Leviathan Wakes Review

Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the Expanse series created by duo authors under the name James S.A. Corey. This book has mixed feelings from fans of the series as it stands out theme wise to other books in the series that come later on. But is the difference a good thing? Let’s dive into what this book is all about.

Released in June of 2011. The series was very regular on it’s releases meaning fans of the Expanse did not need to wait very long between entries. Leviathan Wakes, being the first book in the series. We get introduced to many (not certainly not all) of the main characters that appear in the series.

We also get to see what the universe of the Expanse is and the explaining of how the physics and cultures work. For instance; the series is very grounded in physics with speeding up space ships to slowing back down. This is done by going forward with the spaceship and then at the halfway point of the journey flipping the ship the opposite direction to to reduce speed towards the destination.

The ships are powered by a engine called the Epstein Drive. There are additional details on how this drive was created on the short story found in the Memory’s Legion collection. But the book also covers how humanity has spread out through the solar system and have the consequences on the human body to people that have spent their live in lower gravity levels.

So when it comes to the details for the book in their setup and realism, it’s fantastic, and it’s not overbearing with extra detail leaving room for interpretation.

The Governments

There are 2 governments and one organization. We start with Earth. over the years, Earth has combined all the governments to become a singular government that runs Earth and the moon. There is also the Mars Coalition. They declared independence from Earth and are now known as having the most advance military in the solar system.

Beyond Mars is the Belt. The people that live out there are known as Belters. They skinny and tall as their bodies have known little to no gravity outside of artificial gravity of spinning stations.

The Characters

This book follows several characters through and the chapters are built based off the characters point of view.

James Holden is what I would consider the main character of the series, basically a Han Solo type character, he finds himself becoming the captain of the rest of the crew. He is also the reason they tend to get into trouble with the rest of the governments in the solar system.

Naomi Nagata is the second in command as well as the technical support for the team.

Alex Kamal is the pilot for the crew. originally coming from the Martian Coalition military, his skills are fantastic. he treats his ships like his home.

Finally we have Amos Burton, the brute of the group. He is the mechanic fixing things up around the ship for the crew, but will also throw down when it comes to violence.

Detective Miller resides on Ceres Station, after getting assigned a hush hush case, he finds himself in a deep mystery that will have impacts for the entire series.

The characters are really well fleshed out but what I like is how quickly and easily it is to get attached to these character. They are well written and it causes me to want to just keep going and not put the book down.

The Plot

I cannot share to much of the plot other than it will pass back and forth between Holden and Miller through the course of the book. I would consider this to be a detective mystery in space story. So if you like mystery or and thing science fiction with a little horror, this will be right down your ally.

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend getting this book and giving the series a try. The series also has a show that ran 6 seasons and currently resides on Amazon Prime Video. The book is a really good read and actually is pretty predictable on chapter length if your the person that reads one or two chapters before bed every night.

If you want to know more about the Expanse, you can check out the How to Read the Expanse Series article here.

You can also pick up Leviathan Wakes as a paper back here or for Kindle here from Amazon.

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