Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (the pen name of the ubiquitous Daniel Abraham and George R.R. Martin's assistant, Ty Franck) is an engaging by-the-seat-of-your-pants space opera, replete with noir grit, excellently realized futurescapes, and "vomit zombies."

The story is told through the voices of two distinct characters diametrically opposed to the other's views on just about everything. The first is Franck's James Holden - XO of the Canterbury, an ice-hauling freighter. Despite some previous naval experience and being an Earther in the Outer Planets, Holden has remained an optimistic fellow. He sees the solar system in black-and-white terms: "So, now the Canterbury and her dozens of sister ships in the Pur'n'Kleen Water Company made the loop from Saturn's generous rings to the Belt and back hauling glaciers, and until the ships aged into salvage wrecks. Jim Holden saw some poetry in that." Holden's universe is an easy math equation where people are naturally good and everything adds up.

On the other side of this is Abraham's Joe Miller. A detective on Ceres Station in the Belt. A noirish cynic. The guy who's seen it all and buried it at the bottom of a whiskey glass. Though he works for a security company owned by an Earth corporation, Miller is a Belter by birth and distrustful of anyone who's ever seen a sky or not had their water and their air pumped in from outside. Yet, what makes Miller a good detective is his ability to detach himself when necessary, to notice the facts, regardless of personal sentiment. As Abraham notes, "When Miller started working homicide, one of the things that had struck him was the surreal calm of the victims' families. People who had just lost wives, husbands, children, and lovers. People whose lives had just been branded by violence. More often that not, they were calmly offering drinks and answering questions, making the detectives feel welcome...A month earlier Miller...had been the steadying hand of the law. Now they were employees of an Earth-based security contractor. The difference was subtle, but it was deep."

Holden's and Miller's worlds collide when the Canterbury picks up a distress signal from a derelict ship - the Scopuli - and responds, to discover the horror that's happened to its crew. As Holden transmits data that ignites an already tense situation between the Belt and Mars, Miller is assigned the job of searching for the missing Julie Mao. The link: Mao was one of the crew on the Scopuli.

There is a lot to like in Leviathan Wakes. The aforementioned "vomit zombies" are a real treat. There is a great backstory concerning the colonization of the solar system and the evolutionary process of humanity. There's a sleek generation ship built by the Mormons. There are gunfights and secretive corporations. There are elements of hard SF mixed with rock 'em sock 'em adventure, giving the story a realistic and gritty tone throughout. Hints of Heinlein and Clarke are all over the place.

However, the foremost engaging part of Leviathan Wakes is the relationship between Miller and Holden. It's about watching these characters grow and feed off each other (zombie pun intended) and shape events around them, understanding the future from their point of view. Through Miller's eyes Holden can look a naive fool who believes the best in people; through Holden's eyes Miller is an unpredictable wild man with a penchant for getting shot at and shooting everything in sight. Yet, through their own eyes, each man is sensible and rational and seeing things through the best way he can. Highly Recommended.

Leviathan Wakes is the first in the Expanse series and will be released June 15th, 2011. It is available for pre-order now.

Also Recommended: Dread Empire's Fall Trilogy by Walter Jon Williams.

Review: The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

The first book in Daniel Abraham's new fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin, does not turn tropes on their heads or reinvent the genre; instead, what Abraham is concerned with is engaging fantasy - including its strengths and weaknesses - on its own terms. Indeed, in the "Extras" section at the end of The Dragon's Path, Abraham discusses having "permission to be part of a greater body of literature." Where his first fantasy series, the critically acclaimed and excellent Long Price Quartet, gave readers an interesting and new take on magic and placed it outside the traditional Medieval European setting, The Dragon's Path travels the rutted road of many epic fantastists - yet, it has all of Abraham's charm and wit, making The Dragon's Path an entertaining and engaging read.

Part of what Abraham does so well is write compelling characters. This is epic fantasy, to be sure, but the important players in The Dragon's Path are not great warriors or sorcerers or sorceresses (though, each of these certainly make appearances). There is Cithrin, an orphan and ward of the Medean Bank, who must smuggle the free city of Vanai's wealth across the countryside after her city is sacked. And Geder Palliako, the "lone scion of a noble house" who is more interested in speculative essays than swordplay, and is constantly made fun of for it. Marcus Wester is the closest Abraham gets to a great warrior; however, Marcus's glory days (tinged with tragedy though they are) are well behind him and he has become a mercenary and caravan guard. Dawson Kalliam, childhood friend of the king of Antea, is a man of tradition, whether right or wrong, and will do anything to keep the kingdom from falling. His wife, Clara, also plays into the action near the end of the novel - she is certainly more intelligent than Dawson and has a better grasp of court politics and the great changes sweeping through the kingdom.

The most interesting characters in The Dragon's Path are Cithrin and Geder, however, because their actions, at the best times, are morally ambiguous, deeply affecting, and, most important, truly human. When Geder is forced into a position of power, his conclusion of Vanai sets in motion various other power plays in the kingdom of Antea, where Geder hails from, and eventually sets him out on a journey unlike anything he's known. As dangers coalesce around Cithrin, her decision concerning the wealth of Vanai will potentially make her a very powerful woman - as war hits the continent, many nations may depend on loans from her branch. Both Geder and Cithrin make good and bad choices. Geder's naivete and near-sociopathic tendenies will have you cursing him at some points in the book; yet, in the end, you want Geder to win or, at least, do something right. Cithrin, too, is a complex character: her growth from a frightened girl in a world of unknowns to a confident banker is marvelous, though she is still fueled by the folly of youth.

The world Abraham's built is based around the end of the reign of dragons and the creation of the thirteen races of man. He spends most of the novel with the Firstbloods, glossing over the other twelve races with superficial detail - "tall-eared Tralgu, chitinous Timzinae, tusked Yemmu...The Dartinae had small braziers in their eyeholes...a Kurtadam with clicking beads." If there is a weakness in The Dragon's Path, it's here; however, this being the first book in a series of an expected five, it's possible Abraham well get more in depth with these races as they become important to the tale. Part of the first book in a series of this magnitude is setting up the world, letting the reader know the rules, and Abraham succeeds in that.

Beyond the political intrigues and banking contracts, Abraham has constructed an interesting if familiar back story concerning the age of dragons (who are now extinct, but left jade roads called "dragon roads" in their wake), and a temple of priests who can tell whether or not a person is lying and are concerned with the End of All Doubt and a very nasty spider. The revelation of the "End of All Doubt" is Abraham's intriguing spin on the "looming darkness" or "freeing of the great evil lord" common to commercial epic fantasy; it'll be exciting where he leads us.

Though The Dragon's Path shares similarities with past epic fantasy series', Abraham knows his strengths as a writer and, what might come off as cliche in a lesser writer's pen, here reads excitingly fresh. Recommended.


-Dustin Monk

The Gods Be Sometimes Good: Signal Boost Wednesday

There are a great many things happening this month and next month (and for the rest of this year) with my writer comrades and, in general, upcoming books I can't wait to read. I'll try not to bog this down with too many links, but I make no promises.

Short Stories:

First, there is an excellent short story from my good buddy and Clarion kiwi, Tamsyn Muir, appearing in Fantasy Magazine this month. During the final week of Clarion, her story, "The House That Made The Sixteen Loops in Time," was less critiqued than remarked upon its absolute beauty.

You'll be able to find another Kali Wallace's story in the March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Kali wrote "Botanical Exercies for Curious Girls" at Clarion and, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if she sold all six of the stories she wrote. Yeah, she's that good. In June, Kali also has a piece appearing in the Jeff & Ann Vandermeer-edited anthology, Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities, which you can read more about here.

John Chu's story, "Thirty Seconds from Now," is out in the Boston Review for either its May/June or July/August issue (might as well buy both). At Clarion, John was one of those writers who labored over every word. I remember sitting in the common room listening to him typing. Occasionally, he'd look up and join in whatever conversation was going on. Then he'd disappear into his room for several hours to work it all out. Junot Diaz, guest editor for Boston Review and a Pulitzer-prize winning author, selected this story.

This month Weird Tales Issue 357 will have Karin Tidbeck's "Augusta Prima." Another story, "Jagannath," will be featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine. The first story is a Clarion submission story and the latter was Karin's last story critiqued at Clarion. Both are short, tense stories with a command of language veteran storytellers would kill for. Karin will also be working as a translator of foreign language stories for Leviathan 5, yet another anthology in the seemingly endless anthologies edited by the ever-busy Vandermeers (more on this in a moment).

Tom Underberg, who also labored over his words during Clarion, tending to each story as if it was one of his children, will also have a piece in the Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities in June. His piece, concerning an African quilt, is gorgeous and strange.

Leah Thomas, Clarion cool kid, sold her first story a few days ago to Daily Science Fiction. It might be a bit before we see this on the website, but fear not, I will keep you updated. In the meantime, you should check out her online graphic novel, Lawn Order. Zombies v. Teenagers = Win.

Adam Israel will have a story featured in the upcoming ebook anthology, "Extinct." Adam is an all around gentleman and the first of the Clarionites to dye his hair purple.

Novels:

The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington. March 24th, 2011. I'm about halfway through Jesse's first novel, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, and am thoroughly impressed. Expect a review later this week or early next on it. His second novel follows an apprentice of a necromancer during the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, please.

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine. April 25th, 2011. It's a circus story at the end of the world, sort of. I don't know much more than that but I don't think I really need to know more. That, in itself, is TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME!

The Dagger & the Coin: The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. April 7th, 2011. I fell in love with Abraham's Long Price Quartet (if you haven't read them, I highly recommend you do) and cannot wait for this next big epic fantasy series.

The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck). June 15th, 2011. Big space opera trilogy by, yep, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under a pen name. There's a great interview of the two of them talking about writing the book here.

Daniel Abraham, busy man that he is, also has a story on Podcastle (written under yet another pen name, MLN Hanover) and it is quite horrific - err, in the good way. He says it's the best story he's ever written. I'm not sure I agree with that but, regardless, it is quite excellent.

Anthologies:

Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams. Out now. Go. Buy it. Genevieve Valentine, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, freakin' Ray Bradbury.

In case you missed it, Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer. June 2011. Two Clarionites, alongside powerhouses like Ted Chiang, Amal El-Mohtar, China Mieville, Charles Yu, Jay Lake, Tad Williams. Head. Explodes. From. Too. Much. Awesome.

Leviathan 5: The Next Wave edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer. 2012. Though this anthology isn't coming out for awhile, I thought I'd mention it because it's going to be fantastic. Jeff explains it best here. It's going to have some wonderfully weird writers from all around the world (apologies for the alliteration, but not really). Writers who don't often see their work translated into English will get that chance with this anthology. The Vandermeers are paying for the translations out-of-pocket and asking readers to donate via paypal. Go to the link above, if you haven't already, and check it out.

Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow. July 2011. Urban fantasy short stories from Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner, Lavie Tidhar, Naomi Novik, and more. I've never really gotten into urban fantasy, but with writers like these, you can't really go wrong.