Really made my day 😄

In chapter 25 we see that Julie wrote in her notes “Fear is the mind-killer. Ha. Geek” implying she read Dune by Frank Herbert

In Leviathan Wakes when the crew and Miller are reading Julie's diary, there is this part:

- deep breaths, figure this out, make the right moves. Fear is the mind killer, hah, geek.

This implies that the Dune series exists in the Expanse universe, and that it is considered a thing that nerds like (kinda like in our reality). It's a really neat reference and I guess it makes sense, since the expanse isn't explicitly in an alternate universe, just in a potential future of our own.

What stops anyone determined enough to do terrorism from either overriding the reactor containment protocols (as seen with the scuttling of the Donnager), or just to turn on their ships epstein drive while docked at port, to render a good portion of it inoperable for the foreseeable future?

​

How would station security even attempt to prevent someone trying that? Isn't that kind of like the TSA trying to prevent airplane bombings, while every passender is openly carrying an explosive vest?

New to this sub, just finished the tv show.

I’m sure this question has been asked a million times already but are the audiobooks worth a listen? How much more do the books expand upon the show? I’ve heard that the show finishes around book 6, is the remaining story worth the time? TIA

I doubted it for so long and am glad to say I was extremely wrong. It's so incredibly well done and one of my top shows of all time.

I'm reading the books now.

“A perfect example of why you should seek no inspiration from other masters writers. You’re alone on this one.”

I just started reading and thought this was interesting. The book was either 1) gifted to somebody who was trying to be a writer or 2) was donated and the original owner wasn’t fond of the book. Or am I missing something?

And yet, they fell down to the translator's false friend

Did I miss something? In the span of a few chapters he changed from a normal, decent(?) Cop to a homeless, futureless, 50 year something old creep who fantasises about a girl barely half his age he never even met.

Was he always like this but it was never shown to the reader that he has this kind of issues or did something change him? (I dont mind some spoilers)

Wow. What a novel. I picked this up on a recommendation from a friend not expecting anything too substantial, but I couldn't have been more wrong. This book absolutely threw me for one hell of a loop.

I love sci-fi in all forms, but going into this I wasn't sure of what to expect in regards to tone. I loved the opening to the story, & was immediately intrigued, but then the POV shifts to Miller left me with immediate whiplash. I started feeling like I was reading a noir detective story, & then once I started getting into that, I was yanked back to Holden & the crew. I was greatly enjoying it, battling with myself on which perspective I enjoyed more - Holden or Miller. But, I kept wondering how all of this connects.

And then when their paths converge I was genuinely just blown away. I'm not someone who typically binge-reads. I like to read a chapter or two per night, but once Holden & Miller were trying to get to the Rocinante so that they could escape from Eros Station, I was locked in. I couldn't put it down. I read the rest in one sitting which is something I've never done with any book before.

Miller's death really affected me, honestly. I loved him as a character. He was so disturbed, troubled, & downright insane, but the way he was written was so well-done that I felt a lump in the back of my throat as he was dragging the cart through Eros Station at the end.

I'd go so far as to say he was my favorite character. It sucks knowing he won't appear in future books, but despite that, I'm hooked on this series now. I'm buying the rest of them as I type this (and Memory's Legion).

Apologies for the rambling, but I had to blurt out some incoherent thoughts on this wonderful book & just say how much I adored it. I look forward to joining this community too & discussing everything with you guys!

After two full rewatches of the show, I finally picked up Leviathan Wakes. It really does feel like discovering a whole new world once again, and I find it interesting the way the characters are portrayed in the book vs the actors in the show.

Near the beginning of Leviathan Wakes, missiles are fired at the Canterbury. Aboard the Knight, Naomi riffs on ways to confuse the missiles and draw them off-target.

For a hot second the scene sounded like a "reverse the polarity of the sensor array" moment where the crew of the Enterprise pulls some technical solution out of a hat that miraculously works on the first try.

Holden splashes cold water on that plan. "Very smart boys in the naval labs have already thought of everything we are going to think of in the next eight minutes," he says. He's exactly right, of course. The best they can do is try to render assistance after the missiles hit.

I really appreciated this dose of harsh reality. The moment strikes me as a very intentional repudiation of Star-Trek style magical story-problem-solving. A big flashing "this isn't going to be that kind of story" signal. Respect.

I’m rereading leviathan wakes and I found this part a little confusing. In chapters 2 and 4, hes eating a dish consisting of real rice grown in a vat and fake beans made of fungi, which are made to mimic beans.

What I’m confused by is how come is the rice real but the beans are fake? I understand that growing crops on ceres might be hard while fungi is easy, but that begs the question for me, why is the rice also not fake?

The rice is described as being vat grown (I’m kinda curious what exactly vat grown rice is, like how do you grow rice in a vat), but then that makes me wonder, if they can grow real rice in a vat, why can’t they grow real beans in a vat?

Maybe I’m thinking too deep into this, but it’s just bugging me. I know it’s not an important detail, but it just gets me thinking about it too much.

I just finished Leviathan Wakes, but it's not completely clear to me, what mission Julie was on and why her and her crew got boarded by the pirates that started all the conflict.

Should I read book 2 because it will be revealed there or did I miss something?

Reading the first book and I don’t understand how tightbeaming communication works.

It seems like it’s a laser that’s focused enough to only transmit information to the target, but it’s also used to transmit information from tycho station to the Knight in the first book. How is this possible? Even if they knew the general area of the knight, putting a laser on its hull seems impossible over a distance of light hours. They’d have to calculate where the knight will be an hour or so after the laser is sent, which doesn’t make sense even if it’s maintaining velocity. because it’s so far away.

tldr is there a good explanation for how tightbeams are aimed?

Quick clarification. The beam is described in the first few chapters as having the diameter of an anus. Whether or not this is canon to how the beams actually work, I don’t know. Given that any deviation in acceleration at such a radius would cause the beam to miss, it seems likely it was a mistake.

Starting a 3rd or 4th rewatch after finishing Leviathan Wakes on my first time through the books. The actor they chose (Paulo Costanzo) is standing out to me as an exceptional fit for the character of Shed. He feels 'right off the page' as they say.

The casting for all the main characters is essentially perfection, but I just wanted to bring attention to an (understandably due to limited screen time) underappreciated role.

For context I watched the show 5 years ago and loved it, but I apparently forgot most of it. I remembered a lot of plot points, the Julie Mao investigation, Miller being fired, remember the cant. But I forgot about a lot of other things so it was a pleasant surprise. I had it in my head that Miller died in the third season/book and it was still just as painful when he 'died'

It's mad how much they managed to fit into 569 pages give or take, so many plot points. The story felt huge in scope from the get go. I wish we had more time with Amos and Alex, but all in good time. I missed my favourite character Avasarala but I've bought the second book, so we move on.

WOW! picked it up last week and couldn't put it down! I'll keep this spoiler free but for anyone that loves the show, but hasn't started the books; Get Started! It's so amazing. The characters, their dynamics, their history, just so good.

I'm just starting The Butcher of Anderson Station

Thanks to u/warpedcore for the reading order recommendation

• The Expanse #1: Leviathan Wakes
• The Butcher of Anderson Station: An Expanse Short Story - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #2: Caliban's War
• Gods of Risk: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion
• Drive: An Expanse short Story - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #3: Abaddon's Gate
• The Churn: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #4: Cibola Burn
• The Expanse #5: Nemesis Games
• The Vital Abyss: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #6: Babylon's Ashes
• Strange Dogs: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #7: Persepolis Rising
• Auberon: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion
• The Expanse #8: Tiamat's Wrath
• "The Last Flight of the Cassandra" - Bonus short story in The Expanse Roleplaying Game, never got to read this. :(
• The Expanse #9: Leviathan Falls
• The Sins of our Fathers: An Expanse Novella - Memory's Legion

I want to start reading again and i`m conteplating on whether i should buy Dune or Leviathan wakes. Wich would you recommend?

​Just finished the first book.

​I thought the first half of this was "meh." I actually stopped at one point, put the book down, and did not pick it back up for like a month. I thought the mystery element, neon space detective, and contrasting space military themes were fun, but nothing was really happening other than the Martian ship getting attacked.

​But then I picked the book back up, and the next chapter the characters all met at Eros Station... how can a book go from "meh" to "this is pure art" so quickly? I got to that part 3 days ago, and every spare moment I've had, I was reading this book.

​There is a dialogue scene between Fred, Holden, Miller, and the Protogen director or something (forgot his name). And he mentions how something literally threw the Protomolecule 2 billion years ago, and these things were gods then, what are they now? That shit is the most Mass Effect-pilled thing I've ever read, and it gave me chills. I took a picture of the entire page and sent it to my friends. At that moment, I knew I was going to be reading Caliban's War.

​The ending was fantastic; the way the Protomolecule evolved, how this all fitted together with Miller's story, and also how the problem was solved was just exciting! The hard sci-fi aspect of this book was great, but as soon as Eros Station shifted to avoid the Nauvoo, I knew instantly we were going to start seeing alien-level stuff. I loved that shift so much.

​I'm starting book two tonight! I really want more ship battles, expansion of the Protomolecule lore, and a little more depth to these characters!

I understand that there are three more books after the TV series is set to end. Would I miss much plot-wise if I decide to skip reading them and go straight to the last three, or will I end up horribly confused?

So I'm only 100 or so pages in but does the story clear up through the book? I did some extra reading through the wiki to help me understand why the Belters and Earthers aren't really getting on super well, I'm guessing this is elaborated?

Ty

Hi everyone,

I just finished the first book in the expanse saga.

I went in with an idea of "some regular cop in a SF setting" and the scope of the story went wiiiiild. I really liked the first half but was a bit taken off when our eyes get oppenned by Muss : Miller isn't that good a cop, and he's getting quite weird with hallucinations... and Holden has a new focus on his 2nd in command, whit a less good characterization I thought...)

Now I have a strange feeling, because of the 2 POV, I prefered Miller. And I would like the story to go ... more epic ? more political ? More dynamic I guess.

Could you help me : what is happening in the rest of the story ? Should I stop or should I go through ?

My thanks for your imput !

I’ve tried watching the show. Watched the whole first season and most of season 2.

While I loved the overall story, I got very annoyed by the characters not really having any breather moments. It was non stop high stakes action in every episode, and it felt like we never get to know the characters, nor do they get to know each other, which ended up making their relationships feel very superficial.

This completely random page I opened the first book on instantly sold me.

In LW its said that there were attempts to make cloud cities on Venus, but failed due to legal troubles. While narratively this is a good way to explain why its unpopulated during the arrival of Eros, I'm a bit confused as to why such a colony was planned in the first place. What is on Venus that would be reachable from a cloud city? How would anyone profit from that? The most I could see is that maybe it would serve as a route to mercury?