Persepolis Rising

Spoilers below:

The Expanse continues to shine in all that it does well: being smart and being fun at the same time, having real consequences without feeling too arbitrary or too “plot armor-ey,” having villains with some redeeming characteristics and reasonable views. I really liked the arc for Governor Singh; he made a lot of mistakes and did a lot of growing in a hurry, and kept learning right until the end. The ultimate morality level of the Laconians is excellently murky; their brutal foundation, and medical experiments show their true colors, but Duarte and Trejo (and even Singh) have some great arguments in their favor. The book shows their hypocrisy, but also how in the grand scheme they might be right. It takes a big combination of morals and stakes for me to respect them for killing a main character I liked and identified with, and think they maybe did the right thing. The constant juxtaposition of short-term and long-term ethics (killing Singh is worth it to avoid setting off centuries of hatred) works really well.

It's also the first book to have real tension within the crew, and that feels like it was well overdue. The timelapse was fine; the “Empire Strikes Back” ending with Holden captured works well. Sometimes, the “bad” guys have a lot more advanced weapons than you, some good arguments, and you can't really beat them. In most plots, the protagonists find some clever workaround. Here, the bad guys overcame some mistakes, killed a main character, captured the hero, and are looking like the powerhouse they are. I respect it.

I also really liked the display of both of the Martian views on the Laconians: Alex thinks they're all traitors and should die, while Bobby's dismayed sadness and “there but for the grace of God would have been me.” Both have merit and are very understandable. A really good job of showing how The Expanse refuses to have a monolithic view on most complex topics. Would have been really easy for it to be a one-note viewpoint.