The Expanse (novel series)

''The Expanse'' is a series of science fiction novels (and related novellas and short stories) by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The first novel, ''Leviathan Wakes'', was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2012. The complete series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2017. It later won, following its second nomination for the same award in 2020.

The book series is made up of nine novels, nine shorter works and a story collection book. The series was adapted for television by the Syfy Network, also under the title of ''The Expanse''. When Syfy canceled the TV series after three seasons, Amazon acquired it, produced three more seasons, and streams all six seasons on Amazon Prime Video.

Series overview

Novels

Short stories and novellas

The book ''Memory's Legion'' is a collection of all eight short stories and novellas, except for ''The Last Flight of the Cassandra'' (which remains exclusive to the RPG). The collection includes authors' notes and the final novella ''The Sins of Our Fathers'' which is an epilogue to the series.

Audiobooks

All novels and short works except the RPG exclusive short story have been released as audiobooks, with Jefferson Mays as the narrator for the novels and short works that include ''Drive'', ''The Butcher of Anderson Station'', ''The Vital Abyss'', ''Strange Dogs'', ''Auberon'', and ''The Sins of Our Fathers''. Erik Davies was originally the narrator for the novellas ''The Churn'' and ''Gods of Risk''; but both have been re-released with Jefferson Mays narrating them as of December 28, 2021. While most of Memory's Legion is narrated by Jefferson Mays, the author's note portions are narrated by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

Summary of books

''The Expanse'' is set in a future in which humanity has colonized much of the Solar System, but does not have interstellar travel. Travel over the vast distances between planets of the solar system has been made possible with the "Epstein drive", a constant acceleration propulsion system, though the G-force exerted during acceleration is debilitating without the use of special drugs. Once underway, the equivalence principle allows the travellers to experience earth-like gravity. In the asteroid belt and beyond, tensions are rising between Earth's United Nations, Mars, and the outer planets. The residents of the outer planets have developed a creole language due to their physical isolation from Earth and Mars. The series initially takes place in the Solar System, using many real locations such as Ceres and Eros in the asteroid belt, several moons of Jupiter, with Ganymede and Europa the most developed, and small science bases as far out as Phoebe around Saturn and Titania around Uranus, as well as well-established domed settlements on Mars and the Moon.

The authors have suggested that ''The Expanse'' might well take place in the future of Andy Weir's novel '' The Martian''. In support of this, they created a ship named the ''Mark Watney'' after the titular Martian. However, Andy Weir has publicly clarified that the reference was solely a fun reference.

As the series progresses, humanity gains access to thousands of new worlds by use of the ring, an artificially sustained Einstein-Rosen bridge or wormhole, created by a long-dead alien race. The ring in our solar system is two AU from the orbit of Uranus. Passing through it leads to a hub of starless space approximately one million kilometers across, with more than 1,300 other rings, each with a star system on the other side. In the center of the hub, which is also referred to as the "slow zone," an alien space station controls the gates and can also set instantaneous speed limits on objects inside the hub as a means of defense.

Characters

The story is told through multiple main point-of-view characters. There are two POV characters in the first book and four in books two through five. In the sixth and seventh books, the number of POV characters increases, with several characters having only one or two chapters. The eighth book returned to a more limited number with five. In the final ninth book, there is an increase in POVs with some chapters having multiple POV Characters. Every book also begins and ends with a prologue and epilogue told from a unique character's perspective.

Crew of the ''Rocinante''

The central characters are the crew of the ''Rocinante'', a salvaged Martian naval gunship. The main crew consists of:
* James "Jim" R. Holden, the captain of the ''Rocinante'', former UN Navy (UNN) officer; from Earth (an Earther).
* Naomi Nagata, chief engineer and executive officer; a Belter.
* Amos Burton, mechanic and general muscle; an Earther.
* Alex Kamal, pilot of the ''Rocinante'', former Mars Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) pilot; a Martian.

The Outer Planets

* Josephus "Joe" Aloisus Miller, a Belter who worked as a detective for the Ceres station security firm, Star Helix Security
* Juliette "Julie" Andromeda Mao, the oldest child of Earther plutocrat Jules-Pierre Mao, former pinnace racer and Outer Planets Alliance convert
* Frederick "Fred" Lucius Johnson, a former UN marine reviled as the "Butcher of Anderson Station" and now the leader of the OPA
* Dr. Praxidike "Prax" Meng, the chief botanist of the RMD-Southern soy farm project on Ganymede and father of Mei Meng
* Mei Meng, daughter of Prax
* Carlos "Bull" de Baca, a member of the OPA serving as chief security officer aboard the ''Behemoth''
* Michio Pa, executive officer of the OPA ship ''Behemoth'', later captain of the Free Navy ship ''Connaught''
* Basia "Baz" Merton, a welder from Ganymede, later citizen of Ilus
* Manéo "Néo" Jung-Espinoza, a young Belter from Ceres
* Marco Inaros, a commander of Free Navy, a radical OPA branch
* Filip Inaros, a teenage member of the OPA, and later Free Navy, and son of Marco Inaros and Naomi Nagata
* Camina Drummer, chief of security of Tycho Station, later president of the Transport Union
* Jakulski, Roberts, Salis & Vandercaust, four techs, working for the Free Navy on Medina Station

Mars

* Roberta "Bobbie" W. Draper, Martian gunnery sergeant in the MCRN, of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force
* Fayez Okoye-Sarkis, A Geologist from Mars who worked on new colony worlds and later married Elvi Okoye
* Emil Sauveterre, the captain of the MCRN ''Barkeith''
* Solomon Epstein, inventor of the "Epstein-Fusion Drive". He died testing his machine when he went into deep space with no way to get back.
* Kit Kamal, Son of Alex Kamal from his second marriage. He leaves Mars with his wife and son to the Nieuwestad system.

Earth

* Dmitri Havelock, a security contractor from Earth and former partner of Joe Miller
* Chrisjen Avasarala, the UN Assistant Undersecretary of Executive Administration, later UN Secretary General
* Clarissa "Claire" Melpomene Mao a.k.a. Melba Alzbeta Koh a.k.a. Peaches, a daughter of Jules-Pierre Mao, magnate of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile from Luna; as Melba she is a licensed electrochemical technician. After forming a bond with her, Amos gives her the nickname Peaches.
* Dr. Elvi Okoye, a biologist from Earth, now a leading figure among citizens of the new colonies
* Rev. Dr. Annushka "Anna" Volovodov, a Methodist pastor at St. John's United on Europa and Earth
* Namono "Nono" Volovodov, wife of Anna, with whom she has a daughter, "Nami"

Laconia

* Winston Duarte, High Consul of the Laconian Empire, a defector from the Martian navy
* Teresa Duarte a.k.a. Tiny, the daughter and heir of the High Consul
* Paolo Cortázar, a former member of Protogen's nanoinformatics research division, he is now the lead researcher on Laconia
* Santiago Jilie Singh, a captain in the Laconian Imperial Navy and commander of the ''Gathering Storm''
* Anton Trejo, High Admiral of the Laconian Imperial Navy and captain of the ''Heart of the Tempest''
* Aliana Tanaka, a Colonel in the Laconian Imperial Navy and a former officer in the MCRN until defecting.
* Cara Bisset, a ten-year-old child who, with her parents, settled on Laconia and was resurrected by the planet's repair drones.

Other systems

* Jillian Houston, a member of the Underground and crew member of the ''Gathering Storm'', she is from the Freehold system
* Unnamed Gunner, a member of the Underground faction that joined on Ganymede and participated in the Siege of Laconia on the gunship ''Rocinante'', from Brazil Nova
* Ekko Levy, The captain of the ''Forgiveness'' from the planet Firdaws
* Marrel Imvic, a Linguist onboard the ''Musafir'' from the Dobridomov system

Inspiration and writing

Development

Ty Franck began developing the world of ''The Expanse'' initially as the setting for a MMORPG and, after a number of years, for a tabletop roleplaying game. Daniel Abraham, who had authored a number of novels on his own, suggested, given the depth of the setting, that it could serve for the basis for a series of novels, noting: "People who write books don't do this much research."

The authors have stated that the series gets some of its inspirations from Fred Pohl's '' Gateway'' and the other Heechee books.
It has also been observed that there are similarities in the political and social setting of the series to Alfred Bester's classic science fiction novel ''The Stars My Destination''.
Ty Franck has also stated Ridley Scott's ''Alien'' as having "the single largest influence on ''The Expanse''."

Writing process

Franck writes all the Holden, Bobbie, and Anna chapters, while Abraham writes the Miller, Melba, Avasarala, Bull, and Prax chapters. The writers meet weekly to discuss upcoming chapters and swap completed chapters for the other to edit.

Narrative structure

The novels are written in third-person limited. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a character central to the story, while the prologue and epilogue are told by a recurring character or a one-off viewpoint. Most of the books employ four point-of-view characters (plus the prologue and epilogue viewpoints). ''Leviathan Wakes'' features two, ''Babylon's Ashes'' features sixteen, ''Persepolis Rising'' features eight, and ''Tiamat's Wrath'' features five. James Holden is the only character to be used as a viewpoint character in all nine novels.

Reception

Critical response

The series overall has been well received, with the first novel ''Leviathan Wakes'' being the highest praised. For ''Caliban's War'', Wired.com's Geek Dad and ''Publishers Weekly'' both praised the novel. GeekDad cited the book's "believable human personalities and technology that is easily recognizable" as a highlight. ''Publishers Weekly'' gave ''Abaddon's Gate'' a starred review saying "series fans will find this installment the best yet." The same publication gave ''Cibola Burn'' a starred review and called it "splendid" and it "blends adventure with uncommon decency." ''The Expanse'' won the 2020 ''Hugo Award'' for Best Series.

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

Television series

The American television channel Syfy announced a straight-to-series commitment to a television adaptation of ''The Expanse'' in April 2014, ordering the production of ten hour-long episodes for a first season which premiered in December 2015. six seasons consisting of a total of 62 episodes have been produced, with the final episode of each season sharing its name with the respective book. The series stars Thomas Jane as Josephus Miller and Steven Strait as Jim Holden. As for the other crew of the ''Rocinante'', Dominique Tipper was cast as Naomi Nagata, Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal, and Wes Chatham as Amos Burton. The other major cast members are Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, Chad Coleman as Fred Johnson, and Florence Faivre as Julie Mao. In season 2, Frankie Adams joined the cast as Bobbie Draper.

Comics

Four digital comics based on the books and tying into the television series were published by ComiXology. The comics were written by James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert and Georgia Lee and illustrated by Huang Danlan, Triona Farrell, Juan Useche and Rahzzah. ''The Expanse: Origins'' reveals the untold backstories of the crew members of the ''Rocinante'' before the start of the series. All four comics were also released in print as a compilation titled ''The Expanse Vol. 1: Origins'' by BOOM! Studios, which also featured a new story about Detective Miller.

A second series was also published by Boom and written by James S.A. Corey and Corinna Bechko, and illustrated by Alejandro Aragon, Francesco Segala and Ed Dukeshire. To date 4 issues have been published.

Board game

An Expanse board game, designed by Geoff Engelstein and published by WizKids, was released in October 2017. The authors of the book series collaborated with Engelstein on its development.
The game focuses on politics, conquest and intrigue similar to the board game Twilight Struggle, although with a shorter playing time. Players represent Earth's UN forces, the military of Mars, the O.P.A., and Protogen Inc, each struggling to become the dominant power in the Solar System. They use cards and action points to move and place Fleets and expand their Influence in contested areas. The cards represent characters and events from the universe of The Expanse, each bearing key images from the show. Each character has special abilities that must be correctly exploited in order to gain the upper hand in the struggle for control.

The Expanse: Doors & Corners Expansion has been announced for release by WizKids in February 2019. It contains five new modules that can be used independently or in any combination together with the base game.

Roleplaying game

''The Expanse Roleplaying Game'' uses the AGE (Adventure Game Engine) system designed by Chris Pramas to bring James S. A. Corey's universe to life. The core rulebook and Gamemaster's Kit launched on Kickstarter in July 2018 and gathered over $400,000 from their campaign. The book was written by game designer Steve Kenson and is published by Pramas' company Green Ronin Publishing. The game allows players to create their own character of the various Solar System factions and adventure through the Solar System and beyond at the various settings or even on their own ships. It includes a bonus short story by James S. A. Corey titled "The Last Flight of the ''Cassandra''".

References

External links

The-Expanse.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Expanse, The
Book series introduced in 2011

Artificial wormholes in fiction
American science fiction novels
Hard science fiction
Hugo Award-winning works
Fiction about main-belt asteroids
Fiction set on Mars
Science fiction novel series
Space opera novels
Fiction set on dwarf planets