This Girl's Read of 2015: Nemesis Games, James S. A. Corey

As in years past, 2015's read of the year coincidentally lights up my brain just as the days darken and windows begin to reflect the sparkle of holiday lights. With the tree up, Christmas has suddenly advanced significantly in this house with seven types of cookies in the freezer and a generous amount of rum in the cupboard. My husband confessed that whenever he sees me near the tree he hankers for an eggnog; must have something to do with my name, inspires drinky feels. With this festive beverage firmly nestled in your brain, time to reflect on what makes a book worthy of the number one spot. Personally, my read of the year must be an all encompassing experience, something that blinds the world, slowing reality while simultaneously rushing time as the pages run out far to quickly. 

And of utmost importance for this girl so happens to be the fifth instalment of James S. A. Corey's The Expanse, Nemesis Games. Ever since the charged Leviathan Wakes, The Expanse has kept me, a self-confessed space opera junky firmly in the stars. A sucker for all things vomit zombie related, the substantive world building and charismatic allure of this series has never left me dismayed with disappointment.

Nemesis Games returns James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante to our solar system having escaped the perils found in Cibola Burn. I am a spoiler-free book reviewer, alluding to greatness without jeopardizing the reading pleasure and thus finding this post difficult. It is not like I am recommending you to jump into this serious at the 5th stage, this is a courtship with the entire grouping. 

Keystone to the overarching plot, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th were grand studies of humanity's reluctance to learn from our past. Nemesis Games focuses on the personal, revealing the complex lives of James Holden's crew whom have yet to have their moment. And when the authors decided to give the crew their moment they decided to go pedal to the metal, escalating an already intense series to an all time high. There is an apex in every grand literary series at which immediacy is craved. Space opera, if it is to become really good space opera uses the universe as it's stage while grounding the narrative with a human perspective.  Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga shines because she knows how to write likeable characters. And with Bujold, Baker and Herbert, Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham intrinsically know the key to The Expanse's success is the crew of the Rocinante. The addition of depth to Naomi, Amos and Alex keeps the heartbeat of the storyline, reminding us, that even in space, forgiveness and love are a worthy pursuit even with the destruction of the Earth. 

Sshh, you didn't read that. 

All I Want for Christmas: This Girl's Wish List

With Jo Walton sorting out your gift-buying this season, the ultimate question remains, what does this girl want to see under the tree? Most years, my book list is circumvented by my very wily hubby who makes a trek down to the local SF bookstore at which, I can only guess he calls in the masters and mistresses of book wisdom to discuss what a space operatic nutter would like. The meeting of minds (and robes because in my mind all SF book owners are part of a secret geeky society with strict rules around cloaks, robes and capes) has resulted in some ultimate gifts culminating with me discovering and subsequently falling all over myself for the Expanse series. 

Many a holiday has been highlighted by my reading choices, as I guess all of us are want to do. The right read at the right time is the simply the best of all worlds and unlike food can be re-visited, treating the books as little time capsules of happiness. As mentioned Ibsen will forever have my heart, but so too does John Richardson Picasso biography. Seeing those three tomes of extreme detail, chalked full with art on my shelf puts the feeling of Boxing Day sloth mode fully into my brain. For my American friends, Boxing Day is the best and I highly recommend you adopt this further extension of Christmas. Christmas may be the big daddy of glamour, but Boxing Day is the PJ wearing choco-eating from your lap, playing Trivia Pursuit while gnawing on a turkey leg by 10, cool little cousin. 

Thanks in part to my library-only policy and a recent trip to Arizona, my book list is slightly less extensive. I may have lightly indulged at a large U.S bookstore taking advantage of the slight mark-down in book prices. I say slight, because at one time books just south of the Canadian border were being sold for a nickel, a nickel I tell ya; now, not so much.  I can still buy a bottle of rum for a quarter, fill my gas-tank with spare change but the simple act of locating a bookstore, never mind buying a book is a feat for the seasoned warrior. Where have all the book-store in the States gone?  

First up, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. I have deep affection, fascination, fandom of Russia. Really, it is quite odd as I am not Russian, nor can claim any past heritage to the Motherland but for some reason the land speaks to me. Whether it be Tostoy's vodka-drinking, ice-skating, fur-wearing aristocratic glimpse, Dostoevsky's deep despair, the Soviet era, Putin, I want to go to there. I have many friends who are Russian, who fled Russia, who share little insights into the corruption, the crime, the poverty and yet I want to go to there. I have a dear friend, whose mother was in the war, who ate shoe leather to survive, who had shrapnel in her body until her passing, I still want to go to there. As for my friend, she fled with her small son and husband, managing to escape to Israel and yet, I still want to go to there. And so when I read Anton's review on Genre-Bending, it was a done deal. Nothing like a Russian, reading a Russian perspective of the goings-on  to grab my full attention. So yes, this Christmas I want corruption, I want the Motherland.

Next up is the continued exploration of the newest SF author on the big stage, Karen Lord. On the list is her inaugural award-winning fantasy novel Redemption in Indigo and the newly released The Galaxy Game that continues the world-building found in The Best of All Possible Worlds. I want them both, yes I do.  I have a feeling that Karen Lord is onto something, opening the genre into a new an exciting branch of SF story-telling. I want to be there for this amazing and a long time coming, triumph. To do that though, I really need to check out her other books to confirm whether I am correct or not. I know I am though, my geeky SF sense is tingling.

And with that, I am done. I know, it is rather shocking but I already own The Maze Runner, have Good Omens on my night-stand and may have purchased some gems for some loved-ones that I may (you never know) read once they are done.  I cannot mention the titles as that would ruin Christmas, but I anticipate happy days ahead for some people.

Cotton Candy Days: A Review of Cibola Burns, James S.A. Corey

The wind is whipping through the greenery casting shadows of summer over my computer as I intently stare at one of my flower containers. Over night the flora in my backyard started sprouting bizarre off-shoots morphing the entire species into something completely unrecognizable.  I don't know what is happening but hazard a guess that August is at foot; August, North America's sweetest sorrow.

Here in Toronto where I live, much to the dismay of some of my maritime cousins, there is nothing that hammers home the end of all things flip-flop than the CNE. The CNE this city's local fair runs for three blessed corn dog, fried pickle weeks wrapping up all it's greasy goodness Labour Day long weekend. It has all the bells and whistles:  cotton candy, games of chance, twice fried butter, mid-way, corn dogs, The Polar Express. I just love me a good fair. The only drawback is the lacklustre displays of pies, jams, breads, quilts, best-looking gourds, tomatoes, and dahlias.  Being the largest fair in this country, you would assume that there was a stage dedicated to hourly pie beauty contests. Alas, the home economic feats of excellence has been surpassed by endless shammy, magic blender displays.

But where is the science fiction, you ask, where? Folks, things are going to get nuts very quickly as I commence my very subjective review of Cibola Burn,
fourth instalment of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. I thought a nice segue, filled with the spirit of cotton candy would lull you into a semi-conscious state before I slam you with space-operatic enthusiasm bordering close on obsession. James S. A. Corey is the pen name writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck who have my heart forever since the release of their first book, Leviathan Wakes. The two wanted to capture the point at which humanity moved from the confines of our solar system into the great expanse that is the universe, during that rather bumpy, vomit zombie process, opening Pandora's Box. To date, we have met a sentient Venus, the very alien, very scary protomolecule, a full-scale Mars/Earth/Outer Planets war, Medina, a gateway eons old, now humanities access to countless star systems and the crew of the Rocinante, who always happen to be at the wrong place at the right time.

The Expanse books are reliant upon each other. Pick up Cibola Burn without doing your do diligence of reading the other three and you will be one very confused but entertained reader. All four are fast-paced, with Leviathan Wakes the best written with Cibola Burn coming in second. Cibola Burn moves the plot along to humans settling our first planet beyond our little corner of the Milky Way. Using the Gate, the crew of the Rocinante are requested by the United Nations to act as mediators on a newly discovered planet, rich in minerals, contested over by two groups of settlers.


While Calaban's War, and Abaddon's Gate are politically charged plots with great character development, Cibola Burn hones in upon humanities homegrown nightmares; racism, greed. Hence we have a book that is possibly more horrifying than the others simply because we recognize the fear more easily. This does not attenuate the spine- tingling alien anxiety that pulses through all The Expanse books. What is currently thriving on Venus may have it's protomolecular tentacles through-out the universe. Settlement has never been so harried. Cibola Burn delivers a more focused story-line of the same plot driven question pulsing through all the books; are we alone and do we truly want to find out if we are or worse, we aren't? 

The Expanse series is an amazing romp with Cibola Burn a SF grand slam home run. Go now, read it and be forever freaked out.

Review: 2013

I am beside myself with post-Christmas reading excitement. While many a family find the time proceeding the big turkey day for more family gatherings and adventures in retail therapy, in our house we progress quickly to full sloth mode. Days come and go in which PJs are changed from dirty to clean without ever really contemplating putting on day clothing. The husband of the house may not be seen until 2 in the afternoon, from which he rumbles down the stairs in search of food and subsequently his family. The son, just shy of 4 sports not one, not two but five well-placed DC comic tattoos across his little body as he runs from one activity to another, happily munching on candy canes with side orders of turkey. As for me, the momma, I read and I read and I read, read, read, read. 

Sitting at my feet are a pile of books, the very books I have asked for on my wish list, plus a few more. There is no greater level of excitement for me than a pile to read through and time to do that very deed. As I sit here typing, the books seems to wink at me, whispering to put the computer aside, bidding me to come and start a new literary adventure. Before I fall into the reading trap I find I must get this one last post out before the new year, after all it has been two years of posting with 2013 being a remarkable year for books.  

I became part of the Liaden Universe, seriously immersing myself into it's expansive folds of romance and space operatic thematics becoming a fast fan of Lee and Miller. Thanks to a blogger friend I picked up Primary Inversion, falling completely head over heals and as quickly falling out of favour once I moved further into the series. My intentions for Girl's Guide to Sci-Fi has always been two-fold:  convince people to read SF while on a personal note become a more rounded SF reader.  I found myself picking up books by Pratchett, Banks, Novik, Robinson, Mieville reading old themes and with relief some new. I liked some, raved over others and found disappoint in more books than I thought I would.  2013 was my year of exploration, pushing myself to see how much I truly knew the genre and whether there are parts to it I have left to read (Steam Punk, you on my list for 2014). I pushed myself so far that I burnt myself out, having to reset my gears with a string of mysteries at the end of year.  


2013 began with a bang with the discovery of The Rook and the continuation of the Expanse series; I was lost in tales of magic and space operatic horror. Daniel O'Malley became my new author to troll, maybe stalk, discovering if and when the sophomore narrative of his magical world would be out (not it appears any time soon). The process of waiting for an author to a complete, edit, publish and distribute a book was the bane of my year. With many of my favourite reads parts of trilogies, my world of waiting seemed an endless process. To complicate the matter, I decided to return to the library, relinquishing my buying power for good old common sense/cents.  And so with library card in hand, I became number 42 on many a waiting list, suddenly having to learn patience and new found willingness to read authors unknown or who I thought were too SF even for me. As you may have predicted, it turns out that nothing is too SF for me, too fantasy yes, but too SF, never.

With 2013 closing, my heap of books are ready for 2014. I expect great things this coming year, as should you all.  Happy reading!

HSB: A Review of Abaddon`s Gate, James S. A. Corey

The day has arrived that I am able to discuss Abaddon's Gate, the final book (but guess what it's not the final book!) ending (nope, not ending) the Expanse Series that I so absolutely, holy shit balls (HSB) level, love.

Where does one start to being objective when truly all I want to be is a giddy psycho, yelling gibberish on a soap box about reading this series?  I guess at the beginning:  space opera.  As you are well aware, the operatic nuances of space is a sub-genre I cannot get enough of.  Keep it relatively light, keep it moving and keep it within the vacuum of SPACE and I am all yours.  Even though I have a low tolerance for violence, I still can look beyond gore as long as it is reflective to the plot.  Or do I? as I seem to be the only geek on the planet not singing the tune to fire and ice..  For the sweet crap guys, is there enough blood...you sick bastards....where was I?

Let me not mislead you, The Expanse is not void of violence.  In Caliban`s War, book two, Venus becomes sentient making it`s life mission to turn the human race into vomit zombies.  Abaddon`s Gate's tendency to violence is more intimate as the authors remove the presences of the alien-esque quality to the horrors, bringing them into the arena of humanity pitted against itself.  There is something quite frightening to admit that the true horror in the universe is our inaccurate perception of reality and the resultant violence we inflict on ourselves.    Not diminishing the fact that what was so friggin scary in one and two ends up being even more ridiculously scary.

What the crap is going on?

Abaddon`s Gate moves in a direction that at the half way point felt removed from the series.  The first two books effectively portray a solar system stretched to its limits.  Humanity has been broken down into three groups:  Belters, Martians and Earthers.  The gravity you grew up in, defines you, profiling you.  We (humanity) continue in this future of the Expanse to create hate based on nuances of differences.   A bleak perspective but in my estimation, a pretty accurate one.  It is nice to hope that the Start Trek universe of equality (accept for those no good Romulans and Q, what the hell is up with Q) is the direction we are moving towards.  There tends to be this Disney Land perspective of the future that a lot of main stream SF speaks to.  While nice, and by nice I do not mean nice, this is not the SF that holds my interest and keeps me so loyal to the genre.   I want grit, I want emotions, I want a reality that sings to the complexity of putting people into the reaches of space, expecting them to live in environmentally-controlled ships and hulled out satellites, where one small mistake results in annihilation .  I want a future that holds to the essence of who we are while moving us further from our home, Earth.  

A-holes

This is why I HSB love The Expanse. The characters start out archetypal, then move beyond those confines into real people who want to be loved, to be surrounded by friends and not be turned into vomit zombies.  Hey, don`t we all want to avoid the vomit zombie thing when it comes down to it? Can`t we love one another based on avoiding that fate? Abaddon`s Gate reveals that no we actually can`t, and as a result, royally screwing our chances of survival to one out three vomit zombies. 

But how does Abaddon`s Gate fair in comparison to the other two in the series:  Leviathan Wakes, Caliban`s War? As I alluded to, and then effectively went rogue from, it at first does not fit and then as you reach the conclusion, realizing that there is no conclusion, just more choices to make, Abaddon`s Gate is the perfect ending to a sweet ass space opera.   Similar to the final book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, the series ends with the personal long lasting damage of war and the effects misguided hate mixed with misunderstanding can do.  Abaddon`s Gate does not fly like Leviathan Wakes, nor captures the political drama of the solar system of Calaban`s War, instead it brings the stories home to our doorsteps.  It makes the alien quality of the protomolecule a stage to humanities inability to work as one, focusing it all through the eyes of the four crew members, a dead detective, a security chief and a preacher, named Ann.  It is the most violent of the three, holding the least amount of hope while continuing to glory in the goodness of humanity.

  It is straight up HSB good.  

Anticipation: A cruel mistress

Like this time last year I am having difficulty in trying to choose the right books to pack.  Your assumption is correct, I am going away to visit water.  Still a book lover and not an e-reader owner, I lack the technology to store an infinite catalog of books.  However the tech allure is mounting daily especially with airlines being so stingy on weight requirements.  Since the budget is allotted for beers, sandals and beers, the kindle bindle with have to wait. What am I going to read?  Frankly, I have no clue, but the odds are in favour of dragons or some type of space thingy.  In all honesty, the books I want to read have yet to be released.  In order of freak out levels, here are my top 4 most anticipated reads.

Read me

  
I am thrilled beyond measure that there will be a series about The Checquy.  Daniel O'Malley, author of The Rook has smartly decided to carry on, thus feeding his new adoring public with more tales from the super secretive, highly important British governmental magic division.  When will this bad boy be released?  Considering O'Malley's publisher and editor received their copies in Jan. it is going to be awhile.  How do I know this, he told us so in his rather fabulous verbose blog.   Level of Anticipation:  2 out of 5 freak outs.  Having just reread the book, I can wait.  Like I have a choice. 

Who's that guy?

Continuing with the fantastic, it will come to no surprise that Mercedes Lackey's (and various authors) next installation of the The Secret World Chronicle is big on my to read list.  Based on the rather disturbingly hyper popular MMO, City of Heroes, these collections of stories are offered first as podcast installments then later printed onto paper, bound and available for purchase.  In other words, they are made into books, that I then buy.  If you are looking for something fun to read, and when I say fun I mean "comic book, action packed, super insane, the world is being taken over by Nazi Robots, thank goodness for the super power league who will save us" then this is the series for you.  Level of anticipation:  3 out of 5 freak outs.  Hey, a girl sometimes just wants to read some ass kicking that is milder than the Games of Thrones but more ultra-violent than Spider-man circa 1967.

Rated G for generally awesome

October! WTF

Dang it all to heck and back again, but I have fallen victim to Young Adult or YA if you must know.  Thanks in part to The Hunger Games, which I was so slow in finally reading and so wrong in not picking up sooner, I chanced up on  The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth.  To say that I am keening on the impeding release of the yet to be named Book 3 is an understatement.  Level of Anticipation:  4 out of 5 freak outs.  Roaming the Young Adult section in the book store is rather creepy.  Just publish the darn book so I can scurry into a corner and get my fix.

OMG

4 out 5 freak outs for a YA book means simply that it is awesome.  The question remains what book is causing me to break out in hives from anticipation?  If you have to ask then you haven't been paying attention to my recent posts about The Expanse Series:  Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War.  We (humanity) are not alone.  Venus is sentient and has a habit of transforming humans into vomit zombies.  It's a problem.  
Level of Anticipation:  5 out of 5 freak outs.  This is the best space opera I have read in years and am loving every sentence.  A must for all you space junkies.

Quest for The Empire Strikes Back: A Review of Caliban's War, James S. A. Corey

The future looks bleak, little point in investing in new bathroom tiles as Venus is about to kill us all.  And that is how I am going to start my new post with the apocalyptic prediction that the end is at hand, thanks in full to the second book in The Expanse Series, Caliban's War.

Like the first book  in the series (you know the post where I went ape shit crazy over Leviathan Wakes), Caliban's War is a spectacular space opera.  Not too surprising, as this is a continuation of events that  spiralled out of control for humanity in book one.   If you loved Leviathan Wakes then you were committed to the end, having to read 2, and soon 3 quickly as humanly possible.  A trilogy is good when it has an addictive quality.  Like stupid-ass potato chips that we are only now learning were laboratory created so you can't just eat one ,  a good series is like crack potato chips.  In the midst of this type of reading addiction, can objectivity come into play to decide if all the books deserve the same acclaim?  I would say, yes.  We know when something works, for example Die Hard and what doesn't, Die Hard II, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard and  the new gem, A Good Day to Die Hard.  I think I wasted some brain space having to look up and then type out those titles.  

The burning question is of course, is Caliban's War worth it's weight?  Is this The Empire's Strikes Back of The Expanse Series?  It pains me to say, no. Frankly, I am struggling to come up with a middle book that rises to such glory.  Having said that, the book is still awesome. I found myself tearing through the chapters trying not to freak myself out too much and not succeeding.  

So, what is going on with the solar system.  To be brief, because I really hate spoilers, we are screwed. Venus is most likely sentient and not in a friendly, "Hey humanity guys, wanna play some B- ball this weekend?", but in a "I will turn you all into vomit zombies!" Sigh, yes vomit zombies; I realize I didn't mention that in the Leviathan Wakes post but since you have all diligently read the book I can bring up the vomit. There is a lot of vomit.

What makes Caliban's War interestingly different enough, is the appearance of one tiny fouled-mouth Indian grandma. Chrisjen Avasarala, the assistant to the UN's undersecretary of executive administration is a unique character in SF.  I have never met someone like her in the theatre of the genre. She is tough, she is not white, and she is not young.  She is everything that I have been missing of late, a good character to grab onto. I love how she encompasses so much power, almost loses said power and then returns with vengeance to become even more powerful. Thanks to her story the overall angle of the plot takes a unique turn, it gets even more scary. Through Chisjen's perspective the alien threat takes on a more real threat. The story arc needed a character with more depth to pull off the weight of  the plot. As Chisjen freaks out, we freak out with her. Being privy to her private fears is a powerful means to convey the levity of the situation. Which I will refrain from mentioning, but there is vomit and zombies, and oh yeah, most likely a sentient Venus that wants to kick your ass. 

Brief Interlude: A Review of Beyond the Sky and the Earth, Jamie Zeppa

Beyond the Sky and the Earth, by Jamie Zeppa is not SF.  If you were to sit down and try to find 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon separation between SF and this book you would be 5000 steps apart.  I cannot even use my well-versed sarcasm to pretend this book into SF as it is a memoir of young women's adventure teaching in Bhutan.  So why include it?  To be frank I debated if I could.  Thank the Maker is clearly a platform for praising SF.  Beyond the Sky and the Earth is clearly not.  Here I am reading through this book that I have read countless times and still feel as I always do when I turn it's pages, contentment.

Feeling content is a powerful experience to receive from reading. Sure, maybe in your world this might be the reason you read, in mine not so much.  Novels of late have taken me on harried, emotional rides pushing me to turn pages faster, skim paragraphs for the gist all in the pursuit of the 5 Ws (don't forget how) quickly enough to (errr....) post about them.  (Hey, I'm a committed blogger.)  My reading resembles more a junky's need then a past-time.  Don't misinterpret me though, I have been loving these past months, having enjoyed some truly incredible books:  The Expanse Series, The Unincorporated Series, The Rook.  Is it necessary for me to type them out since you now have read all those books that I told you to, right.  Right?!

It is nice to just read, though.  Sit down with something familiar, and turn the pages at a more leisurely pace. Beyond the Sky and the Earth is my little break from Thank the Maker. It is my way to get out of my head, out of reading for reading.  This book is my personal memory journal.  No, I have never tripped over to Bhutan for an adventure, fell in-love with my student resulting in the birth of baby.  No, I have never meditated, emptying my mind of all thoughts while prayer flags whip in the wind.  But thanks to Jamie's honesty and writing prowess I feel like I have.       

I have grown up with this book.  Odd now that I think back to how long it has been with me.  Way back, before life here, I was a daughter, living in the prairies of Canada ready to get out and live.  And live I did.  My move to Japan shook up my world view, expanded my understanding of who I was and more importantly who I will always be no matter the location or the experience.  I take something new away each time I sit down with the memoir.  The copy I own is littered with scribbles, arrows pointing to poignant paragraphs that had at one point in my life, meaning.  This is truly a great travel memoir.  For all you reluctant SF readers, I give you Bhutan.  Hey, even Dune Girl needs a break from SF from time to time.  

Read of the Year: A Review of Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

In the final days of 2012 I finally found a book worthy to claim as the Read of 2012.   Among the alarming stack of books read there were some notable recommendations.   However there wasn't one book that screamed at me to scream at you to read it.  You must be thinking how can I even say that considering  I read Ready Player One.  Sure did, cannot argue that fact.    I am all for admitting that the book is cool.   So cool that I bullied quite a few friends into buying it.    But (tends to always be a but) when you think about it, would you read that book again?   The Read of the Year really is going to be something you want to go back to; what is the point of being blown away to never wanting to experience it again?  Because Ready Player One really is a hard copy experience of living/breathing/dying in the GAME, once you journey to the final level do you really need to experience that high again? I don't think so.    

That being said, what book knocked me over?  It is Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey.  Now this is where things get a little intense.  Not for the faint of heart, the book is SF at it's purest:  a truly operatic space adventure.  And what a lovely holiday it has been being riveted to the horror found within it's pages. Yes, I did type horror.   

The sub-category space opera has been used by me without fully comprehending it's meaning many a time.  Thanks to seeing the term splashed out in every single review of Leviathan Wakes I looked it up.   Apparently a book that exhibits romanticism or melodrama, usually between two warring factions is a space opera.  Oh, and all of this hububaloo must take place in space to make it legit otherwise you are holding in your hand Anna Karenina.  Now that would be something, Tolstoy in space.

Leviathan Wakes is turning out to be mega-long, keep-it-coming series.  Book two is out with the third to be released in the spring. Co-authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (James A. S. Corey is a sneaky pen name) created a universe in which humanity has expanded beyond the confines of Earth, and settled throughout the solar system.  Like The Unincorporated Series,  a percentage of humans have never lived on a planet, never seen blue skies, finds the idea of walking on Earth terrifying.  Politically you are either of Earth, Mars or the Belt.  The concept of being a Belter has drawn me into this story.  My imagination has come alive contemplating life in a hollowed-out asteroid.  The absolute of space has been wonderfully portrayed in Leviathan Wakes and it is this aspect that makes the book truly remarkable. There are not a lot of SF books that successfully draws you into a world that seems probable but also enviable   At least to a point, ignore the horror found in this book and you are all good.  I typed that word again, didn't I.