70 pages • 2 hours read
James S. A. CoreyLeviathan Wakes
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Series Context: The Expanse Universe
Leviathan Wakes is the first of nine full-length novels in a best-selling science fiction saga that includes eight novellas and short stories, several comic books, and a TV adaptation called The Expanse. James S. A. Corey, the author’s name, is a pen name for collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Both Abraham and Franck served as assistants for George R. R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series.
Published in 2011, Leviathan Wakes is a multigenre work. Franck originally conceived the series as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), until Abraham suggested reimagining the narrative as a book series, given the depth of the narrative. On the surface, it is hard science fiction in the space opera subcategory, but it has a strong sociopolitical current. It is also a drama that addresses racism, environmental collapse, corporate greed, and political demagoguery. It is epic in scope while highlighting personal issues like the meaning of family and home, and the human need for interpersonal connections and purpose.
The nine-book series includes Leviathan Wakes (2011), Caliban’s War (2012), Abaddon’s Gate (2013), Cibola Burn (2014), Nemesis Games (2015), Babylon’s Ashes (2016), Persepolis Rises (2017), Tiamat’s Wrath (2019), and Leviathan Falls (2021). The broader Expanse universe also features numerous short stories, novellas, and comics, as well as a television adaptation and several games.
As the first book in the series, Leviathan Wakes introduces the team of misfits at the heart of the epic story and the Protomolecule, a substance that originated with an ancient, now extinct, extraterrestrial species. In Leviathan Wakes, humans are just beginning to discover the Protomolecule’s strange and powerful capabilities, mainly due to an extermination experiment carried out by sociopathic scientists.
Set sometime in the 24th century, Leviathan Wakes introduces a world that combines high tech and low tech. Much of the story’s action unfolds on space stations in the Belt, where delicately balanced environmental systems support colonies of people who comprise the solar system’s blue-collar workforce.
On Ceres, the Belters live in tin apartments called “holes.” There are green painted strips meant to look like parkways, a blue ceiling that is supposed to look like an Earth sky, and machines that generate a breeze. Their food and drinks are mostly synthesized, and everything is recycled. Many Belters speak in a heavy slang called Belter Creole, or Lang Belta, which people from the inner planets—Earth and Mars—find difficult to understand.
Action also takes place on several spacecraft. The Rocinante is the most important ship in the story. Martian-built, it has an Epstein drive that allows exceedingly fast travel, plus an array of guns. Its interior has the latest in medical equipment in addition to comfortable accommodations for the crew. The crew fell heir to the ship, and Holden, its captain, renamed it Rocinante after Don Quixote’s horse. Holden himself is sometimes quixotic, making naïve mistakes with dire political ramifications. The allusions and parallels to Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote recur throughout the series.
Despite advancements that enable humanity to build and sustain colonies throughout the solar system, the characters still use a lot of technology that is very familiar to readers today—for example, handheld terminals, security cameras, public address systems, trains, and elevators. Weaponry still consists mainly of guns and bombs. Gravity still presents numerous challenges. While there are magnetic boots—magboots—that allow characters to walk along metallic surfaces and remain oriented in zero G, there are no gravity generators. Too many or too few G forces both pose life-threatening challenges throughout the series. Though the Protomolecule and Epstein drive are fantastical innovations, the setting is largely bound by Newtonian physics, which describe how forces act on matter. The characters must grapple with the limitations of their bodies and of science, even in this advanced society, which gives the series a sense of realism and verisimilitude despite the science fiction setting.
Pop Culture Context: The Expanse TV Adaptation
The Expanse, a television adaptation of the book series, debuted in 2015 and aired until 2022, despite challenges with cancelation. The events in Leviathan Wakes are depicted in seasons one and two; season one also depicts “The Butcher of Anderson Station” (2011), a short story detailing Fred Johnson’s past in the UN Navy. The show aired for six seasons and covers events through Babylon’s Ashes, the sixth book in the series. Despite ending partway through the broader narrative, the show’s later seasons still sowed seeds for storylines in books seven, eight, and nine.
Readers who discover the books through the show will notice several changes. Some of the differences between The Expanse and Leviathan’s Wake include the following:
- The show dives deeper into Miller’s investigation of Julie’s disappearance, adding scenes and details that are not explicitly shown in the book. For example, Anderson Dawes plays a more prominent role in the TV adaptation than in Leviathan Wakes.
- In the show, Chrisjen Avasarala is a major character from the first episode. As a high-ranking UN official, she gives the show a political perspective not present in Leviathan Wakes. In the books, she debuts in the second entry, Caliban’s War.
- Earth and Mars are much less prominent in Leviathan Wakes than in the show’s early seasons. The inner planets receive more focus in later books, which introduce new viewpoint characters from Earth and Mars.
- In Leviathan Wakes, the Roci crew investigates the Anubis before the Eros incident, and Miller is present. In the show, they check on the Anubis prior to Eros, and Miller is not there.
- Of the Roci crew, Holden receives the most focus in Leviathan Wakes, with later books providing more insight into the others, particularly Nemesis Games, which alternates between the crew’s perspectives. The show develops Naomi, Amos, and Alex with more depth from the outset.
- At the end of Leviathan Wakes, Holden willingly gives Fred Johnson the Protomolecule sample found on the Anubis. In the show, the crew agrees to launch the Protomolecule sample into the sun, but Naomi secretly hides the sample and later gives it to Fred Johnson without their knowledge. This is a major departure from the books that creates tension between the crew.
