Space Opera Fans discussion

The Feb 2024 Reader Pick is Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

I've just started this, having never read anything by Corey, and I'm enjoying it enormously. I've got a long way to go....but it's exceeding my expectations so far.

I am only up to Chapter 5 so far, but the book is really holding my attention. Interesting plot is developing nicely and good world building.

Chapter 12 and the book is getting better and better. The Earthers, Martians, and Belters have radically different cultural viewpoints, and accompanying biases; powder keg waiting to blow. Throw in a missing woman, people who shouldn't know anything about what is going on but apparently do, terrorist and revolutionary organizations, corrupt law enforcement, mystery attacks...

Nearly halfway through and recently passed a Dune Easter egg.

I'm just past the half-way stage, and thoroughly enjoying this book.

I liked this one a lot. It’s one of those SF books where the science passes the initial read-through, which is always nice. Upon reflection they definitely fudged a lot of stuff, but it’s not like I’m super conversant with orbital mechanics. It was only after a couple of weeks that it occurred to me that the Rocinante made some transits way faster than they should’ve been able to.

But I overlooked the impossible storm at the beginning The Martian, and that one jumped out at me immediately. So if I can give that one a pass and still enjoy the novel, then this one is easy.

I will say that one thing stopped me from continuing reading these books: the excellent TV adaptation. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. They really brought the books to life.

I watched the first episode of the TV series a while ago and was very confused, so I didn't watch any more. I am really enjoying this book, so after I finish it, I intend to try the TV show again.

Finished the book today - and greatly enjoyed it; I'm now looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Has anyone read others in the series - is it worth continuing?

Yes, the full series is good, though there's one plot arc I didn't enjoy as much as the others. And the authors were heavily involved with the TV adaptation and used it to improve some spots they felt needed it.

Kim wrote: "Yes, the full series is good, though there's one plot arc I didn't enjoy as much as the others. And the authors were heavily involved with the TV adaptation and used it to improve some spots they f..."

Adapting books to TV really focuses on the key elements and themes purely due to the time constraints.

At some point in the 1980s I read essays from both Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison about how dealing with movie adaptations forced them to tighten up their writing.

One of Asimov’s novels (I forget which) was originally conceived as a screenplay. When the movie didn’t happen he turned it into a book, and it was definitely snappier than his usual stuff. Or as he said, more “with it”.

Ellison compared his usual rambling monologues with the shorter dialogue of film, which was an eye-opener for him apparently. He was a good storyteller but oddly didn’t seem to understand cinema at all. I remember him viciously mocking The Mummy — the original 1930s one, not the newer ones — about how the woman was running pell-mell through the forest while Karloff was just slowly staggering along, yet he caught her easily. Which was the point: no matter how fast or far you run, you can’t escape your fate. He said similar things about other films, proving he didn’t understand the language of cinema. The only person dumber than Ellison in this regard is Neil DeGrasse Tyson. That dude just doesn’t have a clue about movies.

Finished! Solid space opera. Definitely not using hard science, but it wasn't necessary to enjoy the book. I hope there aren't any vomit zombies in the next book though - ugh.

An awesome series which is also found on film.

Audrey wrote: "I watched the first episode of the TV series a while ago and was very confused, so I didn't watch any more. I am really enjoying this book, so after I finish it, I intend to try the TV show again."

Very much so. I loved book one in it's setup and a bit of a cool detective noir on top of being a space opera. Each book tends to have a sub plot under an umbrella story of 3 trilogies. (I.E. Books 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9.)

I just finished the last book this week and I do recommend that if you enjoyed the first, it is worth the ride for sure.

“I am that guy.” - Amos