The Expanse

The huge moments in life seemed like they should have more ceremony and effects. The important words—the life-changing ones—should echo a little. But they didn’t. They sounded like everything else.

— From Tiamat’s Wrath

I started The Expanse series of books almost a year ago, when I started Leviathan Wakes on April 27th. A month before, I went down to Missoula and applied for a library card at the public library, and one of the perks was its association with Libby, an app I could use to check out ebooks for free. My library had access to all the The Expanse books, and because I was a fan of the TV show and because I wanted to be distracted from the pain and sadness at the time, I thought, why not? Let’s dive in.

Today I finished the 8th book in the series, and my adrenaline was coursing through my body as I read through the final chapters. I haven’t read too many sci-fi series in my life—the biggest one I’ve read is the Dune series—but I absolutely loved this one. The space opera nature of it was not something I’ve experienced before, and boy, I feel like I’ve been missing out on so much fun. The 9th and final book doesn’t come out until November, and that date cannot come soon enough. I have a long list of books I would like to read before then, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m itching to do some research on what other great sci-fi series are out there. I own some John Scalzi books—maybe The Interdependency series?

Either way, my life is richer for having read through this series. It was just a lot of fun with compelling and likable characters, an amazing premise, a down-to-earth take on science and interstellar politics, and a whole lot of space battles. What else would one want?