9mo ago

James S.A. Corey explains how The Captive's War is different from The Expanse

winteriscoming.net

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I dread to think how many books GRRM's former assistants have smashed out in the time it's taken him not to write one.
Anyway:
James S.A. Corey's hit sci-fi series The Expanse was set in our own solar system, and leaned heavily into the politics of various human factions vying for dominance while an alien threat looms at the edges of awareness. Yes, the protomolecule was dangerous and mysterious and shook up the status quo, but at the end of the day it was always the humans and their decisions which drove the story forward. By contrast, The Captive's War feels more like Mass Effect, the sort of space opera which features a wide array of aliens where you never know what you'll see on the next page.
As a big fan of Mass Effect, this book sounds something I'd like to read.
- how many books GRRM’s former assistants have smashed out in the time it’s taken him not to write one
  Dance of Dragons: 2011
  Leviathan Wakes: also 2011.
  So uh, they wrote the whole damn Expanse, and made a TV show out of it before GRRM has done one book.
  
  If I'm not mistaken, James SA Corey is an alias for two writers.
  Point still stands though.
  
  He wrote and edited other books. Just not Winds of Winter.
- I recommend it.
  The first book kinda leaves you blue-balled because it ends just as you start getting some answers. It does have encounters with several kinds of aliens, tho.
  And the problem is kind of inevitable if you're creating a series and want to have narratives that span from one book to the next, and across the series.
  That said, while the first book certainly has a couple self-contained arcs, it did end up feeling like setup the whole way through.
  That's literally my only complaint though, and it amounts to "I can't wait for more".
  
  Definitely blue balls you haha. The 1st novella is really interesting too in a whole different way. I love that they kept up that tradition of a expanded universe between books haha.
It was really good. Sets up a brilliantly detailed world with tons of potential for intrigue.
- Having enjoyed the entire expanse series, I didn't really enjoy this book. I can't really put my finger on it. I think my biggest issue is that the characters remain pretty bland. Of the group you follow, many remained little more than a name for me.

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