What are you reading?

[Landlubber]

Finished Cibola Burn...

[spoiler]

Definitely a different book than the first three--Dakkar, I see now what you mean about how it is a microcosm of the larger issues going on between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. The events at the end with the Miller-bot and Elvi reminded me of something from Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series. I REALLY hope this isn't the last we see of Miller (no spoilers please). I did get a little fatigued towards the end with all the various situations the people on Ilus and the ships in orbit got into (all of which were probably going to kill them); I could have done with about 70-80 pages less of the stuff on the planet. The story got a little bogged down (no pun intended) after the massive storm hit. The stuff in orbit was a little more interesting, and I'm glad that Havelock came over to the "good side" by the end.

The nod towards the "communications gap" was good and fitting. By that, I mean that there was a perception back in Sol system of what happened, but that perception was nowhere near the reality of what the characters lived through. We see this in our own world all the time. The scene towards the end where the captain of the Israel shares the newsfeed clip with Havelock really drove that home.

So, the Rocinante seems to be quite a tough and valuable little ship, and sometimes I feel like the only way Holden and his crew have survived some of the feldercarb they've gotten themselves into is "because Rocinante". But that can't last forever. Will the gang be as effective as wildcards/agents of change if their ship gets shot out from under them?

And now, what is the future of the Martian navy? Avasarala's right...with all those worlds out there that are already habitable, why hold on to Mars? (Although seeing as the first colonized world nearly killed everyone on the planet in three or four different ways, you have to wonder if they wouldn't want to put the brakes on the colonization process). Looking forward to the next book, but I'll probably read one or two other things first.

[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

Looking forward to the next book, but I'll probably read one or two other things first.

Don't wait long. The next three (Nemesis Games, Babylon's Ashes, Persepolis Rising) all form a trilogy of sorts possibly more compelling (and nerve wracking) than the first three!

[Ruckdog]

I just recently finished Persepolis rising! Without getting into spoiler territory, I think it might be the best book in the entire series so far.

(Greg, DO NOT read these spoilers

[spoiler]

So...a 30 year time jump. Wow! On one hand, it seems odd to me that the Rocinante crew is pretty much doing the same things with the same ship after all that time (excepting, of course, Alex's second marriage and divorce), but on the other, it feels right. It's odd to say this about book characters, but the crew of the Ratiocinate really seem to have great chemistry and feels like a family.

Here are some observations:

-This book had some very relateable villains in it. Singh, for example...the guy basically grew up in a cultural bubble, and was thrust into the role of having to make peace with the ever-rebellious belters. As such, it almost feels like he was set up to fail. It was almost tragic how he met his end...his last thoughts before being summarily executed were of his wife and kid, which definitely hit me in the feels .

-Speaking of relatable villains, Duarte has some of that going on too. You get the sense that he honestly wants the best for humanity, but he is clearly an "ends justify the means"
 kind of SOB. When Singh told Holden that he had "perfect faith" in Duarte, and Holden said that he "didn't need to hear anything more," it was clear what he meant. Duarrte's definitely spent the last three decades cultivating a cult of personality that would put the Il family to shame, meaning that the members of the Laconian Empire will have no objections to executing any order they are given, regardless of the moral implications, as long as it comes from Dear Leader Duarte. This was only re-enforced by the execution of Singh at the end of the book.

-Duarte's vision is definitely pretty grand...it's intriguing that he has no qualms about taking on whatever killed the civilization that invented the Protomolocule tech.

-We now have a sense of scale! All 1300 world in the gate network apparently exist within a sphere roughly 1000 lightyears in diameter. While that is huge on a human scale, it is still small in terms of a whole galaxy. It definitely opens up the possibility that the Protomolecule race, while definitely orders of magnitude more advanced that humanity, might still have only been a "JV" team on the galactic stage. Scary to think about!

-It was an interesting approach not to follow up with some of the major characters from the last couple of books. What happens to Philip? What about minister Anna and her family? How about that group of ruffians that Amos saved from Earth? I suspect (hope) that these stories will get told by novellas at some point!

Dale, I think at some point we might need to do a spoiler-filled episode of Ruckdog's Report about the Expanse

[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

Comments below ...

[spoiler]

So...a 30 year time jump. Wow! On one hand, it seems odd to me that the Rocinante crew is pretty much doing the same things with the same ship after all that time (excepting, of course, Alex's second marriage and divorce), but on the other, it feels right. It's odd to say this about book characters, but the crew of the Ratiocinate really seem to have great chemistry and feels like a family.

This blew me away, but still made sense. And here I though the BSG time-jump was bad!
It leaves room for 30 years of sub-adventures. Also weird none of them had kids...or did they?

-This book had some very relateable villains in it. Singh, for example...the guy basically grew up in a cultural bubble, and was thrust into the role of having to make peace with the ever-rebellious belters. As such, it almost feels like he was set up to fail. It was almost tragic how he met his end...his last thoughts before being summarily executed were of his wife and kid, which definitely hit me in the feels .

Man, I hated Singh SO much that I practically cheered when Security put him in check. Sad for his family, but a good caution how even good men can become monsters if given "permission" and the right sense of grievance. A very pointed and timely political commentary by the authors.

-Speaking of relatable villains, Duarte has some of that going on too. You get the sense that he honestly wants the best for humanity, but he is clearly an "ends justify the means"
 kind of SOB. When Singh told Holden that he had "perfect faith" in Duarte, and Holden said that he "didn't need to hear anything more," it was clear what he meant. Duarrte's definitely spent the last three decades cultivating a cult of personality that would put the Il family to shame, meaning that the members of the Laconian Empire will have no objections to executing any order they are given, regardless of the moral implications, as long as it comes from Dear Leader Duarte. This was only re-enforced by the execution of Singh at the end of the book.

Duarte is fascinating, and unique by virtue of the Immortality card. The fact he's clearly 10+ moves ahead of everyone, and he has the luxury to insist on mercy and forbearance only makes him even more smug and infuriating. But of course, the mere existence of The Pen makes him monstrous, and when you factor in the previous books and that Marco was a patsy/pawn of Duarte's, you realize he's the greatest villain of the human race. In possibly any book I can think of.

Everyone knows what to do when fighting a foe you can beat. What happens when you can't possibly win, but complicity is still abhorrent? I hope none of us ever have to find out in real life. But if it happens, I'll always ask myself, "What would Holden do?"
Or possibly, "What would Bobbi do?" :-)
(I can't understate how much I love her arc as Captain - only thing better would be a reunion between her and Avisarala)

Side note on Laconia. I found this interesting news symmetry:
http://www.wmur.com/article/laconiafest-ends-early-amid-ongoing-issues/5212206

-Duarte's vision is definitely pretty grand...it's intriguing that he has no qualms about taking on whatever killed the civilization that invented the Protomolocule tech.

That Duarte can literally see things we can't might be influencing his view. And maybe the Protomolecule itself is contributing to his overconfidence.

It definitely opens up the possibility that the Protomolecule race, while definitely orders of magnitude more advanced that humanity, might still have only been a "JV" team on the galactic stage. Scary to think about!

If the Shadows or Drakh or Vorlons show up, I'd probably die of joyous laughter.

-It was an interesting approach not to follow up with some of the major characters from the last couple of books. What happens to Philip? What about minister Anna and her family? How about that group of ruffians that Amos saved from Earth? I suspect (hope) that these stories will get told by novellas at some point!

I keep wondering that too. Phillip in particular. Novellas for some, future books for others.
And when do all the people with a debt to Holden and the Rocinante, all their supposed friends, step up and maybe rescue THEM for a change?

Dale, I think at some point we might need to do a spoiler-filled episode of Ruckdog's Report about the Expanse

I'm game, especially right before or after the new season premiere, supposedly being planned for sometime after the Olympics.
I'm still processing the events of Marco's attack on Earth. When that happened, it was so shocking and involving, and the book that followed, I think I nearly went though PTSD.

[/spoiler]

[Landlubber]

Finished Ian W. Toll's The Conquering Tide a couple weeks ago (listened via Audible); this is the second book in his Pacific War trilogy. Much like Pacific Crucible, it was a great book, really enjoyed it, and learned much more than I thought I could about the middle years of the campaign in the Pacific. Highly recommended.

I'm about to finish Nemesis Games (standard analog book) and Dauntless, the first book in the Lost Fleet series, via Audible. Nemesis Games is my favorite in the Expanse series thus far. I'm a little underwhelmed by Dauntless, and I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series. I still have many, many books left in the Honor Harrington series, so I might just go back to that for my space combat fix. Nothing against Dauntless, it just isn't doing it for me.

[Dakkar]

We gotta talk NEMESIS GAMES, next chance. :-)

FYI - for those that missed it, UNCOMPROMISING HONOR (i.e the new Honor Harrington book!)  is now on shelves. I'm currently debating between getting the audiobook, or reading the e-book that was gifted to me. If it's a slog like the last one... I just dunno. But I'm excited that maybe the story finally moves forward! (And that Honor might actually star in her own book again).

[Ruckdog]

I'm about to finish Nemesis Games (standard analog book) and Dauntless, the first book in the Lost Fleet series, via Audible. Nemesis Games is my favorite in the Expanse series thus far. I'm a little underwhelmed by Dauntless, and I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series. I still have many, many books left in the Honor Harrington series, so I might just go back to that for my space combat fix. Nothing against Dauntless, it just isn't doing it for me.

Yeah, I would say the first 4-5 HH books are definitely a bit better than the first couple of Lost Fleet books. However, I think that the Lost Fleet maintains a better overall level of space combat goodness in the long run than the HH series has. Unlike with HH, none of the main characters in the Lost Fleet move on to do something other than being naval officers. And, there are some longer-running plot points in Lost Fleet that take some time to develop.

[Landlubber]

Ok. Finished Dauntless, and have moved on to the second book in the series, Fearless. There was enough of a hook at the end of the first book, combined with Ruckdog's comments, to get me into the second one. Plus these books are relatively short on Audible (10-12 hours, compared to some of the 30-hour slogs I've done here recently), so I'll knock it out pretty quick.

I do like the idea of the stories, but sometimes I want to reach through my speakers and slap some of the characters--both for the hero worship and the obtuseness. It's an interesting concept, though, and the space combat is well-written (especially since the author accounts for the time delay for messages due to distance). It's funny...the more I get into "harder" science fiction, the more that I realize how completely fantastical Star Trek and Star Wars are--the science fiction I grew up with. Like Picard talking in real-time through "sub-space" comms with Starfleet HQ, or the concept of "hyperspace". George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry pretty much threw the physics books out the window. Not that either type of science fiction is bad--just opposite ends of the spectrum I guess. And Picard having to wait several hours for comms to go back and forth with Starfleet HQ would have made for pretty boring TV, I suppose.

So, on to my thoughts on Nemesis Games...

[spoiler]

This was by far my favorite book of the series thus far--but what made it that way was reading through all the other first, so that the characters all off on their own adventures really meant something to me. Up to this point, the four crewmembers of the Rocinante have been together since they left the Canterbury to check out the distress signal from the Scopuli.

Observations/impressions:

-do not f*** with Amos. Seriously. Like, EVER.
-the dialogue between Avasarala and Amos. Oh man, that was some needed comic relief.
-it was good to get some backstory on Alex, Amos, and Naomi. There was more character development I think in this book for those characters than in the previous four combined. Good to finally get some answers about Alex's family on Mars, and Amos's life in Baltimore.
-I like that the Roci was in drydock for most of the book. I know that was a plot device that spurred all the characters to go their separate ways, but that ship has been through a lot in the last few books, and it was good to see that they had to strip her all the way down to repair everything. A small thing I know, but as I said before I feel like Holden and his crew have gotten out of a lot of crappy situations "because Rocinante", so it's good to see that they have to fix the ship every now and then.
-the rock-bombing of Earth. Holy crap. I think Earth must be done, and I'm wondering if that's why the next book is called Babylon's Ashes.
-so many other things, but that's the major stuff. Alex Kamal had the best line in the book though, when he and Holden are re-united. He said "Worst leave EVER!" I think, or something similar.
 
[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

So, on to my thoughts on Nemesis Games...

[spoiler]

Good to finally get some answers about ... Amos's life in Baltimore.

You MUST listen to the short story THE CHURN - more about Amos and Baltimore.
There's a Bobby short story too that's pretty good.

-the rock-bombing of Earth. Holy crap. I think Earth must be done, and I'm wondering if that's why the next book is called Babylon's Ashes.

Between this and "Ashes", I felt actively traumatized while reading, like a shadow of the 9-11 feeling. Working in Missile Defense, and being a sci fi fan, I think about mass driver attacks a LOT. So maybe it hits close to my plausible reality a little much. :-)

All I can say for what follows is, "If you think that was bad..."  [/spoiler]

[Landlubber]

Reading Update!

Just finished Field of Dishonor. Not my favorite...I get that there was a lot of character development and even some world-building (glimpses into fleet garrison life and Manticoran social life), but I think it could have been done in half the pages. Hopefully there will be more starship combat in the next book, which is on its way to my doorstep as I type this (along with Babylon's Ashes, which I couldn't find in any of the local Barnes and Noble stores).

Also just finished The Space Barons by Christian Davenport, about the rise of the commercial space industry--so basically it was about SpaceX and Blue Origin, with some information about Virgin Galactic as well. The subject matter was interesting; I haven't followed the commercial space companies' progress very closely, and this book gave a little context to the occasional press release, news story, tweet, etc from/about these companies. There was also a little insight into Musk and Bezos, which was informative. I read somewhere that Bezos was not happy when SyFy got the rights to the "Expanse" tv show a few years ago, and was reportedly very happy that Amazon was able to secure it when SyFy gave it up. Given the information about Bezos in this book, that makes a lot more sense to me now. My only complaint about the book is that the prose left a LOT to be desired. It seems that the editor was asleep when this one hit his/her desk.

And, also just finished A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White. Race cars and spaceships, and some echoes of Firefly, but with a little magic thrown into the mix. Not a bad read. Second book is coming later this year, will probably pick it up.

[Landlubber]

Just finished Babylon's Ashes...

[spoiler]

Not as good as Nemesis Games, but still a good read. I liked how they played the dissension amongst the primary members of the Free Navy.

Inaros was (is?) a grade-A asshat, but I was a little disappointed in how the writers handled his death. He just kind of "blooped" out of existence (much like the island in "Lost" if you ever watched that show...that was my mental impression). I'm thinking that effect that they used against Inaros...whatever it is...will be revisited in later books. I will say that I was surprised, though--up until about the last 60 or 70 pages, I though for sure that Filip was going to kill him, or at least try to.

Not quite sure what's going on with Duarte and the Laconia gate. I think I may have missed something between Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes. That situation has just kind of developed in the background while everything else was going on. Maybe the writers meant it to be that way (they've done that with other things in previous books), so I guess time will tell.

The running gunfight between the Pella and Rocinante was really cool, but I'm going to miss Fred Johnson.

[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

[spoiler]
Duarte etc is meant to be background details/foreshadowing ...

I liked that they didn't make any easy outs for Filip

Inaros got off light, IMHO. Given all that he caused, there should have been more pain and disgrace

[/spoiler]

[Landlubber]

[spoiler]

Agreed about Inaros getting off light. But...how do you appropriately punish someone who does something like that? Kill him, and he becomes a martyr...imprison him, and he becomes a symbol. That might have been the best outcome for Avasarala and company, to have him just blink out of existence.

Filip...I don't know. I'm sure we'll see him again in a later book. I think it might have been more interesting if he had tried to kill Inaros himself. Maybe not outright--but maybe sabotage to the Pella or something like that.

In any event, I am looking forward to reading Persepolis Rising. After that, I'm going to put the books down for a bit, and in 2019 go back through them again. I'm sure that, much like watching Marvel movies, I'll pick up on little things that I missed the first time around when I read them again.

[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

You won't want to take a break after PERSEPOLIS RISING ;-)
More like "NEED NEXT BOOK NOW!"

I'm about two hours into the new Honor audio book, UNCOMPROMISING HONOR. Surprisingly, I'm not bored silly just yet ;-)

[Landlubber]

I'm reading the Honorverse in analog format.