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paradigm_shiftThis will contain spoilers for the first novel of the Expanse series by the team known as James S. A. Corey, and is a reread, though it has been some time.
Given that I can see the book currently has two holds on it, I thought I had better get cracking and put it back in rotation.
Chapters are split between character point of views, though we may not visit everyone, and there is a prologue.
Prologue ⇉ Chapter 7
The prologue is short, but is key to the rest of the story. Something happened on that ship. It wasn't important who they were, or maybe the fact was that they needed to be nobodies (if you ignore the fact that they were OPA*, and conducting either very sensitive, or legally dubious activities), but also that the boarders seemed to have gotten what they wanted, though it wasn't information, or physical goods.
Does Julie every figure out why they were boarded? I guess we might never know.
*something we readers learn more about later
If the prologue established a tone, in the early chapters, we get a lot of world building. We get a sense of time, we get a sense of scale, and most of all, we also get the nitty, gritty of human survival in the expanded solar system.
There is a bit about the Solomon Epstein fusion drive... "...with a good scope, you could still see his ship going at a marginal percentage of the speed of light, heading out into the big empty. The best, longest funeral in the history of mankind." is going to stay we me for quite a long time, because dark humour, ha ha. And of course, also the poetic finish that "The Epstein Drive hadn't given humanity the stars, but it had delivered the planets."
We're on a ship. A big ship. A cargo ship, in fact.
It's interesting how water is the resource of choice for the writers to fall back on. In the prologue, Julie is dying of thirst, and in the first chapter, Holden and his other crewmates are part of a company which transports the much needed substance out into the other planetary settlements.
Knowing what's coming, Holden's comments about Naomi, and Belters (naturalized Mars colonists) makes me sigh and want to kick him in the shins a little. Early on, we start to see edges of political conflict, on multiple levels. He was born and raised on Earth, btw.
Aw, space prosthetics, and what seems to be an actual health insurance plan in a company. Wow. Color me surprised. I had forgotten that little detail. (VS other medical advances like limb regrowing?) Oh, and maggots for ridding people of dead/decaying flesh! I am quite excited. This is my jam.
So more ship life stuff, work life balance, long term vs short term goals and the impossibility of relationships because of previous reasons... and then you have the emergency alarm.
Rule #1 of space: If there's a distress call, and it's not faked (afayk), you have to answer it. One way or another.
Oh no, it's the Scopuli.
Oh a Miller chapter. I don't really care for Miller, even if his chapters are somewhat supposed to evoke that 1940s pulp noir style. Admittedly, those are hit or miss too. But he is such a sad, sad, man.
We do get more about Belter culture, language melting pots, different ways of expression (by necessity).
He's a cop/security officer stationed out on a moon of Jupiter, Ceres. Where Earth is technically the ones pulling the major strings.
OPA is the Outer Planet Alliance. Which opposes Earth led politics.
Anyway, there seems to be something going on with the gangs on Ceres, and while the OPA was briefly under suspicion, it doesn't work for long. However it can be noted that crime seems to have gone down, with no visible replacement for the missing gang leaders/members, etc. And that makes security nervous.
Not that it lasts long, because Miller gets pulled for a special assignment. (Not a team player, dealing poorly with life changes, investors have money, ACAB - and he knows it). The assignment? A missing daughter. Julie.
Mars has a Texan accent.
Holden sets off with a smaller crew in the secondary ship (the baby ship), and they go off to rescue/salvage/observe what's left, while their mother ship waits. It was an uncomfortable rush to get there, and some people adjust better than others.
By some people, we mean those who grew up in the deeper reaches of space.
Big ship The Canterbury, the little ship The Knight... a reference to The Canterbury Tales? Or just a naming scheme? 100% the names used by the authors have deeper meanings. There is a story in them called the Knight's Tale. Will look it up.
Anyway, the Scopuli is off, because it is fully dark, and is determined to have been manually manoeuvred into its position after being damaged. It's probably a bad idea to check it out... and Holden decides to check it out, and sticks with that plan even with the mounting signs of something is off. It's a vital part of his personality, though how much would have changed if he had decided to listen to his original orders or GTFO if something seemed off... I really don't think matters in this case - they were pretty much fucked when they picked up the distress signal and responded to it.
Back to Miller.
I don't like these transitions, because it cuts off at pivot points in the action. Great for keeping interest, it does annoy me in terms of pacing though. I want to know, and I do not care enough about revisiting Miller to care.
We continue to get more Earther vs Belter conflict, in attitude, in thought, in action. Havelock, from Earth not fitting in with everyone else, given how Ceres is in space, and he isn't from there. Miller, also not a Belter, but not from a core planet, babysitting. To keep things from escalating, and then, the flipside of what was going on with the Canterbury and the Knight, but just the beginnings of the aftermath, beginning with a broadcast.
Which means we cut back to Holden, just a little bit before:
Everything's weird, and the Canterbury sounds an immediate evac, which means everyone strapping in, and planning the best course after they get weird readings on the sensors.
Turns out, there was a hidden ship. And it utterly decimates the Canterbury.
Everyone not the enemy ship initially misreads the situation, because your first assumption for an ambush would be piracy for profit. Not utter destruction. The Canterbury is gone, as is everyone on board. Nukes do that.
Being sole survivors isn't all that great. That, and the sole witnesses. Holden, once again impulsively messages the enemy ship, though whether the other ship picks it up or not, is a question. It doesn't matter, they got what they wanted. because they had plenty of time to also shoot the Knight to pieces, but doesn't.
Naomi talks Holden around from immediately going after the other ship, though Amos is in favour. She's got such a level head, it's a great foil to the whole emotional impulsiveness that Holden has.
Alex, the pilot notes the levels of tech involved with the other ship. The stealth, the weapons... and makes a leap to Mars. It gets confirmed when they dig out the battery on the emergency transmitter they took back with them, as the battery is branded with the name of the Martian Navy.
Anyway, we know Holden tells the world. (Bad move.)
Miller translates the consequences.
Because uninitiated attack? On a irreplaceable resource ship?
It means war. With Mars. And there's no chance anyone will stop to talk about it first. (Not going to go into the exact details of why, but a lot of it comes down to how much life support is so integral in a space system, a closed system).
Anyway, expect chaos in Ceres, as people riot, and some Belters take extreme actions against those they perceive have wronged them. (The local Earthers).
It's not fun. Especially when they find out the riot gear's been stolen and all they have is SWAT gear (but thankfully not enough for everyone.) which is much more lethal.
So, Holden also contacts his company. Their response? (Quite some time later) Well, there's a reason I don't much care for corporate HR. Seems like they're going to be arrested by the Martian Navy, by order.
He also had a bit of a break to muse of morals of shooting down a ship like the Canterbury, knowing that for some orders are orders, but there are bad orders, and good orders.
Back to the whole arrested by Mars thing: Run, or stay, it's not looking great.
So new plan:
In which all problems can be solved with a broadcast! (As they say in later books: KEEP HOLDEN AWAY FROM THE RADIO!) It does mean, however, that people will know where they went, and no one can say that hey, that group that started the war? Not missing. Not a bunch of actors hired to cause trouble. Actually have to deal with it as a problem that can't be swept under a rug.
But if run comes to shove, Holden takes full responsibility and everyone else left on the ship had nothing to do with any of it. (At least his heart's in the right place.) It's a waiting game until the Mars ship picks them up.
Of course, to add another layer of complexity - it seems like there's another party interested in the Knight, though beyond what is picked up on scanners, we know nothing more.
Addendum: I looked up the Knight's Tale by Chaucer. It could be argued that while they are not direct parallels, the results of Miller's and Holden's character journeys are much distorted reflections of the two knights in the story.
Next part
Given that I can see the book currently has two holds on it, I thought I had better get cracking and put it back in rotation.
Chapters are split between character point of views, though we may not visit everyone, and there is a prologue.
Prologue ⇉ Chapter 7
We begin in the halls of the Scopuli, to Julie. A woman who had been hiding out for eight days. Eight days. After being attacked, though for what reason, they don't know. But given the conditions she was in, I am guessing there's some form of live support in the suit, even if she's so thirsty, she can't talk.
Anyway, everyone else is most likelydefinitelydead, from what she could make out from her locker. Being spaced is no joke, nor is anything else that seemed to be happening. Trauma +80,000.
But enough is enough, it's leave, or die, I suppose. To what has to be a space age horror story. Empty rooms, first in pristine condition, then more and more signs of having had people there, or struggle. Yet no one seems to have left? Or not through the expected means. (She can hear the airlock, remember?) All leading to a locked door, that she breaks through, and what else is there but terror? With the sinking realization that what she sees is actually what that is. Not death, not gore, but flesh. What else can you call the viscera that faces her? With the still living head of her former Captain?
The prologue is short, but is key to the rest of the story. Something happened on that ship. It wasn't important who they were, or maybe the fact was that they needed to be nobodies (if you ignore the fact that they were OPA*, and conducting either very sensitive, or legally dubious activities), but also that the boarders seemed to have gotten what they wanted, though it wasn't information, or physical goods.
Does Julie every figure out why they were boarded? I guess we might never know.
*something we readers learn more about later
If the prologue established a tone, in the early chapters, we get a lot of world building. We get a sense of time, we get a sense of scale, and most of all, we also get the nitty, gritty of human survival in the expanded solar system.
There is a bit about the Solomon Epstein fusion drive... "...with a good scope, you could still see his ship going at a marginal percentage of the speed of light, heading out into the big empty. The best, longest funeral in the history of mankind." is going to stay we me for quite a long time, because dark humour, ha ha. And of course, also the poetic finish that "The Epstein Drive hadn't given humanity the stars, but it had delivered the planets."
We're on a ship. A big ship. A cargo ship, in fact.
It's interesting how water is the resource of choice for the writers to fall back on. In the prologue, Julie is dying of thirst, and in the first chapter, Holden and his other crewmates are part of a company which transports the much needed substance out into the other planetary settlements.
Knowing what's coming, Holden's comments about Naomi, and Belters (naturalized Mars colonists) makes me sigh and want to kick him in the shins a little. Early on, we start to see edges of political conflict, on multiple levels. He was born and raised on Earth, btw.
Aw, space prosthetics, and what seems to be an actual health insurance plan in a company. Wow. Color me surprised. I had forgotten that little detail. (VS other medical advances like limb regrowing?) Oh, and maggots for ridding people of dead/decaying flesh! I am quite excited. This is my jam.
So more ship life stuff, work life balance, long term vs short term goals and the impossibility of relationships because of previous reasons... and then you have the emergency alarm.
Rule #1 of space: If there's a distress call, and it's not faked (afayk), you have to answer it. One way or another.
Oh no, it's the Scopuli.
Oh a Miller chapter. I don't really care for Miller, even if his chapters are somewhat supposed to evoke that 1940s pulp noir style. Admittedly, those are hit or miss too. But he is such a sad, sad, man.
We do get more about Belter culture, language melting pots, different ways of expression (by necessity).
He's a cop/security officer stationed out on a moon of Jupiter, Ceres. Where Earth is technically the ones pulling the major strings.
OPA is the Outer Planet Alliance. Which opposes Earth led politics.
Anyway, there seems to be something going on with the gangs on Ceres, and while the OPA was briefly under suspicion, it doesn't work for long. However it can be noted that crime seems to have gone down, with no visible replacement for the missing gang leaders/members, etc. And that makes security nervous.
Not that it lasts long, because Miller gets pulled for a special assignment. (Not a team player, dealing poorly with life changes, investors have money, ACAB - and he knows it). The assignment? A missing daughter. Julie.
Mars has a Texan accent.
Holden sets off with a smaller crew in the secondary ship (the baby ship), and they go off to rescue/salvage/observe what's left, while their mother ship waits. It was an uncomfortable rush to get there, and some people adjust better than others.
By some people, we mean those who grew up in the deeper reaches of space.
Big ship The Canterbury, the little ship The Knight... a reference to The Canterbury Tales? Or just a naming scheme? 100% the names used by the authors have deeper meanings. There is a story in them called the Knight's Tale. Will look it up.
Anyway, the Scopuli is off, because it is fully dark, and is determined to have been manually manoeuvred into its position after being damaged. It's probably a bad idea to check it out... and Holden decides to check it out, and sticks with that plan even with the mounting signs of something is off. It's a vital part of his personality, though how much would have changed if he had decided to listen to his original orders or GTFO if something seemed off... I really don't think matters in this case - they were pretty much fucked when they picked up the distress signal and responded to it.
Back to Miller.
I don't like these transitions, because it cuts off at pivot points in the action. Great for keeping interest, it does annoy me in terms of pacing though. I want to know, and I do not care enough about revisiting Miller to care.
We continue to get more Earther vs Belter conflict, in attitude, in thought, in action. Havelock, from Earth not fitting in with everyone else, given how Ceres is in space, and he isn't from there. Miller, also not a Belter, but not from a core planet, babysitting. To keep things from escalating, and then, the flipside of what was going on with the Canterbury and the Knight, but just the beginnings of the aftermath, beginning with a broadcast.
Which means we cut back to Holden, just a little bit before:
Everything's weird, and the Canterbury sounds an immediate evac, which means everyone strapping in, and planning the best course after they get weird readings on the sensors.
Turns out, there was a hidden ship. And it utterly decimates the Canterbury.
Everyone not the enemy ship initially misreads the situation, because your first assumption for an ambush would be piracy for profit. Not utter destruction. The Canterbury is gone, as is everyone on board. Nukes do that.
Being sole survivors isn't all that great. That, and the sole witnesses. Holden, once again impulsively messages the enemy ship, though whether the other ship picks it up or not, is a question. It doesn't matter, they got what they wanted. because they had plenty of time to also shoot the Knight to pieces, but doesn't.
Naomi talks Holden around from immediately going after the other ship, though Amos is in favour. She's got such a level head, it's a great foil to the whole emotional impulsiveness that Holden has.
Alex, the pilot notes the levels of tech involved with the other ship. The stealth, the weapons... and makes a leap to Mars. It gets confirmed when they dig out the battery on the emergency transmitter they took back with them, as the battery is branded with the name of the Martian Navy.
Anyway, we know Holden tells the world. (Bad move.)
Miller translates the consequences.
Because uninitiated attack? On a irreplaceable resource ship?
It means war. With Mars. And there's no chance anyone will stop to talk about it first. (Not going to go into the exact details of why, but a lot of it comes down to how much life support is so integral in a space system, a closed system).
Anyway, expect chaos in Ceres, as people riot, and some Belters take extreme actions against those they perceive have wronged them. (The local Earthers).
It's not fun. Especially when they find out the riot gear's been stolen and all they have is SWAT gear (but thankfully not enough for everyone.) which is much more lethal.
So, Holden also contacts his company. Their response? (Quite some time later) Well, there's a reason I don't much care for corporate HR. Seems like they're going to be arrested by the Martian Navy, by order.
He also had a bit of a break to muse of morals of shooting down a ship like the Canterbury, knowing that for some orders are orders, but there are bad orders, and good orders.
Back to the whole arrested by Mars thing: Run, or stay, it's not looking great.
So new plan:
In which all problems can be solved with a broadcast! (As they say in later books: KEEP HOLDEN AWAY FROM THE RADIO!) It does mean, however, that people will know where they went, and no one can say that hey, that group that started the war? Not missing. Not a bunch of actors hired to cause trouble. Actually have to deal with it as a problem that can't be swept under a rug.
But if run comes to shove, Holden takes full responsibility and everyone else left on the ship had nothing to do with any of it. (At least his heart's in the right place.) It's a waiting game until the Mars ship picks them up.
Of course, to add another layer of complexity - it seems like there's another party interested in the Knight, though beyond what is picked up on scanners, we know nothing more.
Addendum: I looked up the Knight's Tale by Chaucer. It could be argued that while they are not direct parallels, the results of Miller's and Holden's character journeys are much distorted reflections of the two knights in the story.
Next part
