Well, That Escalated Quickly

May 2021
Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey – Hachette Digital, 2011
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Streaming services have undoubtedly increased the range and, in some regards, the quality of TV programming, but there are several of them and they almost all require a regular subscription. As someone with limited time for entertainment, an accountant father who taught me the value of money, and habits formed by many years of parsimonious student living, I refuse to subscribe to more than one of them. This means that when shows move between services, I often lose access to a series that I have been following. The Expanse is one of those. I enjoyed its plausible setting (Earth, Mars, and asteroid-based colonies, where humans born and raised in low-gravity environments have formed a distinctive culture known as Belters) and the science-fictional craziness of its conspiracy thriller plot, so it was a shame when the show jumped after its first two seasons to another service that I refuse to pay for. Fortunately the show is based on a sequence of novels by the authors Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham, and books, at least for now, are still universally available.

The biggest weakness of the TV show was the characters; the two leads, Earther space captain James Holden and Belter cop Joe Miller, were as bland as their names, and the secondary characters were under-developed bundles of quirks. Sadly this is an accurate reflection of the book. However, the plot pacing works much better when it doesn't have to be spread over ten hour-long episodes.
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