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migmitI haven't seen the show "Expanse", but I just finished the first book in the series it is based on, "Leviathan Wakes". And oh boy do I have a problem with it.
The book, apart from prologue and epilogue, alternates between two protagonists: Miller and Holden. Miller is kinda anti-hero, a man who is willing to do something bad if it's more likely to lead to something good. Holden is set up as a white knight, who always does the right thing. They butt heads and ultimately Holden kicks Miller out of his team (not that they started on the same team) for, basically, killing a man in cold blood.
Now, Miller did kill several people, although still in single digits (I think). Most of them he killed in self-defense; one person he kills because that one person is the biggest dick in the known universe and is about to not just get away with genocide, but continue the same thing. Still, he is somewhat conflicted and keeps questioning what kind of man he is.
Holden, on the other hand, caused not one, but two space wars through negligence. The first one was a tragic, but understandable mistake. The second time shows that he didn't learn anything at all, as the circumstances are exactly the same. Miller calls him out on it, but it is presented as they are on the same moral ground. They are not. And after that, Holden is still pretty comfortable with himself. The idea of accepting even a shred of responsibility never occurs to him. He gets rewarded for it. He gets to keep his "salvaged" supercool ship, and the colonel, who is presented as a reasonable authority figure, doesn't really mind letting Holden roam free, instead of locking up the bastard and commandeering his ship. Holden even gets the girl eventually. And in the end he whines all the way to get that colonel to argue on his behalf.
But in the end, Miller doesn't fare very good either. He gives in to his obsession with a girl, and pretty much makes everyone abandon a solid plan and risk at least thirty billion human lives. It works, but only because of plot armor.
Generally, the plot is fine, action scenes are handled reasonably well, and political aspect was believable enough. But the ending runs on plot convenience. There are attempts to lampshade the inconsistencies, but those do not go away because of it. For example, the authors don't want Miller to be squashed by inertia, but they also don't want to bother with him floating in zero-g, so they just make the current phlebotinum maintain artificial gravity, for no apparent reason.
All in all, the book is mildly disturbing and disappointing.
The book, apart from prologue and epilogue, alternates between two protagonists: Miller and Holden. Miller is kinda anti-hero, a man who is willing to do something bad if it's more likely to lead to something good. Holden is set up as a white knight, who always does the right thing. They butt heads and ultimately Holden kicks Miller out of his team (not that they started on the same team) for, basically, killing a man in cold blood.
Now, Miller did kill several people, although still in single digits (I think). Most of them he killed in self-defense; one person he kills because that one person is the biggest dick in the known universe and is about to not just get away with genocide, but continue the same thing. Still, he is somewhat conflicted and keeps questioning what kind of man he is.
Holden, on the other hand, caused not one, but two space wars through negligence. The first one was a tragic, but understandable mistake. The second time shows that he didn't learn anything at all, as the circumstances are exactly the same. Miller calls him out on it, but it is presented as they are on the same moral ground. They are not. And after that, Holden is still pretty comfortable with himself. The idea of accepting even a shred of responsibility never occurs to him. He gets rewarded for it. He gets to keep his "salvaged" supercool ship, and the colonel, who is presented as a reasonable authority figure, doesn't really mind letting Holden roam free, instead of locking up the bastard and commandeering his ship. Holden even gets the girl eventually. And in the end he whines all the way to get that colonel to argue on his behalf.
But in the end, Miller doesn't fare very good either. He gives in to his obsession with a girl, and pretty much makes everyone abandon a solid plan and risk at least thirty billion human lives. It works, but only because of plot armor.
Generally, the plot is fine, action scenes are handled reasonably well, and political aspect was believable enough. But the ending runs on plot convenience. There are attempts to lampshade the inconsistencies, but those do not go away because of it. For example, the authors don't want Miller to be squashed by inertia, but they also don't want to bother with him floating in zero-g, so they just make the current phlebotinum maintain artificial gravity, for no apparent reason.
All in all, the book is mildly disturbing and disappointing.
