Totally a shame isn't in book 2. ( )

I bought this science fiction novel, and its sequels, on the basis of having watched the first season of the television series The Expanse, which covers about half of the action of this book.

It’s always interesting to consider the differences between a novel and a movie or television series based on that novel. A novel, of course, has the leisure to deal in much more detail, and to fill in elements of back-story which even a lengthy television series can’t fit in. On the other hand, of course, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, and a visualisation can give us new insights.

I did find it worthwhile to read the novel, however, as it clarified a good deal which I had found very obscure in the television series. (Partly my difficulty with understanding the television version is down to the fact that the version I watched came without any subtitles, on which I have grown to depend because of poor hearing).

This is solid ‘hard’ science fiction, dealing with the expansion of humanity into the solar system and the colonisation of Mars and the Asteroid Belt (and a few of the outer moons of Jupiter and Saturn). A good deal of the interest is in the depiction of the political tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Belt (whose ‘capital’ is the dwarf planet Ceres).

It begins as a mystery story, complete with an updated gumshoe-detective in the form of the Ceres-based Detective Miller, who is tasked with locating Julie Mao, the missing daughter of a wealthy family. Tied in with this is a parallel story following the remaining crew of the Canterbury, an ice-hauler ship which is destroyed in an ambush by mysterious forces after investigating an emergency beacon on an abandoned spaceship—as it eventually turns out, the ship on which Julie Mao had been travelling.

All the various strands eventually come together to reveal a uniquely existential threat for humanity, several billion years in the making.

Space opera, perhaps, but very engaging. I’m looking forward to reading the sequels in the series to see where it all goes. ( )

Really good space opera; similar to Iain M. Banks' stories but closer to our time frame and just inside the solar system. Characters were well-drawn, with a noir-ish detective on an asteroid and the remains of crew that's reminiscent of way-back-when futures.

The ending seems a bit rushed but mostly reasonable to me, but seems to end a little too upbeat for what's happened. Still, the author(s) have a good recipe with a lot of science fiction spiced with a murder mystery and a pinch of horror. I'm definitely moving on to Caliban's War after finishing this one. ( )

I left my book at home when we went on vacation. We stopped at a bookstore and I picked this up on a whim. I hadn't watched The Expanse, but wanted to ... I figured maybe I'd read it first (despite being almost 600 pages).

I was hooked almost immediately. About 1/4 way into it I discovered this is #1 of 8 (with a 9th planned). Wow.

I love the universe Corey (pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) has built. It's a "not too distant" future in which mankind has been colonizing the solar system but hasn't ventured out any further. A mysterious ship, an act of war, a missing person, intrigue, action, suspense, memorable characters. A little bit of everything. I stayed up too late many nights just to get to a good stopping point. So glad I picked up this book. ( )

I liked the first few volumes in the series ( )