Leviathan Wakes starts with an act of piracy and a mystery, then ramps up quickly, expands in scope, raises the stakes, and floors the gas pedal for most of the way through. It’s an addictive read, a page-turner that kept me hooked to the end.
I liked the characters of Holden and Miller around whom the story turns and which alternate as our viewpoint characters. Their different world views make for good varying perspectives on the action of the story. The side characters were interesting enough that I cared for their fate, which was always in question. You generally don’t knock off main characters after all, but secondary characters; why not?
I enjoyed the world James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) in that it created a great place for drama and conflict, though I sure as shit didn’t like the prospect of living there. Points also for giving plausible technology without page after page of the technical details on how it works. There were a few things I wondered at by their absence, mainly robots and AI, but that’s a minor quibble.
Overall a great thrill ride, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
Dispatches from Obscurity 