Caliban's War

[sawyl]

In need to a big slab of reading material to get me from through a train journey I settled on James SA Corey's hefty space opera Caliban's War, the sequel to Leviathan Wakes, one of the most entertaining novels of 2011.

When release of a bioengineered monster on the surface triggers an exchange of fire between the Martian and UN forces in orbit around the moon, things look pretty bleak for the colony. The sole survivor of the original attack, Gunnery Sergeant Roberta Draper, finds herself shipped off to Earth to bolster the credibility of the Martians peace pitch to the UN. Praxidike Meng, a botanist specialising in soya plants, realises that not only has his work been destroyed by a falling orbital mirror, but that his daughter has been abducted from her daycare centre. Wandering the station in search of Mei while struggling to deal with incipient malnutrition, Prax bumps into and recruits James Holden, famous captain and hero of the Eros Incident.

As Prax and Holden rush through the ice corridors of Ganymede, following up feeble leads in search of Prax's daughter, Bobby disgraces herself by speaking the unvarnished truth during a diplomatic session and the UN and promptly finds herself seconded to work as Martian liaison for Chrisjen Avasarala, a foul-mouthed UN apparatchik who seems to run half the Earth. When Avasarala uncovers a link between the Eros protomolecule and the monster attacks, she finds herself on a ship bound for Ganymede supposedly with carte blanche to investigate the problem but actually in a transparent attempt to cut her off from her power base back on Earth. But with Bobby along for the ride, it isn't long before Avasarala is in charge and working to meet up with Prax and Holden, who she thinks may hold the key to solving the mystery.

Despite lacking the relentless pace of Leviathan Wakes, where the level of peril constantly ramps up like something from a video game, Caliban's War is still a fast, punchy read. Having four point of view characters in place of two generally works pretty well. Holden gets to show some vulnerability, Prax gives off a reasonably convincing scientist vibe, while Avasarala's combination of grouchiness, swearing and grandmotherliness makes her irresistibly charming. Poor Bobby Draper doesn't get much in the way of character work, other than being tall and heavily muscled and fanicable — points that get reiterated every time she meets someone — which, given that she spends much of the action paired up with Avasarala, is pretty fatal.

But despite that, it's enjoyable sequel that got me through a dull train journey and left me looking forward to the follow-up, so I'm counting it as a success.