Caliban's war
Expanse series, Caliban's War shows a solar system on the brink of war, and the only hope of peace rests on James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante's shoulders. Now a Prime Original series. We are not alone. On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system. In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun...
Stats for nerds
1recommend
3mentions
3people
2016–2025years
33% recommend33% neutral33% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Here is a partial list of the books I read this year. These are all books that stood out to me which I enjoyed:
Fiction Books:
* Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate, Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
* Homeworld, Out of the Black (books 3 & 4 in the Odyssey One series) by Evan Currie
* Furies of Calderon, Academ’s Fury (1 & 2 of the Codex Alera series) by Jim Butcher
* The Aeronaut’s Windlass also by Jim Butcher
* The Queen of Zamba by L. Sprague de Camp
* Giant of World's End by Lin Carter
* Batgirl of Burnside (graphic novel)
Non-fiction Books:
* Here is Your War by Ernie Pyle - the 1st of his books chronicling American soldiers in World War 2
* Vagrant Viking by Peter Freuchen - auto-biography of the Danish explorer/Nazi resistance fighter/writer/film-maker
* Voices of 1776 by Richard Wheeler - the Revolutionary war in the words of people who were there.
The non-fiction books surprised me because I really enjoyed all of them and I usually only read fiction or technical books. The Odyssey One books by Evan Currie also stood out to me because I found the first one for a low price on Kindle and I was blown away by the story.
- My top book this year was Joe Abercrombie "The Devils".
Also highlights were:
- Brandon Sanderson "Wind and Truth" & "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter"
- Indrek Hargla most of "Apothecary Melchior" series (didn't read all yet :)
- Jim Butcher "Brief Cases"
- James Islington "The Strength of the Few"
Rest of the stuff:
- I. Hargla "Süvahavva" series
- John Gwynne "Ruin" & "Wrath"
- nobody103 "Mother of Learning" I, II, III
- Daniel T. Jackson "Gatebound"
- Brandon Sanderson "Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England"
Re-reads (mostly on audio for dozing off, but then got hooked .. again):
- James S.A. Corey "Caliban's War" & "Cibola Burn"
- George RR Martin "Game of Thrones"
- Robin Hobb "Assassin's Apprentice"
- I can't get into details without spoiling both seasons of the show and some pretty considerable plot turns in Caliban's War and possibly Abaddon's Gate as well - but I will say that I've been really disappointed with the way the latter half of the second season, in particular, has turned some major characters into absurd caricatures of themselves. I don't know whether I'd feel the same way if I hadn't read the novels, but considering that I've long since lost patience with writers who waste my time or insult my intelligence or both, I suspect strongly that I would.
In any case, if you're uncertain over whether to read the novels or watch the series, and intend to invest time in only one of the two - go with the novels. The show has impressive space visuals, I give it that unreservedly - but in every other respect, the novels outdo the show to a frankly embarrassing degree.
