Review: Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Let's get one thing out of the way first: I loved this book. Why, then, has it taken me almost a week to write a coherent review? Mostly because some of it was just frustrating? I don't know.

Long and short is that this is a nearish-future tale where Earth and Mars are colonized, but we still really can't leave the solar system. There's interplanetary politics, some advanced science/technology that exists, and there's also some strange happenings overall involving some conspiracies and such. There's also a more traditional mystery story that takes place, and these two ideas converge on each other to really get an impressive story out there.

I liked basically everything about this. It's not quite a space opera, but it has that feel and it's been a long time since I've read anything like it that hooked me in this well. The book is really readable, it's not taking too many chances and not bogging itself down in minutiae like many long science fiction books do. This works really well in that regard.

If I have a negative, it's that the book feels really surface level, and the last 10% or so of the book really accelerates things in a way that didn't feel very true to the rest of the book. The frustration comes in with a story that's great but is not memorable on the detail level, partially because it feels like things simply happen as opposed to having any real reason or the characters having significant agency. It's a weird case, but one that didn't take away from my enjoyment. It's just really different, and, looking back, perhaps a little frustrating.

Overall, I can't wait to pick up the second book in this series. I'd love to think this holds up long term over the multiple books, but we'll see.



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