I don't read a lot of scifi
these days, although it was my drug of choice for a decade or more, but I
love Daniel Abraham's fantasy works so this is a must-read for me.
Written under a pseudonym with co-author Ty Franck, this is the second
in the Expanse series. If the first had a sort of detective-noir feel to
it, this one is much more classic space-opera, with space ships,
inter-planetary alliances, zero-gravity battles, hi-tech weaponry and
all the usual shenanigans, and although there is a bit of a mystery to
solve, it's no more than backdrop for the action. I suppose a lot of
scifi falls into the traditional grooves, and this one feels like it's
made from the Firefly cookie cutter. Holden is the renegade captain
(Mal), Alex the ace pilot (Wash without the dinosaurs), Naomi is Zoe and
Amos is Jayne. There's even a Kaylee, Sam the red-headed pixie on
Tycho, but thank all the gods, there's no lipsticky Inara.
Holden
is the sole point of view character retained for this outing; Miller,
the shoot first forget the questions cop, was.... hmm, eaten by? killed
by? absorbed by? the alien monster thingy in part one. We have three new
main characters; Avasarala is an elderly diplomat from Earth, Prax is
the botanist from the moon Ganymede, and Bobbie is the marine from Mars
(sorry, just can't say Martian marine, sounds too weird). These soon
coalesce into two pairs and eventually overlap, and the authors manage
to sweep the plot forward by deftly swapping from one to another. All
four are interesting, well-drawn characters, and the minor characters
are likeable too, especially Holden's crew. Prax comes in handy for the
sciencey bits, while Avasarala is pulling the political strings of the
complex tensions between Earth, Mars, big business and the outer
planets. And Bobbie? She makes one hell of a warrior babe, that's all I
can say.
The book seemed slow to get going, I thought. There was a
lot of scene-setting and general background that wasn't exactly filler,
but didn't seem to get very far, but to be fair, there are several new
characters and a heap of backstory to get across. But almost
imperceptibly the pace picks up and then we're off into the usual
action-packed whirlwind. There were a few creaky moments, when the
rationale for a character to do something obviously essential for the
plot seemed a bit dubious, but really, it doesn't matter much. And just
occasionally, when they do something completely and utterly in
character, it feels absolutely punch-the-air glorious.
Although
this is sci-fi, the technology is really not the point. It's obvious
that a great deal of research has been done behind the scenes, but it
very rarely breaks out into impenetrable jargon, and even when it does,
there is usually another character there to say, on the reader's behalf,
what does that mean, exactly? But none of it stretches credulity
overmuch, and for me, as a fantasy fan, it's no problem to accept the
high-tech 'magic' of instant wound-repairing medical equipment or fancy
weaponry, in the same way I accept wizards with healing spells, or a
magic sword. The nature of the setting also lends itself to some very
atmospheric moments peculiar to space opera - the zero-gravity bounces,
the weird moons, the outside-the-ship moments, the sheer scale of the
universe - which the authors convey very well.
My biggest
complaint would be that too much of the plot hinges on finding and
recovering unharmed Prax's small daughter, Mei. Given the interstellar
nature of the conflict and the countless unnamed minions who died along
the way, it seems unrealistic to devote so much effort to one child. I
appreciate the need to humanise the conflict, but it still seems
excessive. There also seemed to be a lot of emphasis on individuals who
got close to mental breakdown, either by highly stressed circumstances,
or lack of sleep, or just personality. I'm not quite sure what purpose
this served, except to ramp up the tension a bit. But these are small
points.
The ending fell a little flat for me, seeming to be no
more than a sequence of high tension encounters which were actually
resolved very quickly, without any unexpected twists or great drama. The
authors are very good at not spinning the action sequences out too far,
but these felt almost abrupt. There were a few moments of near
Galaxy-Quest-ness, but it's hard to write this kind of stuff without
evoking parody, and the authors deftly sidestepped the worst of it. And
the dramatic reveal in the final paragraphs was hardly unpredictable -
well, if I could see it coming, anyone could.
Nevertheless, I
enjoyed most of the book, up until the last few chapters, even more than
the previous one in the series. I liked Bobbie the marine, I liked the
little romance Holden had going, I liked seeing more of Amos, Alex and
Naomi (who make a great team), and Avasarala had all the best lines. The
writing is taut, the pacing is perfect, and the authors ping-pong the
plot between points of view effortlessly. And no, I have no idea who
wrote which characters. A good entertaining read with plenty of action
and a few moments of real depth lurking beneath all the drama. Four
stars.
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