Caliban's War

What to say other than: As good as its predecessor.

I really enjoyed reading Caliban's War. It expands the cast, continues the very good storyline consistantly and is exciting and diverting as hell. I can't believe I missed out on these books for so long. I think I will watch the TV show Season 2 now and see how good it is compared to the book.

I definitely will continue the series after having a short break from the crew of the Rocinante.

I don’t really think this will be a long review, this book is part of The Expanse series and by itself, it’s probably not as thought provoking or insightful as some of the other books I’ve read.

This is straight up awesome world building, characters, great action and cool science fiction, further developing the universe that I got introduced to since the first book Leviathan Wakes.

In this book we get introduced to three new characters that get involved in a plot where the events of the previous book have basically turned reality on its head, and Humanity is trying to make sense of things it still can’t comprehend.

We have Bobbie, essentially a Spartan from the Halo universe who goes through some rough stuff, Prax, a botanist whose daughter gets kidnapped for mysterious reasons, and Avasarala, a politician who is trying to keep the delicate balance of relative peace between the different factions of Humanity. And of course, the original cast, which remains as awesome as ever.

I won’t say much more of the plot, which is great, develops characters and relationships further and kept me and my book club turning pages for a while.

Each character gets a moment to shine, in fact, like the first book where we have two concurrent plots from the point of view of two characters, here we do the same, but with four! And despite how confusing that may seem, it just works, and keeping the thread of the general plot is not difficult, at least not for me.

Basically, if you liked the first book, the second one is just as good.

I don’t think of this as ground-breaking, philosophical, thought-provoking stuff, even though as a whole it kind of is. What I mean to say is that this is much more action heavy, with cool moments, great sciencey stuff, tremendous world building, and fun characters, it is a journey I want to follow for as long as it keeps my interest, and so far it has managed to achieve with absolute success. It really is like watching the best action blockbuster ever in book form, and I am loving it.

The Expanse, by way of "Caliban's War" continues apace. It is Space Opera for the 21st Century, and Chrisjen Avasarala is my new fucking spirit animal!

As you can see by my score, this was a great book. If you've read the first book in the series, you absolutely must read this one. It's better!

The story continues where Leviathan Wakes concluded. Something alien has crashed onto Venus and Earth, Mars and the belt are ready for war among themselves. In this confusing and chaotic time, people are trying to take advantage of the situation and risking the entirety of mankind for monetary gain.

Of course, James Holden and his crew are ready and willing to save us all.

With Miller gone, the book introduces us to a few new characters. The main one being Avasarala, a powerful politician that, as it turns out, doesn't have as much power as she thought she had.

Much improved compared to the first book of the series, simply for the reason that there's finally more PoVs than frigging James Holden, the shining knight of the Expanse so far. I far preferred the new characters, especially Bobbie and Avarasala. The latter is far more interesting than the watered down version in the TV show.

As far as the plot goes, it definitely thickens. However the book feels too long and a bit dull in parts. Though it definitely goes out with a bang of a cliffhanger.

What do I need to do to get less Holden and maybe Amos or even better Naomi as PoV?

Dans ce deuxième tome, la première partie qui voit Ganymede dévastée par la fameuse protomolécule est difficilement soutenable part ce qu'elle rappelle de toutes les guerres civiles terrestres avec leurs cortèges de réfugiés, et ce fameux effet de cascade théorisé par l'un des personnages. La seconde, sans être plus joyeuse, apporte toutefois la satisfaction d'une résolution au moins partielle d'une phase de cette guerre extra-terrestre.
Heureusement, ce récit très sombre est soulagé par des personnages parfaitement campés, et une action menée dans temps mort à travers tout le système solaire. Qui plus est, la façon dont est extrapolée cette civilisation interplanétaire depuis notre monde actuel me paraît vraiment bien pensée.
Une bonne lecture donc. Il faut espérer que la suite garde le même niveau, et que l'adaptation visuelle ne dénature pas le récit.

Like the first book, this is very much a fast paced book that seems perfectly written for TV. This book is similar in scope to the last one and should not be read without first reading Leviathan Wakes as you will not understand some aspects of the story without it. In this particular book I did feel like the ending wasn't quite as big of a build up/resolution as the first, but still a good continuation of the story started in book one.

The thing I most appreciate about this book was that it is obviously furthering the story, but it contains an excellent self-contained story as well. You get done feeling satisfied, not upset because all it did was get you prepared for the next book.