Humanity has finally gone through a gate and settled on the first world in another solar system, but the settlers are being classed as illegal squatters by the corporation that believes the planet to be legally there’s.   So when the corporation ship turns up with the intention of taking everything away from the settlers, the settlers have a surprise waiting for them and all hell breaks loose.

Avasaralla thinks it’ll be a great idea to send Holden to mediate and sort things out, because she thinks Holden will make such a disaster of it that it’ll scare everyone back in Sol system away from leaving for other new worlds.

And on top of all this, or maybe because of all this, the planet is waking up from its billion year slumber.

While that all sounds really good, which it is, the telling of this story just drags on and on and on and on.   This book would have been way, way better if it had lost a few hundred pages.   And on top of all that, it’s a really depressing story from beginning to end, showing up Homo sapiens at their very worse.

It was so tedious i kept on having to take breaks and read three whole books just to break this up into manageable chunks of depressive dragging on.

Let’s hope the next one, Nemesis Games, is better, eh?

James’ Page

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Another side story, this time concerning the prisoners that the Belters captured from the original Protogen project in Leviathon Wakes.

All the prisoners have been put into one large room and are continuously watched over from above by the Belters who guard them.   For them, after their crimes, there is no future, nothing at all, beyond the walls of this room.

And then, one day, or night, the man from Mars turns up and begins to offer hope, if only to one of them, but which one will it be?

A really good novella, that can be read as soon as the Belters have taken them prisoner, or anytime thereafter.

Next up in the series is Cibola Burn.

James’ Page

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I didn’t find this book as good as the previous ones, which i put down to a character thing.

Too much christian waffle: i live in hope that by the time Hominids are travelling the whole solar system we’ll have gotten over this all the organised religion thing and seen it for what it truly is.   I found it beyond tragic that people were still clinging to this twaddle.

And i also found Clarissa just tedious and annoying: like a lot of spoiled rich brats that i’ve known in my life.   I really don’t like reading about them and having to endure their thinking.

Still, it has it’s good parts, which do balance the few crap characters and religiosity out and offer some redemption (pun intended) for those expecting something better.

I’ve now dived straight into The Vital Abyss, which is much better and more like what i expect from this series.

James’ Page

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The second full length novel in “The Expanse” series.   And what a novel it is.

The protomolecule has now taken over Venus and while it is now the most watched and analysed thing in the solar system, no one has any idea what is going on beneath Venus’ clouds.

Meanwhile, on Ganymede, a space monster attacks a whole load of UN and Martian marines, and leaves only one alive.   Then all hell breaks loose between Earth and Mars and Ganymede gets laid to waste.

And while all this is going on someone is kidnapping children with a rare immune disorder.

And so the stage is set for a super long read.

All our favourite characters from the first series are back, and a few more really good new characters are thrown into the mix.

Super good, great writing, all round awesome sci-fi.

Next up is Gods of Risk.

James’ Page

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After a few little novellas it’s been a joy to get into some real long distance reading: it’s a rather large book!

Great characters, superbly well written, non stop action, excellent dialogue (both internal and external); i really can’t fault this book.

Do remember to have a little break during this to read The Last Flight of the Cassandra.

And now i have the second huge tome, Caliban’s War, to dive straight into.

James’ Page

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This story occurs immediately after Holden makes his announcement that the ice hauler was destroyed and a piece of tech with a Mars stamp on it was discovered.

The Cassandra is flying hand to mouth already and they realise that with the coming price fluctuations they won’t be able to continue flying.   So they go off to an asteroid in a last attempt at turning a profit: finding something that could change everything for them.

A good little story that i would suggest reading as soon as the Holden announcement goes out, or, you could wait until the end of Leviathon Wakes and read it then.

James’ Page

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Another back story for one of the series main characters.   This time it’s Fred Johnson’s turn as we look back at the events of Anderson Station and how they shape his future self.

Next book in the series is Leviathon Wakes, and it’s a big, big long one: it might be a while before my next review.

James’ Page

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