Review: Leviathan Wakes

2023-10-03

I think I waited a little long after reading this book to review it, because it's a little fuzzy now. I will say, I definitely enjoyed this more than Hyperion; a solar-system scale near-ish future sci-fi setting is much more agreeable to me than a word-spaghetti future-tech-turned-magic world (while Leviathan Wakes does delve a little in defying our understanding of the universe near the end, I think it's a nice addition, and not central to just about everything). The characters were believable and joy to spend time with, and I thoroughly enjoyed the interplanetary politics. I've heard people praise the attention to details/physics in how everything works, and while not a physicist or particularly knowledgeable engineering graduate, accounting for G-force, the need to bring water to stellar bodies, the long-term effects of radiation poisoning, and more were all welcome additions elevating the believability of the story and world. The insidious extraterrestrial tones were also a lot of fun.

Reaching the end of the book, I can't say I'm highly motived to jump onto the second one immediately, but I really liked this one and can recommend it to anyone looking for a fun mix of politics, near-future sci-fi, and a smidge of eldritch horror.