Leviathan Wakes

I bought this book 3 years ago after hearing the raving reviews from Mike’s Book Reviews. I primarily read historical fiction, mysteries etc. It’s always been difficult for me to get into fantasy and especially sci-fi. After blowing through Project Hail Mary (easily in my top 10 of greatest books) I decided to finally give Leviathan Wakes a try and I blew through that book in about two settings. Absolutely enthralling, the world building, the characters, their chemistry, the story arcs… from start to finish an incredible book I give 5 stars easy. This is my first book (read) of 2026 and pretty sure it’ll be tough to beat as my book of the year.

It took a while for me to get into this book. Once I did, I couldn’t put it down. This was at around the 50% mark so do with that info what you will. The writing is however, quite good. Very “real”. The characters breathe and emote. The plot thickens in realistic ways. The flaws of the human entities within are made apparent. Some events occur which are ridiculous but make sense for the time written. I learned a lot about future potentials in reading this and it was worth it for that alone. Everything else is a bonus. It’s a thick series and I have no idea where it goes after this first novel, but I’m curious

I suppose if there was a competition between genres of fiction for who had the most sub-genres, Science Fiction would most likely win that competition hands down. One of the reasons is that authors often try to differentiate their work by inventing a new sub genre. I don't think the authors of this series have tried to do this, but I feel compelled to. I think of this type of work as "Blockbuster Science Fiction." Basically, that just means that the stories read like a big budget sci-fi film. Leviathan Wakes might just be the penultimate example of this kind of book. I have been tempted to watch the television series based on this series of books but I wanted to try reading them first. So I finally took the plunge and dug into Leviathan Wakes. I had very high expectations and was ready to dismiss this book if it didn't really jump through some interesting hoops and razzle dazzle me. Well, it did that and more. Most importantly though, the basic story structure and character development is rock solid and doesn't try to re-invent the wheel. All the tropes here are familiar and nothing is groundbreaking in terms of building the dramatic narrative. However, all the pieces dovetail in a very slick way that makes you think of watching a supremely talented musician performing and thinking "She/he makes it look so easy!" Lately, I have noticed many of the books I'm reading will have some editing misses later in the book, like a grammatical hiccup or misspelling that was just missed in the editing process and made it through to the final product. I didn't see a jot or tittle out of place here and the story follows suit. There are no strands left hanging, plot holes or nonsensical story elements that drove me crazy. Of course, this is the first in a series so things are left open at the end story-wise but I was just impressed with the level of polish. All of the characters are fully formed and mesh very well. Again, the characters here all fall into basic Science Fiction/Fiction types, but they are polished and well developed. This story is built with two protagonists and two slowly intertwining story arcs that meet in a very satisfying way. When reading this I could just "see" these scenes in my head very clearly. The dialogue is nice and tight and the authors don't over explain things or sail off into inconsequential avenues of exploration. I read this book straight through and couldn't wait to pick it up every time. When people use the term "page turner" it can be a cliche' but in this case, the cliche' fits. If you enjoy sci-fi with huge backdrops but drilled down and focused well developed characters, you will dig this. Bonus points if you are a noir fiction fan. One other note: this series aims to illuminate what the authors imagine as an "in between" or middle stage of humanity's journey out of the solar system. While many sci-fi stories focus on the near future and many others use the far-flung future as the grist for their tales, The Expanse series aims to explore the era where humans have settled other planets and/or bodies in the solar system but have yet to reach beyond that stage of exploration. In Leviathan Wakes, this has set up an inner/outer dichotomy of political and social division between Earth/Mars and those humans who have been born and developed in "The Belt" referring to the area of the solar system around the asteroid belt. These humans have been physically modified by living their lives in a different gravitational environment and are viewed by planetary residents as a lesser class of human. This division informs much of the backdrop of dramatic tension in Leviathan Wakes. It's a great concept and is executed perfectly here.

Leviathan Wakes is the first book in an epic science fiction space opera series that takes place a few hundred years in the future when humanity has colonized the solar system including the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. Jim Holden is the XO of a mining vessel which transports ice from the rings of Saturn to stations in the Belt. But, when they hear a distress call from a ship called the Scopuli, things go south - fast. Jim & his crew come into possession of a secret worth killing for that has the ability to launch the entire system into war. Detective Miller is assigned a case by his captain on Ceres Station - find a missing girl and ship her home. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA) a group of rebel Belters fighting for independence from Mars, Miller discovers that the girl may be the key to a much larger mystery. The world of Leviathan Wakes is messy. There is a lot animosity between the inner planets and the outer planets. In the Belt, water and air are worth killing for. And, as Miller regularly reminds people, Ceres has cops - not laws. Belters resent Earthers for talking their resources and being able to breathe air freely. Earthers have a hard time thinking of Belters as humans. And, Mars wants to be the superpower, not Earth. One of the most interesting things about this story is that for the first half of the book, it's like a two-in-one deal: one half epic space opera and one half noir detective novel. The story jumps back and forth between perspectives - and I was always bummed to leave one story line, but so excited to get more information about the other. The characters are fantastic. They feel real. They are flawed and complicated and unbearably human. Holden and Miller provide such a great contrast to each other. Holden is idealistic - almost to the point of naivety. While Miller is cynical and prefers his morality with more gray. But, I find their world views work for their story lines. Holden's crew needs someone to look to, and Miller needs that gritty world view to help him navigate his case. Neither is right, but neither is wrong either. And, that makes for compelling storytelling. Three Thoughts: 1. I love the found family vibe of Holden, Naomi, Amos & Alex. And, I think the story needed that to keep it from being too emotionally draining. They provided a bit of counterweight to all the bad stuff that was happening. 2. Amos is a menace. And, I love him for it. 3. Despite the massive scope of this story, it never felt overwhelming. And, I think you can credit that to the characters. They grounded the story and kept me invested until the very last page. Overall, I think this is a fantastic start to a series, and I can't wait to pick up Caliban's War to see where the story goes next.

La fuente es buena, la calidad es aceptable, estoy deseando que llegue la aventura... La entrega es súper rápida.

Set in a future where space travel within the solar system is a common reality, the book explores intelligently the cultural changes in a human society that's centuries from the present and weaves a tale of human endeavour, war and love with a sprinkling of alien life. A good read!

O livre é legal e bem escrito. Gosto de ler em inglês para treinar. Ótimo para ler em sala de espera de banco ou consultório médico/dentista.

Update: Ups, wrong language :-) adding englisch comment on top I am reading a lot of SF, ( but won't do the usual "this book is similar to Author xyz" here) This is a very good book. Length(!), content, acting Characters and a very interesting story telling style of two overlapping threads makes this compelling, good dialogues. Without giving away any secrets: Also a lot of emotions shown by the protagonists (sometimes laughed a lot and there is also room for compassion) Rarely giving 5 stars, but this one stands out of the masses to justify the highest rating for me. Second part as well great ( Kindle makes this soo easy :-) ======================================== Lese seit langem viel SF, (aber schenke mir an diese Stelle mal den üblichen Vergleich mit anderen Autoren) Hier wieder ein sehr gutes Buch Länge(!), Inhalt, Charaktere und die sehr interessante überlappende Erzählweise zweier Handlungsstänge machen dieses Buch sehr packend, gute Dialoge. Ohne etwas zu verraten: Auch einiges an Gefühl (auch stellenweise sehr gelacht! und auch mitgefühlt) steht den Protagonisten sehr gut, es wirkt sehr authentisch. Gebe selten 5 Sterne, aber für mich ragte dieses Buch weit genug raus um das zu rechtfertigen. Zweiter Teil ebenfalls nahtlos gut im Anschluss ( Kindle ist ja so bequem !!)

I've been reading science fiction since I was about 8 years old, and this series ranks way up there in my top 10. The entire Expanse series is a great read. This is space opera with well-developed characters, political intrigue, lots of space combat, exploration of new galaxies, with a wonderful, deep, series-long mystery at its core. I started with the first 4 books back when they were first written and lost track; the TV series -- which is remarkably true to the books -- got me back into it, and I'm now on book 8. What I love about reading then books after watching the series is that I can now see and hear the characters as I read, they were so well-depicted in the series. I wish Amazon had continued on to the end of the 9th book, but alas, that was not to be.