Review: Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey
Blurb:
The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again.
In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter. . . and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before.
As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win.
But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.
Review:
The Expanse by James S. A. Corey has been a series that has equally enthralled me and befuddled me. Its best entries—Leviathan Wakes, Nemesis Games, Tiamat’s Wrath—have stood as some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read, while its weakest entries—Abaddon’s Gate, Cibola Burn, Persepolis Rising—tested my willingness to continue with the series. Still, with how stellar the penultimate entry of the series was, I was eager to give the finale, Leviathan Falls, a go. But, in a series with such fluctuating highs and lows, the end of The Expanse fell somewhere in the middle, walking a tightrope between pulse-pounding action and emotional goodbyes to the crew of the Rocinante but also high-conceptual themes that perplexed more than excited.
The greatest threat to the galaxy’s autonomy has fallen, but the greater threat to humanity has arrived. After Holden and the crew of the Rocinante helped bring the fall of Winston Duarte and the Laconian Empire, the ancient enemy that brought Armageddon unto the gate builders has awakened, threatening humanity with the same assurance of destruction. Differences must be set aside to form alliances against the greatest foe humanity has ever known, no matter what the price of victory may be.
To get my largest complaint for Leviathan Falls out of the way, The Expanse has always had tinges of high-concept moments spread throughout the series, given the nature of the protomolecule that has been at the root of conflict ever since the first book. Where most entries had kept it in the background while their respective books dealt more with social uprising, war, colonization, rapid militarization, and the like, Leviathan Falls puts the protomolecule, the gate builders, and ancient elder gods on full display, and most of the time, I found myself all too confused as to what was happening. There are frequent occurrences that are deliberately obtuse and slow the pace of the book dramatically, and had this been a running theme throughout the books, that would be fine, but it managed to feel both in and out of place at the same time. While it was interesting the first time through the order, these moments quickly became my least favorite parts of the book to the point that I found myself skimming these chapters to get to the clearer narrative.
Outside of these moments, though, Leviathan Falls is filled with pulse-pounding action and shocking moments. The crew of the Rocinante is a fantastic core group of characters, and their arcs were all given the perfect amount of gravitas and closure needed. The plot is filled with uneasy alliances, betrayals, family, epic battles, and a final confrontation that hooked me and would not let me go until the dust finally settled. There are a couple missteps here and there—a couple fake-out deaths, including a character who also had a fake-out death in the previous book…and also in one of the early books, for that matter; and a post-climax wrap-up that felt a bit abrupt—but on the whole, all the highest moments of Leviathan Falls hit as hard as the series ever did.
Which is why it’s frustrating the rest of the book couldn’t carry the same energy. I’m all for some head-scratching storytelling that stops and makes you think—I enjoyed the hell out of Evangelion and the Xenosaga trilogy is one of my favorite video game series—but the ancient dreamer-hive mind-whatever moments in Leviathan Falls felt more nonsensical than enjoyable, which was a shame given that this is what the entire series has been building toward.
Still, I’m glad I gave Leviathan Falls a read. It may not be the conclusion to James S. A. Corey’s space opera that I was hoping for, but it was a very fitting farewell to the crew of the Rocinante. And if there’s anything The Expanse can teach us at the end of the day, it’s this: maybe don’t try to harvest some goo you find in an asteroid. You might unleash an elder god that wants to destroy the galaxy.
