Gods of Risk

This is totally an excuse to follow Bobbie after her book, and I unabashed endorse it as a beautiful thing. I loved this look and politics, the world, the war, Bobbie, her family, Mars (oh, god, oh, god, oh, god, I was so excited to finally see things from inside the Martian perspective, instead of just talking about Mars and the Martian Army forces).

Everyone who loves Bobbie and The Expanse series should read this novella. Definitely after Book 2 though, where it belongs in the timeline. But. Yes, yes, yes. Very much so do.

Esta curta fez-me lembrar Breaking Bad em Marte, com a história a gerar à volta de David Draper, um estudante de química bem sucedido: muito inteligente, notas de topo, consciencioso e preparado em ter excelentes avaliações que irão determinar o seu caminho e propósito. Mas são expetativas que ele considera chatas e que pouco ou nada trazem de excitante na sua vida de adolescente, então empolga-se fabricando drogas como anfetaminas para um dealer chamado Hutch, que em troca lhe paga grandes somas de dinheiro e David guarda com grande orgulho, não só porque precisa mas também porque o mereceu. Para não levantar suspeitas, gasta-o muito diligentemente.

“David. Lets Cook. - diria o Walter White marciano.”

Gods of Risk é show more também parte romance e outra de amadurecimento de um jovem, porque o nosso cientista está enfatuado com Lelee, a namorada de Hutch, e nunca nos é escondido o momento em que ele sente vontade de ter o corpo dela junto ao seu, beijá-la e tirar-lhe as roupas, vê-la e ouvi-la rir-se, exausta, para depois adormecer nos seus braços.
Que miúdo romântico. Pena que provavelmente encontra-se enfeitiçado com as poucas opções que tem fora do trabalho, mas mais que isso, é mais um exemplo da sua atração ao pecado. Tem dezasseis anos, e só para fugir à perfeição, aparentemente pensa em quebrar todos os dez mandamentos antes dos dezoito.

Entretanto Lelee deixa-lhe uma mensagem preocupante e o mundo de David começa a apertar-se, forçado a dividir o tempo entre não criar suspeitas na família e tentar descobrir o que aconteceu à sua amiga.

Esta história em nada parece estar relacionado com a saga principal, não passando de algo interessantíssimo que serve para construção do mundo. Dá-nos uma boa ideia da estrutura hierárquica em Marte, da sua geografia e das prioridades de cada família quer pessoais quer planetárias, além do seu modo de vida, que (nada) curiosamente parece ainda mais normal e velha guarda do que na Terra. Em Marte, a união faz a força. Na Terra, começou a dar problemas, criando ainda mais divisão.

Dá para simpatizar com a crise adolescente de David, e os autores sempre fazem questão de termos ideia do que vai na cabeça dos personagens num limbo entre o cru e o poético. Várias vezes apetecia dar uma estalada a David, pois as hormonas estavam a fazer de burro alguém que não é, ainda assertando a sua dualidade e as consequências desta.

São sensivelmente sessenta páginas, mas considero que fizeram nesta um melhor trabalho que todas as outras mini histórias, com tudo muito bem divido e ainda com espaço para construir extremamente bem o cenário. Interesse ou não na saga, The Churn e Gods of Risk são sem dúvida os melhores a ler fora do Rocinante.

Valem muito a pena. show less

3.5/5 stars. A coming of age tale featuring Bobbie Draper's nephew. It was sweet, and Bobbie was wise and strong, and I liked it.

(I especially liked it because there was no condemnation of Leelee for anything she'd done. Survival matters, shame does not.)

Gods of Risk picks up the story of Bobbie Draper, Martian ex-marine, after the events of Caliban's War, though it's entirely told from the perspective of her nephew. (Bobbie is staying with her brother; the nephew has a side hustle making drugs that lands him in trouble.) It's okay. Bobbie is great, of course, but everything else here is pretty generic stuff. The story doesn't really make use of its setting, so it barely even feels sfnal. It could really be set anywhere, not necessarily on future Mars, and that makes it disappointing. I'd like to see these shorts expand the universe of The Expanse, but that's not happening here.

This story gives you an insight into Bobby Draper's life after she has been discharged from the Martian Marines. The story centers on Bobby's nephew David Draper. David's life stands at a cross roads. The choices he makes will affect his life and the lives of others close to him.The story is a stand alone novella. I make a great end of the summer read. There are no great revelations to add to the Expanse universe. I does however gives you insight to the forces that shaped Bobby Draper.

This is the first of the novellas in the “Expanse-iverse” I’ve read, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. While the amazing novels are all complex, multi-narrative, loaded with hard SF and trademark dialog, this shorter work was a lot more… terrestrial. The protagonist, teenage chemist David Draper, is fairly archetypical as a nerdy dreamer who falls for the prom queen. However, in this story, she’s a junkie and her boyfriend isn’t the captain of the football team, he’s a drug dealer with a quietly menacing demeanor. Some of the backdrop to the story connects to the larger events of the novels, but very peripherally so. The one crossover character from those books, David’s aunt, Bobbie Draper, is disappointedly show more underutilized, as she is a fan favorite character who really only has one scene at the climax. The biggest miss for me however, was how completely pedestrian the setting is. One would imagine an author could do a lot of impressive things, setting scenes in a Martian habitat, but here it’s actually very unremarkable, and could be interchangeably substituted for any city. Even the events of the plot could have been written within a contemporary 21st century setting without putting anything out of place. This story really is only recommended for the most devoted Corey fans, but none of these should feel like they’ve missed anything critical if they never get a chance to pick this one up. show less

A short novella set between books two and three of The Expanse series. The main character is David Draper, nephew of Roberta “Bobbie” Draper, the Martian Marine introduced in the previous volume of the series.
David is studying bio-chemistry in school and has gotten himself in a bit of a situation with a local lowlife for whom he “cooks” drugs. His aunt Bobbie is mostly a frustration and interference for him, but her situation with being at loose ends following her dismissal from both her previous jobs has a sort of parallel to his life and what he learns from her could end up being useful to her.
The background characters and events that are not central to David’s story are obviously included to set up and garner interest in show more the next volume in the series.
The character development for both David and Bobbie is compelling, as well as the information this short tale manages to convey about the structure (both physical/geographical and cultural) of the human settlement on Mars. show less