Caliban's War - James S.A. Corey

In the summer of 2011, I read Leviathan Wakes the first book in this series. James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, both form associates of George R.R. Martin. I have read quite a bit by Abraham and some of his books are very good indeed. Leviathan Wakes was quite a fun book to read which I thought did more than just be a the space opera it was supposed to be according to the publisher. The second volume appeared in 2012 and I decided to order it. It then lingered on the to read stack for almost three years. What pulled me back to it was the fact that the shooting for a television series based on this series (the fifth book of which, Nemesis Games, will appear in June) is under way. Having read Caliban's War I must admit it might make of a decent television series. That does not necessarily make it a good book though. I feel it is a step back from the first book in the series.

James Holden is now in the employ of the outer planets. In his liberated Martian spaceship he patrols the outer reaches of the solar system with his crew. It is a decent living but tensions are rising within the crew and the relationship beween Holden and his girlfriend Naomi is strained. Their situation changes radically when on Ganymede, the breadbasket of the outer solar system and a moon coveted by Earth, Mars and the outer planets, a firefight appears to break out between Martian and UN forces. The truth is more complicated than that though. The alien intelligence that almost killed Holden on Eros station. Once again he is sucked into events that could plummet the solar system into war, or worse, wipe out the human race completely.

Leviathan Wakes was a space opera with noir elements mixed in. In this book a mystery is included too, the disappearance of a young girl is a key part of the plot, but the space opera clearly has the upper hand. Corey shifts from two main points of view to four. Besides Holden, we get to see the story from the point of view of the Martian marine Bobbie, the only survivor of the incident on Ganymede, the scientist Prax from that same moon and father of the missing gril, and  UN official Avasarala who tries to prevent a war from engulfing the system despite her superior's stupid actions. These two men and two women shape the events described in the book. Unlike in Leviathan Wakes, the UN official in particular, can pull strings all over the system, making it much more a political story.

The novel is dedicated to Arthur C. Clarke and Alfred Bester, two greats of science fiction. I haven't read Bester but I can see traces of Clarke in this novel. I suspect that Heinlein was probably a greater influence on the novel though. There are quite a few political statements in the text. Bobbie in particular seems to hold strong views on Earth's social security system. The novel does take us all over the solar system however, and that is something Clarke would have appreciated. It is a story on a grand scale, with characters who, despite making it their home, are still in awe of the vastness of space. Corey might not be able to pull it off for the more experienced science fiction reader but the characters themselves, clearly exhibit a sense of wonder when they have a moment to reflect on their situation.

As I said in the introduction, this book lends itself well to television. It has four clearly defined main characters with clear wants you can easily sympathize with. Holden wants his girlfriend back, Bobbie wants to kill the bastard who wiped out her squad, Prax wants to find his daughter, and Avasarala wants to stay in the game. That is what they work for, it is what drives them and there is very little left over for any other concerns. It makes all of them fairly shallow characters. Holden is the only one who escapes this to an extend because he has a book worth of backstory. I found Avasarala's chapters the worst in this respect as she has the annoying tendency to see every little action in the perspective of her political games and is willing to use anyone to get what she wants. She is refreshingly outspoken about it though, I have to give her that. Still, she struck me as a character who plays the political game for its own sake, regardless of who many people get ground up in her machinations. Corey tries to put things in perspective by anchoring her to her family. Her husband in particular is important to her to keep things in perspective. I can't say I found him very convincing in that role.

Bobbie on sees things more of less from the other end. As a marine too much thinking is not encouraged and she reflects that almost to the point of stereotype. Bobbie is the common sense in this book. Where Avasarala's thinking is convoluted, Bobbie's way of thinking is simplicity itself. Which doesn't mean she doesn't show surprising insights at times. What I didn't think was convincing about her story is that she very easily lets go of her loyalties to Mars to serve the other side in the conflict. She does feel bad about it to an extent but she caries on anyway without, especially early on, a clear idea on how it would help her achieve her revenge or help improve the situation in general. On the one hand she is portrayed as a smart woman, on the other, she can't seem to think further ahead than the next five minutes. The early stages in the novel pay attention to post traumatic stress, something more novels dealing with war situation should take into account. That is definitely one of the stronger elements of her story line.

Prax is the third character with only one thing on his mind. His search for his daughter consumes him to the point that it could easily have cost him his life. He sees his world falling apart and is one of the few people on the station with the knowledge to slow the process enough for help to arrive. He doesn't do it though. His daughter is much more important to him. You can see the insights into what is going on on Ganymede bounce of him. They make no impact whatsoever. It is not until the very end of the book that he reconsiders his verdict on Ganymede as a lost cause. Prax is potentially a very interesting character but like the others, his is completely consumed by the immediate desire to find his little girl. It is a touching story but not one that allows Prax to develop any real depth.

Corey keeps the pace up in this novel. The chapters are not too long, to very the point and alternate between the four characters. The often end on cliffhangers, making the reader want to read just one more chapter. In that sense it is almost a compulsive read. The ending of the novel also contains a clear hook for the third book in the series. Structurally, you can almost see the episodes of a television series in it. It is a plot that is constructed in advance and then filled in as each of the authors making up Corey delivers their chapters.

The sense that is constructed rather than written is much more present in this second book and that is probably the main reason why I think it is a step back from the first novel Abraham and Franck seem to have settled in a routine and delivered a routine book. Caliban's War is not a bad read mind you, it did keep me entertained and I never considered putting it down, but this time it really is what it says on the package, a soap opera in space. I think these gentlemen are more talented than that. Still, it might make for a good television series. I think I am going to give that a go when the first episodes are aired. I'm not sure about reading Abaddon's Gate, the third book in the series though. I'll have to think about that.

Book Details
Title: Caliban's War
Author: James S.A. Corey
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 595
Year: 2012
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84149-990-1
First published: 2012

Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes is the first novel in a space opera trilogy named The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. Corey is a pseudonym for authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. I am familiar with the work Abraham published under his own name, some of which is very good indeed. Corey is his third pen-name. He also writes an Urban Fantasy series under the name M. L. N. Hanover. With ten novels under his belt, Abraham is definitely the more experienced of the two. I haven't read any of Franck's writing yet. I know he has contributed to the latest Wild Cards volume Fort Freak, which is still on the to read stack. Other than that, I only know him as George R.R. Martin's assistant. I didn't know what to expect of this novel, it is quite a departure from Abraham's previous (novel length) work and a new adventure for Franck. As it turned out, Leviathan Wakes is a very readable bit of science fiction. One that might appeal to a larger crowd than just the hardcore SF-fans.

The novel is set in a future where humanity has ventured beyond Earth and colonized Mars as well as a whole host of moons and asteroids. Humanity's cradle is still essential to the survival of the species however, the source of many materials that simply can't be produced in any meaningful quantities elsewhere. Its power is only rivaled by Mars, one of the few other places in the solar system to house a significant number of people. Further out, are the miners of the asteroid belt, people confined to small bubbles of air and artificial gravity in the the vast emptiness of space.

Jim Holden is the the executive officer on an ice miner, making runs between the Jupiter's rings and the asteroid belt. It's a dead end job on a rickety old ship and usually quite uneventful. Until that is, they come upon the derelict ship Scopuli, emitting a distress call. What they find on the ship draws the crew into a spiral of violence that almost inevitably seems to lead to war. In the meantime on the asteroid turned space station Ceres, detective Miller is on a missing persons case. Although the police force on Ceres has more than enough problems on their hands once the political instability of the solar system is exposed and Miller is told to let go of the case, he can't shake the feeling there is something fishy about it. Miller digs deeper, at great personal expense.

In there is one thing I admire about the book is the way that Corey has managed to make it a science fiction novel that has so many elements of other genres and sub-genres besides space opera in it that it has a much wider appeal that a hard science fiction novel would have had in today's market. That is not to say there aren't some classic science fiction elements in the tale. Corey spends a great deal of time on the effects of gravity (or the absence of it) to the human body, to the operation of space stations, to warfare etc. There is definitely a bit of Rendezvous with Rama in this novel. There are some nice references to things like space sickness and the trick of deciding which way is up in an environment without gravity that a hard science fiction fan will appreciate but doesn't take a vast knowledge of physics to understand.

On the other hand, the story line of Miller also injects a dose of police procedural into the narrative. It's a combination that can work very well, as Alastair Reynolds showed us in The Prefect, a novel I still consider his best. Miller's past and personal problems are woven into the case he is researching. He's increasingly unable to keep his job and his private life separate, or in fact, keep reality and illusion apart. He's clearly a man headed for self-destruction. Holden on the other hand, is a man who has a completely different way of getting into trouble. Besides being rather direct, he feels qualified to decide which information should be shared with the entire solar system and which shouldn't. Much to the disgust of Miller, who blames him for starting a war. The authors have stated it was not intentional but the parallel with Wikileaks is almost inescapable.

Although the story in Leviathan Wakes is essentially complete, the way the novel was written leaves a lot of possibilities for a series that goes well beyond the planned trilogy. There is quite a bit of attention for world building, an aspect that gives the whole novel an epic fantasylike quality. In this novel, the two main characters are far away from the places where the big political decision are made. They deeply impact the story but the real motivation behind them remains mostly guesswork by the main characters. Throughout the novel you can sense that there are layers of events and decisions that have yet to be revealed. It would be nice if the authors paid a bit more attention that than in the next two books. The action we get to see now is set at the fringes of human expansion but what is going on 'down the well', as the Belters refer to the inner solar system, sounds like it is worth a few pages more than are dedicated to it in this novel.

Leviathan Wakes is a novel that achieves what it sets out to do very well. Entertain the reader. It is a novel that is clearly meant to be a fun ride, without too many complications or being too demanding on the reader. As such, I enjoyed it a lot. It's fast paced, very careful not to let itself get distracted in grand descriptions of the solar system or futuristic technology. Many of the elements in this novel will be familiar to the experience science fiction reader, it is not shockingly original. It is however, a well written adventure with plenty of opportunities for an equally enjoyable continuation of the series. I look forward to reading the second volume, Caliban's War, scheduled for publication in the summer of 2012, already.

Book Details
Title: Leviathan Wakes
Author: James S.A. Corey
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 561
Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84149-988-8
First published: 2011