Tiamat's Wrath
Ratings277
Average rating4.5
Tiamat's Wrath est le huitième 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. Il s'agit également à ce jour du dernier tome publié, en attendant le neuvième et dernier dont la parution est prévue pour courant 2020.
Après deux tomes qui m'avaient laissé un sentiment mitigé, j'attendais que celui-ci me réconcilie avec cette saga qui avait si bien commencé.
Dès la lecture de la table des matières, j'ai remarqué une nouveauté notable par rapport aux sept premiers tomes : si Holden reste présent comme narrateur, il ne l'est que pour le prologue et l'épilogue, laissant à d'autres personnages le soin de nous raconter l'histoire :
- Naomi, sa compagne et officier en second, désormais engagée dans la résistance contre l'Empire de Laconia
- Alex, le fidèle pilote du Roccinante
- Bobbie, désormais capitaine du Roccinante
- Elvi, la biologiste croisée dans le quatrième tome, Cibola Burn, et qui travaille désormais sur des recherches scientifiques sur Laconia
- Teresa, la fille adolescente du haut-consul Winston Duarte, et à ce titre héritière de l'Empire de Laconia
Je dois dire que c'est assez rafraichissant de ne plus suivre l'histoire à travers le regard de James Holden. Un peu de changement ne fait pas de mal ici, même si Holden reste présent en arrière-plan et que certains narrateurs le rencontrent à plusieurs reprises.
Le récit reprend deux ans après la fin de Babylon's Ashes : l'Empire de Laconia a réussi sa conquête de la galaxie, le système solaire a perdu son statut dominant et l'espace interstellaire est maîtrisé par les forces armées aux ordres du haut-consul. Holden est retenu prisonnier sur Laconia, Naomi, Alex et Bobbie luttent chacun à leur façon au sein de la résistance, et Amos est porté disparu suite à une mission d'infiltration sur Laconia.
Nous avons donc affaire à une histoire classique de résistance face à un pouvoir autoritaire. Là où dans le tome précédent l'action était centrée sur Medina Station et les enjeux locaux suite à l'arrivée des forces de Laconia, les enjeux s'élevent dans ce nouveau volume. La résistance, bien que très menacée, gagne en assurance et tente des actions désespérées pour combattre l'oppresseur.
Comme c'était déjà le cas dans d'autres tomes, il y a un événement fort qui se déroule aux deux tiers du roman. Ensuite, il y a une petite perte de rythme, on a l'impression d'être dans un long épilogue, avant que cela ne s'accélère à nouveau dans les derniers chapitres. C'est habile, quoique un peu déstabilisant quand on est habité au rythme linéaire de nombreux romans anglo-saxons.
Dans l'ensemble, j'ai bien aimé ce huitième tome : j'ai pris plaisir à le lire, plus que pour les deux volumes précédents en tout cas. Cela ne ressemble plus vraiment à The Expanse du début, nous sommes passés d'un récit de science-fiction presque réaliste à quelle chose approchant le space-opéra, cela a peut-être perdu une partie de son charme, mais c'est plaisant à lire.
Après avoir enchainé les huit tomes publiés, je vais en tout cas attendre avec impatience le neuvième dernier prévu pour l'année à venir, dont on ne connait encore ni la date exacte de publication, ni le titre. Le suspense va être insoutenable !
I came to The Expanse fairly late - jumping in when five books were already published. That meant I got to binge-read those five, and by the time I was done, the sixth had been published as well. That worked out nicely, because Books 1-3 and 4-6 kind of form little “chapters” in the intended 9 part Expanse saga. With Book #7 and #8, I'm now feel like I'm reading them “real time”, alongside everyone else - which is kind of exhilarating. This is especially true because so far, Books #7 and #8 have been my favourite of the series. The arc from Book #1 to Book #7 is impressive. Looking back through the series feels like someone who has travelled the world reminiscing about their hometown. The Expanse has gone from a cozy three faction solar system to exploring literally thousands of habitable worlds. Book #7 introduced us to an older Rocinante crew, living in a new universe filled with people who are trying their best to adapt. This culminated in Laconia, one of those 1,300 systems, making a play for Empire... with the aid of protomolecular science.
(some mild spoilers ahead)
Book #8, the penultimate in the series, continues after what feels like a few years beyond the events of Book #7. Chrisjen Aversarala is dead. James Holden is captured and living on Laconia. Naomi Nagata is spending her days in a self imposed exile within a shipping container, doing her best to help aid a resistance movement. Amos is missing. Bobby and Alex spearhead a crew on a captured Laconian warship. Elvi Okoye is working with the Laconians to study the 1,300 systems. Between all their stories is Theresa, the daughter of Laconian High Consul Winston Duarte, who is being groomed for leadership, and perhaps something more sinister.
I loved the architecture of the story. Though every character is running within their own narrative, they all felt very connected, and the story of the protomolecule (and the “Romans”) seems to be culminating into something large for the next book. I'm excited to see where the crew of the Rocinante end up, even if I'm a bit sad that the end of their voyage is near.
Great stuff as usual, but a very distinct attempt to take the series in a new direction and setup a forthcoming conclusion that's pretty epic.
There's a lot that happened in between this and book 7 though. Hopefully more short stories and novellas are in the oven too.
The Expanse had turned into my favorite book series and it's gotten to the point where I really can't be critical about them anymore. I'm so invested in the story and characters that it's hard for me not to like whatever James S.A. Corey comes up with.
Having said that, this book really felt like a step above the rest. It dealt with themes of loss, legacy, and death in ways that made it feel mature while still being fun and exciting.
Can't wait for the next (and possibly last?) book!
I think each of the Expanse books feel like payoff for the ones before, they keep building on the already rich universe within them. This was no different. I like so much about these books: the realistic physics, plausible science, the intense battles, intriguing technology, rich characters, the set of heroes that we've been following for so long. This book threw some more weird stuff at us like the Jupiter-sized diamond and the weird consciousness snuffing monsters. I can't wait for the next book to see how the story continues.
Its a good continuation of the story but it is a bit of a bummer they are all separated. Higher hopes for the next one. Still a good book
The beginning of the end (one I'm not quite ready for yet). We begin with the crew of the Roci scattered across the universe, with the Laconians tightening their grasp across the systems. From there you can kind of tell where the story's going to go, but the experience of going there is what matters, and it's one that's incredibly emotional and exciting.
Wow! Starting about 20% in every chapter felt like an awesome page-turning climax to an excellent book, I had to keep doing double takes to remember that, no, the book wasn't coming to an end...then it did and I am bereft waiting for my fictional friends to return in book 9.
Great writing.
Heck of a story. It keeps getting deeper and bigger.
But still kind of long. For me, investigating the inner workings of the characters is not as interesting as the parts about the different alien species.
Wow, what a ride...It's 8th (!) book in the series and I'm not sure if it's the best so far but it's damn well close.It's not unusual for quality slipping when series ages, it's definitely not the case here [b:Persepolis Rising 28335696 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7) James S.A. Corey https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481562381s/28335696.jpg 48382887] was great and Tiamat's Wrath is even better. In preious book authors made some decisions that change everything and they are not afraid of continuing in that manner.We have one more book left and I'm already starting to mourn this world, characters and ship.
This series really slumped for me. I bought this book ages ago and just never read it.
I'm glad that I went back and read it, it was good for what it was, but this series feels like it's being dragged out.
This series is just my favorite long-running series in existence. We're in the penultimate chapter, and so much is lost. So much of the book is spent with a broken, fractured crew. So much of the book is spent far away from the Rocinante. It's deeply impressive how far the world has moved from Leviathan Wakes, how much the characters have changed and grown. If you're already an Expanse fan, you'll need this in your life. If you're not, get on it. You also need this in your life. This fine ship. This fine crew.
This book is my favorite in the technicalities of the book itself. A good mix of sad and happy, not too much gruesome and dark as in some of the others. It's the usual great pace and wording of its siblings.
I've already got Auberon checked out.
This is the best one yet, hands down! At this point, the story could ride on the laurels of the character depth and storyline that has been laid down by previous books, but the intensity and creativity just keep getting better, and the story is more epic than ever.
I have no idea how they are going to wrap this story up in the next novel, facing off against the most unimaginable enemy yet, but I'm sure I'll love every second of it. Then there will be a black hole in my yearly reading where the Expanse novels once were...
Great read
I read this amazing novel in the hard time of home quarantine and covid scare and this was the best companion during these tough time.
After finishing this book, I officially can't wait any longer for the final novel.
I found this very creepy at times but a great sci-fi read. I'm on pins an needles to find out what happens in the next book.
Executive Summary: It's hard to say why I gave this book 5 stars without massive spoilers, so I'll simply say that I was always looking for reasons to keep listening, and had I been reading it instead I would have finished it much sooner.Audiobook: Another great job by Jefferson Mays. Early on I didn't find him that impressive, but when he didn't do [b:Cibola Burn 18656030 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405023040l/18656030.SY75.jpg 26109318] I realized how much I liked him for the series. I'm not sure if he's a narrator that I'd pick up another series for, but he's the only one I want narrating this series now.Full ReviewThis series has quickly become one of my favorites and each new book was always one of my most anticipated and best reads of the year. I still really enjoyed [b:Persepolis Rising 28335696 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481562381l/28335696.SY75.jpg 48382887], but I wasn't happy with all the turn of events.When they announced this one was delayed from December to March I figured it was due to the the time they've spent writing the show, and was happy to wait if it meant a return to form. It was definitely worth the wait.I'm really happy the show got picked up by Amazon and I hope they get to complete the series because once the final book is published I'd have a big Expanse (get it?) in my reading schedule.If you haven't read the books, or watched the show you're missing out and I highly recommend checking out one (or both) because I think they are fantastic. Now I'm going to eagerly await the release of Season 4 and then (hopefully) book 9.
Wow...this book was incredible. After how we left things at the end of Persepolis Rising, I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.
I'm writing this 2.5 years after I finished Tiamat's Wrath for the first time, and a week after I finished it for the ... ~10th time. So saying I like this book and this series is a bit of an understatement.
If you're reading this review, chances are you liked the previous Expanse books (plus we're ages past its release date) so I'm not going to worry about spoilers after this point. You've been warned.
So the opening is a bit of a heartbreak. Take a cry break if you need to, but power on because this book is real good.
While Holden has never been my favorite (I've always liked him, but he gets edged out by a decent margin), he really grew on me here. He's learned a lot and I love what he does with his shit situation after getting captured on Medina in Persepolis Riding. The way he interacts with everyone, the dancing bear, the way he just has to push a button if he sees it.
Naomi continues to level up her awesomeness with each book. She's boss level now and I love it.
Alex just keeps doing his thing and continues to be the heart and soul of the Roci crew.
Bobbie Draper is the most badass woman to ever exist, and everything about her character is perfection.
Amos. The last man standing. His whole arc in this book is great and rivals his post-apocalyptic trek with Peaches.
Elvi makes a fun re-appearance and I'm so glad. I liked her in Cibola Burn (yes, even her crush on Holden, I thought it was realistic!) and I like her here. She's another awesome woman who gets shit done in her way.
Teresa is a nice new addition and I hope she sticks around for the last book. But if you didn't like Elvi in Cibola Burn, you'll probably need to dust off your Liz Lemon eyeroll for some of her chapters. She's a bit cringe at times, given she's the teenage daughter of a galactic dictator, but her story is important, interesting, and pretty funny.
While there's some heartbreak in this book, the ending is happy-ish (I mean, we are still in the Expanse series, it's not a Disney movie) and will leave you eagerly anticipating Leviathan Falls.