"Leviathan Wakes" is the first in a new series of space opera books called "The Expanse". James S. A. Corey is the pseudonym used by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck ("George R. R. Martin's assistant"). It is going to document "near space", where the human race has colonized the Solar System, but is looking to expand. "Leviathan Awakes" is a very promising debut book, telling its complicated and sweeping story with panache and heart.

The book opens with a prologue of space pirates taking over the Scopuli, but then things get weird, as one of the captives turns into the sole survivor. Jim Holden is the XO of an ice freighter, which pushes huge chunks of ice from the outer planets. The Canterbury is the nearest ship when the call for help goes out from the Scopuli, so they head in to inspect it.

While they are doing this, Detective Miller, on Saturn's moon Ceres, desultorily takes on cases and ponders his mostly empty life. He is told to find the daughter of a rich patron and bring her home, by force if necessary. He's not too keen on the idea, but the more he investigates Julie's disappearance, the more he is drawn to this rebellious daughter.

Holden's investigation of the Scopuli, and the ensuing combats, enmesh him and his skeleton crew in both far reaching politics and the hideous secret of the Eros massacre. Detective Miller is also drawn into the sweeping arc, as well as the horrific discovery of what became of Julie.

It is a really engrossing read. The technological mumbo jumbo is kept to a minimum, which is refreshing. We aren't told exactly what the "Epstein Drive" is, or how it powers the spaceships, as we don't need it. This is a story of people, and how the straight as an arrow Holden and the bent and nearly broken Miller can combine to save Earth.

I enjoyed how the book intertwined science fiction with some noir-ish tendencies. Some of the relationships fell flat, and the ending went over the top, robbing it of a 1/2 a star. But otherwise, a great read and the little bit of book 2, Caliban's War, offered up at the end of the book just whetted my appetite to continue with the series. I'm not exactly sure if there will be continuing characters. Certainly a reappearance of Miller would be a shock, although Holden is probably coming back. But neither are mentioned in the sample chapter.