Cordelia's Honor

Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When an attack leaves her stranded on an uninhabited planet, Cordelia Naismith is forced to travel with Aral Vorkosigan, a man better known as the Butcher of Komarr.

Cordelia and Vorkosigan undertake a difficult journey to find supplies and shelter in the alien world, with an injured comrade in tow - but the uneasy alliance between people from radically different cultures transforms into an odd friendship of equals. The two soldiers slowly reveal their histories and characters to each other, always aware that their countries are on the brink of war. Vorkosigan is facing a mutiny, and Cordelia is forced to walk a narrow line to help the man she admires but who nevertheless represents a threat to her cherished way of life.

Cordelia's Honor is two novels in one: Shards of Honor and Barrayar. I'd definitely hand Shards to a romance reader who wanted to venture into science fiction: its tale of two opposites bonding on a trip through an alien world is a classic romance storyline, told by Bujold with the science fiction premise of spacefaring human civilizations. Barrayar is likewise more invested in the characters than the setting, in contrast to other classic science fiction like The City and the Stars or Asimov's Foundation books. (For example, I can't imagine Arthur C. Clarke adding a postscript that is a vignette of the aftermath of battle, when the bodies must be gathered and cared for. The scene is at once deeply moving and thought-provoking, proving how great Bujold is at depicting the human cost of war.)

Barrayar picks up where Shards leaves off, setting up the intricacies of a society wholly dominated by a wealthy military elite, further stratified by caste and gender. Compared to Cordelia's democratic homeland, Barrayar is a medieval totalitarian state (Bujold consciously modeled it on pre-revolutionary Russia). Newly pregnant, Cordelia uncomfortably assumes her new role Lady Vorkosigan, trying to untangle the conflicting agendas of the people around her. Soon an assassination attempt damages her unborn child and she must struggle not only to save his life but to defend her new homeland during a civil war.

Cordelia's reactions to her new home always come from a character place. Bujold's insight that the loss of a human life is not just the death of a person someone loves, but also a waste of all the resources that went into the person - education, experience, energy, etc, is a worthy idea that she explores fully.

As a novel, Barrayar feels more complete than Shards. It starts slowly, but once the civil war kicks in to test the new Regency the story and characters are firing on all cylinders. (My copy of Cordelia's Honor contained an excellent afterward by Bujold about the creative process for those who geek out about the craft.)

I think James S.A. Corey space opera novel Caliban's War is a good match for fans of Honor because it's full of great characters - especially female ones - who drive the story forward: but I can't recommend starting there instead of with its superbly scary and fast-moving prequel, Leviathan Wakes. You could also try On Basilisk Station by David Weber for kick-ass female characters, and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell for thoughtful, character-driven science fiction. (Side note: This omnibus include the first two books published in The Vorkosigan Saga, though you can find the internal chronological order of the series here.)

Quotable:

"About three meters away, he was now, she thought. An uncross able gulf. So in the physics of the heart, distance is relative; it's time that is absolute." - 80

"Kly regarded her with bemusement. 'So what are you, off-worlder not-a-lady?'
'I was an astrocartographer. Then a Survey captain. Then a soldier, then a POW, then a refugee. And then I was a wife, and then I was a mother. I don't know what I'm going to be next,' she answered honestly, around the gum-leaf. Pray not widow." - 357

Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jim Holden and a fleet of ships representing the squabbling factions of humanity are headed out to face the mysterious Ring built by the alien protomolecule - if their own conflicts don't destroy them first.

Holden is being haunted by the incoherent ghost of Detective Miller even as he concentrates on holding together the Rocinante's improvised crew family. He has no intention of getting involved, but the universe seems to have other plans for him.

In the meantime we are introduced to a young woman bent on a mission of revenge who joins the crew of a ship making the journey to the Ring, her focus fixed on one man: Jim Holden. A fleet of ships aimed at the Ring carries an interfaith group of religious leaders - but it may also carry humanity's annihilation.

Even as the group of ships converges around the Ring, factions struggle with violence driven by the worst impulses of humanity: arrogance, fear, and obsession. The Ring has the power to alter the laws of physics, and it becomes apparent that the fumbling violence of the fleet could destroy all of humanity by tripping the Ring's defenses.

The action of this book (which is not necessarily the last of the series but does wrap up a few of the mysteries laid out in Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War) happens mainly on a commandeered generation ship. Formerly owned by Mormons who dreamed of traveling to the stars, the Nauvoo has been rechristened Behemoth and clumsily refitted into a military vessel. It's an appropriate metaphor for the journey of the characters, and of the human race in general. (At one point, realizing that he is headed toward the alien Ring, Holden compares himself to the prophet Jonah by quipping "Off to Ninevah!")

The chief danger confronting our fragile human characters is that of inertia - humans crushed by going too fast and then being brought to an unexpected halt, clever brains moving faster than bodies can handle. Another great metaphor, grounded in the physical realities of zero g space travel.

It's not as compelling as Leviathan, but I enjoy the way Corey grounds each part of the struggle in character. Their relationships to each other matter, and have huge ripple effects on the plot. It's actually an optimistic look at human nature that manages not to ignore all the worst aspects of our kind.

Spoilerish: I was hoping for more info on the gate makers, the civilization that built the protomolecule. Sadly, there's more mutiny and a little less awe and horror than in the first book. Turns out, we're our own worst enemy and we don't need space invaders as an excuse for violence.

Also: Sadly, no Bobbie Draper or Chrisjen Avasarala in this one. I did miss them, and hope they'll show up in another book, since I could see the authors writing more stories in the Expanse universe.

Quotable:
"Too many people with too many agendas, and everyone was worried that the other guy would shoot him in the back."

"It was a lesson he'd never forgotten. That humans only have so much emotional energy. No matter how intense the situation, or how powerful the feelings, it was impossible to maintain a heightened emotional state forever. Eventually you's just get tired and want it to end."

"Show a human a closed door, and no matter how many open doors she finds, she'll be haunted by what might be behind it."

Caliban's War

Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When simmering tensions erupt into war, Jim Holden races to discover the fate of a child whose kidnapping may hold the key to ending the conflict - hoping that humanity won't cripple itself before the alien weapon incubating on Venus shows its teeth.

Mars and Earth are locked into fighting that will result in a death spiral for humanity. Everyone's lost sight of the real problem blooming on Venus: the protomolecule has eerily transformed the entire planet, and no one knows why. Faced with a terrifying and incomprehensible threat, the various factions fall back into familiar patterns of strife.

The familiar faces of Holden and his Rocinante crew are back, still reeling from the effect of Detective Miller's kamikaze morality a full year after his death. They begin a hunt for a botanist's missing daughter and uncover a new conspiracy to weaponize the alien protomolecule. (We all knew that was coming.)

Added to this cast are the welcome presences of two new women: Bobbie, a hulking Martian Marine, and Avasarala, a sweet old granny who likes calling people the c-word and is one of the most politically powerful humans in the solar system.

It's great to see epic science fiction that features such diverse characters, characters who feel like real people and are most fun when they conflict with each other. (The meeting of the idealist Holden and the intensely cynical force of nature that is Avasarala was a fun, too-brief moment.) Critics of the first book's two main characters being white males should be happy.

The mystery here is less compelling than Leviathan Wakes because the alien's already out of the bag. Some of Caliban's War feels like a rehash of what came before, but the characters are still worth spending time with as they struggle with doing the right thing and trying not to allow the human race to self-destruct.

But then came the holy crap ending. Now I'm asking myself: how can I get my hands on the last book, as of yesterday? The holds list for Abaddon's Gate at my library is absurdly long.

• Quotable: “Good, because I don’t use sex as a weapon,” Bobbie said. “I use weapons as weapons.”
• Am I the only one who finds Naomi utterly boring?
• I really liked Praxidike Meng's idea of table talk.

Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Idealistic Jim Holden discovers a derelict spaceship and unwittingly ignites a deadly war; meanwhile, run-down cop Detective Miller searches for a missing woman who may have the key to it all.

Growing tensions between Earth, Mars, and the scattered stations of the Belt lead to war in a galaxy where human annihilation is as simple as throwing rocks into a planet's atmosphere. The stars remain unreachable because human curiosity has stagnated amidst age-old societal problems. The ethnic racism of the past has turned into racism based on what level of gravity a person grew up in. Enter our heroes.

The starship Scopuli was empty when Jim Holden stumbled upon it, but someone is willing to start a war that could make humans extinct just to hide the truth behind its vanished crew. In the ensuing chaos, the fate of Julie Mao is easy to overlook. But Detective Miller, once a good cop and now burnt out alcoholic, finds himself drawn to the missing woman and determined to track her down.

This book is a perfect cocktail of horror, noir crime fiction, and space opera. It's science fiction that's all about the characters - an idealist and a cynic - and the disappointing parts of human nature. It's fast-moving, tense, and in places utterly terrifying - which is everything good space opera should be. (It reminded me of Firefly, too, which is awesome!) The story is dark, but because of the balance of likable characters it manages to be optimistic about human potential rather than veering into nihilism.

Leviathan Wakes feels like a self-contained story and can stand alone pretty well, but I'm definitely going to pick up the sequel, Caliban's War, as well as the third book of the Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate.

Final observations:

• The mystery element and world-building made me think of Isaac Asimov's classic The Caves of Steel.
• The authors (James S.A. Corey is actually the pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) mention being influenced by the Dread Empire's Fall series by Walter Jon Williams, which starts with The Praxis.
• I would say it's the best space opera I've read since A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
• Vomit zombies