Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
“Working-Class Space Opera,” my friend described this, and that’s as spot-on a description as I could come up with. What more would you want in a space opera? Stalwart heroes and heroines, space ships, gun battles, alien first contact, interplanetary war, intrepid colonists, post-human societies and zero-g sex.
The two main characters are working-class shmoes. Holden is the XO of an ice freighter who instigates and interplanetary war through a combination of iron-clad idealism and an inability to keep his mouth shut. Miller is a security guard/cop on a space station carved out of an asteroid who is given a throwaway job he just can’t throw away. The characters are familiar, the tropes well-worn (it even has zombies!) and the attention to detail fantastic. Favorite parts? The martian navy has great equipment while the private security forces make do with hand-me-down seconds, which affects whether people are able to open doors well. Also, the fact that the Mormons commissioned a ship that is designed to house three generations of people in hopes that they will find a new planet worth colonizing. That’s so Mormon.
At nineteen hours to listen to the audiobook, the paper version of book will definitely prop open a heavy door. It’s a fun ride all the way through. Nothing too deep, but plenty of action and heroism to get you all the way to the end.
