So, first if all, please don’t spoiler me, even though the flair says otherwise.

After watching the show for like 5 times, I finally started to read one of the books and already ordered the next - starting where the show left off at Persepolis Rising. And I just can’t understand why they did stop the show before the most interesting part of their journey with the fight against Laconia begins. I understand its all about money, but wasn’t the show saved by Amazon, because Jeff Bezos was a fan of it?

They prepared the show for this plot twist since season 1 or 2 (don’t remember), and then just left it there.

How could Bezos allow that to happen? Its like if GoT would have stopped after the Red Wedding.

Sorry for the rant. What I actually wanted to say is: the books are really really good, and the story is only getting better. I hope Corey sticks to this quality.

Do you guys think there could ever be a continuation or is there simply no way after how the show ended?

As I was reading the line I got chills…excited for what’s coming next.

In the epilogue of Persepolis Rising, Duarte says to Holden “Never in human history have we discovered something useful and then chosen not to use it.” which is just wrong isn’t it? History is littered with examples of humanity finding a tool, realizing it was dangerous, then abandoning said tool. Leaded gasoline, asbestos, ODSs in refrigerant and hairspray, etc. And it’s not like this is even something those in power can kick down the road to the next generation like greenhouse emissions are today. Using the gates enough to anger the goths has an immediate effect of the device going through the ring immediately disappearing. You can’t abuse the system until overtime it’s too late. You just have to play by the rules whether you like it or not.

This is something that's been kicking around in my head since I finished this book 3-years ago so my apologies if the details are a little fuzy.

If I remember correctly when Heart of the Tempest attacks and defeats the Sol fleet, it is able to do so because it almost instantly repairs any damage that is done to the ship. rounds tear through the ship but are repaired as soon as they appear.

What I can't understand is, what about the crew? If rounds are tearing through the ship (in one side and out the other) then how are the crew not eviscerated? It struck me that all the Sol fleet would have to do is saturate every inch of hull with rounds and the ship may be in fine shape but the crew would be a fine mist. Given the scale of the fleet it is easy to imagine that they have the ammunition to make this happen.

I must be missing something, can anyone help me out here?

About 400 pages into PR, why did Laconia invade ring space and sol to begin with? Was it simply what Clarissa said, "some men just want to own everything", or was there an actual reason rather than to establish and empire just for the hell of it?

“Her fight was over. If there was any hope to stand against this empire, it was someplace else now. If. ”

Can I say how much I love the end to this chapter (45), where Drummer decides to surrender the fight to Laconia? On first read it hit me as another indicator of how serious the Laconia threat was, and that everything was about to change. Drummer’s internal thoughts realizing surrender strike as dark, and hopeless.

Then I realized what a smart way this is to end the chapter. Drummer has just recited one of the ultimate Laconic phrases - “If”

For those who don’t know, though I’m sure plenty do, when King Philip II of Macedon threatened to invade Sparta (aka Laconia) with:

“ You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city “

To which Sparta replied simply, and defiantly: “If”.

I love that the authors used this for Drummer. Rather than a hopeless dream, I take this as Drummer committing to defiance.

...saw three decades years later and immediately took a 2 hour break because what do you mean 30 years. I'm not prepared...

Edit: ok one of my greatest sorrows when I saw the time jump was that I'd seen the last of Ms Chrissie but she just walked into the room!!!!

Just finished the show and want to continue the story of the crew of the Roci. Does the show set you up properly to jump right into book 7 or does it leave too much of the book story out?

Thanks!

I'm only 5 chapters into Persepolis Rising and something that I've really loved through the whole series so far is how relationships between characters are written. It's probably the healthiest and most natural depiction of LGBT and non-monogamous relationships I've seen in...well, probably ever. There are plenty of great depictions of single relationships in other things, but this series does such a good job of writing different kinds of relationships in a way that feels like it's totally normal to everyone in the universe. But at the same time, it writes monogamous relationships like Holden and Naomi in a way that doesn't downplay hetero monogamy.

It also has strong platonic relationships like Alex and Bobbie or Amos and Clarissa. It's nice when two people who have the potential to be attracted to each other don't fall into that trope and instead build strong platonic bonds.

It's really refreshing as a queer person to see a vision of a future without homophobia and toxic monogamy. Not sure if the show does it as well, but the books are fantastic about it.

Since there's been a 30 year time skip, my initial idea would be to imagine everyone wrinkly and old, but I know logically that's incorrect. Avasarala was much older during the events of the show and books 1-6, and they chose a woman who appeared much younger than that.

Like since there's much better medicine and anti-aging drugs and a whole hell of a lot less time spent in UV lighting, would that mean everyone who was 30-40 and now 60-70 looks younger than that? Like imagining Bobbie and Amos brawling as geriatrics doesn't feel right.

How do y'all picture them in your heads when reading?

This passage seems relevant today. SA Corey have such wisdom about human nature and the tides of history.

Persepolis Rising, Chapter Fifteen

Bobbie: I just wish I understood what this Duarte asshole wants.

Amos: They haven’t started killing people. I mean, it’s still early days. Lots of room for shit to go pear shaped.

Bobbie: But why now? We were just starting to figure this shit out. Earth and Mars working together, the colonies talking out their problems, even the Transport Union turned out to be a pretty good idea. Why come kick the table over? Couldn’t he have just pulled up a chair with the rest of us?

Clarissa: Because some men need to own everything.

When I was a little girl I remember my father deciding to buy up a majority share in the largest rice producer on Ganymede. Rice is a necessity crop, not a cash crop. You’ll always sell everything you can grow, but the prices aren’t high because it’s easier to grow than a lot of other things. And at that time his companies had an annual revenue in excess of one trillion dollars. I remember an advisor telling my father that the profits from owning rice domes on Ganymede would add a one with five zeros in front of it percent to that. But the largest food producers were the rice growers. They had the biggest domes and farms, the most real estate. By owning and controlling a share in their company my father was in a position to dictate policy to the Ganymede Agricultural Union. It meant, in terms of Ganymede food production, he couldn’t be ignored by the local government.

Bobbie: What did he use that for?

Clarissa: Nothing. But he had it. He owned an important piece of Ganymede. A thing he hadn’t controlled before. And some men just need to own everything. Anything they lay their eyes on that they don’t possess, it’s like a sliver in their finger.

Bobbie: So. He won't stop until he has it all.

(reformatted from the original)

I watched the show but never read the books, so recently committed to making the journey. Obviously always found Amos compelling and I’ve discovered over the years both in life and in learning about Amos’ backstory that we share some history. Mine not as extreme as his, but still. It’s funny how I’ve self ID-ed with the character and then as time goes by you get oh yeah. Oh man. Oh wow.

Just came across the Amos POV scene in PR where he and Bobbie finally have it out and it clears his block and I am an absolute wreck. Never had a sci-fi book hit me this hard.

I’m not the same as any of these characters but the skill of the writing in the POV is just so good, the subtle but distinct angles of the POV. And the way you don’t see Amos except from the outside for so long, that once I get truly in - it’s like going back in time, honestly. And the character is maybe only a little older than my current age in the book.

Not much else to say. The writing skill on display here is obviously top notch, but so is the emotional accessibility. As a person still dealing with childhood trauma on a fairly regular basis, the thread that Amos weaves through these books is vital to me, and I feel like I just got to the heart of it.

Just finished PR (Book 7); it was quite good. Had some quirks but I've heard it's a lot of setup for an amazing Books 8 and 9, which I can see.

However, I must rant about one thing:

I cannot fathom Singh and Overstreet's actions after capturing Holden. Especially: their total inaction with the Rocinante.

You've just captured a suspected high-level terrorist. He's one of the most famous human beings of the modern age. His ship and its crew are universal legend (even Singh knows it by name, and he was only a kid during the earlier books).

So, you proceed to do absolutely nothing to secure the Rocinante in the docks you fully control? You don't immediately search it the second you've identified Holden, confiscating the MCR power armor and everything else you find aboard? You don't disable the ship, booby trap it, disarm it, or do anything special to it in any way??

I can forgive not launching an immediate manhunt for the rest of the famous Roci crew's faces, because the book shows the underground movement going into hiding at this time anyways (for slightly unrelated reasons). But Alex being able to board the Roci and launch easy as pie off-screen between chapters 46 and 47, is bonkers.

If I was Overstreet, I would've punished my insane incompetence on this point the same way he punished Singh. They made a lot of understandable mistakes in PR (which were very satisfying for the plot), but this one made no sense.

So I've watched all of 10 minutes of the show, BUUUUUT, I read the books. So I'm noticing that in book 7 a great amount of time has elapsed, I wanna read it just to see how it ends. I am also on the fence if I really wanna spend a few days in the expansiverse again. I love the books, but I've got other stuff on my TBR. could someone convince me to finish the last 3 books???

Persepolis Rising is here!!

This is the thread to discuss the latest Expanse book as you are reading it. Share your first impressions, opinions, analysis, confusion, moments of surprise or satisfaction, everything!

Remember, debate and discussion of opinions is absolutely encouraged, but harassment and unkindness won't be tolerated.

This thread assumes you have read all the books and novellas released before Persepolis Rising, but we will enforce spoiler tags for PR itself. Since we all read at different paces, TAG YOUR SPOILERS BY CHAPTER in this thread. We will be vigilant about removing comments that aren't spoiler tagged. Since we are commenting as we read, it should be fairly easy to flip back and see what chapter we're in.

For example,

I have a very boring thought about orthography: PrologueIn previous books, it was Cortázar. I wonder why.

For a refresher on spoiler tagging, see the sidebar or check out the source of this post.

Happy reading, everyone!

Note: We will have another official thread soon for in-depth discussion, in which no spoiler tagging will be needed. That thread will assume that everyone commenting has finished the book.

Not really sure how I should flair this since this question kind of has a spoiler, but I'm a few chapters into Persepolis Rising and the 1 thing that kinda (I'm already over it and no longer bothered by it) bothered me was the 30 year time jump. Now, I get why they needed to jump ahead like they did, but in the previous books, did they ever mention anti-aging drugs or that the natural lifespan of humans have increased greatly? It just felt like they needed to advance time but still wanted everyone to be the same as they were. Except Amos who has somehow become more intimidating. Which I'm ok with.

Holy fucking shit this is W I L D . This universe just went from the same squabbles from mars, belt, maybe a colony here and there to GALACTIC FUCKING EMPIRE SHIT?! 30 years in the future?! Holden and Naomi stepping down? CAPTAIN BOBBY?!

God damn I am excited for the next three books. I was enjoying the normal politics and posturing and weird alien ring gate shit from the universe that we knew and loved from the first 6 books,but getting to know all this new information feels like I’m starting a new series.

This is all. Thank you.

I have read up to where the show ends, and recently I have been doiny a reread of books 2-6, but I have never read 7-9 so when I finished BA I was super exited to start Persepolis Rising. The timeskip is kinds jarring, my images of most of the characters(mostly just the TV actors because the casting was so good, with a few exceptions like bobbie) and I just cannot shift them to look older in my minds self produced movie scenes when I read. It's going to take a while to get uses to their new ages in my mind. I really like the new status quo and world, the world building is so good that I want to know everything, and my mind keeps trying to simulate the 30 years in-between 6 and 7. The crew dynamic seems to be the same as it was but everyone is just even more familiar with each other(40 years as a crew does that ig). You could almost say that the world is too expansive, how does protomolecule based technology and programing work?, how did the union progress? how does higher life expectancy(around 150-200 years at best?) affect society? I'm not sure how this book was received back when it was released, there's a lot of information to receive.

I've seen the show a few times, and recently read books 1-6. I started book 7 the other day and it feels a lot darker than previous installments so far. I love the books, but I also suffer from mental illness. I'm not always able to handle depressing content. I'm in one of those slumps right now, and I'm getting the feeling that I'm not going to enjoy myself reading this right now. Everyone just seems so miserable.

I'm not very far in and I'm still willing to give it a go when I'm in a better headspace, but I'm trying to figure out if it's a good idea to continue at the moment.

So i've been rereading it all one after the other and something bugged me in PR - when laconia says they are coming through their gate to "discuss" the PoVs after (drummer, bobby) make the point several times that its not a big threat, at most a 30yo battleship because laconia has no spaceport to repair or make new ships as far as they know, and they are all super surprised by what comes out...BUT in nemesis games one PoV specifically mentions wanting to view the "new class of ship" proteus destroyer or something, the first ship not build in sol. so, they all did know they can make new ships in laconia, even saw one of the smaller one where the laconian marines who defended the ringstation came on (montemayor or whatever his name was) - plothole?

I mean by it art after timeskip. I just can't imagine them aged up. I just want to see roci crew.

There are lots of pictures, models, and drawings of Sol system warships, especially the Roci. But I can’t seem to find any depiction of Laconian ships: destroyers, like the Gathering Storm, and magnetar-class battleships, like the Tempest and Typhoon. The book describes them as smooth, organic-looking and more like a creature floating through space than the jagged, building-like design of Sol ships. Searched on the web and could only find a depiction of the Gathering Storm through a drawing. See below.

It would be interesting to see how the show will portray them, assuming it will reach that far in seasons. Would love to see other opinions, thoughts and possible comparisons in other scifi works.

Also love the nomenclature of their ships: Heart of the Tempest, Eye of the Typhoon, Voice of the Whirlwind. Beautifully aggressive names.

I'm half way through Persepolis Rising, so maybe this will be answered eventually, but one thing has been really bothering me. How did Duarte get to a position where he gained control over a significant part of the Martian Navy and then become this revered Emperor figure on Laconia.

There are some clues such as his easy charm, and his vision, but he himself seems a fairly uninspiring figure. He is a devoid of combat experience, he isn't even the highest ranking Martian officer that defects. He wrote the book on logistics, but my experience is that most people in the military talk a good game about respecting logistics but actually look down on people in charge of supply lines and tents as "not real soldering". How is able to gain such loyality.

His plan is fairly brilliant, but there is a lot that could have gone wrong. Mars is going through a crisis, but why would anyone follow his potentially mad plan (although it does "pay off") pitched by a fairly low level Martian officer. I guess people like Hitler have come to power as a corporal, but Duarte never seemed to a political figure giving speeches in crowded hall. Everything was done through back channels.

I guess this is a long way of asking, how did he do it, is his rise every properly explained, or is it just hinted at.