Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey, the sequel to Leviathan Wakes

**Nicolas** · May 31st, 2012, 04:52 PM

I am currently in the middle of A Storm Of Swords by George Martin so I won't be reading it for another couple of weeks, but Caliban's War, book 2 of the expanse, is out, at least in the UK, and I couldn't resist snapping a copy.

Blurb from the back cover:

We Are Not Alone

On Jupiter's largest moon, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rest on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun...

Leviathan Wakes was a very enjoyable read, and its depiction of morally ambiguous and flawed characters, relentless pace and almost too good to be true cliffhangers made it one of the most interesting book of last year.

Really curious about and looking forward to the new one. Has anybody read it yet?

**Mr. Aware Eagle** · June 1st, 2012, 12:18 AM

I can't wait to read it. I just finished Leviathan Wakes a couple of weeks ago. It was tons of fun.
I believe the US release date is June 26th (someone please correct me if this is wrong, I've seen a couple of other dates as well).

**Hobbit** · June 1st, 2012, 12:51 AM

Had a UK copy arrive earlier in the week: about halfway through, and so far it's great.

Develops things from Leviathan Wakes nicely and there's a broader canvas. Can't see why (at least so far) why anyone who liked the first book wouldn't like the second, if not more so than Leviathan.

Mark

**Danogzilla** · June 1st, 2012, 11:59 AM

I want that book!

Hopefully Orbit does its slide-it-out-early thing and it shows up soon.

**livens** · June 2nd, 2012, 11:41 AM

Ive been looking forward to this one, cant wait to get my hands on a copy! And you say its already out in the UK... I may have to order up a copy from thebookdepo or amazon.uk

On a side note, does anyone know why these are not being released as hardcovers?

**Danogzilla** · June 2nd, 2012, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by livens

On a side note, does anyone know why these are not being released as hardcovers?

I'm pretty sure it's only trade paperback.

edit: sorry, I misread the question.

**Hobbit** · June 2nd, 2012, 12:05 PM

On a side note, does anyone know why these are not being released as hardcovers?

Well, it is only TPB in the UK. (And MPB for Leviathan Wakes now too.)

Sure someone mentioned this earlier at some point (Wert?) but, if I remember right, basically it was because Orbit didn't think there was demand for a Hardback edition of Leviathan Wakes and they often don't put the second book out as a HB anyway....

Mark

**Nicolas** · June 2nd, 2012, 02:48 PM

Yes, it looks like financial considerations have prevented the books coming in hardback. Here's the lowdown from Daniel Abraham, one half of James Corey, on the subject:

http://www.danielabraham.com/2012/04/13/hardcovers/

He does, however, mention a hardcover edition of Leviathan Wakes by the Science Fiction Book Club, so I went and had a look and here they are!

Leviathan Wakes

Caliban's War

Only in the U.S. though.

**Hobbit** · June 2nd, 2012, 03:35 PM

Thanks for that, Nicolas.

Are those US Book Club editions the smaller format hardback that we get in the UK Book Club editions, or more regular hardback size?

That's a thought actually: anyone in the UK Book Club know of these in HB in the UK?

Mark

**Nicolas** · June 2nd, 2012, 05:36 PM

I've never had one in my hands

, but dimensions published by their website seem to indicate a small HB format, about 20cm in height by 13cm in length, as opposed to 24 x 16 for a regular hardback.

**Hobbit** · June 2nd, 2012, 06:49 PM

Thanks again: was an open question, really, but that would suggest that they are a smaller HB size: like the version you often get in the UK Book Club.

Guess it depends on how much you want a HB: but if you are a collector, they might be worth tracking down.

Mark

**livens** · June 3rd, 2012, 09:37 AM

Wow, thanks for finding those links Nicolas.

Now I have a decision to make: Go for the larger trade paperback, or sacrifice size for the hardback... First world problems can be so annoying!

**suciul** · June 11th, 2012, 09:56 PM

I finished Caliban's War by James Corey; in short, I liked it and as it is in large parts a repeat of Leviathan wakes with a different side plot and 3 new pov's, I guess people's reaction will mirror the reaction to the first book.

While I liked the new pov's - for various reasons, not least having a better gender balance the lack of which was a reasonably legitimate criticism of the first book, so now two of the three new pov's are female, both with great power in their own ways as one is a tough Martian marine and the other an ethnic Indian politician who is one of movers and shakers on Earth - the action lacked the freshness and the sense of wonder from Leviathan wakes and the book was a more standard action-adventure-space thriller without the sfnal mysteries of the debut.

A great wow ending and of course I want more asap, while overall i would rate the book as a highly recommended one of mine for 2012 but not quite a top 25

**Danogzilla** · June 11th, 2012, 10:58 PM

A couple days ago I got an updated shipping email from Amazon. It said I could expect my preorder as early as June 14th, so it looks like this is releasing early. Happy day!

Edit: got an email this morning (6/12, or 12/6 depending on your longitude) telling me Caliban's War has shipped.