I read all 9 books in ‘The Expanse’ series by James SA Corey and fell in love (truly epic space opera)

There are those book series that pop up over and over again - on Goodreads, on Instagram, on BookTube - so that I convince myself that it’s meant for me. There’s something about ‘The Expanse’ series that did that for me, so I did what I had to do - I grabbed a copy of ‘Leviathan Wakes’ in the Orbit sale and dove in.

I’ve fallen in love with this series. It’s incredible, and I’ve been reading the series over the course of 2024. Now that I’m finally done, and feeling rather bereft, here’s the breakdown of my journey through space with Captain Holden and the gang.

There will be spoilers as we go through the later books in the series as it’s impossible to talk about book 4, 5, 6 etc without drawing on what has happened before.

Leviathan Wakes

I tried to listen to the audiobook in the summer of 2023 and DNFed it after the first chapter, but I still had a feeling about this book and this series so I bided my time. That time was the week between Christmas and New Year and I devoured ‘Leviathan Wakes’ in only a few days - unheard of for a chunky, high concept space opera in a new to me series and an author I’ve never read before.

My kind of science fiction is usually character focused space opera ala Becky Chambers, and while there is a lot of character in ‘Leviathan Wakes’, it also focuses heavily on themes and ideas: the harm of capitalism, too powerful corporations, governments and politicians risking the survival of people for profit and power; found family; the distinctions between doing what is good vs what is right, and how that clashes or works with with what’s best for you as an individual. I can really see this becoming very political and high concept and I’m here for it.

Caliban’s War

My hopes were sky high for ‘Caliban’s War’ after ‘Leviathan Wakes’ which I think did damage my initial reaction to the second instalment. While we are reunited with Captain Holden and the Rocinante, ‘Caliban’s War’ introduces a whole new set of characters and views of the world as more threads are developed and I felt a little disconnected in those chapters. As the stories started to merge and connect I became just as involved as I was previously and I felt like there was a lot more character development in this instalment.

Now that the world and the threats are established, Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos really had space to flourish and time for us to delve into their backstories and motivations in a deeper way, and that’s always what I want. I’ll follow characters that I love across the universe, and that’s exactly what I’m intending to do with this series. I’m also now prepared that it’s very likely there will be new characters and perspectives introduced in book three that blend with the story - although the cliffhanger at the end of ‘Caliban’s War’ could throw that completely out of the window…

Abaddon’s Gate

Book three takes us on a journey into the Ring with a whole new cast of characters alongside Holden and the crew of the Rocinante, and I really struggled to connect with these new characters. I knew that they would all come together and play essential roles in the intense drama and conflict going on as Melba’s mission to take down Holden clashes with the danger and political manoeuvrings of the governments of Mars, Luna and Earth decide everyone’s fates, but I didn’t care about them. It took me a month to read ‘Abaddon’s Gate’ whereas I devoured the first two books in only a few days each - it felt like a filler.

Although there was the political movement, some answers about Miller and the protomolecule, there didn’t really feel like there was any development for the characters, and I’m in this series for Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos; this crew have my heart and that’s why I’ve committed to a nine book series, not a random preacher who is (preachy and) will likely only be truly relevant for this instalment.

I’m still invested, but this was my least favourite instalment so far and I’m going to give myself a little break before I take on ‘Cibola Burn’.

Cibola Burn

After a reasonably rocky experience with ‘Abaddon’s Gate’, I cannot tell you how relieved I am to be back in love with this series after ‘Cibola Burn’.

We jump a few years after the ending of book three and join the world as the first colony has travelled through the ring and settled on New Terra and are attempting to mine and sell lithium from the planet to sustain life there, 18 months of space travel from the nearest settlement on the Medina Gate. But, of course, there’s a big corporation that wants control and flies out to involve themselves in the situation and stop the exports, when Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are sent as mediators to stop an all out war…

One of my complaints for ‘Abaddon’s Gate’ was not being able to connect to the many perspectives, but everything felt a lot closer and more directly related and involved in this instalment and with links to previous books so I really happy with them. Even though, of course, my heart is with Holden and the crew.

The conflicts on New Terra were epic, the space battles nail-biting, the risk to beloved characters felt genuinely risky, and it was really fun to see this world expand even further. With the final chapter of the book, it opened up a whole new problem for Mars and I can’t wait to see how that evolves and how Holden manages to get himself, Amos, Alex and Naomi into trouble.

Nemesis Games

Book five in ‘The Expanse’ series takes us to a new world. I don’t man that we’re travelling to a new planet or a new system in the ‘The Expanse’ universe, but that the ending of ‘Cibola Burn’ changed the world that the crew of the Roci live in, and the events of ‘Nemesis Games’ hammered that home with even more changes that will be felt for 100s, if not 1000s, of years.

Something that I usually find jarring about these novels is getting used to new characters and new POVs every time when I just want to spend time with Holden and the gang so you can imagine my delight when I realised that in ‘Nemesis Games’ the four POVS were going to be Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos. Until I realised that meant that they were likely going to be in immense peril while separated and the stress set in.

The stress didn’t let up either. I was on edge for most of this book!

There are few books that make me gasp aloud, and I did that on multiple occasions here, and had to keep reassuring myself that there are still five books to go so surely they’ll all be okay. Because Earth certainly isn’t okay and the events of this book are going to reverberate throughout the rest of the series in a way that I just can’t even begin to predict. I am so blown away by the scope of this series and the weight on these characters - this is by far the best book of the series so far for me and I’m already excited to get stuck into ‘Babylon’s Ashes’.

Babylon’s Ashes

There’s a lot of picking up the pieces for Holden and the gang to undertake in ‘Babylon’s Ashes’ - emotional, mental, and physical - and stretched across the entire universe.

I’m not sure that justified the 14 perspectives that feature in this novel. Fourteen. The constantly shifting POVs is something that I consistent struggle with when reading this series and it always takes me a good quarter of the novel to settle back in as there’s so much readjustment to the world, the politics, what side I’m reading from and how it’s all going to play into the larger story and the crew of the Rocinante. The number of POVs in ‘Babylon’s Ashes’ really pushed me, and I struggled for longer than usual, but I still ended up loving it, because of course it did.

The positive about the all of the POVs is getting to check in with so many characters I’ve fallen in love with over the series, and catch up with some old POVs: Prax, Fred, Avasalara, Bobbie. The breadth of the world and this series is enormous and this book really demonstrates the scope of ‘The Expanse’.

By the end of book six there’s a tentative peace, a new goal and a new journey set out that will seems as though it will set us up for the final three books in the series. But do I trust James SA Corey to throw another bunch of spanners in the works? Absolutely not.

From the opening credits of ‘The Expanse’

Persepolis Rising

The seventh book in ‘The Expanse’ series feels like it launches the final arc of the series as it jumps 30 years into the future from the ending of ‘Babylon’s Ashes’. I have to admit that I was utterly thrown by the time jump and I initially felt really short-changed by having missed so much of the crew’s lives after spending so long with them.

The crew of the Rocinante and the powers of Earth, Mars and beyond face their greatest battle yet as the Laconian Empire looks to take control of the galaxy, with any means necessary.

Reading ‘Persepolis Rising’ was at times a bit like starting from scratch as I had to relearn who was leading what organisations, the changes in politics and government and what sides these people were on which is always a bit jarring, especially when added to the plethora of POVs as always in this series. It took me around 30% of the book to settle in, but I’ve come to expect that when starting a new instalment.

The tone of this book is very different than the previous and it really did feel like the beginning of the end and the tone was different which was done to some separation and tension between the crew. Holden and Naomi retiring from the Roci; Bobbie taking over from Holden as captain and struggling against the legacy of Holden’s position not just on the ship, but in the world in general, Amos fracturing over Clarissa’s illness; and Alex is just trying to keep the gang together. It really demonstrated the time that had been missed in the time jump as it puts everyone but Clarissa and Bobbie into their 70s and the crew into around 40 years of being a family onboard the Roci. I really didn’t like the tension between them and I struggled a little against the new order as well, even though I love Bobbie.

With the way we left the crew - scattered, imprisoned, in hiding - I really have no earthly idea how ‘Tiamat’s Wrath’ is going to play out, but I can honestly say that I haven’t stopped thinking about starting it since I finished ‘Persepolis Rising’.

Tiamat’s Wrath

I was apprehensive about starting ‘Tiamat’s Wrath’ and also a little sad because it means that my time with this series and these characters is rapidly coming to an end, even though this didn’t feel like an end in terms of the story and what’s happening in the world.

Holden has been taken prisoner by Laconia, Amos is missing and presumed dead, Naomi is working for the underground from storage containers and Bobbie and Alex are crewing a ship that’s stealing from the empire for the underground. The gang are scattered, tensions are high and the fear for Amos and Holden is sky high as the actions of the underground cause more and more tensions for Laconia. Although I said previously that this book didn’t feel like an end because of everything that it did with the world of ‘The Expanse’, there is also a sense of everything closing in. It’s been four or five years since the end of ‘Persepolis Rising’, the gang aren’t as young as they used to be and they’re tired of constantly fighting a fight that they’re not sure the next generation will be able to keep going.

Partly because of this sense of the characters’ journeys coming to an end, we’re sticking a lot closer to them in our POVs for this book with Holden having just the prologue, an interlude and the epilogue, and then POVs from Alex, Naomi, Elvi (from the mission on Ilus) and Teresa Duarte (the daughter of the High Consul of Laconia).

For the first time in this series, I cried. huge, huge spoilers here but ……. I cried when Amos was killed and got teary about Bobbie too. I actually gasped and verbally cheered (to myself and my cat) when Amos turned up at the pick up on Laconia, even if he’s not quite the same Amos. Having them all back together was such a wonderful moment and their triumph over Laconia on that final hurdle has set up what I’m sure is going to be a heck of a finale. It feels like the end of the crew of the Roci now and I’m really not ready for it. I have no faith that they’ll all make it out alive and live happily ever after.

Leviathan Falls

I was both excited and nervous while I was building myself up to reading this epic finale. ‘Leviathan Falls’ had a to resolve, a lot of answers to provide, and a lot of characters for me to say their goodbyes to.

We return to Jim and the crew of the Roci, Elvi in Adro, and revisit Colonel Tanaka as the good guys try to stop the end of the humanity as we know it, and the Laconians try to protect their own and find Duarte. The tension is high and the stakes are even higher from the very beginning and none of the usual settling in time I have with books in this series was needed and I devoured it. I tried to read it slowly because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, but I couldn’t stop myself.

For a lot of the book I found it hard to think of anything that would make an even slightly happy ending and I was desperately hoping that it would come out okay, but with the twists and turns and wild time jumps that James SA Corey have delivered throughout the epic scope of this series. The ending of ‘Leviathan Falls’ was right for these characters, but it was also very bittersweet and I got quite emotional.

Saying goodbye to Holden was hard, but watching Naomi and Alex say goodbye to him was even harder. A tear or two may have escaped, and then watching the crew of the Roci separate for the final time, even though Alex’s choice made my heart leap. It was a brilliant finale and everything felt right for the series to end here, though I could have carried on reading it for another nine books.

Reading The Expanse series across 2024 has been a highlight of my reading year and I’m both sad to have finished, but also very pleased to have completed such a huge and well-loved space opera series. I’m really looking forward to branching out in more sci-fi in 2025 - I’m thinking I need to try Adrian Tchaikovsky next…

Written by Sophie