Leviathan wakes is a science fiction epic novel that includes a monstrous alien threat, a search for a missing heiress by a down-on-his luck detective, zombies, and a scrappy spaceship crew from all over: Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. The spaceship crew is cursed with a photogenic and noble commanding officer, who has good intentions. If that doesn’t seem like a curse, you’ve never seen how much harder it is to make a living while stuck in the middle of a galactic controversy with a captain who says the worst possible thing every time a camera is pointed at him, even though he happens to be telling the truth.

Leviathan wakes develops a rich and believable universe with engaging, funny, nuanced characters, and by focusing on issues that many science fiction novels ignore:  the physical effects of growing up in places with low gravity, and the effects that built-in economic disparities have on people living in space colonies.

In this novel the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. The impoverished people, who are stuck living in space, face problems we don’t have to worry about. Air and gravity become precious commodities that can be taken away unless you are able to pay for them.

Corey has created the first book in the Expanse series of seven books, four novellas, and two seasons of television. Or as two characters in the novel foreshadow:

“What kind of half-assed apocalypse are they running down there?” 

"Give ’em a break. It’s their first."