Caliban's War

"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 show more 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! show less

It’s not healthy having God sleeping right there where we can all watch him dream.

After the events of Leviathan Wakes, the protomolecule is just hanging on doing strange things on Venus... or is it?

It grabbed an UN Marine in its huge hands and tore him in half like paper. Titanium-and-ceramic armor ripped as easily as the flesh inside, spilling broken bits of technology and wet human viscera indiscriminately onto the ice. The remaining five soldiers ran even harder, but the monster chasing them barely slowed as it killed.

Turns out it's not just on Venus anymore.

Caliban's War picks up where Leviathan Wakes left off, with tensions high between Earth/Mars/the Belters and an alien presence. There's another lost girl who has to be show more found (hopefully this isn't a trend throughout the entire series) and more things going horribly badly wrong.

Worldbuildingwise, the outer reachers of the solar system in general and the moon of Ganymede being made into a breadbasket are interesting. It continues to look like something we could very well see in a century or two.

On top of that, the protomolecule is doing all sorts of interesting things to Venus on one hand and has been weaponized on the other. Both are fascinating developments and make me want to keep reading just to see what will happen next. Although the former isn't actually that core to the plot, there are strong hints that it will be in the next book in line.

Characterwise, we have more Holden and his crew, which is fine. I still don't care overly much for Holden himself; it is interesting seeing him grow--especially his relationship with Naomi. And I like the crew. Amos in particularly is amusing to read.

Beyond that, we have a handful of new supporting characters but two new main characters. First, Chrisjen Avasarala.

“The same thing as always. Try to keep civilization from blowing up while the children are in it.”

She's a government official from Earth who's something of a power behind the throne--and a little old lady with quite a mouth on her. It's interesting seeing more of the political structure of the solar system, even if most of it involves Avasarala yelling at people.

Next, Martian Marine Bobbie Draper.

“Good, because I don’t use sex as a weapon,” Bobbie said. “I use weapons as weapons.”

She's a straight forward soldier who's seen some pretty terrible things (in the prologue) and gotten thrown head first into politics. I like seeing her opinion on things and she does a lot to flesh out parts of the world we hadn't seen before--for a solar system at war, she's the first point of view active soldier.

Finally, Prax Meng. He's a botanist on Ganymede whose daughter has been kidnapped in the midst of everything going wrong. He's a bit single tracked and annoying to read. Given that his daughter--literally his entire family--has been kidnapped, it's understandable, but that doesn't make him any easier to read.

Overall, a solid sequel. We're definitely in the thick of a series now with big cliff hangers at the end of each book, but that's workable. show less

A superior follow-up, mostly for the fact that Avasarala and Bobbie Draper are characters finally. The character development is so well done, each one feels truly unique, and you can see how well the TV adaptation did with its casting for these roles. The book does a lot more justice for Prax, he gets a much larger role and development than in the show. It adds a lot more to the search for Mei, making it feel like a lot more than b-plot.

Somehow even better than the first one. The new viewpoints are great -- especially Avasarala, who is threatening to oust Amos as my favourite character, even though he (and virtually everybody else) got even more incredible this novel. The strength of The Expanse remains its characters, each with a unique, clear voice and personality, each interesting, each memorable. That's not to say the plots and the world building aren't top notch, though, because they are. The story manages to walk the fine line between epic and realistic, and the world truly feels like a very human, very flawed distant future that is neither dystopian nor utopian. I'm completely sold and will happily read every giant tome in this series, indubitably sobbing for show more more once I some day finish. show less

Oh My Gosh, does this book kick ass! Caliban's War is a tense, hilarious, and scary-as-hell work of Science Fiction awesomeness. In addition to the cast that I loved from Levianthan's wake, it also features two of the best female characters ever, as far as I'm concerned. Chrisjen Avasarala, the power behind the powerful at the UN, looks like a tiny Indian grandma and has the filthiest mouth in recent memory. Bobbie Draper is a giant Martian Marine gunny, and a total fish out of water just trying to figure out the right thing to do after her team is slaughtered in front of her by...well, a monster, as far as she can tell. Caliban's War picks up where Leviathan's Wake left off and just keeps sprinting to the finish line. I can't WAIT to show more read the next in the series - off to place a library hold immediately! show less

It's been several years since I read the first book in the series but after finally getting back into it, I'm not sure why I waited so long. Happily, I dropped back into the universe relatively smoothly and eager to find out what happens next. Corey does a brilliant job of crafting a diverse cast of characters, some new and others familiar from the previous book, and while chapters are from varying perspectives the writing quality is so consistent I remain in awe that these books are co-written by two authors. There's plenty of a sci-fi action to be had but also great character development, basically everything I love about a good space opera. The book does have a bit of a cliffhanger at the end so I definitely won't be waiting years show more before picking up book three. show less

It's tough coming up with a sequel to a book as impressive and successful as "Leviathan Wakes". You have to walk the line between keeping continuity of plot and characters without simply repeating the first book with a slightly different problem set. The second book doesn't have the advantage of being new and unknown so the world-building has to continue and surprise has to be introduced along the way. With a series on the scale of "The Expanse" you literally need to keep expanding the scope and deepening the complexity of the plot while somehow keeping a human focus.

I think "Caliban's War" managed to navigate its way through all those challenges, It then exceeded my expectations by keeping me emotionally engaged all the way show more through.

After I'd set the book aside, let myself recover, ordered the next book in the series and taken a breathe, I kept coming back to HOW this had been achieved.

I've come up with three rules the authors seem to have followed to make "Caliban's War" work so well.

1. Keep the winning formula but make just enough changes to excite.

As with the first book, we have Holden tilting at windmills and launching himself and his crew on a quest to save the girl. Except this version of Holden is carrying the scars from the first book and living with the compromise he made with the OPA. Between them, those things are twisting him into someone he doesn't want to be.

Yet again we have the humanity under threat from the protovirus and ruthless amoral businessmen but this time the governments of Earth and or Mars seem to be involved and its possible that the protovirus has an agenda of its own.

2. Maintain the quality of the writing

One of the strengths of both books is how well written each scene is. There is no filler or padding. This is a novel written with to a well-thought-out storyboard where every scene has a purpose. Nothing is there just to move you along to a more important scene.

The point of view from which any scene is written remains consistent with other scenes from that same character's point of view. The scene may well move the plot along, or foreshadow doom or deepen the world-building but each scene ALWAYS builds the character of the person from whose point of view it's written.

The intercutting of the scenes is artfully managed to keep momentum, let you see some of the story arc coming, and leave you wishing you could have stayed with the previous character's scene for just a little longer.

3. Give me new characters to love or loathe

If I don't care about the characters then I'm not going to wade through a book as long as "Caliban's War". In a series of long books, there needs to be a constant flow of new characters. If the focus stays on the same small group of people all the time then the scope won't expand and it's likely that I'm going to have to twist the characters and their relationships out of shape to keep things fresh.

In "Caliban's War", I was given three new characters to engage with. Each of them is interesting in their own right as people while also giving me a very different view, based on their culture and their mindset, on what's going on.

I got Bobbie a Gunnery Sergeant in the Martian Marines. She competent, apolitical, focused on her mission to kill whatever it was that took her team apart in the opening to the book. She does more than give a soldier's perspective. She adds the view of someone with strong beliefs, independence of mind and a size and skill set that normally makes her the most dangerous person in any room.

I got Prax, the Belter botanist who has spent his life focusing on how to design plants that will thrive on stations and provide everyone with food and air. He's a quiet focused, logical man who takes great pleasure in each small victory while taking setbacks in his stride and keeping moving towards his goal. He's not a man of action. He's not a people person. He sees his work destroyed, his daughter abducted and knows that his city and everyone in it is dying. His reaction, a mixture of deep shock, grief, and grim determination to get his daughter back makes him a fascinating addition to the cast.

Finally, I got one of my favourite characters ever: Avasarala, a senior Earth politician/bureaucrat. In the testosterone-driven world of politics and military strategy, she stands out not just because she's the only woman in the room but because she has created a persona for herself as the old grandmother who wears bright saris, has a foul mouth and is completely ruthless.

Avasarala is not a cardboard cut-out hard-assed politician. She's married to a Professor of Poetry. She twists her diary to spend time with her grandchildren. She will use anyone and anything to get what she wants.

One of the things that I liked most about "Caliban's War" was Avasarala's growing awareness that her growing awareness that while she understood the political game and played it better than anyone else, she may have misunderstood what is really going on. show less