Thirteen hundred gates have opened to solar systems around the galaxy. But as humanity builds its interstellar empire in the alien ruins, the mysteries and threats grow deeper.
In the dead systems where gates lead to stranger things than alien planets, Elvi Okoye begins a desperate search to discover the nature of a genocide that happened before the first human beings existed, and to find weapons to fight a war against forces at the edge of the imaginable. But the price of that knowledge may be higher than she can pay.
At the heart of the empire, Teresa Duarte prepares to take on the burden of her father’s godlike ambition. The sociopathic scientist Paolo Cortázar and the Mephistophelian prisoner James Holden are only two of the dangers in a palace thick with intrigue, but Teresa has a mind of her own and secrets even her father the emperor doesn’t guess.
And throughout the wide human empire, the scattered crew of the Rocinante fights a brave rear-guard action against Duarte’s authoritarian regime. Memory of the old order falls away, and a future under Laconia’s eternal rule – and with it, a battle that humanity can only lose – seems more and more certain. Because against the terrors that lie between worlds, courage and ambition will not be enough . . .
Wow. That’s one hell of a way to set up a finale….
I’ve devoured this entire book series over a very short time having been triggered by the excellent t.v. adaptation- The Expanse series as a whole has been a sheer joy to read, a rollicking good space adventure, the Game of Thrones of the universe if you like, with a brilliantly diverse and engaging cast and more action than you can shake a stick at.
The world(s) building is sheer class, the theme of humans battling each other when they should be looking outwards to the greater threat is very relevant – the eight books in the series so far have been building towards what will no doubt be a crescendo ending, which I am looking forward to and dreading in equal measure.
At the heart of it all sits one James Holden and his crew, constantly adapting and perhaps sitting between humanity and disaster. In the previous book our much loved protagonists were scattered and isolated- but anyone who reads these knows there’s a metaphorical magnetism that will always bring them back together. Things are occurring however which threaten the very fabric of existence..
Holden and crew may hold the whole thing together, but The Expanse expands- other characters either fleetingly or more permanently create an epic heart to proceedings and the alien threat moves ever closer…
Tiamat’s Wrath is a brilliant, pacy and utterly addictive addition to the series, with game changing plot developments and a darkly prescient sense of things to come. I really cannot recommend these novels highly enough, it is intelligent, beautifully written, layered with thought provoking themes all finished off with huge doses of heart and soul.
Go get them.
You can purchase Tiamat’s Wrath (Orbit) Here.
Happy Reading!
