2021 Re-read

"We aren't the aggressor here. We didn't hit anyone first. We just haven't hit anyone back until now."

My mini re-read of the final Expanse books was perfectly timed for the original November 19 publication date of #9...but looks like I'm 10 days early.

In any case, I feel ready and primed to see how this series concludes. I am in awe that the Amazon series thinks they can conclude the story in six seasons while I wonder how the protomolecule will be concluded in the books, or will it be focusing on how Laconia and everyone else get along?

My initial review of Tiamat's Wrath felt there was too little spent on the big bad, but there was always enough to remind you it was happening and was a threat in the background, and my wish is that it takes the forefront and Elvi's research (perhaps to the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone) can bring this storyline to a meaningful end.

This book was excellent on the re-read and I was surprised how much I remembered, but yet I feel like there was more time spent on Laconia than just a single book. The Tempest Storm engagement (utilizing antimatter) is such a kick ass chapter that it makes me a bit bummed non book readers won't get to experience that moment (at least not yet).

The characters in this series are excellent and applaud Abraham and Franck for the work they have done on the main leads.

And that's the point I keep trying to make with her, my friend. In a fight like this, unless you're willing to lose everything to win, you lose it all by losing.

How are the former members of the Rocinante different than the Free Navy from earlier in the series? How does one revolutionary team differ from the others? Is the Earths/Mars alliance standing up to Laconia different from the OPA? History repeats and suddenly find ourselves rooting on the rebels. What a strange turn of events these books have taken us on, and yet it feels natural and how it would be when history repeats itself.

Even when they were gone, the next generation up would keep echoes of them.

The team is a little older and I feel like Naomi, Alex, Bobbie will be the Fred Johnson figure to the crew they are shipping with now. The way Holden noticed Fred getting older but still admired what he did (Butcher of Anderson Station) will be how those who worked with Alex now view him. That reverence and respect typically given to Holden will be what inspires the next round of resistance fighters.

It was the single central argument that the universe had made to her through her whole life, and she was only now seeing it clearly: Wars never ended because one side was defeated. They ended because the enemies were reconciled. Anything else was just a postponement of the next round of violence.

A common gripe I have had about the series is the constant human vs. human struggle without much focus or concern for the big bad that exists in the great beyond. Now in the penultimate book that still holds true, however there are a few more eyes are looking up in the sky and wondering about the enemy that exists beyond the rings. It's been a challenge to learn what the big bad can do but the Laconia tit-for-tat experiments have helped shed light and give credence to what Holden witnessed as planet killing powers.

Winston Duarte had founded Laconia by betraying Mars and looting the navy. It wasn't a great surprise that distrust of the people in his chain of command was institutional.

With only one more book to go I'm not sure what I expect to be answered. The focus of the series has been on family and struggling for peace and I feel that's as far as the book will go. There will be no answers provided for the big bad and humanity will learn to live without angering those beings and avoid any further wrath.

He was a good... Well, he wasn't really exactly a good person. He cared enough to try, anyway. But he was loyal as hell.

Tiamat's Wrath did everything perfectly and the movement from space battles (and these were a doozie!!), political struggles and rebels versus Laconia kept the story fresh and I was anxious to read more. There were numerous POV's on different areas and the pace was brisk. For a time Teresa's chapters slowed things down but the brooding teenager slowly gave way to a quick to anger heiress that made some rash decisions and in doing so offered a good perspective inside Laconia's state building.

"And this is the Rocinante...and I don't know who most of the rest of these people are, but one way or another, we're home."

And yet it always comes back to family. I may lament that some characters have gone (or stayed) but the story is staying true to this theme and after eight books with them they really do feel like family. Any other setting than the Rocinante feels foreign, someone else operating comms beside Naomi is foreign and someone drinking something besides coffee is an insult. The books have had time to grow the characters and the way I think of how Robin Hobb developed hers in the Realm of the Elderlings I will remember The Expanse for the characters too.

Every place had the dream of what it could become. Dreams were fragile things to build with. Titanium and ceramic lasted longer.

I held off on starting this series because I wanted the final book released (or at least have a release date announced) so now I join the queue with others waiting for the epic conclusion to the story. Based on how past conclusions to the trilogies have gone I expect the final one to be epic and roaring at a break neck pace.

If you want peace, lose gracefully. We have bigger problems.