|
Guys, we're 37 pages into the book discussion thread. You only need to spoiler text book 9 previews and poo poo, the rest of the series is fair game. I personally liked the Dutchman Defense. One of the best things from Book 5 is that it starts with Monica earnestly indicating that something is going wrong with the gate transitions, but the whole colony rush is so disorganized that no one is keeping track of which ships are going where. The right eyes were about to start looking in the right place, but then Marco's entire thing fucks everything up, and even the reader forgets about the weird gate poo poo until the last page of the novel. It's brilliant, because it hammers home how utterly pointless everything in Book 5 really is. Finally having the characters sit down and figure out the Dutchman Phenomenon and using that both literally and metaphorically erase the Free Navy is good writing, and I really enjoyed it.
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2021 09:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 23:12 |
|
|
i refuse to believe anyone "forgets" about the "gate poo poo" throughout book 6 given that afaik most people were like "so when are we finishing up with naomi's weird ex-boyfriend drama and getting back to the interesting stuff" and book 5 ended on the barkeith being eaten which was a great moment in a novel full of great moments. i don't know, what you call "good writing" is something that came off smelling like an unfulfilling deus ex machina no matter how many words they devoted to naomi Running The Numbers or whatever (it would arguably be more interesting it wasn't a deliberate thing, if it's supposed to stress the pointlessness of man in the face of enigmatic alien stuff -- the greatest mass-murderer in human history vanishes and no one knows why) it didn't feel like man's insignificance in the face of a cosmic rounding error. it felt like they had to get marco out of the way so book 7 could work. remember how marco ambushes the rocinate with three ships and still accomplishes nothing and the only casualty is fred who had a stroke because belters aren't capable of handling high gees for extended peri- wait a second
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2021 10:03
|
|
|
Horizon Burning posted:i refuse to believe anyone "forgets" about the "gate poo poo" throughout book 6 given that afaik most people were like "so when are we finishing up with naomi's weird ex-boyfriend drama and getting back to the interesting stuff" and book 5 ended on the barkeith being eaten which was a great moment in a novel full of great moments. i don't know, what you call "good writing" is something that came off smelling like an unfulfilling deus ex machina no matter how many words they devoted to naomi Running The Numbers or whatever (it would arguably be more interesting it wasn't a deliberate thing, if it's supposed to stress the pointlessness of man in the face of enigmatic alien stuff -- the greatest mass-murderer in human history vanishes and no one knows why) it didn't feel like man's insignificance in the face of a cosmic rounding error. it felt like they had to get marco out of the way so book 7 could work. You have bad book opinions, lol
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2021 12:23
|
|
|
Johnny Truant posted:You have bad book opinions, lol LOL!!!!!!!!!
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2021 14:50
|
|
|
I read Leviathan Wakes a few years ago. I plan to read Falls soon after it comes out. I will never read the intervening seven books. Curse me all you like.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 16:41
|
|
|
I got an email about my pre-order that Leviathan Falls is coming out 30 November instead of 16 November. Kind of bummed since I was excited to read it over Thanksgiving break. I assume the 30th is the real, final release date now?
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2021 03:24
|
|
|
Hed posted:I got an email about my pre-order that Leviathan Falls is coming out 30 November instead of 16 November. Kind of bummed since I was excited to read it over Thanksgiving break. I got the same email 
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2021 05:55
|
|
|
Hed posted:I got an email about my pre-order that Leviathan Falls is coming out 30 November instead of 16 November. Kind of bummed since I was excited to read it over Thanksgiving break. Two weeks is a pretty small push back, I'd guess it's the same shipping delays that are going on everywhere. So... probably.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2021 06:13
|
|
|
pik_d posted:Looks like we're gettin some later-books stuff in season 6, maybe even the Strange Dogs kids?? Don’t watch the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. ZombieLenin fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Oct 17, 2021 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:10
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Don’t want the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. What?!
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:22
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Don’t want the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. I'm going to watch the show.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:23
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Don’t want the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. I feel sorry for you
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:48
|
|
|
more show for me then
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:53
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Don’t want the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. Okay.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 19:54
|
|
|
The show is very determinedly okay. They did do a lot to improve the slug book though, I genuinely enjoyed that season which I can't really say for the book.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 20:07
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Don’t want the show. My unpopular opinion is that it’s pretty terrible. Golly are you ever in the wrong thread.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
withak posted:Golly are you ever in the wrong thread. TO BE FAIR this is the Expanse book thread. If he only wants to read the books and not watch the show (which is weird, but whatever) he is in the right thread.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 21:28
|
|
|
CLAM DOWN posted:What?! CainsDescendant posted:I feel sorry for you MikeJF posted:Okay. I have been reading the books for a long time (since 2012). I would go into detail about how I think the casting was all wrong, especially Holden and Naomi, and list my other complaints; however, at the end of the day I concede that, when it comes to me, it’s a case of the television show and the creative sacrifices they had to make to convert the fiction into a new format, just don’t live up to what’s been in my imagination for a decade.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 22:14
|
|
|
pik_d posted:TO BE FAIR this is the Expanse book thread. If he only wants to read the books and not watch the show (which is weird, but whatever) he is in the right thread. Now I see.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2021 22:18
|
|
|
I just happened across this today so the novella/short story collection is called Memory's Legion. That was going to be the title of the final novella too but since it'll be available separately the publisher told them to pick a new name and they're working on it. Daniel Abraham said on reddit recently they may add author's notes on all the stories as extra content for people who buy the collection.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2021 19:29
|
|
|
For those of you needing a diversion while waiting for book 9, I highly recommend the second book in the Altered Carbon series, named Broken Angels. The first book was a neo-noir cyberpunk mystery, and was somewhat faithfully adapted into a miniseries for Netflix. The second book switches genres to a future military / corporate espionage story about humanity finding a huge ancient aliens warship, and a rush to lay claim to it. I highly recommend it, as the first few books of Expanse definitely had the whole future evil corporate mystery feeling… even if that feels so far ago by book 9! Basically the main plot point of the Altered Carbon series is that humanity has used ancient dead alien technology to download human consciousnesses into hardware at the base of everyone’s neck. In that sort of world, anyone whose “stack” is intact on death can be reincarnated into new bodies on a whim, which definitely makes for a neat take on future warfare— soldiers don’t stay down when killed in battle, for example. I’d say these books have been my favorite “new” sci-fi (written in the last 20 years) that has the same sort of realistic view of human culture but set 500+ years in the future like the Expanse does.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 03:12
|
|
|
Just don’t read up on the author!
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 04:26
|
|
|
Yeah sci-fi/fantasy authors are universally terrible people.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 04:45
|
|
|
withak posted:Yeah sci-fi/fantasy authors are universally terrible people. Hey!
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 04:49
|
|
|
Oh really? That sucks. I was blissfully ignorant. And yeah the only downside of the books is that they have pretty crazy erotica-level sex scenes. I thought it was a fluke with his first Altered Carbon novel, but then it definitely was in the second as well. Kind of made me wonder about the author... However, the neat sci-fi ideas make up for it though otherwise. Also speaking of authors, I laugh every time I remember that almost all of the Expanse series has been published in the years since GRRM released his last book. Edit - laff: Leviathan Wakes: June 15, 2011 A Dance With Dragons: July 12, 2011 jeeves fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Oct 21, 2021 |
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 04:55
|
|
|
Well there is that theory about his assistants...
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2021 06:40
|
|
|
On a long enough timeline everyone becomes a Herbert. Although, some people like Heinlein are just born that way, so at least you dodged that bullet.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2021 21:20
|
|
|
FPyat posted:I read Leviathan Wakes a few years ago. I plan to read Falls soon after it comes out. I will never read the intervening seven books. Curse me all you like. I don't curse you and genuinely hope you post your thoughts. I can't imagine how you'll have even the slightest idea what the gently caress is going on in Falls so it would be interesting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2021 21:07
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:I don't curse you and genuinely hope you post your thoughts. I can't imagine how you'll have even the slightest idea what the gently caress is going on in Falls so it would be interesting. Agreed,  . I hope he doesn't even look at Wikia. In a first for me, I'm taking off November 30th so I can charge through Leviathan Falls the first day.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 00:53
|
|
|
I own the entire series in paperback so I'm going to be really annoyed about having to get a hardcover book to read it
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 07:33
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:I don't curse you and genuinely hope you post your thoughts. I can't imagine how you'll have even the slightest idea what the gently caress is going on in Falls so it would be interesting. I know all the major events that happen from Wikia and Tv Tropes. I'll know absolutely zilch about the character development, though.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 15:52
|
|
|
Has there been any? I have a hard time pointing to a particularly defined arc for anyone. Aside from the usual ‘we became a found family’ cast bonding.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 16:03
|
|
|
Like stuff happens to these people but do they really change? Aside from becoming more phlegmatic and old?
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 16:20
|
|
|
Alex gets remarried, divorced, and ends up back on the Roci during the time skip. That's the biggest LOL in the entire "none of these characters changed in 30 years". The time skip was a ballsy move, and was necessary for the Laconia plot, but they really screwed up not having the characters change at all.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 17:50
|
|
|
I think it's hard to have a single arc in a series that's basically three trilogies, but I would say Amos learns to put more trust in his own judgement more, and Holden a lot less. Naomi always felt to me like someone who wants a crew she can work in and vanish behind early on, so a lot of her adventures have her split off from the crew entirely and having to do everything herself. I think Alex is basically static, but he's kind of a guy who has been living in the past from when we met him. So not even, but I see how the characters differ from book 1.Anonymous Zebra posted:Alex gets remarried, divorced, and ends up back on the Roci during the time skip. Now that you mention it, I wonder if we'll meet Alex's kid in the last novella? They named it Sins Of Our Fathers after all. Alex might not be a mass murderer but Duarte playing him so thoroughly kind of enabled everything. Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Nov 17, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 17:56
|
|
|
Been a while since I read the books, but I remember the crew having a vague sense of, "aww hell, I thought we were done, but I guess we have to be heroes again now." They don't change because they're deliberately going back to who they were.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 19:58
|
|
|
When people complain they haven't changed, they're talking about the fact that they are all still living on the Roci 30 years after the end of book 6. I can actually picture Alex kind of dead ending himself on the Roci after a second failed marriage, and Amos and Peaches still being there because they essentially don't have anything else resembling a home. But Bobby? She definitely found friends on the ship, and circumstances forced her onto the ship over and over, but she also has a family on Mars and there's no indication that she doesn't still see Mars as home. The idea that 30 years later she would still be working on this old rear end ship is a stretch. Naomi and Holden? They finally work past her dark past, both metaphorically and literally killing the ghost of her past. She's finally able to commit to him fully and....they still never leave that ship? Get married? Have the children they mention when wanting to have when they discuss their frozen gametes? Again, this is 30 loving years. People work a job and retire in that span of time. It's a really long time to end up in the same place on an outdated, cramped ship.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 20:29
|
|
|
Have you seen how expensive space marina fees are? it'd be a waste not to live on it
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 20:33
|
|
|
Anonymous Zebra posted:When people complain they haven't changed, they're talking about the fact that they are all still living on the Roci 30 years after the end of book 6. I can actually picture Alex kind of dead ending himself on the Roci after a second failed marriage, and Amos and Peaches still being there because they essentially don't have anything else resembling a home. If you take the life spans we're given in the show as true for the books too, it's somewhat less absurd. You probably don't retire as early if you're going to live to be 140 like Bobbie is expected to. But yeah, it would have worked better if the crew had recently gotten back together after a time apart.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 22:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 23:12 |
|
|
At the very least they could have had the command handover happen "off screen" years before and put Holden and Naomi back at Medina station on a layover between lucrative colonization consultant gigs. I just don't see Bobbie sticking around for 30 years as 3rd or 4th banana in a six banana bunch.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2021 23:07
|
|
