Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Orbit (2021), 528 pages
Description
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.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
A solid wrap up to the 9-volume series, though not the most gripping. A challenge for many SF epics is the need to end things on a cosmic scale, which almost always is both hard to follow and even harder to care about emotionally. Quite a few series have ended with a single character doing some
There's a lot of looking back at earlier books, particularly the first trilogy, a result I think of the fact that so much of the books middle went off in another direction, and then suddenly the next book jumped ahead several decades and some of our favorite characters were dead and gone. Remember when the big deal was how the proto-molecule mushed people together? Remember Earth?
Many questions are resolved, at least at some level, about what the proto-molecule was up to, and what's with the big Other that even the proto-molecule was afraid of. It also becomes clear why the narrative had to jump those decades.
Few series are worth nine books but this one is mostly worth it. Recommended for everyone who followed along.
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super powerful battle in a weird landscape, and this is no different. But it's not as impossible to follow as many others. The emotional side is OK but more resignation / acceptance, rather than awe and wonder. There's a lot of looking back at earlier books, particularly the first trilogy, a result I think of the fact that so much of the books middle went off in another direction, and then suddenly the next book jumped ahead several decades and some of our favorite characters were dead and gone. Remember when the big deal was how the proto-molecule mushed people together? Remember Earth?
Many questions are resolved, at least at some level, about what the proto-molecule was up to, and what's with the big Other that even the proto-molecule was afraid of. It also becomes clear why the narrative had to jump those decades.
Few series are worth nine books but this one is mostly worth it. Recommended for everyone who followed along.
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LibraryThing member AHS-Wolfy
Got there at last. The final volume of The Expanse series barring the short story collection. A changed Duarte revives and believes he’s been thinking on too small a scale so sets off to rectify that. A special forces agent is sent after him to bring him back and restore the Laconian empire
I felt a little underwhelmed by the ending but I don’t think there’s much that could have been different to keep it cogent and consistent with what had come before. Not particularly liking one of the new viewpoint characters probably also played a part. It does wrap things up nicely though and if you’ve read this far you will want to read this. To me it just felt as though the authors had reached a certain point and thought “We’d better end this now” and so they did. I’d been entertained by the series as a whole and still enjoyed spending more time with the ongoing characters which is an accomplishment in itself when you consider the length of it. Going over this review it reads quite negatively but shouldn’t be taken as an indictment of either this instalment or the series as a whole. I think I’d just become so invested in the tale and those who inhabit it that it just felt a little anticlimactic.
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whatever it takes. The crew of the Rocinante decide that a ship in the middle of a galactic war is no place for a young girl so plan to drop Teresa off with a distant relative but find someone waiting who wants to put her to other use. Elvi Okoye uses what she has at her disposal to delve the archive in hopes of finding something to stop the old aliens from just wiping everyone out… again!I felt a little underwhelmed by the ending but I don’t think there’s much that could have been different to keep it cogent and consistent with what had come before. Not particularly liking one of the new viewpoint characters probably also played a part. It does wrap things up nicely though and if you’ve read this far you will want to read this. To me it just felt as though the authors had reached a certain point and thought “We’d better end this now” and so they did. I’d been entertained by the series as a whole and still enjoyed spending more time with the ongoing characters which is an accomplishment in itself when you consider the length of it. Going over this review it reads quite negatively but shouldn’t be taken as an indictment of either this instalment or the series as a whole. I think I’d just become so invested in the tale and those who inhabit it that it just felt a little anticlimactic.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Leviathan Falls ends the epic space saga by James S. A. Corey. A week later, and I still have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the story kept me guessing, and I never did figure out how it all was going to end. On the other hand, so many of the characters reflect on their ages, their
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experiences, and their long lives that I couldn’t help but miss those who did not make it to the final book, which happens to include two of my three favorite characters of the series. This made me sad because they were truly great characters who enhanced the story and would have shined during this book’s exploits. Still, I think the authors provided the right endings for those characters still left, and I can’t fault how they tied up all the plots. Truly a remarkable series. Show Less
LibraryThing member malcrf
This space opera series has been monumental, but it has had its ups and downs. This is not the finest volume in the series. The plot is not page-turning, it goes a bit mystical at times and Tanaka is a boring cliche of a character. Not the way I'd hoped it would bow out. Still a decent read though,
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just not up to some of the previous very high standards. Show Less
LibraryThing member SpaceandSorcery
Reaching the end of a beloved series is always a bittersweet experience (and the fact that the TV show inspired by this book series has also reached its final season adds to the feeling of loss, but I digress…), yet it’s also true that when a story comes to an end leaving readers wanting for
At the close of the previous installment, the might of the Laconian empire had suffered a hard blow, compounded by the disappearance of its leader, High Consul Duarte, and the crew of the Rocinante had finally reunited, taking with them Duarte’s daughter, Teresa. Elsewhere, scientist Elvi Okoye continued her studies on the protomolecule creators and on the mysterious entities that obliterated them and that still represented a clear and present danger for everyone.
Leviathan Falls opens with the desperate search for Duarte, introducing a new character in the person of Colonel Tanaka, a ruthless, cold-blooded operative who is given carte blanche to recover the Laconian leader and who clearly enjoys the unfettered freedom about collateral damage she’s given: her cat-and-mouse game with the Rocinante’s crew showcases very well her callousness but also her tunnel vision where Holden & Co. are concerned, because their longtime experience with difficult situations (together with a good amount of luck) has gifted them with the kind of flexibility that allows them to thwart Tanaka’s plans time and again. And I for one have to admit that witnessing the Colonel’s angry frustration was quite satisfying, since she’s the kind of character that I just love to hate…
The stakes, in this final book, are of course high: though diminished, the Laconian empire is still a force to be reckoned with; the rebellious systems, coordinated by Naomi Nagata, lack the resources and the organization necessary to deal a significant blow to the enemy; and the ruthlessly dangerous aliens responsible for the destruction of the gates’ builders are ready to do the same to humanity as a whole. And yet, even though the story does not lack for edge-of-your-seat scenes, furious battles and harrowing journeys through weird alien constructs, the overall mood is more sober, more inclined to melancholy - it might have been the projection of my own sadness at the end of the saga, granted, but with hindsight this book is, after all, a long goodbye to a number of characters I have come to know well and love as real people, just as they, in the course of the series, went from total strangers thrown together by circumstances to a tightly knit family.
Even in the midst of a galaxy-wide conflict, it’s the crew of the Rocinante that still earns the spotlight in this final act, and despite all that has happened to them over the years, despite the unavoidable injuries of passing time or life’s emotional wounds, they hold on to each other through learned trust and affection, in a sort of symbiosis which needs no words to make them work as a unit.
Time and use had changed them, but it hadn’t changed what they were. There was joy in that. A promise.
Thinking about the persons they were at the beginning, and seeing how time and experiences changed their outlook, made me aware of the long road they traveled as characters: Naomi kept trying to be as inconspicuous and unassuming as possible, guilt from her past compelling her to keep to the shadows, and yet she ended up being the leader of the resistance against Laconia, putting her mechanical skills at the service of the vast “machine” of the underground; Alex had always skirted his commitments as a husband and a father, preferring the freedom and joy of piloting a ship, but in the end the choice he makes is focused on his son and grandson. And Holden, who had chosen a nondescript work on an ice hauler to be free from responsibilities, little by little found himself at the center of big and momentous events, so that his ultimate decision is a supremely selfless one, which looks even more poignant when considering that his return from imprisonment on Laconia had left him “scarred and broken” in the wake of the physical and emotional torture he had endured, and that he would have deserved some peace after so much suffering.
The only one who remains a constant is Amos: not even the uncanny changes he underwent in the course of the previous book managed to shift him from the steadfast presence I’ve come to appreciate and expect, someone who can come up with startlingly wise advice:
“You’re overthinking this, Cap’n. You got now and you got the second your lights go out. Meantime is the only time there is.”
Amos’ personality is a weird combination of menacing strength, expressed in nonchalant understatement, and of unexpected gentleness, which we see - time and again - in his penchant for picking up strays: from distraught botanist Prax, looking for his missing daughter, to Clarissa “Peaches” Mao, former enemy he added to the Roci’s crew, to Teresa Duarte (plus her dog), who seems to come as close as an adopted daughter for the apparently unemotional mechanic. Maybe it’s not so strange when considering Amos’ past and his (albeit unexpressed) desire to protect the helpless, which makes a great deal of sense when we see Amos as the one to get the very last word in this final book, in his role as protector and guardian.
If the final chapter in The Expanse is not as “epic” as might have been expected, it’s however quite rewarding thanks to the quiet but poignant emotions that stand as its backbone: I’m not ashamed to admit that some of these goodbyes affected me deeply because, despite the 9-books run, I was not ready to part company with this crew, and the only comfort to be had was the hopeful outlook on humanity given by the last paragraphs. Granted, in this series humanity did show some of its worst traits, but also the capacity to move beyond them, or at least of being willing to try: the hint that the story does go on behind the closing curtain is indeed a glimmer of hope, and I will stick to that while I wait for these two amazing authors to create something new and equally compelling in the future.
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more it means that the author has done an excellent job, and this is quite true for the highly successful, decade-long run of The Expanse. At the close of the previous installment, the might of the Laconian empire had suffered a hard blow, compounded by the disappearance of its leader, High Consul Duarte, and the crew of the Rocinante had finally reunited, taking with them Duarte’s daughter, Teresa. Elsewhere, scientist Elvi Okoye continued her studies on the protomolecule creators and on the mysterious entities that obliterated them and that still represented a clear and present danger for everyone.
Leviathan Falls opens with the desperate search for Duarte, introducing a new character in the person of Colonel Tanaka, a ruthless, cold-blooded operative who is given carte blanche to recover the Laconian leader and who clearly enjoys the unfettered freedom about collateral damage she’s given: her cat-and-mouse game with the Rocinante’s crew showcases very well her callousness but also her tunnel vision where Holden & Co. are concerned, because their longtime experience with difficult situations (together with a good amount of luck) has gifted them with the kind of flexibility that allows them to thwart Tanaka’s plans time and again. And I for one have to admit that witnessing the Colonel’s angry frustration was quite satisfying, since she’s the kind of character that I just love to hate…
The stakes, in this final book, are of course high: though diminished, the Laconian empire is still a force to be reckoned with; the rebellious systems, coordinated by Naomi Nagata, lack the resources and the organization necessary to deal a significant blow to the enemy; and the ruthlessly dangerous aliens responsible for the destruction of the gates’ builders are ready to do the same to humanity as a whole. And yet, even though the story does not lack for edge-of-your-seat scenes, furious battles and harrowing journeys through weird alien constructs, the overall mood is more sober, more inclined to melancholy - it might have been the projection of my own sadness at the end of the saga, granted, but with hindsight this book is, after all, a long goodbye to a number of characters I have come to know well and love as real people, just as they, in the course of the series, went from total strangers thrown together by circumstances to a tightly knit family.
Even in the midst of a galaxy-wide conflict, it’s the crew of the Rocinante that still earns the spotlight in this final act, and despite all that has happened to them over the years, despite the unavoidable injuries of passing time or life’s emotional wounds, they hold on to each other through learned trust and affection, in a sort of symbiosis which needs no words to make them work as a unit.
Time and use had changed them, but it hadn’t changed what they were. There was joy in that. A promise.
Thinking about the persons they were at the beginning, and seeing how time and experiences changed their outlook, made me aware of the long road they traveled as characters: Naomi kept trying to be as inconspicuous and unassuming as possible, guilt from her past compelling her to keep to the shadows, and yet she ended up being the leader of the resistance against Laconia, putting her mechanical skills at the service of the vast “machine” of the underground; Alex had always skirted his commitments as a husband and a father, preferring the freedom and joy of piloting a ship, but in the end the choice he makes is focused on his son and grandson. And Holden, who had chosen a nondescript work on an ice hauler to be free from responsibilities, little by little found himself at the center of big and momentous events, so that his ultimate decision is a supremely selfless one, which looks even more poignant when considering that his return from imprisonment on Laconia had left him “scarred and broken” in the wake of the physical and emotional torture he had endured, and that he would have deserved some peace after so much suffering.
The only one who remains a constant is Amos: not even the uncanny changes he underwent in the course of the previous book managed to shift him from the steadfast presence I’ve come to appreciate and expect, someone who can come up with startlingly wise advice:
“You’re overthinking this, Cap’n. You got now and you got the second your lights go out. Meantime is the only time there is.”
Amos’ personality is a weird combination of menacing strength, expressed in nonchalant understatement, and of unexpected gentleness, which we see - time and again - in his penchant for picking up strays: from distraught botanist Prax, looking for his missing daughter, to Clarissa “Peaches” Mao, former enemy he added to the Roci’s crew, to Teresa Duarte (plus her dog), who seems to come as close as an adopted daughter for the apparently unemotional mechanic. Maybe it’s not so strange when considering Amos’ past and his (albeit unexpressed) desire to protect the helpless, which makes a great deal of sense when we see Amos as the one to get the very last word in this final book, in his role as protector and guardian.
If the final chapter in The Expanse is not as “epic” as might have been expected, it’s however quite rewarding thanks to the quiet but poignant emotions that stand as its backbone: I’m not ashamed to admit that some of these goodbyes affected me deeply because, despite the 9-books run, I was not ready to part company with this crew, and the only comfort to be had was the hopeful outlook on humanity given by the last paragraphs. Granted, in this series humanity did show some of its worst traits, but also the capacity to move beyond them, or at least of being willing to try: the hint that the story does go on behind the closing curtain is indeed a glimmer of hope, and I will stick to that while I wait for these two amazing authors to create something new and equally compelling in the future.
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LibraryThing member Guide2
Fairly good conclusion of the series, with a fairly reasonable landing that closes the arc of one of the main character logically. Overall a very enjoyable series!
LibraryThing member A.Godhelm
I've really liked the series, but this is really a whimper of an ending to a sci-fi that wrote some enormous checks at the start. The characters tread water for pretty much the entire book. The grand enemy boils down to a single chapter of mindgames and an indefinite end.
LibraryThing member SChant
A superb finale to an excellent space-opera series.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
Books seven and eight had been a bit of a return to form for The Expanse after a lackluster middle trilogy, but alas, I did not find the conclusion lived up to them. I felt like it struggled to operate on the necessary scale: we should be building up to epic confrontations with both the Laconians
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and the mysterious aliens, but for much the book, the Rocinante crew have a much smaller goal of getting one girl somewhere; I didn't feel very into this, knowing what the stakes seemingly ought to be. Still, a solid conclusion with good answers and some smart character resolutions. Show Less
LibraryThing member Unkletom
When Peter Jackson's film adaptation of [book:The Return of the King|838729] won several Oscars, including Best Picture, it was commonly assumed that the award was meant to be applied to all three movies in the trilogy. So it is with my awarding five stars for the final book in the Expanse series.
While the ending of this series may not have been exactly as I would have planned it, the collaborating team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck definitely brought the story home and gave their readers an ending that they can be satisfied with. They, and all the people who helped produce the six-season television show, created what, IMHO, is the greatest science fiction series ever. It was very painful to close the cover for the last time.
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While the ending of this series may not have been exactly as I would have planned it, the collaborating team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck definitely brought the story home and gave their readers an ending that they can be satisfied with. They, and all the people who helped produce the six-season television show, created what, IMHO, is the greatest science fiction series ever. It was very painful to close the cover for the last time.
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LibraryThing member JudyGibson
A satisfying payoff to the entire series--these books are what science fiction is about: new ideas and expanding horizons for humanity. I thought the series (the nine books, haven't read the interstitial works) flagged in the middle as it focused on space battles and political conflict between
Althoughthe big question of what the big bad thing that destroyed the ring builders actually was is not answered.
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humans rather than the big question of what is OUT THERE. But I loved the characters and their fiercely loving relationships (NOT what sf has traditionally been about). Anyway, wrapped up here nicely. And props to the authors for producing nine very long books of high quality at the rate of almost one a year!Although
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LibraryThing member quondame
Very readable, the title gives away what's on the agenda. The Rocinante and its diminished crew are sought by Tanaka because they have Duarte's daughter which is the majority of the action, but not all that meaningful other than establishing Tanaka's character, which was pretty clear after two
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paragraphs. It's full of fan service and not really a whole lot else. Show Less
LibraryThing member DanTarlin
The final book of the Expanse provides a pretty satisfying end to what is to me the best hard sci fi book series of all time. The Laconian Empire is staggering after the events of the previous book- they are down to one monster ship (though they have plenty of pretty effective cruisers), the
That could all be good news for our protagonists, but there's a kinda big problem: the Laconians sent a bomb into the ring gates, and now the mysterious forces inside them are pissed and they're trying to kill everyone.
We get a new character, Tanaka, a vicious Laconian soldier tasked with the job of finding Duarte after he seems to come back to life and then disappears in an ancient alien spacecraft. Tanaka believes her best shot to find him is to find his daughter, who is hiding out on the Rocinante with Holden, Naomi, zombie Amos, and Alex.
The book concludes, as one would expect, with a lengthy showdown that wraps up both the fate of the Laconian empire and the war between humans and the entities in the rings. We finally get a little explanation of the nature of the rings and how they are powered, thanks to the research of Elvi along with zombie Cara.
The book is great, as were the others. I mark it a half star below previous volumes though- I found the descriptions of Elvi's research so opaque that I really didn't get it, and I found the climax to be a bit overstuffed and long- the book could have been cut by 50 pages easily enough.
But those are quibbles. Any Sci Fi fan should read this whose series (or do what I did- watch the TV series and then read the last 3 books, which take place after the TV series ends).
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protomolecule platforms are destroyed and can't be rebuilt, the Laconian leader is a brain-damaged wreck, and his heir has run away on the Rocinante.That could all be good news for our protagonists, but there's a kinda big problem: the Laconians sent a bomb into the ring gates, and now the mysterious forces inside them are pissed and they're trying to kill everyone.
We get a new character, Tanaka, a vicious Laconian soldier tasked with the job of finding Duarte after he seems to come back to life and then disappears in an ancient alien spacecraft. Tanaka believes her best shot to find him is to find his daughter, who is hiding out on the Rocinante with Holden, Naomi, zombie Amos, and Alex.
The book concludes, as one would expect, with a lengthy showdown that wraps up both the fate of the Laconian empire and the war between humans and the entities in the rings. We finally get a little explanation of the nature of the rings and how they are powered, thanks to the research of Elvi along with zombie Cara.
The book is great, as were the others. I mark it a half star below previous volumes though- I found the descriptions of Elvi's research so opaque that I really didn't get it, and I found the climax to be a bit overstuffed and long- the book could have been cut by 50 pages easily enough.
But those are quibbles. Any Sci Fi fan should read this whose series (or do what I did- watch the TV series and then read the last 3 books, which take place after the TV series ends).
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Final novel, they say, in the Expanse series. The core characters are older and changed, especially Amos, except in the ways he’s exactly the same (he’s not very communicative on the matter). Holden and Nagata do what they do—him rigid insistence and her subtle politics—and they try to deal
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with the fact that old gods are trying to kill them. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookappeal
Great ending to a smart, engaging, action-packed and often humorous scifi/fantasy/futuristic series that is deeply rooted in human nature.
LibraryThing member macha
4 and a half stars. it's the last ride of the Roci, still trying to save the worlds, and all human life. Holden does what he does, and Naomi does what she can. in the lab, they are finally beginning to understand and even communicate a little with the nature of the protomolecule. The Laconian
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Empire has fallen, but some of its residual structure and infrastructure is still bent on conquest, even as alliances and even the nature of the enemy remain fluid in its totalitarian calculations. as Naomi gathers the underground for one more mission, Holden calls on Miller for help, and compromised or not, ready or not, they gather for their last stand. a lovely conclusion to a fantastic series, and it offers hope that someday there'll be TV seasons too that bring the whole narrative through to this finish line. meanwhile, if you haven't read this series in original book form yet, now's the time to start. Show Less
LibraryThing member James_Knupp
The end. 9 books full of adventure and suspense and some of my favorite characters ever written, and it's all over. Sadly this is actually probably my least favorite of the entire series, I think partially because it veered more into the fantastical rather than the more gritty drama of previous
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books, but also just a desire for the series to continue on forever. What Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham managed to accomplish together is astounding, and I can't wait for the day when I'm ready to pick up book one and start the whole adventure all over again. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
So the Expanse saga arrived to its last volume. The book`s first half is a kinda slow but after it speeds up it`s as good as any previous one. I really like the ending as well, it`s much more realistic NOT to know everything about the aliens and their motives.
LibraryThing member jmvilches
Difficult to bring such a sweeping epic to a satisfying end, but they tried and mostly succeeded, I think.
LibraryThing member Daumari
This show sticks the landing, bravo to Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham!
Dr. Elvi Okoye rises to be my favorite character but I'm biased as someone with academic training in biology.
Threads from earlier in the series are woven in well.
Dr. Elvi Okoye rises to be my favorite character but I'm biased as someone with academic training in biology.
Threads from earlier in the series are woven in well.
LibraryThing member Treebeard_404
A very satisfying ending to an extraordinarily good series. My deep gratitude goes to the authors for not screwing it up, as too often happens with serials.
LibraryThing member JasonMehmel
Nine massive books, with some pretty big events covered from start to finish. Trying to finish this series satisfactorily was going to be challenge for any writer, but these guys pulled it off.
Somehow staying true to the themes of cooperation vs. greed that has driven the entire narrative, and
A natural place for these stories and characters to end.
Somehow staying true to the themes of cooperation vs. greed that has driven the entire narrative, and
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although leaning deeper into the more speculative science compared to the rigorous 'hard sci fi' of it's beginnings, it none-the-less never lets up in it's narrative promise to make things difficult for it's characters.A natural place for these stories and characters to end.
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LibraryThing member patl
Worthy and powerful finish to a classic series. I’m sad this tale is over, but I’m satisfied with how it ended.
LibraryThing member Neil_Luvs_Books
Excellent. This last trilogy of The Expanse, including Persepolis Rising, Tiamat’s Wrath and finally Leviathan Falls were outstanding reads and provide incredibly satisfying closure to the entire series. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member RobertDay
And so we reach the final volume of The Expanse. Winston Duarte has undergone a transformation, and is now seeking to fight off the entities that destroyed the gate-builders - but at a terrible cost to humanity. The options are to either be destroyed, or subsumed into a hive-mind of Duarte's
The fates of all the characters we have met so far, including Teresa Duarte and a Laconian Marine officer we meet for the first time in this book, are wrapped up, some more neatly than others. By the end, we have said goodbye to everyone, some more finally than others. It is hard to see how this could have ended in any other way.
I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the tv series, in particular the fact that the series ended with the dramatisation of book six, Babylon's Ashes. Many people are holding out hope that the final three novels might be dramatised at some point; and given that there are thirty years between books six and seven, this would not be impossible, if the same cast could be re-assembled some years down the line. The main issue would be accommodating Cas Anvar's absence, as his character - Alex Kamal - was written out of the show in season 5. But as Alex's son and his new family play a fairly direct role in this book, some plot gymnastics would be necessary. It's also interesting to see how some of the short stories - collected in the volume Memory's Legion - are shown in the tv show, to the extent that anyone coming to this book without having either seen the show or read the collected stories will find two quite important characters suddenly appearing and playing a central role apparently out of nowhere. So - on to the short stories!
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making, the perfection of the order imposed by the Laconian Empire across all the human-settled worlds - now back-footed following the events of the previous book, Tiamatls Wrath, but still possessing poweful assets. Against this is pitched the crew of the Rocinante and Dr. Elvi Okoye, who following her experience of the protomolecule on Ilus (as depicted in book four, Cibola Burn), has been put in charge of research for the Empire. But as always with the Laconian Empire, failure is not an option, no matter how high your rank.The fates of all the characters we have met so far, including Teresa Duarte and a Laconian Marine officer we meet for the first time in this book, are wrapped up, some more neatly than others. By the end, we have said goodbye to everyone, some more finally than others. It is hard to see how this could have ended in any other way.
I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the tv series, in particular the fact that the series ended with the dramatisation of book six, Babylon's Ashes. Many people are holding out hope that the final three novels might be dramatised at some point; and given that there are thirty years between books six and seven, this would not be impossible, if the same cast could be re-assembled some years down the line. The main issue would be accommodating Cas Anvar's absence, as his character - Alex Kamal - was written out of the show in season 5. But as Alex's son and his new family play a fairly direct role in this book, some plot gymnastics would be necessary. It's also interesting to see how some of the short stories - collected in the volume Memory's Legion - are shown in the tv show, to the extent that anyone coming to this book without having either seen the show or read the collected stories will find two quite important characters suddenly appearing and playing a central role apparently out of nowhere. So - on to the short stories!
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Awards
Dragon Award (Winner — Science Fiction Novel — 2022)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021-11-30
Physical description
528 p.; 9.55 inches
ISBN
0316332917 / 9780316332910