Leviathan Wakes

Although a fan of science fiction, I no longer read as much of the genre as I did as a teenager when I almost literally devoured it. These days I prefer my SF at the cinema, on the TV or or the wargames table. That said I decided to give the much touted "return to old school space opera" Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey (which SyFy are apparently going to make into a TV series).

A decent book, I really enjoyed it, the story mixing a police investigation plot line with another of the investigation of a mysterious SOS signal from a deserted ship. The story moves along swiftly and has a decent conclusion. Although marketed as book one of The Expanse series, you don't need to buy book two (or three) to find out what happens next.

The writing style is interesting with each chapter dedicated to a specific character and what is happening to them in the story but from a third person viewpoint. I thought this would be irritating but it works well. What I did like is the book's "universe". Whilst man has left Earth, he is still confined to the Solar System, populating Mars and various of the planets satellites, the politics between Earth, Mars and the Belters/Outer Rimmers is familiar enough, but there is enough SF to make it fun.

Overall, a decent SF novel, with some useful ideas for SF gamers. Onto book two now, Caliban's War...