Aaron Gibson
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This series is so good that it has basically ruined fiction for me, I had to switch over to reading history books. The show is ok but doesn't really do it justice. The whole universe and characters in it are so viscerally alive and feel so realistic that you are left just wanting more books like this, and other books become kind of a letdown. The political machinations feel depressingly familiar sometimes even though they take place in space. Ultimately, in my humble opinion, this series is the masterpiece that other series such as GoT or Dune gets credit for. These are the books that those other ones wish they were.
Mattie Langenberg
Great read. I blazed through this and the rest of the series to date. I like the plot and world building. The characters are interesting and there's plenty of fun and action to go around. The series doesn't chase mind-blowing tech or try to present the most awe inspiring space battles you've ever read. I love both those things in my sci-fi, but what I appreciate here is how kind of humble the books are. While their action-packed circumstances give them some celebrity, the characters are by and large people just doing their jobs. In the world of the Expanse, living in space is in large parts scary, dangerous and downright unpleasant. Like the settlers and frontier people of Earth they are just people trying to earn a living and do what is best for their family and their community. To me, that backdrop makes the space battles and action all the more interesting and real.
56 people found this review helpful
Daniel Hambright
The Expanse series is a self described blockbuster - it is a summer action flick put into novel format. This is not a criticism, because it is an excellent one. It hits all the beats: 1. A (sort of) Damsel in distress 2. Clearly cut, easily understandable, and archaeotypical characters 3. A fast plot loaded with an unbelievable amount of action. 4. Some self aware humor. 5. A solid emotional core upon which the story revolves. 6. A plot that doesn't, when you really look at it, make much sense - but that is coherent enough that this is only obvious in retrospect and doesn't diminish the enjoyment. 7. giant explosions, war, conspiracy, zombies, and the threat of extinction. What really elevates LW and makes it leaps and bounds above the worst examples of the Genre, such as the Transformers series, is that LW never ceases to orbit a solid core of emotion and genuine humanity. And, despite going over into full blown melodrama on occasion (also a hallmark of the genre), it almost always stays on the right side of this line. Overall an astounding success. It shows that this genre, which Hollywood has been murdering for years, can still be done with great success.
15 people found this review helpful