Leviathan Wakes James S.A. Corey Book Review

Spoiler free review: 4/5 I have started The Expanse TV series two or three times and always failed to get interested in it. But, my brother assured me that the book series was amazing and I take personal recommendations very seriously. I am happy that I listened, this was a very well executed story. I liked every character, even the ones with only small amounts of screen time (page time?). Worldbuilding was done very well, this is a totally believable world that these characters live in. The attention to detail is what makes it feel especially real and helps inform the characters beliefs. The story was paced very well, every chapter had something interesting pushing you forward in the book and it was difficult to find points to put it down. But, I had issues with the book. These issues are not fair and they showcase my weaknesses as a reader more than any fault of the Author(s). I found it confusing, especially the physical descriptions. I think this is just a problem that I have with Sci-fi, I’m never fully sure where to take things literally. The prologue for example has a strange description and I spent half the book trying to figure out if it was real or not. Similarly I found it challenging to picture where the characters were and I lost track of them during the action at times. Overall I enjoyed reading this very much, I think I would benefit from a second read a lot and given how engaging the story was I just might. Early Game of Thrones meets Blade Runner (or Cowboy Bebop if you’re familiar). 4/5





Spoiler review:
4/5 Specific things that confused me, when they were on the zombie casino station (eros?) I had no idea where Holden and Miller were going. They broke apart from the group then did some stuff and came back I think? I was totally disoriented and just had to trust the characters to tell me how to feel. Also I went back and forth on whether the prologue was describing a strange murder scene or some supernatural body disfiguration. There are quite a few things that I reflected on after reading it: there’s no way that Miller is dead, he’s probably a zombie now with Julie. I want to know more about Fred Johnson, I’m pretty sure he’s a bad guy. They spent a ton of time explaining about how he was able to switch his personality quickly which I think was hinting that there’s more to his butcher backstory. I don’t love when the first book in a series is so blatant about not answering questions as a way of convincing you to read the sequels. But, the politics were interesting and I want to know more about who is involved in this war. I am excited to read the next book, reading this has made me more excited about reading Sci-Fi in the future. 4/5