The Expanse (novel series)

The Expanse is a series of science fiction novels, novellas, and stories, by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The first novel, Leviathan Wakes, was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2012.^[1]

As of 2015, The Expanse consists of five main novels and four shorter works (two prequel short stories, one prequel novella and one novella set between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate). Four more novels are planned,^[2] as well as three more novellas. The series has been adapted for television by the Syfy Network, also under the title of The Expanse. The series premiered on streaming services on November 23, 2015, and on Syfy on December 14, 2015.^[3]

Plot synopsis

The series mainly follows captain Jim Holden and the crew of the salvaged Martian warship Rocinante as they stumble into the greatest conspiracy that mankind has ever known, going against greedy corporations, corrupt politicians, and warmongering admirals to get the truth.

Works

The series consists of the following works:

Novels

Audiobooks

All of the novels and the novellas have been released as audiobooks, with Jefferson Mays as the narrator for all novels (except Cibola Burn) and the novella The Vital Abyss. Erik Davies is the narrator for Cibola Burn and the first two novellas that were released (Gods of Risk and The Churn).

Characters

POV/Main Characters

• James "Jim" R. Holden, the Earther captain of the Rocinante
• Josephus "Joe" Aloisus Miller, a former detective that worked for the Ceres station security firm, Star Helix Security
• Dr. Elvi Okoye, a biologist from Earth
• Dr. Praxidike "Prax" Meng, the chief botanist of the RMD-Southern soy farm project on Ganymede and father of Mei Meng
• Carlos "Bull" c de Baca, a member of the OPA serving as chief security officer aboard the Behemoth
• Naomi Nagata, a Belter engineer and executive officer of the Rocinante
• Basia "Baz" Merton, a welder from Ganymede
• Dimitri Havelock, a security contractor from Earth
• Chrisjen Avasarala, the UN Assistant Undersecretary of Executive Administration
• Alex Kamal, the Martian pilot of the Rocinante
• Rev. Dr. Annushka "Anna" Volovodov, a Methodist pastor at St. John’s United on Europa
• Roberta "Bobbie" W. Draper, a gunnery sergeant in the MCRN, of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force
• Amos Burton, the Earther chief engineer of the Rocinante
• Melba Alzbeta Koh, a licensed electrochemical technician
• Clarissa "Claire" Melpomene Mao, a daughter of Jules-Pierre Mao, magnate of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile, from Luna
• The Investigator, a construct of the Protomolecule, an infectious agent with extraterrestrial origins
• Juliette "Julie" Andromeda Mao, the oldest child of Jules-Pierre Mao
• Frederick "Fred" Lucius Johnson, the Butcher of Anderson Station, the Earther leader of the OPA
• Mei Meng, the daughter of Praxidike Meng and Nicola Mulko
• Manéo "Néo" Jung-Espinoza, a young Belter from Ceres
• Filip Inaros, a teenage member of the OPA
• Sauveterre, the captain of the MCRN Barkeith

Setting

The Expanse is set in a future in which humanity has colonized much of the Solar System, but does not have the means to travel to other systems. In the asteroid belt and beyond, tensions are rising between Earth's United Nations, Mars, and the outer planets.

The series initially takes place in our solar system, using many real world locations such as Ceres and Eros in the asteroid belt, several moons of Jupiter, with Ganymede and Europa the most developed and small science bases as far out as Phoebe around Saturn and Titania around Uranus. There are also well established, domed settlements on Mars and the Moon.

As the series progresses, humanity gains access to thousands of new worlds by use of the ring, an artificially sustained Einstein-Rosen bridge, or wormhole, created by a long dead alien race. The ring in our solar system is 2 AU from the orbit of Uranus, and passing through it leads to a hub of starless space approximately one million kilometers across with more than 1,300 other rings, each with a solar system on the other side. In the center of the hub there is an alien space station that controls the gates, and can also set instantaneous speed limits on objects inside of the hub as a means of defense.

The first of the new worlds that is settled was named Ilus by the human refugees that first landed there, or New Terra by the United Nations. The planet is slightly larger than Earth (with slightly higher gravity) and consists of one large continent which dominates one hemisphere and thousands of islands spread throughout the large, single ocean. There are fauna and flora similar to that on Earth (creatures with eyes, mouths, limbs etc.) but still different enough to be visibly alien. There are also large alien ruins on the surface and thirteen moons around the planet that are thought to be artificial, given their consistent spacing and identical orbit. Even using the ring system, the time it takes to get to Ilus is significant. It takes an average ship about eighteen months to get there from Earth, and transmissions take five hours to travel the distance.

Politics

The three main political structures in the Solar System are the United Nations (UN), governing Earth and the Moon, the Martian government, and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), which begins the series as a terrorist organization that eventually becomes the de facto government of the asteroids and the moons of the outer planets, with the exception of Ganymede. Political tensions exist between all three factions, though the most palpable and far-reaching is the pseudo-racial division between those born on Earth and Mars and those born among the outer planets, called Belters.

Belters, due to a life in reduced gravity, have developed a physiology that includes elongated limbs and spine and an enlarged head. However, while they are well adapted to space, most, even with extensive medicinal reinforcement of their bodies, find gravity wells lethal, forever barring them from the surface of Earth, Mars, or any of the newly discovered ring worlds. They have developed a language suited to lives that require long, and repeated, stretches of time in space suits. Their form of communication combines a mix of Earth tongues and physical signs (such as 'yes' in ASL) into a polyglot language that most non-Belters find unintelligible. Their comfort with the confined spaces of the remote bastions of human civilization and the ease and grace with which they move through zero-g environments also set them apart from their planet-born brethren.

The OPA, in its initial confrontation with the UN and Mars, fought against what it perceived as oppression by these governments of the Belter populations of the moons and asteroids. Once it gains legitimacy, the OPA strives to act as a government for these peoples and reduce the tensions that brought about its existence. Though they are marginally successful in this endeavor within the Sol system, once humanity gains access to the ring gates, these racial conflicts rise once again.

Technology

While there are space ships and domed cities throughout the Solar System, the series handles technology in a realistic way. Traditional projectile weaponry and missiles are the weapons of choice for armed spaceships. Artificial gravity is produced either through rotation or linear acceleration. Ship speed is limited to acceleration curves no higher than what the human body can handle. Standard practice is to keep ships at roughly 1g, but in emergencies crews may run at higher acceleration curves for short bursts. Crew and passengers use crash couches whose padding and injections of stimulants and other drugs keep occupants from being crushed and losing consciousness under high thrust. Water and oxygen are major concerns for people living out in the asteroid belt and beyond, and giant ships harvest ice from the rings of Saturn to supply it. Communications can only travel at the speed of light, limiting both the dissemination of information and the ability of far off powers to react to rapidly changing situations, a theme throughout the series.

The most advanced technology in the series is the Epstein Drive, a modified fusion drive invented by the Martian Solomon Epstein one hundred and fifty years before the start of Leviathan Wakes. Travel with an Epstein drive requires initial acceleration towards its destination for the first half of the journey, at which point it flips its nose around and decelerates with the same thrust for the remaining distance. The Epstein engine is far more efficient than traditional solid or liquid fueled rockets, allowing ships to devote more storage space to cargo while keeping fuel volume relatively low. It enabled humanity to expand outward from Earth and the inner planets, allowing them to colonize the asteroid belt and outer planets.

Inspiration and writing

Ty Franck began developing the world of The Expanse as an idea for a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. After a number of years the idea shifted to become the setting for a tabletop game. Abraham, who had already written several books on his own at this point, noticed the depth of the world that Franck had created and thought they should make a book series out of it, saying, "People who write books don't do this much research".^[6]

Writing process

James S. A. Corey is the pen name for writing partners Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who share the writing workload. Franck writes all the Holden, Bobbie and Anna chapters, while Abraham writes the Miller, Melba, Avasarala, Bull, and Prax chapters.^[7] They also meet weekly to discuss upcoming chapters and swap completed chapters for the other to edit.^[6]

Narrative structure

The novels are written in a third-person limited style where each chapter takes place from the point of view of a particular character, with the prologue and the epilogue usually differing by being a one-off viewpoint, or a character from past books. There are two main point-of-view characters in the first book (plus two for the prologue/epilogue) and four main characters for each of the following books.

Reception

Critical response

The series overall has been well received, with the first novel Leviathan Wakes being the highest praised.

For Caliban's War Wired.com's Geek Dad and Publishers Weekly both praised the novel, with GeekDad citing the book's "believable human personalities and technology that is easily recognizable" as a highlight.^[8][9]

Publishers Weekly gave Abaddon's Gate a starred review saying "series fans will find this installment the best yet."^[10]

Publishers Weekly also gave Cibola Burn a starred review and called it "splendid" and it "blends adventure with uncommon decency.".^[11]

Reviews

• "It's been too long since we've had a really kickass space opera." - George R.R. Martin
• "The science fiction equivalent of A Song of Ice and Fire." - NPR Books
• "The Expanse series is the best space opera series running at full tilt right now." - io9
• "This is the future the way it's supposed to be." - Wall Street Journal
• "Superb...a thrill to follow." - Washington Post
• "Combining an exploration of real human frailties with big SF ideas and exciting thriller action, Corey cements the series as must-read space opera." - Library Journal

Awards and nominations

• Leviathan Wakes (2011) - Hugo Award for Best Novel nominee 2012, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel nominee 2012
• Abaddon's Gate (2013) - Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel winner 2014, Goodreads Choice Awards, Best Science Fiction nominee 2013

Derived works

Novellas

Three novellas have been published. The first, titled Gods of Risk, was released on September 15, 2012. The story takes place between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate. On April 29, 2014, Corey released the prequel novella The Churn as an ebook. The third novella, titled The Vital Abyss, was released on October 15, 2015.^[12]

TV series

The American TV channel Syfy announced a straight-to-series commitment to a television adaptation of The Expanse in April 2014, ordering the production of ten hour-long episodes for a first season^[13] and premiered in December 2015. The series stars Thomas Jane as Josephus Miller and Steven Strait as Jim Holden. The rest of the crew of the Rocinante are played by Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal, and Wes Chatham as Amos Burton. Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, Chad Coleman as Fred Johnson and Florence Faivre as Julie Mao are the other major cast members.

Short stories

• "Drive" (November 27, 2012 in Edge of Infinity, July 9, 2015 online)
• "The Butcher of Anderson Station" (October 17, 2011)

References

External links

• The-Expanse.com
• SyFy.com/TheExpanse
• Orbit Books (Newsletter)
• Orbit Short Fiction