Just Finished Reading: Caliban’s War by James S A Corey (FP: 2012) [595pp] 

The shooting war between Earth and Mars is over – at least for now. Not that it means everything is back to normal. Not even close! It’s almost as if the System is holding its breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, the first shoe was bad enough with an all-out war narrowly averted to say nothing of the asteroid near-miss of Earth and then whatever the hell is going on with Venus. Holden and his crew meanwhile need to pay for things like food, air and docking fees and Fred Johnson offered to hire them out to run down the inevitable pirates looking for easy prey. As mundane and reasonably straight-forward as it feels, the crew of the Rocinante know that they’re drifting, waiting for something. So, when they hear news of a secret lab on Ganymede and the possibility that whatever is going on there involves the proto-molecule that’s been the cause of so much trouble they know they have to be there. Meanwhile, on Earth, UN undersecretary Avasarala is trying to get to the bottom of just what game Mars, the outer planets and the unknown actor are playing and how exactly she can fuck up their plans. With the help, inside knowledge and brawn of a displaced Martian marine she might just be able to do that – if they can’t sideline or silence her first. What FUN there was to be had! 

This is the 2nd book in the Expanse series (9 books in total) and covers parts of series 1 and 2 of the TV adaptation. Told from various points of view – Holden, Prax (a botanist on Ganymede), Avasarala (my 2nd favourite character in the series: book AND TV show) and Bobbie Draper (Marine Gunnery Sergeant). I was more used to it this time – to be honest this layout in the first book came as a bit of a shock and took some getting used to after seeing the TV show and being aware of things that the books can’t really show in this format – so happily flitted between the viewpoints and ‘voices’ of the main characters. Not only was I delighted that Avasarala appeared (she was in the TV series from the start but only appears in the 2nd book) but that she was written exactly the same way as she is portrayed by Shohreh Aghdashloo on screen. Likewise, Bobbi Draper is exactly the same character in the TV show as in the book, right down to her Māori roots. Although my favourite male character doesn’t get his own PoV (yet?) there’s still plenty of Amos to go round and to admire – both for his laconic speech and his violence when violence is needed. 

Needless to say, I loved this book (actually a bit more than the first one) as much as the TV show which I think is some of the best on-screen SF EVER. I LOVE the fact that they don’t have shields or FTL and how REAL the politics feels. I did love the political maneuvering of Avasarala in the book which I thought showed a real understanding of how real politics works – not the bullshit we see whenever a politician gets in front of a camera but what REALLY happens in private offices and between meetings. One of the things I did find interesting in the book is just how different parts of it was to the small-screen version. Obviously, we’re talking about two separate mediums here and SFX in print is cheap but still... The general thrust of the narrative was the same and the character to screen transfer rate was probably around 90% (more of a problem with the low-gravity Belters than with anyone else for obvious reasons), but some sections near the end of the book where quite different. We had a variation of Amos and his “I am that guy” moment, just without that excellent phrase, but a space battle fought around Ganymede was VERY different (both versions were good but I actually preferred the tensions in the TV version better). Overall, both book(s) and TV show are very highly recommended if you like your Space Opera to feel REAL.