Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the Expanse series by James A. Corey. I’m not sure how I avoided this series, especially since it was converted into a television series but I did. My husband, Chris, did not. So, we already had all the books (except the short stories), present on the kindle when I decided to pick up Leviathan Wakes on vacation.
The story takes place a few hundred years in the future. Unlike other stories that gloss over a lot of the science involved in science fiction, this one gets down to what feels like the nitty gritty details involved with humans exploring and colonizing other planets. As a matter of fact, the realism carries through enough to explain why we haven’t gotten “too far.” In that humans still hang out solely in our own solar system. Furthermore, it gets into some detail about the differences in humans who live in space, Mars and on Earth. What defines human becomes an under current throughout the story. This leads to conflict between the different planets and the characters.
Lest you think Leviathan Wakes is purely science fiction, it isn’t. One of the two main characters in this story is a down and out police detective from Mars. Miller is a kind of stereotypical investigator but the mystery he’s trying to solve and how it propels the story forward keeps your attention even through some of the police procedural cliches.
I don’t think I’d put this story on par with some classics such as Hyperion or Dune, but it’s definitely worth a read and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, Caliban’s War. I’d give this book a solid 3.75 stars, maybe even 4 stars.