Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes is book one in The Expanse series written by James S.A. Corey, which is the pen name of the writing duo consisting of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. (Query: Why do authors use pen names when everyone already knows their real names? This is a legitimate question. I really want to understand the reasoning behind this choice) The story is a mash up the science fiction and mystery genres set against the back drop of space. I loved it! 

Humans have colonized Mars and an asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Sufficient enough amount of time has passed that generations have been born and grown up on the asteroids and on Mars. Martians and belters think of themselves as separate and distinct from Earth. Not in the sense of being a different species, but in the sense of being citizens of different nations. This is especially true of the belters who because of growing up in the lower gravity of asteroids tend to be taller and thinner and have larger heads than humans from the inner planets of Earth and Mars. 

In one sense Leviathan is a story about global politics and scarce resources. Instead of Earth bound nation-states the superpowers are planet Earth and planet Mars. Earth has the things humans need to live - namely air, water, and soil where things can grow. Mars has the superior military force but its people live in domes because Mars's atmosphere is not yet suitable for human life outside of a dome. Belters are the poor colonials caught in the middle and at mercy of the inner planets. They depend entirely on Earth for oxygen, water, food – basically everything humans need to live. With a press of a button or maybe it is the turn of a knob, Earth can ration the amount of oxygen Belters breathe.

The story is told primarily from the points of view of two men: Jim Holden and Detective Miller. Miller has been assigned a missing persons case. He is tasked with finding a missing woman named Julie Mao. Julie left her wealthy family on Earth to live and work among the Belters. Her parents want her back home on Earth. Meanwhile Holden, a former soldier, works on a commercial vessel hauling water around in space. That he works on a water hauler is apt in part because the law of space is not unlike the law of the sea – if there is a distress signal and your ship is the closest then you are duty bound to come to the aid of the distressed ship if you are able. So when the Scopuli sends out a distress call, Holden and his shipmates go to help only to witness a disaster. In alternating chapters Miller searches for a missing girl while Holden and his crew try to figure out what secret is worth killing over and who was willing to do the killing. Eventually Miller's and Holden's stories intersect in an interesting way.

Effortlessly Diverse as It Is Entertaining  

In December 2015 The Expanse, a science fiction series, began airing on the SyFy channel. I originally bought this book with the intention of reading it before the show started but that never happened. One of things I noticed immediately on the show was its racially and ethnically diverse cast.  I wondered if that was due to a conscientious casting director. It is not, or at least that is not the only reason for the diverse cast. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck imagined a future that includes not only White people but also Asian people and Black people and all kinds of other people. Even better, the characters of color read like fully realized people. Personally in my experience, and I realize other people's experiences may differ, science fiction seems to assume a world where diversity means a mixture of blonds and brunettes or if there is a person of color in the story, there is only the one. It was incredibly refreshing to find something different in Leviathan Wakes. Yes and thank you people writing as James S. A. Corey.

Trying New Things: Hard Science Fiction 

I have a confession. I like the idea of science but am not particularly good at it. While I don’t purposely avoid it, it is not something I seek out either. When I read a book that for one reason or another has a lot of science (or complex math) my brain might initially try to decipher the science but eventually my eyes glaze over and my brain treats the science as magic and therefore as something that will never truly makes sense to me. What can I say other than I studied social sciences and humanities in college and graduate school, not the physical sciences. Admittedly part of this laziness on my part. Part of is not having the necessary background knowledge and taking time to acquire the background knowledge would take me completely out of the story. So I accept the science as magic and quickly move on. 

Leviathan Wakes is what people refer to as hard science, meaning a lot of the science in the book is real. I knew that going to it but read it anyway. Surprisingly I didn't mind the science. I was constantly looking stuff up to get a better understanding of things like gravity and its effect on the human body and what the deal is with asteroids. Overall the science was manageable. It was even interesting. Before reading Leviathan Wakes I thought of space the way I think of Antarctica – an exotic locale that looks pretty in pictures but that I will probably never visit and will spend little time thinking about. This book made me actually interested in space and the planets in a way that I have never been particularly interested. Not that I will ever go to space but I’m interested in learning more about it.

Yes It Is Really that Good 

My copy of Leviathan Wakes is an oversized paperback, really the size of a hardback only with a soft cover, and is 561 pages long. Between the length of the book and the hard science, I expected to spend at least two weeks reading it.  Instead I tore through it in about a week and the only reason it took that long was because there were two or three days when I wasn’t able to get any (or almost no) reading done at all due to other obligations. Getting through a 500+ page book in a week is a sign of good book in my opinion. Luckily it is part of a series. So I have more books to read. Also, The Expanse the television series based on the books is fantastic too. I am eagerly looking forward to season three.

The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

  It's strange how at times media that I am consuming end up relating to one another in unanticipated ways. Over the last few days I've been watching the final episodes of the last season of Showtime's Penny Dreadful. (Yes, I know it ended weeks ago. I am perpetually behind on my DVR list.) At the same time I've been reading Shelly Laurenston's The Undoing. Unexpectedly both have feminist underpinnings with a particular focus on women refusing to conform to what men (or society or large) want or expect. On Penny Dreadful this is most evident with the characters Vanessa Ives and Lily. On the episode Ebb Tide (season 3, episode 7) Dracula gives a great speech in which he tells Vanessa that he loves her for who she really is and that she need not conform herself to what others expect, as she has tried to do for so long. Meanwhile the murderous Lily is bent on avenging herself and the multitudes of prostitutes, abused wives, and other women who society turns a blind eye to when they are beaten or otherwise ill treated. In The Undoing there is Jacinda "Jace" Berisha, a once abused wife who woke up in her second life filled with rage. 

This is the second book I've read by Shelly Laurenston and the second in her Call of Crows series. Whenever I think of the Crows I can't help but picture a biker gang but they are something much cooler than bikers: The Crows are Viking inspired warriors. Long story short, there are various Viking clans on present day Earth whose job is more or less protect humanity from itself and from the misdeeds of various supernaturals. Each clan was created or put together by a particular god or goddess, like Thor or Odin. I can't remember which goddess created the Crows, but whoever she was she takes women who died, usually violently, and offers them a second chance at life as one of her Crow warriors. In their second lives the Crows are stronger, can sprout wings and fly, and are generally bad ass in every way. 

I would classify this series as paranormal romance with lots of action. Each book in the series focuses on a particular Crow woman and her budding romance with a guy from one of the other clans. Plus there is always some big bad they have take down. The Undoing focuses on Jace, who aside from having the usual Crow powers of super strength and flight, manifests berserker level rage when she is really pissed off. Her fellow Crows find Jace's rages both helpful and frightening. When she is in a rage Jace is unstoppable but she is also has a tendency to lose control of herself. The reasons behind her rage are undoubtedly rooted in her first life when she was forced to be the wife of a crazy cult leader who believes the end of days are near. In The Undoing Jace has a lot on her plate. She has to (1) deal with her crazy ex-husband who wants to forcibly bring her back into the fold, (2) figure out how to stop a vengeful, ancient goddess who is wreaking havoc on the world, and (3) contemplate dating when the only other relationship she has ever been in was one that was forced on her at the age of ten.

I really liked this. How could I not? When not in a berserker rage, Jace is a quiet girl who prefers reading to small talk. She hides in empty cars, up in trees, wherever she can to escape the constant chatter of her sister crows, love them as she does. When Ski Eriksen of the Protectors clan, whose is also known as the "Keeper of the Word," asks for her help with translating and organizing a bunch of books his clan took from a Russian mobster Jace is all in. For the books, that is. She is completely clueless that the cute guy offering her job is in interested in much more than an employee/employer relationship.

There was also something about an enchanted necklace, an unkillable goddess causing all kinds of trouble. Truthfully I  focused less on that part of the story. That part of the story was fine, and the parts about the other clans and how none of them get along was funny, but really it was all about the romance for me. Can't wait for the next book in the series.

Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2) by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Veronica Mars, now firmly established as a partner at Mars Investigations with her father, is hired by the insurance company that insures the very fancy Neptune Grand hotel. Months earlier a young woman had a drink at the hotel's bar. The next morning she was was found beaten, raped, and left for dead in an abandoned field. One of the hotel's former employees was suspected of the crime but was deported before the case was officially solved. The insurance company hires Veronica to help them determine if the hotel was negligent in some way. Veronica accepts the job but has much much bigger plans. She isn't just interested in the hotel's legal problems; she is determined to bring a rapist to justice.

Mr. Kiss and Tell is a mystery, although the mystery isn't so much about who did it as it is how Veronica is going to catch him. She figures out fairly early on who the culprit is but a less than honest victim, a less than sympathetic police force, and a lack of physical evidence make it difficult to put the man behind bars. But Veronica always finds a way.

One of the things I always liked about the Veronica Mars series is that it never shied away from showing that life could be unfair and unjust; that the good guys don't always win, the bad guys don't always pay for their crimes, and the innocent sometimes suffer for it. Neptune, the beautiful seaside town somewhere north of San Diego is divided between the rich and the not rich more than ever. In this installment, there is a girl who resorts to desperate measures to cover tuition and cops suspected of planting evidence on innocents. Veronica and Keith are fighting the good fight, sometimes winning and sometimes not.

Of course there is more going on in Neptune than Veronica solving mysteries. Logan and Veronica are still together. Mac and Wallace make appearances (need more of them in future stories). The inept Sheriff Lamb is up for reelection and this time he may face a genuine challenge. For the first time in a long time there is the possibility of a real change in Neptune's power structure.

I love Veronica Mars so much! After the TV series ended, there was a movie, and now there is a book series. This is the second book in the series, and goodness I hope there are more.

Wicked Sexy Liar by Christina Lauren

  Wicked Sexy Liar is the fourth book in the Wild Seasons series by Christina Lauren (the pen name for writing partners Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings). The series started with three friends - Mia, Harlow, and Lola - who met and married three guys - Ansel, Finn, and Oliver - one drunken night in Las Vegas. Now that the three friends and their boyfriend (for one) and husbands (for the other two) are settled, Wicked Sexy Liar tells the story of Lola's roommate London and her romantic adventures with Luke.

London spends her days surfing and her nights tending bar. She's friends with Mia, Harlow, and Lola but not part of their tight inner circle. (Mia, Harlow and Lola grew up together). London is fine with that and with her life in general. Sure someday she would like to get paid to do what she actually went to college for (web design), but for now London is doing fine. She is also fine with being single. Still reeling from being cheated on by her longtime now ex-boyfriend, London keeps people, especially men, at a distance. Then of all the bars, Luke has to walk into hers.

Luke is a sweet guy whose best friend is his older sister. His main flaw is that he has a habit of bedding anything female on two legs. London usually doesn't date (or go home with) customers but she has an itch that needs scratching and Luke is just cute and funny enough for her to make an exception.What was supposed to be a one night stand quickly turns into something more and neither Luke nor London are quite prepared. To make things even more complicated, it turns out Luke knows Harlow, Lola, and especially Mia from way back.

I don't have much to say about Wicked Sexy Liar except that it was another sweet and sexy read from Christina Lauren. Luke and London have instant chemistry but have to work through their respective pasts and change some of their present behaviors and modes of thinking before they can figure out their future together. I enjoyed this book but this being the fourth book in this series, things are starting to feel a little repetitive. It may be time to try something different like Christina Lauren's Beautiful Bastard series.

Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy

                   

Lev Grossman's The Magicians trilogy takes Harry Potter, Narnia, and other stories and tropes and mashes them up into something new. It left me with lots of complicated thoughts that I’m still trying to sort out and for that alone I’m grateful for this series.  

I usually try to avoid spoilers when writing about books here but this time I'm making an exception. If you want to avoid spoilers, stop reading here. If not, here are some of my thoughts:  

The trilogy starts out as a coming age / figuring out life in your 20s story. At the beginning of the first book Quentin is a high school senior. He’s at the point of in life when it feels like you’re waiting for life to begin, as if one’s current situation isn’t actual life. Quentin gets that life-is-starting-now moment when he finds himself sitting in a room taking an entrance exam for Brakebills, the one and only magical college in North America. It all seems so promising, so fun and exciting, and then it isn’t. Turns out that doing magic is well, less magical than one might expect. It requires memorization, mastering precise hand movements, and learning ancient languages. One thing that I found odd (and that I'm still wrestling with) is that in Grossman's conception magic is not fun. It can be fun at times, but mostly it is tedious, hard work. Not only it is hard, in a way magic ruins people. Magic makes some parts of ordinary life (like holding down a job) easy if not unnecessary. Without something to care about Quentin and his friends spend their post-college days drinking and partying, which ends up being less fun than it sounds. It's like they one the lottery but don't know what to do now that they no longer have to work to pay the rent.

In the first two books Quentin is forever looking for an adventure. He is never happy with what he has. This would be a less annoying trait if he were working toward something. For instance, if you’re dream is to build the best widget and your first prototype is good but you know you can do better so you keep trying, then it is good to not be satisfied. That is drive; that is motivation and ambition. Quentin’s dissatisfaction with life is more about it never being like it is in the Narnia like Fillory books. Quentin’s whole concept of adulthood is wrapped up in a fantasy and when confronted with the reality of day-to-day life he’s bored. But instead of building a career or a relationship he just goes looking for another adventure. Even more annoying is that Quentin never anticipates the potential dangers of his adventures. It is like he expects life to be like a children’s story where there is always a happy ending. 

One of the most interesting characters in the series is Julia. Julia sat for the exam Quentin did but failed. I think I, as a reader, am supposed to feel sorry for Julia or feel that she was unjustly treated in this instance. I don’t.  When Julia tells her story in The Magician King (book 2) she remarks that Quentin walked into the exam room “buckled right down and killed that exam, because magic school? That was just the kind of thing he’d been waiting to happen his whole life.” The way I see it Quentin and Julia were faced with an unexpected opportunity. Quentin grabbed it and went with it. He didn’t think too hard about it; he just accepted it and decided to see where the opportunity would lead. Julia, in contrast, sat back and thought about what the opportunity might mean. I don’t fault Julia for the way she reacted. It was totally reasonable under the circumstances, but I don’t feel sorry for her either or feel she was treated unfairly. She had the same chance as Quentin and didn’t take it. There is something to be said about being open to opportunities and ready to grab them when they come sailing by.

Notwithstanding my lack of sympathy for Julia’s initial rejection by the world of magic, I totally loved her journey (well except for the part I’ll get to in a minute). After failing the exam her memory was supposed to be erased of all things magic and Brakebills related but it didn’t take.  Julia remembered, not all of it but there was a thread of something that kept nagging her. She grabbed that thread and ended up institutionalized and multiple prescriptions for anti-depressants. Once again Grossman made magic not fun. In The Magician King it is practically a symbol for mental illness. Mental illness diagnosis notwithstanding, Julia went and found magic on her own, Brakebills be damned. And she wasn’t the only one. I love the idea that there was this underground world of magic. One of the things in that struck me about the first book was not only that magic was boring, it was elitist and exclusionary. Outside of Brakebills all kinds of people are doing magic. 

Julia ascends up the ranks of the magical world and becomes the best there is. More importantly she finds a home among other prescription carrying depressives. Together they dig for the roots of magic and end of stumbling upon a demon trickster god who kills most of them and rapes Julia. This was infuriating. Not only that she was raped, but that she loses her humanity. She becomes a powerful goddess in the end, but exactly what is the message here?

Another interesting character is Alice. She came from a magical family. After her older brother died while at Brakebills the college decided it was best to cut ties with the family and declined to invite her to attend to the school. Alice forced her way in anyway and and she was brilliant. She hooks up with Quentin. They are cute together, then they are horrible to each other. Then she dies in book one, or rather she becomes a ball of blue rage and power. Quentin brings her back to life and she is not happy about it, at least not at first. I’m not sure what to think about this particular sequence. Did he do the right thing? He was trying to help her. He couldn’t have known that she liked being a ball of rage and power. 

The ending was not entirely unexpected, but still pleasing. Fillory was dying and Quentin has to figure out a way to save it. He does save it, but he also moves on and decides to create his own land, which is fitting. It is time for him to grow up and create something for himself. It was a good ending to the series.

Although I am not entirely sure what to think of this series I would recommend it for the simple fact that it gave me lots to think about. This is the kind of book I could talk about for hours.

Trust Me, I'm Trouble by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Trust Me, I'm Trouble is the second book in a series by Mary Elizabeth Summer about a young grifter who goes by the name Julep Dupree. It picks up not long after the events of the first book, Trust Me, I'm Lying, with Julep now living with a foster family and grieving over the loss of a friend. She's still taking on cases only now her client base extends beyond the halls of her private Catholic high school. When a woman asks for her help in finding out how her husband became an embezzler, Julep knows she should walk away. She doesn't of course, not even when it requires her to infiltrate a shady "leadership" organization. When her new case appears to be connected to her long lost mother, Julep is even more drawn in. Pretty soon it isn't clear who's the con and who's the mark.

Between vacation and National Novel Writing Month in November (my fourth year participating) I inadvertently took some time off from reading books. Trust Me, I'm Trouble was what I picked up when I started reading again and it was exactly what I needed. It's a smart, young adult mystery with some unexpected romance thrown in. It has a great main character in Julep (though I did get a little tired of her self-recrimination over the events from the first book). Julep straddles the line between criminal and hero well, helping others, helping herself and always trying to protect the people around her. The plot was well executed. It had more twists and turns than a roller coaster. Overall it was a very good read and exactly what I was looking for when I started reading again. I don't know what the plans are for this series, but I'm hoping there is more to come.

The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell

  It's been awhile since I read one of Henning Mankell's Wallander's novels. I can't think of why it's been so long. I think I wanted to save them and not read them all at once, lest I run out too quickly. Whatever the reason was, I'm back on the Wallander train - this series is absolutely fantastic.

This one begins with a deeply depressed Kurt Wallander. He killed a man in the line of duty and even though the shooting was justified, he feels horrible that he is directly responsible for someone's death. Let me just pause here and say how refreshing it is to have a police officer who genuinely feels guilty and sad about ending another person's life. This kind of remorse is often overlooked in novels. In real life it is even worse. For Wallander, an officer who rarely uses his gun, killing a human being, criminal or not, is devastating. And so as the novel begins, Wallander is on leave and dealing with his grief very badly. There's too much drinking, inappropriate behavior, and many solitary walks along cold foggy beaches.

He is all set to quit the police force. Then an old friend finds Wallander trudging along the beach on yet another cold and foggy day and asks for Wallender's help. The friend's father recently died in a car accident, only the son doesn't think it was an accident and ask Wallander to look into it. Wallander declines and assures his friend that the officer in charge of his father's case is quite good at his job. Not long after their encounter on the beach Wallander's friend is found dead, and this time it is clear it was murder. Racked with guilt at having refused his friend, Wallander abruptly changes his mind about quitting and sets out to find out who murdered his friend and his friend's father. So begins another international Wallander mystery.

The Man Who Smiled was a pleasure to read. One thing about Mankell, he doesn't waste time. So many books (that I enjoy) start off so slowly and I have to remind myself that the story will pick up soon. That is not necessary with Mankell. The Man Who Smiled grabbed my interest right way and held onto it. The murders Wallander is tasked with solving are never run of the mill cases with simple motives. There is often an international aspect and some degree of commentary about the state of the world at large. This book was no exception. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone so I'll leave out those aspects here and simply say this is a great read, especially for anyone looking for an international mystery.

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

  Haunted is the fifth book in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series.  The woman at the center of this story is Eve.  She was briefly introduced in Stolen (book 2 in the series) as Savannah's mother before she was killed.  More about Eve's past and character were revealed about her in Dime Store Magic (book 3).  Now Eve is a ghost. 

Armstrong has a different spin on the afterlife than most.  For most of the dead the afterlife is pretty much like this life, except for those that are very bad.  There is a special kind of hell for those who were exceptionally evil during the time when they were human and earthbound.  Eve is having trouble adjusting to life as a ghost, even with her old lover Kristof there to play house with her.  The problem is that Eve can't stop thinking about the daughter she left behind.  Savannah is in good hands, Eve knows that, but she can't help but watch from afar.  Just when she needs it fate, or rather the three Fates, step in and give Eve a job to do: catch and kill an escaped demon that has been wreaking havoc in the human world.  The distraction is just what Eve needs to get her to start really living her life again, sort of.

Other entries in this series have centered around werewolves and witches with bits and pieces about other supernaturals.  The werewolves are still my favorite and I can't wait till this series get backs to them.  Eve was an okay lead character but since she's a ghost, she has limited interaction with the series's other characters which I found to be a drawback.  And strangely, although this book centers around Eve, her character doesn't develop much.  More about her is revealed in previous books than in this one.  This isn't to say I didn't enjoy Haunted.  I liked it okay but it is not my favorite book in the series.

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

  Last Sacrifice marks the end of the Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series.  The fact that I read all six books in the series says a lot.  Unlike a couple other young adult paranormal series, I didn't get bored after a book or two and quit the series.  Part of that was probably because the series managed to bring together several different genres.  In addition to the paranormal elements, there was romance, action, and a bit of mystery. This wasn't to say it was a perfect series.  There were a few things that bothered me: in some ways Rose never matures and continues to act without thinking, and then there is the whole "blood whore" thing.  However, overall this was a fun series with several strong female characters.  There was Rose of course, who repeatedly stands up for herself and for others, willingly sacrificing her own happiness and safety to protect others.  Her best friend Lissa is thoughtful and intelligent.  Both are born leaders.  The leader of the vampire and dhampir society of which Rose and Lissa are apart is a woman.  In fact, now that I think about it, most of the main characters, good and bad, are women.  I would guess that young adult women would particularly enjoy this series for this reason, that and the romance between Rose and Dimitri.


There is a spin off series called Bloodlines.  Not sure I will read it anytime soon.  A friend has recommended it but there are too many books in my to be read pile I need to get to first.

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

  Rose heads to Russia to find Dimitri and put her undead boyfriend/mentor/teacher out of his misery.  Along the way Rose meets Dimitri's family - his mother, his grandmother, and his sisters.  Siberia turns out to be a lovely place and Dimitri's family even lovelier.  Rose almost decides to stay.  But she can't.  She has a mission to accomplish.  Plus, there's still Lissa back home to worry about.  Rose also meets another spirit user who happens to be married to her dhampir guardian.  It seems that spirit users aren't as rare as everyone thought, they keep coming out of the woodwork.  Rose meets some other interesting people as well - an alchemist, her father - all people who are sure to make an appearance later in the series.

There are two more books left in the series, which I hope to finish before the end of the month.  So far this has been a very enjoyable  young adult vampire series.   Sometimes these types of series start with a bang and end with a whimper.  Hopefully this series will end as strongly as it began.