Caliban's War

Leviathan Wakes ???????????????Caliban's War ???????????????

I might possibly have a new favourite series!

The plot picks up a while after the first book ends and introduces a few new point of view characters along the way. I really loved the writing in this series so far, I find it a really exciting combination of description and plot. The additional points of view were hit and miss, but none were bad. I simply got attached to some characters more than others.

There is a cliffhanger in the final section of the book that has me dying for the next.

Caliban's War est le deuxième volume de la saga de science-fiction The Expanse signée James S.A. Corey, le nom de plume du duo composé des auteurs Daniel Abraham et Ty Franck. Ayant déjà vu les trois premières saisons de la série TV qui adapte ce cycle de SF pour le petit écran, je connaissais déjà l'essentiel de l'intrigue de cette deuxième tome :

La principale différence avec le premier volume, c'est que nous suivons désormais le récit à travers quatre points de vue. Là où le premier tome alternait les narrations de Jim Holden et Joe Miller, celui-ci s'enrichit de nouveaux points de vue : Joe Miller n'est plus présent suite à la conclusion du livre précédent, mais Holden l'est toujours et est rejoint par trois nouveaux narrateurs :

- Bobbie Draper est une marine de l'armée martienne et la seule survivante de l'attaque de la dernière évolution de la protomolécule qui a tué toute son escouade sur Ganymede

- Chrisjen Avasarala est une politicienne influente aux Nations Unies, qui tente de comprendre ce qui se passe sur Ganymede et d'éviter l'escalade vers la guerre entre la Terre, Mars et l'OPA

- Praxidike Meng est un botaniste qui a grandi et travaillait sur Ganymede jusqu'à l'évacuation de la station suite aux tensions militaires entre la Terre et Mars qui ont suivi l'attaque de la protomolécule ; depuis, il recherche sa fille de cinq ans, enlevée par son médecin quelques heures avant l'évacuation

Ces nouveaux personnages apportent un regard neuf sur l'univers de The Expanse en explorant des points de vue différents : Bobbie est le premier narrateur venu de Mars, Avasarala nous dévoile les coulisses de la politique terrienne et interplanétaire, et Prax nous sert de voir le récit à travers le regard d'un homme “normal” dont le quotidien est bouleversé par les événements qui se déroulent autour de lui et malgré lui. Quant à Jim Holden, il reste égal à lui-même : capitaine fidèle à son équipage et à ses principes, quoiqu'un peu tourmenté par la mort de Joe Miller.

J'ai adoré ce livre : je ne sais pas s'il est meilleur ou juste aussi bon que le premier, mais je l'ai dévoré en redécouvrant l'intrigue déjà suivie dans le série TV. A moins que ma mémoire ne me joue des tours, certains événements m'ont semblé différents entre le livre et la série, ce qui ne serait pas étonnant. Quoiqu'il en soit, le récit est passionnant, bien aidé par une mécanique bien huilée et une structure narrative qui alterne les narrateurs au fil des chapitres pour ménager le suspense, ou en créer un peu artificiellement parfois. C'est en tout cas diablement efficace.

J'ai maintenant très envie de plonger dans le troisième tome de la saga, même si je vais me forcer à lire au moins deux ou trois romans en attente avant de répondre à l'appel de Jim Holden et ses compagnons.

“He'd read accounts of extravehicular euphoria, but the experience was unlike anything he'd imagined. He was the eye of God, drinking the light of infinite stars, and he was a speck of dust on a speck of dust, clipped by his mag boots to the body of a ship unthinkably more powerful than himself, and unimportant to the face of the abyss.”

I liked this book SO much more than Leviathan Wakes. The fact that it spent most of its time in character development and it still kept me engaged throughout says it all.

In this book we are introduced to another great set of characters - Bobbie, Avasarala and Prax - and follow their POVs. Three completely different people who lived completely different lives and who are incredibly fun to follow.

If you ever looked up the TV series you've probably heard they made adjustments to fit what the series was trying to do. Notably, the stuff that happens inside the Agatha King and in Io is expanded and plays out differently. I don't prefer one over the other because I think both felt right for their respective mediums.

I want to start Abaddon's Gate AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

I should have written my comments earlier, a few months later and I can't precisely remember which parts happened in each book since they all fit together in the same story. I started reading Leviathan Wakes based on the recommendation by John Moltz on The Talk Show.

As you can see by the fact that after the first book I continued through the rest of the series, I liked the books. I kept wanting to read more about the compelling characters who make up the crew of the Rocinante. Besides the crew I also loved the characters of Avasarala and, in Abaddon's Gate, Reverend Doctor Annushka Volovodov.

I enjoyed the future that the authors write, especially that it is not all rainbows like Star Trek. Except for the Nauvoo, which was intended to be a generational ship used by the Mormons (I love that idea!), the future was pretty bleak. And then that one glimmer of hope was hijacked and stolen.

Another thing that jumped out at me is that, with the exception of the Epstein (fusion) drive, none of the human technology in the books is magic. Even the fusion drive doesn't challenge our knowledge of physics, a few hundred years of new technology makes everything seem very plausible. Well, the gates are magic, but they're alien technology, so I give them a pass.

Last item of praise for the series: the aliens are alien! We don't understand the alien technology, we can't communicate effectively with it (Miller shows just how much we can't) and it is just so weird. I don't recall a story that presented such truly alien aliens. And, despite that, the second book covers how we tried to exploit their technology, even though we don't understand it at all.

Leviathan Wakes starts out strong, dumping you into the mystery of Julie Mao and the destruction of the Canterbury. I was captivated immediately and loved how the mysteries progressed and intertwined.

[book:Caliban's War 12591698] continues the story of Captain Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante after the events on the Eros space station brought the various factions of the solar system to the brink of war. Time has passed, and the crew is running odd jobs for the OPA. Meanwhile, we are introduced to three new characters. There's a tough Mars Marine named Bobbie, a grieving botanist from Ganymede named Prax, and a foul mouthed, cunning politician from Earth named Chrisjen Avasarala. The story progresses nicely in Caliban's War. We get more insight into some of the crew. Prax has a compelling story. Bobbie is potentially an interesting character, though she often feels out of place and doesn't get much of a chance to shine... but she's set up nicely for future books. Avasarala is a favourite here, slickly navigating through the politics of the ongoing protomolecule plot as Venus is closely being watched. Pacing is about the same as Leviathan Wakes, starting with some slow intrigue build-up, and exploding into fantastic blossoms of action in the second half.

Another fantastic sci-fi epic

The second book in a series is always the decider as to whether you're going to carry on with it. The first book introduces you to the characters and where things are headed and the second book has to not only introduce new intriguing characters for you to love, but also continue on the story with an interesting plot that further envelops you in the world you spent a whole book falling in love with. This book does that. I love the characters more. New great characters have been introduced and the interesting story that emerged in the first book has continued and got even more interesting for the third!

Honestly somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. This was still pretty darn good and if you enjoyed the first book, you're likely to enjoy this one too. But I will say that the first book does feel a bit more intense and page-turning than this one did. I was also a bit less satisfied with the ending of this one, but I still gave it a pretty high rating because 1) Avasarala and 2) that epilogue.

I have to give props to Corey for just being so masterful at writing some delightfully entertaining science fiction. Like the first book, this really feels like a TV show in a book, in the best possible way. It's the kind of TV show that keeps you at the edge of your seat as you uncontrollably binge the whole season. This isn't going to be as deep and philosophical as a lot of major science fiction works, but the entertainment value of this one is through the roof.

Avasarala is probably one of my favourite characters introduced. She's a grumpy, possibly Indian grandma who also happens to be one of the most influential political figures on Earth. She cusses as much as she breathes, but her curses are some of the most delightful pieces of savagery I've seen around. Though clearly Avasarala's job is pretty much her whole life, we also get to see her as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Hey, who knew career women could also have a wholesome family life? Everything about her was so relatable tbh.

I continue to like Amos more and more, and also to have a complicated impression of Holden. I like him being around inasmuch as that we get to see his heroics being continually shot down by the Rocinante crew. He's definitely got a case of annoying-heroism but I like that the book uses him to dismantle that male-protag stereotype that's all too common in SFF. I just love it whenever Amos or pretty much anyone else in the crew hauls his ass back in line. I also gotta say that I didn't look forward to reading Prax's chapters in the beginning because they were just so depressing. Maybe it's the time of life I'm at now but anything to do with children being treated badly really just gets me.

The plot in itself is actually... kinda similar to book 1? We start the book with the POV of someone who goes missing, and then the POV of someone who witnesses a massive amount of death and destruction and is generally discredited. A character in the book wants so badly to find the missing person. We then spend a lot of time in the book hunting around for said missing person, and as usual we have Earth and Mars perpetually threatening to go to war in the background. That's pretty much the same beats in books 1 and 2.

Spoilery thoughts: I am very indifferent towards Prax for most of the book, but felt that he was sus near the end. Unfortunately though there was no big reveal at the end of this book to make that pay off. Aside from his love for his daughter and botany, it kinda felt like Prax didn't really have much substance - which made me wonder if he was hiding something. It was all very subtle (and may also be me overthinking things) but I felt like when other characters like Avasarala etc. observed him casually, something always felt a little weird, or off, or just not right. However, I'm glad that Prax and Mei were reunited in the end, it's just all so happy that it leaves me a little sus, like it's too good to be true.And that's also my issue with the ending, really, and which probably made me knock a star off. The stakes felt higher in book 1 and the ending sequence to it was suitably intense. In this one, I don't think I ever felt like the stakes were as high, but I was still expecting a similarly explosive ending - it didn't happen. Holden's short sojourn aboard the Agatha King was pretty anti-climactic, and then even the confrontation between Amos, Prax, and Merrien went by pretty quickly. Nobody was in any danger in that one. I fully expected Mei to have been in some way affected by the protomolecule, if not infected exactly, but that didn't happen either. I expected her to exhibit some worrying sign suddenly after they brought her back to the ship - but that also didn't happen. I'm not sure if this might possibly be a development in later books, but my philosophy for series in general is that if there are not even hints about it in this current book I'm reading, it still counts against it as something unanswered, as not everyone would read to the end of a series.What did pull me back was that epilogue. The bit with Holden endlessly watching the video of Venus, Naomi leaving the area, and then... Detective Miller appearing. That sent chills down my spine. The reveal was done so well there and it made me exclaim out loud. What the hell is he still doing here? How is he still alive or in one piece? How did he get onto the ship without any one knowing? Is he infectious?!?!?! Ahhhhh!!!!

This is increasingly shaping up to be a series that I'll likely see all the way through to the end and good luck to me on that, seeing as how many books there are in it.

I really like the James S.A. Corey team up. I enjoy the way they organize their stories so that the fact that there are 2 people writing this really doesn't become an issue. The chapter structure aligned with each of the 4 POVs provides variety in the writing and helps keep the pace fairly brisk considering the length of the book.

I read Leviathan Wakes last year and loved it, but have had the sequel sort of sitting on my shelf. Part of the reason was I wasn't sure I wanted to continue without Miller's viewpoint. I don't mind Holden, but he was a little too simple for my tastes. The three new POV characters, however, were all equally engaging, particularly Avasarala. I love a foul-mouthed grandmother, okay? Who doesn't? The Firefly vibe is still pretty strong in this second volume and the dialogue has a distinctly Whedon feel. That's probably a big part of why I like the series so much, though.

I liked the emphasis the book had on Holden's character slowly turning into Miller. To me, it said this is what happens to you if you work for The Man too long. Holden takes a lot of shortcuts on his idealism road, and it's interesting to watch him shift between idealism and pragmatism instead of just choosing the moral high road by default. Contrasting him against Prax was a nice touch. That said, I thought the transformation was a little forced at times and could have used some more fleshing out in the beginning of the novel instead of everyone suddenly shouting “You're turning into Miller!” in the middle.

Now... as for the ending. Holy freaking flying monkeys! I expected Miller's consciousness to survive the protomolecule's sciency woogledy boogledy Venus takeover, but I did not expect him to just appear in the hallway. I had to go back and re-read that page just to make sure I wasn't grossly misinterpreting something/Holden was having a hallucination of some sort. Nope. Looks legit. I am not sure whether this is sloppy or awesome yet and really need the third book to find out. The first book left me comfortable waiting to see what happened next. This one emphatically does not and book 3 isn't out till June. Damn it.

Overall, a very fun space opera shoot ‘em up with witty dialogue and fun characters. Any Firefly fans out there should give this series a go. I suggest you wait until book 3 is out in June though because I am going to spend the interim blinking in confuzzlement.

I very much enjoyed Leviathan Wakes, but found it to be a bit troubling at times. Mostly that Holden and Miller were just so close together as characters and while they may have had different beliefs, they were very similar characters no matter what.

Caliban's War addressed that issue and added in a whole slew of main characters that really brought something different to the table. We still got to follow Holden around while he tilted at windmills, but we saw events unfold from a few different points of view, which really added to the overall experience.

While the last book was exciting, this one was a lot harder to put down after I grew familiar with the cast of characters. There was, of course, a grand convergence between the main characters but it didn't feel forced, it felt welcome.

The story was well-crafted and I was legitimately excited to see what happened next when I got to the end of the book without feeling like anything was forced or ridiculous. Sure, there might not be a lot of “hard science” as to what exactly is going on, but that rarely gets in the way of enjoying the book.

Loved loved loved this one, even more than I did the first. It's quite different tonally from the first - I think the most apt comparison would be to think about the changes in the first two movies of the Alien film series. Despite those differences, it still keeps the intriguing storyline of the protomolecule, the interplanetary politics get deeper and more interesting, and the newly introduced characters are fun and exciting.

What I thought was interesting about this, as well, was that the point of view characters are all connected by recent experiences of trauma, and their attempts to deal with and overcome that trauma. Reactions to post-traumatic stress is a topic that rarely gets mentioned in the sci-fi realm, especially when looking at episodic/series-based fiction, and it was nice to read a novel that took a realistic and humanistic approach towards it.

4.00/5.00 “Desparate psychotic people do desperate psychotic things when they're exposed. I refuse to grant them immunity from exposure out of fear of their reaction. When you do, the desperate psychos wind up in charge”.

Caliban's War, the second entry into The Expanse is an action packed, character driven story that lets us stew in this world for some more time before the plot moves on. One feels eirily like the characters in this world, watching the protomolecule's venusian occupation with anticipation for something to happen, while humanity reacts badly to the coming of the unknown. Paranoia cripples Earth and Mars, and war brews. While the plot of Cailban's was seems a realistic depiction of a civilization's reaction to the protomolecule, it lacks any inspiration, riding the coattails of the excellent existing and new characters, Caliban's War seems very much like a repeat of Leviathan Wakes in many ways.

However, the book is entertaining with action, wonderful, lovable characters who defy tropes and bring freshness to the science fiction genre, while expanding on the incredible world of The Expanse. Like Holden, I also wish to see the wonder of Io, basking in Jupiter's lethal glow, a testmaent to the terrifying beauty.

Emotional Impact -> Action takes a high spot in this book, and Avaserala-bobby plotline showing so much promise. I enjoyed this book, especially the yatch takeover and the confrontation between Avasarela and Holden, two very diametric characters trying to work together. The ending was very good and very satisfying, with Bobby's duel with the monster being nothing short of amazing. However, the plot is repetitive and nothing too big happens. This story isn't that different from book 1. It is the same or similar story with different characters. Characters -> Really enjoyed Holden's, although I think Holden's inital emotional shutdown was repeated so many times. We get it, he changed during the time jump. Avaserla is a very interesting character and is a lot of fun. She gave me strong Mary Sue vibes but she does fail a lot in this story. But I do think she has the potential to be very hard to like. Her cussing is a disservice to this story. Its a gimmick that doesn't add any value to the character. Many others characters seemed to take back seat as we learned more about the new memebers. I'm sorry, but Prax is a very uninteresting POV. Prax seemed like a more sympathetic reconstruction of Miller, but is almost one-dimensional compared to Miller. Some of the decision Prax makes are understandable, but the whole character is not compelling for some reason. Plot -> Here is the problem with this book. This plot is not very different from book 1. There is more "political" drama here, although that is not very interesting. Replace Miller with Prax, Julie with Mei, Fred with Avaserala and we are back to book 1. Even the villians are the same, which Amos acknowledges as a snarky comment at the end of this book. How is a kidnap-rescue a plot in The Expanse? I almost didn't want to get into the politics here, as I think James S. A. Corey is clearly not very good at writing interesting politics. We need to return to sci-fi world building, moral struggles and semi-rightenous crusades. Prose -> Very similar to book 1, but a slight step down in my opinion. World Building -> Excellent. Ganymede was so well flushed out. The orbital mechanics, the military world building takes a step up in this book. We learn more about earth and how the culture has changed there which is very intersting. Great!