Leviathan Falls
The biggest science fiction series of the decade comes to an incredible conclusion in the ninth and final novel in James S.A. Corey’s Hugo-award winning space opera that inspired the Prime Original series. “An all-time genre classic.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review) Hugo Award Winner for Best Series The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again. In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter... and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before. As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win. But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
6mentions
5people
2021–2022years
33% recommend67% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- If you like science fiction, there were a few books published this year worth picking up:
- The Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir (of the Martian). Nice page turner and he's back to form with his third novel.
- Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Enjoyable and fun; though arguably not his finest work. I might pick up his earlier work for re-reading over Christmas. Anathem probably, which I would recommend to anyone.
- Leviathan Falls (part 9 and the last one of the Expanse series). James S.A. Corey (the writer duo). The whole series was quite enjoyable and this is a fitting end to it.
- I think some stuff is improved in the series though.
For example, the story from Cibola Burn seemed a lot better on the show than the book in my opinion and some of the characters are better.
In particular, Ashford's character is massively improved (it helps that David Strathairn plays the role incredibly well).
The books are very good though and I can't wait for Leviathan Falls. Also, it seems the series will stop at the end of Babylon's Ashes.
- Currently actively reading:
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War by Clark
The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History by Mikaberidze
An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp by Chassell
The Girl from the Channel Islands by Lecoat
Recently completed:
Leviathan Falls by Corey
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Clark
Showstopper! the Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft by Zachary
Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War by Shesol
Seeking Love in Modern Britain: Gender, Dating and the Rise of 'the Single' by Strimpel
The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age by Damrosch
Come Fly with Us: NASA's Payload Specialist Program by Croft
Aerial Warfare: The Battle for the Skies by Ledwidge
De Gaulle by Jackson
1913: The Year Before the Storm by Illies
Vichy France by Paxton
Year Zero by Reid
And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-occupied Paris by Riding
The Kinsman Saga by Bova
The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters by Rove
La Place De La Concorde Suisse by McPhee
End of a Berlin Diary by Shirer
Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1933-1945 by Kahn
Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made by Rhodes
The Forgotten Depression: 1921 : The Crash that Cured Itself by Grant
Bernard Baruch by Grant
Wool by Howey
Project Hail Mary by Weir
- Yeah but the fifth season wasn’t all that good (despite being based on one of the better books) and they aren’t adapting the last three books which are high fantasy. On a side note I felt the whole first 7 books were kind of just filler getting to Tiamats Wrath and Leviathan Falls (which comes out this month!)
- Liu Cixin managed to provide some very interesting answers regarding the nature of the cosmic dark forest and higher dimensional space in Death's End, the third book in the Three Body Problem trilogy. The Expanse book nine, Leviathan Falls, will probably explain the advanced alien conflict and unknown aggressors that proceeded human discovery in the distant past. Given how the authors have handled mysterious alien stuff so far in the first eight books, looks like they can pull it off.
- Do you suppose ascended beings and advanced alien technology are scientific as opposed to plot devices? It's all fictional. Star Trek, Star Gate, Dune, Battlestar Galactica, even plenty of things in the Expanse (Epstein drive, protomolecule tech). Interesting answers means expanding on the rules and story in the fictional universe to provide explanations for mysteries the author(s) set up.
It doesn't mean providing a hard scientific explanation for something that supposed to be beyond our scientific knowledge. Who took out the protomolecule builders and why? Leviathan Falls will likely provide some answers. Same with Death's End giving more details about the Dark Forest. It's an exploration of an idea, not a documentary.
Imagine criticizing Dune because the spice and sand worms aren't based on actual biology.
