Book: Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Two of my 2015 goals were to read more, and to blog more.  I'm hoping to start doing so by blogging about what I've read.  Last month I started reading the Expanse Series, a space opera by James S. A. Corey.  I finished the first two books (there are four so far-more coming), Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War, and am reading the third book.  I thought I better try to get this written before I do that thing where I blend a series all into one book.  I do that a lot.

Leviathan Wakes obviously takes place in space.  Humans have branched out from earth and have colonized a fair chunk of the solar system inhabiting planets, moons and the asteroid belt.  Along with this they have learned to live in different gravities, and cope with the strain of space travel. although still with some complications.  There are new governments, including Earth's United Nations, the Outer Plants Alliance (OPA), and other political and corporate based groups, and although humans have learned how to travel through space they still haven't learned how to get along and play nice.  You see the power struggle between planets, political groups, and corporations to get their hand on anything that gives them the upper hand.

The story is told through two main characters, Miller and Holden.  Miller, a police detective, finds himself on a job to find a missing girl.  Holden, an executive pilot of an ice freighter, and his crew eventually find themselves tangled up in what Miller is investigating.  I feel like once that happened the story really took off, and I had a hard time putting the book down.  I wanted to know if Miller found his girl, and why were some people acting so shady.  And there is also the protomolecule.  Once I got used to the story telling style, and saw how things were coming together I was hooked.  I liked that while you could see how things fit together, there were still things you didn't see coming.  I don't want to give anything away so I'll leave it at that.

The only complaints I have are mostly my own issues.  I am not a huge fan of the story being told by a different character each chapter.  It's less of a bother now that it was years ago, but for some reason I have a hard time switching back and forth between the different views.  I guess I'm a fan of the story being told from one person.  The other problem I had were pronoun issues.  There were a few passages I had to reread several times because I was confused which pronoun was correct.  It's not a big deal, but it's one of those things my brain really gets hung up on.  I like to visualize the characters in my mind and if I'm unsure about the gender that would make it hard for me to visualize.  Clearly I got over my issues because I devoured the next book, and am continuing to do so on the third.  More to come!

**edited 01-30-15 to correct a typo-thanks Mez!