Leviathan Wakes (Expanse, #1)

by James S. A. Corey

Humanity has colonized the planets - interstellar travel is still beyond our reach, but the solar system has become a dense network of colonies. But there are tensions - the mineral-rich outer planets resent their dependence on Earth and Mars and the political and military clout they wield over the Belt and beyond. Now, when Captain Jim Holden's ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a secret that threatens to throw the entire system into war. Attacked by a stealth ship belonging to the Mars fleet, Holden must find a way to uncover the motives behind the attack, stop a war and find the truth behind a vast conspiracy that threatens the entire human race.

• ISBN10: 0316134678
• ISBN13: 9780316134675
• Publish Date: 15 June 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews My boyfriend read this series ages ago and has been trying to get me to ever since. We have watched the tv series so I had an idea of what was coming. This book was chosen as one of my work Book Club books so I decided to join in.

Well, where do I begin? This book is a real rollercoaster of a story. The book alternates between 2 POVs, Miller and Holden. It was very interesting to see these two points of view. With Holden being an Earther and Miller a Belter they have very different perspectives. I love both these characters and it was great fun getting in both their heads.

The story is set on the asteroid belt (The Belt). Humans have gone beyond Earth and now inhabit other planets and asteroids in the solar system. This book really has a bit of everything. there's a mystery/detective element, some romance, politics and fighting the good fight.

The story is very well thought out. James has clearly spent a lot of time making sure everything lines up. This is a brilliant beginning to the series. It's gripping and promises much more to come.

[trishheylady]

Excellent! I definitely want to continue with the series. This book had a ton of action, and I loved that no character is safe.

Happy to be back to The Expanse and the Rocinante crew! After binging the series I knew I couldn't wait until season 5 drops because I adore these characters so so much. Leviathan Wakes is a great start to this outstanding series.

[sarahjay]

According to Goodreads, the two star rating means "it was ok" and that is about all I can summon up to feel about this. Like, I love the setting, and the idea of the entire thing, but... wow. The characters are just. Not good. I hated Holden. What a tool. Which sucks, because I remember liking him in the show?? (I have seen the first two seasons and that is the main reason why I am interested in reading this at all.) (In my mind I refer to show!Holden as "hot Jay Baruchel.") And oh my god do not even get me started on how much cooler and more interesting and badass the female characters are in the TV show than they are in the book. This is 98% of the reason I can only muster up two stars for this. Good lord. Naomi deserves so much better. All the male characters are idiots and I disliked them all except Alex, whom I inexplicably love.

I do love a good politically driven space opera, so I am hopeful that things will improve, and I am excited to see characters in book 2 that were in the show from the beginning - but man. If it wasn't for the show, I would not want to continue this series after this first book. Die hards: do not under any circumstances @ me about this.

[Mercy]

3.5/5

[adastra]

Finally! I don't know why it took me so long to finish this book* because it is brilliant. I've already seen the first two seasons of the show and I'm a huge fan of it. Naturally, I was curious enough to check out the material it is based on, and I wasn't disappointed. This book covers Holden & Miller's perpectives of what happens in the first two seasons. I'm very curious to find out what the next book will be like.

* (I do actually: I read to much at work to read a lot at home).

[clq]

The expanse series has been emphatically recommended to me, and Leviathan Wakes is certainly a very strong start. It's set against an interesting backdrop in which humans have colonised Mars, and where Mars and the people living there have become independent enough to be at political odds with the planet whence they came, but not quite independent enough that a certain level of political amiability isn't required. There are also a communities living on stations in the asteroid belt. They dislike everyone, they're disliked by everyone, and they have plenty of things to be legitimately outraged about.
In other words, there is plenty of tension, and potential for things to be thrown seriously off balance, and go very wrong, if something out of the ordinary were to happen.

Leviathan Wakes is the story of something out of the ordinary happening.

We're dropped right into the story, which is a pleasant surprise for a book that needs to establish both a new series and a new universe. The backstory of the universe is expanded upon implicitly in the story, and it never has the feeling of "right, here is what you need to know for the next chapter to make sense." When the plot relies on politics or backstory, I somehow just knew what was going on. It seems effortless, and it's refreshing not to have to be taken out of the rhythm of the story in order to understand it.
At times I forgot that I was reading sci-fi, and I mean that in the best possible way. The reader gets to follow two "tracks" through the story, that of Detective Miller, and of Captain Holden. When we're with Miller, the story feels like a detective story. He has a down-to-earth, old school way of approaching problems and viewing the world. When we're with Holden, the story feels like an adventure. Holden is a well-intentioned idealist who will uncompromisingly do what he believes is right. These are two very different outlooks on a situation that quickly becomes complex and uncertain enough for the line between right and wrong to look very blurry.

The story is wonderfully dark, and it becomes increasingly unsettling as the characters learn more about what is going on. It reads like a solid story that just happens to be set in space, and doesn't use shiny, sci-fiy, things as a way of distracting from its deficiencies. It also avoids the trap of getting bogged down in the science. Now and then we are served up seemingly scientific justifications for what's going on, and while there are probably plenty of holes to be picked in a lot of the explanations or tech that is used, they are satisfying enough to make the plot seem plausible.

Miller and Holden are both great characters and develop significantly, in ways that become pleasingly relevant to the story. Even though they have very different outlooks, and some very different opinions, on what is going on, the reader can never fault them for what they do or think. We know enough about their background for their actions to be perfectly understandable. Not necessarily correct, but understandable.
Some of the other characters, especially the ones that become important to the story, could have done with more fleshing out. While they are all given some degree of backstory, their motivations are not clear. The interactions between the characters are excellent and feel natural, but beyond Holden and Miller the rest of them are a little too perfect. They feel like part of the backdrop. I would have liked to see more flaws and depth in them. They must have had more doubt, mixed feelings, and emotions than what we see in the book. Instead they come across as being a bit drone-like.

Leviathan Wakes is a great opener for the expanse series, and it's more than just a fun piece of sci-fi. It's a gritty, substantial, and exciting story that introduces a world in which I can see a lot of interesting stories taking place. It's definitely a series I'd recommend getting into.

[remo]

Descubrí esta serie de libros hace nada gracias a una recomendación y no se lo puedo agradecer lo suficiente a quien me la recomendó. Ciencia ficción de la buena, con personajes absolutamente creíbles, ricos, profundos, y una serie de aventuras que parece nunca acabar y que constantemente te deja sin aliento esperando a ver cómo se resuelve el nuevo lío en el que se han metido los protagonistas. La historia comienza siendo espectacular pero cada giro de la trama la convierte en algo más grande, más impresionante. Una auténtica catedral de la ciencia ficción. Fantástica. Hay seis libros en esta serie, de momento, lo cual me alegra mucho. El segundo ya está mediado.

[empressbrooke]

Y'all, I haven't had this much fun reading a book in a long time. It filled the hole in my heart that's been there since I finished playing the Mass Effect series. Unlike [a:Peter F. Hamilton|25375|Peter F. Hamilton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg]'s Night's Dawn trilogy (which I did love, don't get me wrong), this space opera trots along at the perfect pace and doesn't spend too much time dwelling on any one situation before moving forward. It also nicely concludes the story while leaving some room open for the next book in the series.

[Rinn]

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Leviathan Wakes was the science fiction Book of the Month for my Goodreads book group, Dragons & Jetpacks. It had been on my radar for a while: I previously recommended it for fans of the TV show Firefly and plenty of my friends had read and enjoyed it. As a result, I set out with some rather high expectations.

Some science fiction novels take quite a bit of getting used to, with their unusual and unique terminology and technology, but not this one. It is both immediately accessible and understandable whilst retaining a futuristic feel. We’re made aware of terraforming, ‘faux food’ (this is one of the things that scares me about the future. No delicious real food!), and hand-held communications terminals – but as of yet, no faster than light travel. From the very beginning it is packed full of political backstabbing and corruption, with elements of crime noir and horror. Whilst it’s not big on the action, there are plenty of tense moments to grip the reader. It feels like a science fiction novel that covers many boundaries and could appeal to many different types of people, not just fans of science fiction.

The crime noir element is thanks to Miller, a cop assigned to tracking down a young girl and one of the point-of-view characters. He feels like a bit of a cliche: slightly more than occasional heavy drinker (brought on by the stresses of the job), rocky relationship with his ex-wife, practically married his career and putting it before everything else. Throughout the story he shows signs of perhaps not being particularly emotionally stable, and the case takes a real toll on him. The reader watches him fall, and it’s both heart-breaking and a bit of a relief for a combination of reasons. His obsession with the case, and the young girl he is meant to be searching for, becomes all-consuming, and his descent into madness puts more than one person at risk. A talented and dedicated policeman becomes a creepy, obsessive character with little or no morals in about five hundred pages, and it was the sudden reversal of my feelings about Miller that really got me.

As for the rest of the characters, it would have been nice to have some more background information. Holden and Naomi were great, along with the rest of a good cast of more minor characters, but where were their detailed back stories? There may be more in the next books, but it would be nice to have something from the beginning.

At times, Leviathan Wakes reminded me more of Alien than Firefly. The latter part of the book was very tense, dark and gave me a real claustrophobic feeling – as if I were the one trapped aboard a spaceship with some mysterious extra-terrestrial life. I would definitely recommend it to fans of writers such as Alastair Reynolds and Arthur C. Clarke, as well as those who like a horror aspect with their science fiction!