Books: Tiamat's Wrath by James S. A. Corey (2019)

As mentioned last time, there was a thirty year time jump between 2016’s Babylon Ashes and 2017’s Persepolis Rising, which was designed as a kick-off for the endgame of this series. With Tiamat’s Wrath, the penultimate installment of The Expanse, authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (collectively known as James S.A. Corey) put the crew of the Rocinante into more danger as they face challenges from old enemies and new threats that lie within ring-gates themselves.

Good or bad (as Doctor Who has made this part of its formula), for this eighth volume, the crew of the Rocinante are separated, with Holden still on Laconia as he was at the end of the previous novel. Naomi Nagata is hiding in shipping containers trying to coordinate a resistance; former Martian Marine Bobbie Draper and pilot Alex Kamal are plotting strikes against Laconian forces; mechanic Amos Burton is missing in action, somewhere deep within enemy territory. And Chrisjen Avasarala has died (which is literally the first sentence of the book), which may be the saddest thing to read. Then there is Laconia’s leader, Winston Duarte, who has made himself immortal by some of technological advances discovered by ring-gate aliens. He has some lofty goals for humanity, after proclaiming himself to be the High Consul of the Laconian Empire. He and his forces took control of the home solar system, and established a new regime to oversee the colonized systems.  But one thing has become clear: he is convinced that the aliens who killed off the aliens who made the ring-gates are now trying to shut off the whole Sol system, and in typical military response, launches a few first strikes at them. But things don’t go as plan, and things happen that will probably take full measure in book nine.

Still, Tiamat’s Wrath has a lot to set up before the last book comes out (but I’m also thinking that while there will be a ninth and final book in The Expanse series, I think the authors will continue it in some form). In doing so, there is not much that actually really goes on, beyond a lot of introspective thoughts and feelings about leadership and whatnot. In many ways, this makes the book less of a compelling read, as the action is a bit wildly spaced and the reunion of the main characters takes us well over 500 pages to happen. And then it ends.

Also, as much as I continue to roll my eyes at authors approach to making the villains so over-the-top, this is still a wonderful series and look forward to see how it all ends.

Books: Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey (2017)

“In the thousand-sun network of humanity's expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace. In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity and the power to enforce it. New technologies clash with old as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient patterns of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity -and of the Rocinante- unexpectedly and forever.”

With Persepolis Rising, author James S. A. Corey (Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) begins The Expanse endgame. There is a significant time jump from the last book, Babylon Ashes, and now it’s been thirty years since the events of the first book, Leviathan Wakes. While the six previous books formed an overreaching arc through two sets of trilogies, the issues that began the series –the battle between Earth, Mars, and the ‘Belters- have come to a somewhat of an equilibrium here. OPA, the Belter’s dominant political faction, has transformed into the legitimate Transportation Union, which helps supply 1,300 human-colonized planets across the galaxy. Earth and Mars have put aside their adversarial relationship to form the Earth-Mars Coalition, and protagonist James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante is still doing the odd jobs required of them.

The final trilogy begins with return of an empire called Laconia, originally formed by a group of Martians who abandoned the solar system mentioned in earlier books. Laconia has thrived in the three decades hence, under the leadership of the immortal High Counsel Duarte and has become brutal and has acquired some technology advanced ships and weapons. Duarte’s goal is pretty simple: dispatch a fleet back through gate system and take over Medina Station that controls those gates, which will plunge the Sol system into another conflict that they may not be able to recover from.

This is perhaps the most fast-paced book of the current seven book series, moving swiftly between events and introducing new characters. I was taken back, at first, with the narrative time-jump, but a lot makes sense considering that the authors are moving towards a conclusion. We see Holden and his crew aging (with James and Naomi beginning the process of retirement), and seeing that there can be a tenuous relationship between all the factions that once kind of hated each other. 

We also get a deeper understanding of the protomolecule, which for long stretches of this series, was never truly explained. The villains, Duarte and Santiago Singh, are less cartoonish this time around and the authors make it clear that Singh is very conflicted –he believes that everyone can live under Laconia rule, even if some must die. It’ll be interesting to see what direction Duarte goes in with the next two books.

Books: Babylon's Ashes By James S.A. Corey (2016)

“The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them. James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network. But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante’s problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.”

I generally enjoy this series of books by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), because it’s pure escapism and, at times, fun. The real science of space travel (and the magical realities created by the Star Trek and Star Wars franchise and other space operas become more evident) sometimes is difficult to slog through, but I enjoy the characters of the Rocinante because they’re three-dimensional. But the problem this book series has had is the villains are generally weak, mostly one-dimensional mustache twirlers. That includes Marcos Inaros, who appears to be a surrogate for a certain presidential-elect and comes across as a narcissistic sociopath who gained his power by convincing a lot of people that all their problems can be blamed on others. True, some with in his inner circle come to the conclusion that while the ‘Belters need representation between Earth, Mars, and the gates created by the protomolecule, Inaros is not the leader to make this happen, and break away, but it’s surprising (though maybe not) that many still follow him. Of course, like any good self-important leader, controlling the narrative is paramount. But maybe the point that the authors are trying to make is that not all bad guys are evil –they just do horrible things in pursuant of their goals. 

Meanwhile, as a general rule, what this series does well is having a self-contained story that concentrates on the human element rather than the alien. So while the last book went very dark with Inaros’ near destruction of Earth, with Babylon’s Ashes deals with the fallout –though indirectly. Most of the book delves much into what it is best at: political intrigue, military strategy, and the fight for survival in space –though it could also be an allegory for those struggling on Earth.

Also, this sixth volume in The Expanse series sort of feels like a conclusion to an arc and there is some obvious foreshadowing for future volumes. And while the protomolecule continues to be the series McGuffin, I do wonder if we’ll get any explanation of whom or what sent it to the sol system. While I’m sure the writers can come up a number of storylines that are analogies, metaphors, and parables to our modern life that can fill numerous other volumes, I wonder if we’ll still be here to read them once America’s new thinned skinned, self-important president is installed on January 20^th?

Books: Time Salvager by Wesley Chu (2015)

After three “urban” style fantasy slash science fiction novels that made up his Tao series, Wesely Chu gives us a science fiction novel about the future with time travel elements in Time Salvager.

And while Chu is very good at world building, there is a sense that this book covers too of the same tropes in science fiction we've seen so many times before.

Much like The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey (and many recent novels depicting Earths future) our planet of the 26^th Century is a mess, as Earth is dying, having been devastated by war, plague, and corporate tyranny. The planets and moons of our solar system is where many live now, and humans have encountered aliens. ChronoCom is a company that uses chronmen –essentially convicted criminals who pay off their debt to society by traveling back in time to recover resources and financial treasures from the past. If they survive long enough –too much time travel can kill you- you are set free. James Griffin-Mars is one such chronman. 

There are rules, of course. Every trip back must coincide with an end event, sort of like going back and “stealing” things that would’ve been destroyed anyways -so you can’t change history another words. And you definitely, most assuredly, cannot bring someone from the past into the future. But a trip to 2097 changes everything for James. There he meets Elise Kim, a scientist working on a scientific base that is about to be destroyed. While it’s destruction proved to be the catalyst for Earth’s dystopian fall, no one in the 26^th Century is actually sure how and why this place blew up. But in a brief moment of humanity (or that old trope of falling in love at first sight), James brings Elise into his world of mid-26^th Century. And while the media and his bosses are astounded at James breaking the number one law of time travel, this one action sets up a chain of events that puts the chronman and Elise on the run. For someone is willing to go to great strides to get Elise back. And it’s not because she holds the livability of Earth’s future in her hands. Okay, maybe just that.

While I love time travel stories and love Chu’s world building skills and his sense of humor, with Time Salvager (a start of new series it appears) I quickly realized that the book has major problems, not only with paradoxes that time travel incontrovertibly creates, but with the sense of déjà vu –we’ve seen this all before. What we get is a bunch of cobbled together set pieces that time travel and science fiction dystopian stories have a tendency to do these days, which is trying to out ape Philip K. Dicks Blade Runner type future, along with trips back to Nazi Germany (why the Nazi's?), descriptions of world events like the Big Brother Era, or the Artificial Intelligence Era (hello, Skynet) that all lead to Earth’s end. Chu also borrows a bit of themes from The Expanse series as well, with the Valta folks and their cartoon like villain Kuo. While I liked James, there was never a moment where I thought his desire to protect Elise did not have shades of creepiness to them. And Elise, whom I suspect was designed as kick-ass heroine, comes off less three dimensional than I would’ve liked. There were times I felt she was nothing more a fanboys wet dream. Meh.

Then, as the book unwinds, we discover all the lies of time travel (which is given its magical candy-like description) and the One Huge Time Travel Paradox that goes unexplained (perhaps in another book?).

I have to admit, it was a struggle to get through the book. Yes, his future is a bit unsettling. But we’ve seen it all before. I mean, if you’re going to write a tale that has been done a thousand times, at least add something new to it. Time Salvager just isn’t that.