By Just Michael
Leviathan Wakes is a Sci Fi story set in the somewhat near future. It is written by James S.A. Corey, which is actually the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
Human beings are beginning to colonize the Solar system. We haven’t quite figured out how to get to the stars, but we have inhabited our own Solar system long enough for physical differences to start to appear in those that have been born to different colonies. Mars has developed into a powerhouse of a space faring nation that boasts a mighty space navy and there are several colonies in the Asteroid Belt and even on moons of some of the outer planets.
The story follows two main characters, Jim Holden and Detective Miller. Holden is an Earth born space captain trying to do the best he can for his crew. He has a noble sense of justice and expects people to do the right and good thing. Miller is a cynical cop stationed on an asteroid. He expects people to act out of fear and emotion before being rational and thoughtful. The difference between these two characters drives much of the story. As system wide conspiracies are slowly unraveled and horrific catastrophes are occurring both these characters our handling the situations in their own way. Of course mastering our solar system isn’t enough to prevent human medaling, and when a horrific discovery threatens to tear apart the culturally different human species, our two main characters must join forces to save humanity. Will the system be able to wipe clean the oil slick of its own ambitious reach into the future? The story brilliantly builds up both cases for how these characters react and how, in a way, both opposing views have merit
Space travel is handled wonderfully. Human beings haven’t mastered the universe enough to give consistent artificial gravity to ships, so when a ship accelerates, Gs are created and must be dealt with. This simple reality of space makes for very interesting space battles.
Even though it doesn’t have the math to back it up, everything is very well thought out. Mining asteroids for mineral resources and transporting glacial rocks through space is quite believable. If Richard Branson and James Cameron have anything to do with it, this will be happening soon.
For lovers of Science Fiction and Space Horror, I greatly recommend Leviathan Wakes.