- Sep 27, 2014
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If you like long series where each book is the size of a brick you might like this. 6 of 9 planned novels have been published with the 7th coming out in December.
A few hundred years in the future, humanity has colonised the solar system. Earth's moon, Mars, various moons, the asteroid belt, all home to millions of people. Earth is home to dozens of billions. The setting is probably the best thing about it. Most sci-fi space stuff has Star Trek technology. This doesn't, not quite. Nobody has warp speed or faster-than-light travel. They've figured out how to travel around our solar system (trips that takes months and require drug injections for the 'high burn' parts) but visiting other stars is as much a fantasy for them as it is for us. This is another clever thing about the setting: The future is amazing yet s**t and mundane. All the exciting firsts happened generations ago. The novelty of space travel is long gone and it's about finding resources in 'the Belt' for Earth and Mars 'the Inners'. Mars is a huge terraforming project. Belters are "locked out" of visiting Earth and Mars due to the torturous gravity and agoraphobia. Most stuff in the Belt is owned or contracted by Earthers or Martians which is a source of political discontent to Belters.
In the first book, Leviathan Wakes, a jaded cop called Miller on Ceres (an asteroid spun up to give it gravity) is tasked by his boss with tracking down a pretty girl from a filthy rich Luna family who's gone missing. Another character called Jim, who grew up on a farm in Montana because he's normal, is the XO on an ice-hauler ship. Somebody hecks his s**t up. Before long, the two of them discover things that will change the solar system forever...
It's a funny series too. Not vulgar but uses sex and swearing to good effect. I doubt it's in any school library.
Overall I give it all 3 and a half stars.
A few hundred years in the future, humanity has colonised the solar system. Earth's moon, Mars, various moons, the asteroid belt, all home to millions of people. Earth is home to dozens of billions. The setting is probably the best thing about it. Most sci-fi space stuff has Star Trek technology. This doesn't, not quite. Nobody has warp speed or faster-than-light travel. They've figured out how to travel around our solar system (trips that takes months and require drug injections for the 'high burn' parts) but visiting other stars is as much a fantasy for them as it is for us. This is another clever thing about the setting: The future is amazing yet s**t and mundane. All the exciting firsts happened generations ago. The novelty of space travel is long gone and it's about finding resources in 'the Belt' for Earth and Mars 'the Inners'. Mars is a huge terraforming project. Belters are "locked out" of visiting Earth and Mars due to the torturous gravity and agoraphobia. Most stuff in the Belt is owned or contracted by Earthers or Martians which is a source of political discontent to Belters.
In the first book, Leviathan Wakes, a jaded cop called Miller on Ceres (an asteroid spun up to give it gravity) is tasked by his boss with tracking down a pretty girl from a filthy rich Luna family who's gone missing. Another character called Jim, who grew up on a farm in Montana because he's normal, is the XO on an ice-hauler ship. Somebody hecks his s**t up. Before long, the two of them discover things that will change the solar system forever...
It's a funny series too. Not vulgar but uses sex and swearing to good effect. I doubt it's in any school library.
Overall I give it all 3 and a half stars.
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