Leviathan Falls
2021
- science fiction
- space opera
- military science fiction
- epic fantasy
- action
- adventure
- mystery
- suspense
- space travel
- alien technology
The story
The biggest science fiction series of the decade comes to an incredible conclusion in the ninth and final novel in James S.A. Corey’s Hugo-award winning space opera that inspired the Prime Original series. “An all-time genre classic.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review) Hugo Award Winner for Best Series The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again. In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter. . . and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before. As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win. But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.
What it’s like
Brisk, widescreen and weathered: the Expanse's final stretch reads like a long run of cramped ship corridors, sun-bleached station decks and cold, vast empty orbits, with the stars rendered as hard points of light rather than soft glow. Prose is plain and propulsive, dialogue-heavy and wry, with crew banter cutting through the grim stakes, and the action chapters move in quick cuts between viewpoints, so the pace lurches from tense quiet to sudden firefights and back. Its mood is elegiac and hopeful, a bittersweet sense of endings that still leave room for people trying to rebuild. Violence is present and often sharp, with battle scenes and some deaths described plainly, but it is not lingered on for gore, and there is little sexual content. The emotional core is found family and loyalty under pressure: a crew and a scattered cast of fierce, flawed people slowly pulling together against something vast. It suits readers who want a satisfying, big-scale finale with a strong ensemble, long commutes, or a weekend of committed reading.
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