel, but there’s no doubt he’s suited to this role.

The Team Leader –

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  Feeling pretty confident with Hermione as team leader.  I can only imagine how badass she’d turn out with both Odrade and Taraza around to guide her.

Book Review: Persepolis Rising, by James S.A. Corey (Book Seven in the Expanse Series)

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Book, Book Review, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Space Opera, The Expanse

It’s been a little while since I last checked in on the Expanse universe, but here we go with book number seven, published in December 2017.  Any long time readers of the blog out there may recall that I’ve had a rather up and down relationship with this series, going so far as to declare that this book was going to make or break me sticking with it.

The action picks up about 30 years after the end book six, Babylon’s Ashes.  The forces of Earth and Mars have united and are gradually recovering their strength following their destructive war with the Free Navy.  Colonization through the ring gates has continued at a rapid pace and outposts of humanity are now scattered across hundreds of worlds held together by the Transportation Union that grew out of the Belt factions that opposed Marco Inaros.  The relative peace and prosperity of this new era is shattered, however, when Medina Station receives a message from the Laconia colony announcing an imminent return of the Martian forces that went into a self-imposed exile from the Solar System several decades earlier.

I’ll admit I went into this book with fairly low expectations but must say that I ended up being quite pleased with it.  Previously I had lamented the disappearance of both the protomolecule and renegade Martian fleet from the forefront of the story, but it seems like the plot has finally switched focus back to these arcs.  The book moved along a quick pace and I actually enjoyed spending time with Rocinante crew again.  I found it particularly satisfying to watch them navigate a new group dynamic that emerges and I similarly found their time spent as resistance fighters on Medina rather exciting as well.  On a larger scale, I thought the quick progression of the Laconian conquest was just a little too neat and tidy, making me to think that is how it will be wrapped up as well, but for now I am just going to be content that my interest in the series has been renewed.  The story did a really good job minimizing the things I’ve found most annoying about the series, namely how the universe tends to get held captive by James Holden’s poor decisions, while offering up plenty of what it does best by bringing the conspiracy and protomolecule storylines back to the main stage.  Also to that last point, I don’t think I’ve yet given this series credit for some of the other things it has done well throughout its run. There is an excellent diversity of characters portrayed, indeed people of all shapes, sizes, races, and orientations are well represented in this future, and it addresses certain logistics of traveling, communicating, and fighting in space in ways many other books of this genre tend to gloss over.  Beyond all that, several of the characters have wonderfully cynical outlooks, best represented here by what is one of my favorite quotes so far this year:

It’d be a better world if there was always at least one right answer instead of a basket of fucked. – Chrisjen Avasarala (of course).

I’m a bit wary of saying this, but I am now officially on board with finishing the series.  With only two books left to go (one coming out at the end of this year and the finale planned for 2019), I figure I am now in too deep to stop now, especially since this book got me legitimately interested again.

Book Review: Babylon’s Ashes, by James S.A. Corey (Book Six in the Expanse)

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Book, Book Review, James S.A. Corey, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

Here I am, all caught up on the Expanse.  From this point on I will be getting to the rest of the series at the mercy of publishing schedules and the speed with which my local library picks up the ebooks.

This book opens a few months out from the end of the previous novel.  Following its stunning attack on Earth, the Free Navy under the command Marcos Inaros is seeking to consolidate its power over the Belt and enforce its will on the movement of goods and people throughout the solar system and beyond.  The fanaticism of Marcos, however, is threatening to split the movement as not everyone within its leadership believes in either his heavy-handed tactics or his competence.  Meanwhile, having combined their remaining forces, Earth and Mars, in conjunction with Fred Johnson, are courting moderate OPA factions as they prepare for a major counter-strike against their common foe.  In the middle of all the action, of course, is James Holden, whose personal celebrity and past exploits, to say nothing of his private warship, uniquely position him as a central figure in the fight against the Free Navy.

I thought this book was pretty good in comparison to the last two, but at the same time I was hoping it was going to end up being something a bit more than what it was.  The Free Navy storyline is interesting enough, but it is also such a drastic departure from the first few books that it kind of feels like the authors are blowing things up just for the sake of doing so.  One of the things that really got me interested in these novels in the first place was the protomolecule storyline and the underlying threat of a mysterious alien menace.  Unfortunately, that arc has been conspicuously absent from the last two novels, ending rather abruptly in the final chapter of Nemesis Games.  Yes, there have been hints that there is more to come, but having this key aspect of the early story drop so suddenly has really affected the flow of the series for me.  Also notably absent are any Martian perspectives (I don’t count Bobbie since she is essentially Rocinante crew at this point).  Again, I get it that whatever the renegade Martian forces are up to will probably be a big part of the next books, I just feel like it’s a missed opportunity to have hardly any view of what’s going on inside Mars from either side.  In light of how many different people from the other factions get POV chapters this book, this feels like a pretty glaring omission.

This diversity of perspectives was probably my favorite part of the book.  It gave a great sense of scale to the action and allowed the reader a chance to check in on some familiar places and faces while showing the full impact of recent events.  On the other hand, this variety also served to highlight the thing I dislike most about the series; namely that despite a potentially engaging story and interesting locations, this vast universe isn’t populated by any characters I really care about.  I’m not going to rehash old criticisms of the main group, though at this point I’ve resigned myself to the fact that no one from the Rocinante crew is going to appeal to me.  Of the new comers who get the most page time, I just plain don’t like Marcos (which is intentional, though I do think he is a bit too one-dimensional as a villain) or Filip (whom I think was supposed to be sympathetic to some degree).  Michio Pa had potential, though unfortunately her scenes were too often focused on her polygamous marriage situation than the actual plot.

At this point I think a break from this series is exactly what I need to stay invested for the long haul.  I am still curious enough in the outcome to want to read the next book and give the rest of the series a chance, but after not loving the last few installments I would rather focus on reading other things that I am currently enjoying more.

Nemesis Games, by James S.A. Corey (Book Five in the Expanse Series)

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Book, Book Review, James S.A. Corey, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

Onward I press with book five in the Expanse series.  I had my issues with the last book, but I am invested at this point and have gone too far to stop now.

Three years have passed since James Holden and crew embarked on their diplomatic mission beyond the Ring and the battered Rocinante has finally limped home to Tycho Station.  While the ship undergoes major repairs the idle crew finds that their previous lives are beginning to catch up with them.  One by one they split off to face their checkered pasts; Alex to Mars to apologize to his ex-wife, Amos to Earth to mourn (and possibly avenge) the death of his surrogate mother, and Naomi to Ceres after learning someone from her estranged family is in danger.  Separated from his crew for the first time in many years, Holden busies himself overseeing repairs until he is approached by the reporter he transported during the events of Abaddon’s Gate.  She presents him with evidence of Ring-bound ships disappearing under mysterious circumstances and asks for help gathering information, much the dismay of his OPA host.  As the investigation suggests rogue elements within the now respectable OPA government, a series of major coordinated terrorist attacks cripple Earth, topple the Martian government, and jeopardize the future of settlements beyond the solar system.  As the destruction unfolds through the eyes of the scattered Rocinante crew, a new power emerges to challenge the existing political order.

This series confuses me.  After having mixed feelings about two or three of the previous books, I really liked this one.  The story was fast paced, gripping, and brought on another intriguing shakeup to the existing order in this universe.  That said, I am a bit worried that this book veered too far from the protomolecule story arc, but hopefully the next one can start tying some of these plot lines together.  Character-wise this book was solid, perhaps for the first time in the series thus far.  With each crew member getting their own POV chapters, it was nice to finally have a more personal view of them and learn about their lives before they ended up as a group.  I even liked Holden this time around, though apart from his detective duties (a role the authors have written well in this series), he wasn’t a major focus.  What excited me most about this book was the possibility of the Rocinante taking on two familiar faces as new crew members and one character’s realization that the fate of humanity now rests largely on Avarasala’s diplomatic skills.  These two developments give me cautious optimism for the next installment, though I do hope more time is spent on bringing the story together than drastically changing it again.

Book Review: Cibola Burn, James S.A. Corey (Book Four in the Expanse Series)

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Book Review, Books, James S.A. Corey, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

With Abbadon’s Gate having successfully renewed my interest in this series, I eagerly went into book four, Cibola Burn.  As with my past reviews, while there are no spoilers that follow for this particular novel, I cannot make the same promise for content from the previous books.

Cibola Burn skips ahead two years in the timeline and takes place on the first human settlement within the newly accessible alien worlds.  Barely one year into the fledgling colony’s existence old conflicts from back home threaten its stability.  The colonists, all survivors of the disaster on Ganymede, have unwelcome visitors when scientists from an Earth-based corporation arrive with permits to study the world.  Fearing the eventual loss of their home and its lithium deposits, more extreme elements of the settlers attack and critically damage an incoming shuttle, causing a political crisis back in the centers of humanity.  Realizing few good outcomes exist, the UN and OPA nominate none other James Holden to mediate between the two sides and defuse tensions.  Holden, however, has more than diplomacy to worry about.  The protomolecule consciousness, still in the guise of Detective Miller, is very interested in the alien ruins on the outskirts of the colony and is imploring Holden to help it uncover the answers about its creators.  Those answers, however, might not necessarily benefit the world’s human population.

Overall I liked this book.  It did an excellent job advancing the protomolecule/Miller storyline in some really interesting ways.  The few chapters from what was presumably Miller’s perspective were fascinating and eerie.   On the human side, the growing political intrigues make for very compelling reading as they are getting more complex and far-reaching as the books go on.  There was a pretty major development at the end of this novel, and the teaser chapters featuring two of my favorite characters from previous books, Bobbie Draper and Chrisjen Avasarala, hint that they will have significant roles to play in upcoming events much to my delight.  Although I have had somewhat mixed feelings about the characters in this series as a whole, the possibility of more Avasarala is alone enough to keep me going, at least as long as the overarching story remains strong.

That said, when I consider how much I like the overall story, it is disappointing that similar character issues have hurt my opinion of three out of the four books I’ve read so far.  This time around I was troubled by two major flaws.  The first of these was pretty much the majority of POV character Elvi Okoye’s storyline.  As a scientist visiting the first alien world humans have landed on, there was a lot of potential for her character.  Unfortunately that was largely wasted on a ridiculous storyline involving a crush on Holden and a personal “problem” that took up way too much of the book and frankly felt out-of-place and a bit insulting to both character and reader.  The other flaw was that upon first arriving at the planet, Holden’s reactions to events on the ground were mind-bogglingly inept.  I don’t want to get too much into the details, but I felt he inexplicably gave one side way too much leeway and as a result enabled events to more rapidly escalate out of control.  As a reader, I was able to clearly see merits of both sides in the dispute, as well as recognize the terrible people in both groups.  With Holden’s outlook being so central to the story, I feel like this insight was mostly lost and prevented the novel from making a more effective point – if that was even the intention.

I do plan to continue on with the series. At this point I guess I’m committed to see it through.  I am almost reached a different sort of problem.  I am four books into the nine that have been planed and only the next two are currently out.  Book number seven is slated for release this year and then I am waiting for 2018 and 2019 for the last two, which almost sound like SciFi dates themselves.  As someone who’s not accustomed to reading a series before it’s done this is rather troubling to me!

Book Review: Abaddon’s Gate, by James S.A. Corey (Book Three of the Expanse Series)

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Book Review, Books, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

In my review for Caliban’s War, I had been wavering on whether or not to stick with the Expanse series.  I was so torn that the third book, Abaddon’s Gate, had about a 50/50 chance of keeping me, and I’ll admit that I went into it with cautious expectations.  As a warning, what follows is a general discussion of the book.  While I don’t post blatant spoilers, revealing plot points from previous novels is somewhat unavoidable at this point.  If you have yet to read this far, or are watching the SyFy series, proceed at your own risk.

The events of Abaddon’s Gate occur roughly a year after the end of the previous book.  James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been enjoying a period of success, translating their fame and notoriety into a series of lucrative security contracts.  Despite their newfound comfort Holden is troubled by past events involving the alien protomolecule, most notably due to its consciousness having begun reaching out to him in the form of Detective Miller.  Adding to his worries is the revelation that the ring-shaped structure launched from Venus is a gateway to an advanced transportation network, and there is no telling who, or what, is lurking on the other side.  In reluctantly accepting a job transporting a film crew to the device, Holden decides to face his fears and hopefully appease the Miller apparition.  Events, however, have a way of blowing up around him.  When a saboteur bombs a UN destroyer and frames the Rocinante, Holden and crew have no choice but to flee through the gate to buy time to clear their names.  On the other side they find the unimaginable: an empty space filled only by a field of other gateways, controlled by a mysterious space station.  With a coalition of UN, Martian, and OPA ships in pursuit, survival for Holden becomes a race to unlock the secrets of the station and find a way to get everyone back home, ideally proving his innocence in the process.

This book made me glad I stuck with the series as I found it the best installment so far.  I am getting into the politics and mysteries of the overarching story and the new twists in this novel really got me wanting more.  Indeed, this was the first installment in which I felt a real sense of danger for any of the core group and there was an excellent feeling of suspense throughout.  Once things go wrong inside the gate, the technological and psychological struggles made for excellent reading.  Going back to the characters, this was my favorite overall cast so far and on the whole I like the increasingly varied and diverse people populating these books.  Notably, this installment was a bit less centered on Holden, another huge plus in my view.  Although he is still no doubt the main player in this universe, I find him much better in smaller doses where he isn’t the primary mover of events.  POV character Carlos “Bull” de Baca was one of my top three in the series thus far and one of the others, Clarrissa Mao, was very good as well.  In combination with an interesting supporting cast, they easily made up for the weakness of Anna Volovodov, the fourth main character.  I am pleased to say that I got more than enough enjoyment of this book to eagerly continue on with the series.

Book Review: Caliban’s War, by James S.A. Corey (Book 2 of The Expanse Series)

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Book Review, Books, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

As some of you may recall I read Leviathan Wakes, the first installment in The Expanse series, a few months back.  While not exactly blown away, I did see some potential in the series and decided to give the next book a chance just to see how the story would develop.  Minor spoilers for Leviathan Wakes can probably be inferred from the paragraphs that follow, but everything is largely spoiler free.

Caliban’s War takes places several months after the end of the previous book.  The action this time centers around Ganymede, a major food source for the Belt colonies and one of the last remaining joint operations between Earth and Mars following a fragile truce established at the end of Leviathan Wakes.  This uneasy peace is soon shattered when an alien creature appears on the moon and wipes out a contingent each of Earth and Martian marines.  As the feuding governments attempt to sort through the confusion, signs of an even larger conspiracy emerge, as do increasingly volatile reactions from the alien protomolecule gestating on surface of Venus.  The story this time unfolds from the point of view of four characters, with familiar face James Holden accompanied by newcomers Praxidike Meng, a botanist from Ganymede, Sargent Roberta “Bobbie” Draper, a member of the Martian Marine Corps, and Chrisjen Avasarala, a high-ranking official in the Earth’s government.

While I was somewhat lukewarm in my feelings about the first novel, I found this installment a bit more to my liking despite still having some reservations.  Story-wise, I thought this book was pretty good.  Entertaining and action packed throughout, the book hit its stride early on and kept it pretty much throughout with the exception of two minor snags.  The first of these snags was one conflict near the end getting resolved just a little too easily and the other was a tendency in the middle to use repetitive word choices per chapter only to have them just as quickly disappear.  Overall though, while this might not have been the most thought provoking of novels, the story was fun and the series is beginning to get more complex as the intrigues expand the universe gets filled in as more key players begin to emerge.  It seems to be on the verge of making the jump from a made for film or TV action/adventure series into something just a little bit more.

As for the characters, I found them somewhat of a mixed bag.  Expanding the cast to include more point of view perspectives was definitely a good move that made for a much better read.  In particular I liked Avasarala, a tough as nails Indian grandmother who also happened to be one of the most powerful and competent people in the solar system.  Her character simultaneously added much needed senses of levity, diversity, and control, not to mention some fantastic one-liners.  Combined with Srgt. Draper, it was nice to see a pair of good female characters considering Naomi’s treatment in the first book (she fared a bit better this time around).  We also got to know the rest of Holden’s crewmates a bit better, most notably Amos, whom I also really liked.  I wish we got into the heads of these people a bit more, but I did get the sense that this will be happening soon, something that bodes well for future installments.

Speaking of Holden, there’s just something about him I don’t react well to; he’s like a combination of Dudley Do-Right and Captain Kirk-lite that I can’t help but think of as a bro.  Also frustrating is that the author had a tendency to diminish other characters when they’re around Holden to make him seem more impressive rather than write him up to their level; I just didn’t buy everyone around him so easily falling in line as a subordinate or suddenly morph from capable professionals to bungling underlings.  I did like him a bit better in this novel than I did the previous, but he may be the reason I drop the series.  Following the Game of Thrones analogy used to market the first book, I worry that I’m in the situation of being intrigued by the Song of Fire and Ice series but not being so sure about that Jon Snow fellow.  Since James S.A. Corey doesn’t seem to have the same bloodlust for killing off main characters as George R.R. Martin, this may not end well for me.

These reservations aside, the series was intriguing enough to bring me back (again) for at least one more book.  This installment ended on a pretty big cliffhanger that I’d like to see resolved and now that there are a few characters I’m starting to care about I don’t mind throwing the next installment, Abaddon’s Gate, into my library wait-list.  If I stop reading there, I’ll let you know; otherwise I’ll do an update later on in the series.  With six novels currently out in print and three more planned, I’d like to post about other books as well.

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

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Book Review, Books, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

Leviathan Wakes is the first novel in an ongoing series of books called The Expanse, also a television show of the same name airing on the SyFy network.  In my never-ending search for new reading material, these novels seemed to keep popping up wherever I looked.  They earned some pretty high praise as well, having been likened to Game of Thrones “IN SPAAAACE” (emphasis mine) across numerous media outlets and even having the endorsement of George R. R. Martin himself.  Sounded promising.

In this universe, humans have expanded to colonize the planets of the solar system, with the main power centers being Earth, Mars, and a series of loosely organized mining colonies scattered throughout the Asteroid Belt.  Earth and Mars, the respective economic and technological hubs of humanity, are prosperous rivals while the Belt colonies exist more on the periphery, looked upon with derision by many within the two greater powers.  As a result, there is a growing desire for greater autonomy in the colonies, a sentiment encouraged by the Outer Planets Alliance, a fledgling pseudo-governmental organization with a significant portion of its members not above resorting to terrorist tactics to advance their goals.  Leviathan Wakes follows the adventures of two main point of view characters; James Holden and Joe Miller.  Holden is the Executive Office aboard an ice freighter responding to a distress signal from a stricken vessel, only to end up in trouble himself after falling into an ambush.  On the run and in possession of some troubling information, Holden and his crew find allies in unexpected places as they race to stay one step ahead of their pursuers.  Miller, meanwhile, is a detective for a private security firm aboard Ceres Station, one of the Belt’s major population centers.  When given a side job to locate a young woman from a prominent Earth family who has run away to the Belt, he inexplicably finds himself engrossed in the case and unable to let it go even as events develop to push him off of it.  As the paths of Holden and Miller converge, they gradually uncover a conspiracy that could not only lead to war between Mars and the Belt, but also unleash a deadly pathogen on all of humanity.

I had some mixed feelings about this novel.  The first half of the book was a fairly enjoyable, though not exceptional, space opera adventure mixed with a cop/detective drama that didn’t quite seem to pan out.  The characters, with the possible exception of Miller, I found to be fairly typical stock personalities and not especially memorable. One instance where this particularly bothered me was the relationship between Holden and his second in command, a woman named Naomi Nagata.  I liked her just fine, but (MINOR SPOILER!) I felt that making her a love interest/girlfriend detracted from the character’s potential.  Other than providing a good laugh when the crew found out about them, it really added nothing to the story and felt a bit unnecessary and out of place given everything else that was going on.  Also, while I found the point of view chapters a great way to explore the characters, later on when Miller and Holden are in the same place I found the transitions between chapters a bit jarring.  Jumping back and forth in perspective every few pages between two people seeing the same thing and having a conversation with each other felt choppy and interrupted the flow of the story for me.

That said, the book did have a few things going for it.  The action was well done, with hand-to-hand and ship-to-ship fighting sequences exciting and easy to follow.  The political and societal tensions between the different groups of humans, which I had expected to be the main draw of this story, were indeed interesting though a bit underdeveloped.  There were the beginnings of what could be an intriguing and complex universe here, provided it gets developed into something a bit more unique and substantive as the series progresses.  I am curious to see where the story goes, but the sequel really needs to impress me if I am going to continue on from there.