Caliban's War is a 2012 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). It is about a conflict in the Solar System that involves Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt (colonies of people living on asteroids, referred to as "Belters"). It is the second book in The Expanse series and is preceded by Leviathan Wakes. The third book, Abaddon's Gate, was released on June 4, 2013. One of eight short stories and novellas published by James S. A. Corey, entitled "Gods of Risk", takes place directly after the events of Caliban's War.
Encore sous le choc d’Hypérion, et en début de manque, j’ai finalement jeté mon dévolu sur ce début de série proposé par Actes Sud qui traînait dans ma PAL depuis un temps certain.
L’argument « “un Game of Thrones dans l’espace” ne m’a pas du tout interpellée : il m’en faut plus pour me convaincre, mais la promesse de noirceur et le fait d’avoir récemment succombé au genre (du moins au travers d’Hypérion) me laissait entrevoir bien des merveilles. [La suite sur mon blog, merci :)]
Caliban's War is a direct sequel to Leviathan Wakes. And by that I mean that it simply makes no sense to read this book unless you've read the first one in the series.
It picks up the story some months later chronologically, but the events are the direct follow on. There are references to events in the first book and to characters. A significant portion of the emotional impact would be lost reading this first.
Thematically there's a lot of similar things going on here. We still have politics and dubious corporations. And then of course there's the proto-molecule and Venus.
But instead of furthering what appeared to be the main storyline at the end of the last book, we take a side-step into a repeat of the Earth/Mars conflict elements. There's also a missing girl that triggers the whole thing. That could easily have been dull. Sometimes these things …
Caliban's War is a direct sequel to Leviathan Wakes. And by that I mean that it simply makes no sense to read this book unless you've read the first one in the series.
It picks up the story some months later chronologically, but the events are the direct follow on. There are references to events in the first book and to characters. A significant portion of the emotional impact would be lost reading this first.
Thematically there's a lot of similar things going on here. We still have politics and dubious corporations. And then of course there's the proto-molecule and Venus.
But instead of furthering what appeared to be the main storyline at the end of the last book, we take a side-step into a repeat of the Earth/Mars conflict elements. There's also a missing girl that triggers the whole thing. That could easily have been dull. Sometimes these things feel like blatant padding.
And in truth I'm not sure if anything essential actually happened during this book. But it doesn't really matter because the entire story kept my attention. I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out and I kept wanting to read more.
We also got some interesting new characters, my favorite I think being Bobbie Draper. Prax, is a little more limited given his obsession with finding his daughter, but he does make an interesting comparison with Miller from the first book.
So what I'm saying is if you like fast paced, high action, Space Opera then do yourself a favor and first by Leviathan Wakes. Read that then come get this one.
Book Two of the Expanse series, Caliban's War finds Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante back in the middle of things, this time between sparring human factions - Earth, Mars and the Outer Planet Alliance, their nominal benefactor. Things begin to get serious when it looks like someone may have a secret project going, using the "protomolecule" from the first book. Bring on the United Nations(!), rogue corporations and secret guilds within the Earth and Martian factions.
All the while, Venus, where the protomolecule crash landed in book one ([b:Leviathan Wakes|8855321|Leviathan Wakes (Expanse, #1)|James S.A. Corey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1289046195s/8855321.jpg|13730452]), seems to be changing into some kind of living organism. While the human factions bicker among themselves, the "thing" grows stronger. Will they be able to patch up their internal differences, pull together and square off against the growing alien threat? That seems to be the question the next book will answer, …
Book Two of the Expanse series, Caliban's War finds Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante back in the middle of things, this time between sparring human factions - Earth, Mars and the Outer Planet Alliance, their nominal benefactor. Things begin to get serious when it looks like someone may have a secret project going, using the "protomolecule" from the first book. Bring on the United Nations(!), rogue corporations and secret guilds within the Earth and Martian factions.
All the while, Venus, where the protomolecule crash landed in book one ([b:Leviathan Wakes|8855321|Leviathan Wakes (Expanse, #1)|James S.A. Corey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1289046195s/8855321.jpg|13730452]), seems to be changing into some kind of living organism. While the human factions bicker among themselves, the "thing" grows stronger. Will they be able to patch up their internal differences, pull together and square off against the growing alien threat? That seems to be the question the next book will answer, as this one concentrates on the local bickering between tribes.
Bringing together many of the characters we got to know in the first book, as well as some new characters, Caliban's War is a fun read, with plenty of twists and turns and some great writing. Once again told by a different character in each chapter, it adds a couple interesting new characters, like Chrisjen Avasarala, the UN administrator, who is a powerful political force and strong tongue woman, as well as Bobbi, a "towering" female Martian Marine who is amont the first to find out the new powers of the protomolecule. It also adds Prax, a botanist on Ganymede searching for his daughter, who is, I suppose, supposed to be the newbie point of view but is in many ways kind of annoying.
But Jim Holden is the main character, about whom most of the other characters swirl. He is a deep, interesting, and conflicted character, although I think his deep "changes" are overblown and the other characters, particularly Naomi, his on again, off again girlfriend, react too strongly for what I read into it. But the crew is on their game and I love where the book ended up.
Save for overreactions to the "new" Holden, I have very few quibbles with this book. It carries the story along nicely, there are some real laugh aloud dialog bits and Bobbie and Avasarala are really solid characters that I hope we'll be reading more about in the next book, [b:Abaddon's Gate|12591719|Abaddon's Gate (Expanse, #3)|James S.A. Corey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1350327055s/12591719.jpg|17606564]. My biggest complaint about the book? I am kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I have no idea who the heck Caliban is! So I don't know who's war it is either. I could understand it if the book was called "Holden's War", as much of the book is about both the external and internal wars that Jim Holden is fighting. But I don't know who or what Caliban is - is that weird or what?
But I am really looking forward to A[b:Abaddon's Gate|12591719|Abaddon's Gate (Expanse, #3)|James S.A. Corey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1350327055s/12591719.jpg|17606564], especially after a surprise showing at the end of Caliban's War. Bring it on!
A good sequel to Leviathan Wakes, this book follows Holden and his crew on to their next adventure battling the power-hungry set out to abuse the protomolecule in the solar system.
Good read, fast-paced. To be fair, probably not quite as good as the first book, but still enough of a page-turner that I didn't put it down.
I realized what put me off about the previous book --- and this book, though --- in reading this book. The characters, especially in their dialogues and mannerisms, seem somewhat flat. To be fair, the authors attempt to motivate the characters differently, but in the end, what we see and what we're told don't necessarily line up, especially when looking at mannerisms and dialogue. The authors need to do more showing and less telling in this regard. It's probably the most off-putting part of an otherwise stirring narrative.
So by now you’ve all right “Leviathan Wakes” right? Right? You in the back, shaking your head no…. Leave & get that book read. Come back once you’ve finished. “Caliban’s War” picks up soon after the end of “Leviathan Wakes”. Things have not gotten better. If anything, the overall political situation is more unstable. There’s an incident on Ganymede, & suddenly the solar system is at the brink of war. All the elements you liked from “Leviathan Wakes” are back. Fast plotting, lots of action, a deep vision of the political and social culture of the age. Corey adds a couple of new POV characters which add more breadth to the universe. You’ll get to know some familiar characters a bit better, and will enjoy meeting the new ones. “Leviathan Wakes” was one of the most entertaining books of 2011. “Caliban’s War” is a worthy successor, perhaps even better than …
So by now you’ve all right “Leviathan Wakes” right? Right? You in the back, shaking your head no…. Leave & get that book read. Come back once you’ve finished. “Caliban’s War” picks up soon after the end of “Leviathan Wakes”. Things have not gotten better. If anything, the overall political situation is more unstable. There’s an incident on Ganymede, & suddenly the solar system is at the brink of war. All the elements you liked from “Leviathan Wakes” are back. Fast plotting, lots of action, a deep vision of the political and social culture of the age. Corey adds a couple of new POV characters which add more breadth to the universe. You’ll get to know some familiar characters a bit better, and will enjoy meeting the new ones. “Leviathan Wakes” was one of the most entertaining books of 2011. “Caliban’s War” is a worthy successor, perhaps even better than the first book in the series.
A bit more of a slow burner with a greater focus on the political wrangling, but given a new favorite character in Crisjen Avasarala, a ridiculously sailor mouthed politician.
