Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Rating: 80/100
Comments
I’ll keep this vague to avoid spoilers:
Leviathan Wakes was recommended by Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, in his April 12, 2024 interview with Ezra Klein.
It’s no surprise that the novel was basis for an Amazon Prime TV series (which I haven’t seen). It has propulsive storytelling and space opera visuals of the sort that would translate to the screen.
The plot follows the usual “small to grand scale” arc as its main characters get swept up in transformational events across the future inhabited solar system.
Like so much good sci-fi, the main characters (Holden leading his ice-hauling crew and Miller, the cop) were heroically “good”: persistant, brave, kind, and fair as well as humorously rebellious. They’re the usual hero with a thousand faces.
The creepy things were extremely creepy. A+ for goulishness.
I liked the fact that the characters were casually clever. Miller’s brilliance is never presented as a central part of his personality. In fact, he just refers to himself as someone who had once been an effective cop. Yet, his creative problem solving is a thread that runs through the story.
This book does not deviate from the typical male-centered view of sci-fi. The two main female characters were romantic interests of the two main male characters.
There is an assumption that everyone in the story makes about the aim of the “protomolecule” that seemed like a strange leap to me.
I loved the surprises. There was one twist you will see coming from hundreds of pages away (but still enjoy) but lots that kept me glued.
Overall, this is a good beach read. I probably will read more of the series on the beach this summer.