Leviathan Wakes


Leviathan Wakes
James S.A. Corey (pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), 2011

New release! Copy for review provided by Netgalley.

Premise: Holden works on a deep space water-hauler, Miller is a cop on the Ceres asteroid. Each man will have his life upended by the discovery bearing down on the system. The human race will never be the same, whether they live on Earth, Mars, or out in the Belt.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I loved the prologue, I enjoyed a lot of the middle, I loved most of the end. It was somewhere in the middle, though, when I got tired of the testosterone. It's a very male book, for a lot of the time. This isn't bad, just a little wearing after enough pages. Also it dips a little too far into gory horror description to become a favorite of mine.

FYI: The marketing copy will tell you different, but I wouldn't call this space opera. It's a bit too dark and gritty for that label. Sci-fi noir? Just sci-fi? I'm not sure.

Now, all that said, overall I really liked this book. I liked the tension between Holden the optimist and Miller the cynic. I liked the noir style of Miller's entire character arc. That doesn't mean I didn't want to shake the characters occasionally, and the book left me both satisfied and wanting to know more about the climax.

Oddly, I'm a little sad that this is book one of a series. I think it would be stronger if it were intended to stand alone. It does stand alone perfectly well as it is, I guess I'm saying that I suspect my enjoyment of this novel wouldn't be enhanced by any further stories set in this world.

4 Stars- A Very Good Book


Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 7, 2011 at 3:05 PM

    I had no idea the author was a pen name for a collaboration, and including Daniel Abraham no less! I may have to check that book out; I've been enjoying his Long Price Quartet to no end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LindsayJune 8, 2011 at 4:35 AM

    I thought it was worth noting. I actually thought it a little odd that an author who is having success with fantasy would switch to a pen name when writing sci-fi. Maybe the publishers felt it wouldn't be the same audience? Doesn't make sense to this F/SF reader.

    ReplyDelete

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