Leviathan Wakes

Having gone to school for Television Writing, I have a decently sizeable social circle of snobby boob tube connoisseurs. One would assume that some discourse surrounding Syfy’s The Expanse would be generated in the vicinity of my presence (A.K.A. Facebook)…

But no one’s talking about it!

I suppose it should come as no surprise. Who the hell has Syfy on their HD Box plans? (It’s a joke Syfy, please don’t send me your army of bodacious female Korean hackers!)

Regardless, The Expanse is a great show overall. Hard to follow at times, especially to those who have not read the same-titled source material by James S.A. Corey (insert-embarrassed-emoticon). Beyond that, however, the show has some legitimate qualities that place it in the realm of “give-it-a-chance”ness. All it would take from the viewer’s part is an expansion of their expectations.

Mélanged Genre

Wikipedia describes The Expanse as a “space opera/ mystery science fiction”. I would say that this unholy trifecta of genres– space opera, noir, science fiction— while an intimidating mix, is an accurate take on the show’s voice. After all, as we have all come to know in our late night essay-writing moments, if it is written on Wikipedia… it must be so.

Without giving away spoilers, the show takes place in the vast reaches of space 200 years into the future and has elements of “whoddunits” as the three protagonists– more on them later– try to unravel the conspiracy that threatens to initiate a solar system-wide war. In an era where each of the following—Dune, Star Trek, Fire-renity, Xeno-Gears-Saga-Blade, Gundam, Star Wars—has a dedicated audience, this title merits its own. The Expanse falls under the sensibilities of what made those other titles so alluring—the possibilities of space, of the known-yet-unknown and articulating all these in a compelling mystery.

And it works.

Good story telling but not Great

By no means should the replacement of “Good” over “Great” detract potential viewers from giving the show a chance, as “Good” might potentially turn out to be “Great” after all.

The Expanse has a very intricate tri-protagonist way of telling its story. The audience follows three characters with awesome names: 1) Josephus Aloisus Miller (played by Thomas Jane), a cop born in one of the Asteroid Belt colonies who investigates the disappearance of a rich girl-turned-terrorist for the oppressed, 2) Crisjen Avasarala (Shoreh Aghdashloo), a peace-goaled big shot on Earth serving as one of the U.N.’s political figures (officially dubbed, “Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration” but let’s be real… neither of us know what that means), and 3) an officer of a space ice freighter by the awesomest name of… (eyeroll) James Holden (Steven Strait) whose story arc will not be revealed here—lest you want the first episode to be spoiled. Suffice it to say, his arc is directly connected to the plot points of the other two and it involves bad things happening to those who make the right decisions.

Perhaps due in part to the show’s tri-partite viewpoints, what really speaks volumes to the story telling style is that not everything is revealed in a convenient sequence of expository scenes. I would argue that, while necessary world-pertinent information is revealed early on, a lot of the plot-pertinent information is revealed in the middle of the series. Traditionally high-stakes act breaks are then more identifiable in the earlier and later episodes.

But what does this mean? For one thing, the viewer is left to do a lot of latent thinking, a lot of connecting the subtleties between episodes that may not have appeared significant at first glance.

In other words, viewers must go beyond traditional story telling and work a little for their prize. There is in essence, a great story here, but it must be “found”. Believe me when I say, “Every scene has its purpose,” even the ones involving the uncle and nephew (for those who have seen the show).

Believability

I was neither a Science nor Astronomy major, so if you happen to be either of those, best to ignore this following spiel… lest you yearn that I be shamed for my attempts at haughty space-oriented discussion. In that case, go for broke!

Nevertheless, the way I see it, The Expanse beats some of the other abovementioned Space Opera titles in the believability department.

Two things in the world of The Expanse. First, people born on space colonies outside of Earth actually grow to look like malnourished giants with hollowed bones. I don’t know whether this is a scientifically reasonable assumption to make but I do know that environment plays a significant role in shaping processes of human growth and evolution. Humans shouldn’t have the good fortune of looking like Asian pop stars like they do in the Gundam space colonies.

Secondly—and possibly the most important argument in this entry—the Asteroid Belters’ Patois! The show has received a lot of criticism for this added depth. But how cool is it that 30% of the actors in this show were pretty much forced to speak a creolized English with which they were most likely unfamiliar? Can you imagine the whiny arguments that took place between actor and director?

“Cut! Do it again!”

“Wah gwan bredren? Me so dinnae do again ye piece’a gobshite, ye!”

Point is, languages in isolated areas do appropriate from the root language and shape it into something different over time, perhaps as a means of collective redefinition. Ireland, Scotland, Jamaica, Singapore—despite the degree in linguistic differences in these areas, the residents still speak… well, English. It’s the same for the Patois in the Asteroid Belt. Although, why this isn’t Miller’s quotidian lingua is beyond me.

What are you waiting for?

Okay so, I am fully aware that despite the lack of explanation, the space colonies and ship vessels in The Expanse need a LOT of energy to sustain themselves (what is their source?), not to mention large horticultural sectors to keep their oxygen-reliant organisms alive… but… … sssshhhhhh… let’s just… just… yeah.

So the show is still not 100% believable, not 100% cohesive, not 100% anything, really.

Because science fiction.

What I can appreciate about this show is its daring boldness at making its world a tiny bit more believable, its story a bit more challenging, and its voice a bit more muddled and unconventional. At least in comparison to some of the other titles in its genre(s).

So what are you waiting for? Get lost in the world, get confused in the Patois, and waste more time than usual in making links to its divergent story line. Those who find it difficult to take this last extra step… the show just finished its first season, so binge watch away!!!

Er, I mean, wait till your subscription-based streaming provider acquires it in its library… yes…

So it’s not without some sense of shame that I say readingLeviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is the equivalent of eating a well-made meal. You don’t have to have a sophisticated pallet to enjoy it, but even a true food snob will find something to appreciate if in the right mood. Be warned, there are some pickles you’ll wish weren’t included & that’s where I’ll stop with the food metaphors! I read Leviathan Wakes when it was first released in 2011 and I remember enjoying it and while I managed to get through the first 3 books, I never finished the full series (now five books in length & counting). I recently reread the book with two purposes in mind. Firstly, to continue with the series, known as The Expanse, and secondly, the book has been adapted for television by the Syfy channel, and I wanted a refresh before the show begins this month.

I enjoyed my second reading of Leviathan Wakes just as much, if not more, than my first poke at it. I’m not surprised that The Expanse is the basis for a new Syfy television show & while a lot of advertising references it as “Game of Thrones in space” I much prefer the moniker – space opera. The plot is packed full of action and danger, and only a person with attention deficit disorder would find it slow moving.

Leviathan Wakes tells a story that takes in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system. It’s a throwback to futures imagined by the likes Bester and Clarke in the Fifties (acknowledged explicitly by Corey in this book’s sequel, Caliban’s War), but updated with modern sensibilities and contemporary science. There is enough specific detail and texture in the prose to make things feel real and lived-in, but Corey never sacrifices the momentum of the plot.

The intriguing and convincing political landscape, featuring a solar system divided into various factions, works very much in the book’s favour, giving the plot some real grist. Firstly, there’s Earth (and Luna), looking after the interests of the cradle of humanity. They have a soft alliance with Mars; a more technologically advanced and militarised society, as befitting a planet named after the Roman god of war. Lastly, there are the Belters who inhabit the moons, meteors and space stations of the Outer Planets, and who are viewed by Earth and Mars as a ragamuffin society of people almost no longer human.

The plot follows two men, one Belter and one Earther, on complementary and intertwined personal quests.

Detective Miller, the Belter, works for a security firm providing law enforcement on Ceres Space Station. When he is given the job of tracking down the missing daughter of a wealthy and powerful magnate from Earth he slowly becomes infatuated with the object of his case.

The Earther protagonist is James Holden. Holden begins the novel as the XO of an ice hauler, known as the Canterbury, working in the Outer Planets. When the Canterbury, along with almost all its crew, are destroyed in an apparent act of terrorism, Holden assumes command of a small group of survivors and seeks to uncover who or what was behind the attack and bring them to justice.

While I’ve said Leviathan Wakes isn’t a dumb book, Holden at various points in the narrative does some very stupid things in the name of freedom of information. He uses pirate broadcasts to make information public because he thinks people have a right to know. This has devastating results when incorrect assumptions are drawn from this public information. Holden’s defence? He just provides the information and people are free to make their own conclusions.

Miller sees Holden as stupid and naive. He is far more elitist. For Miller, information should be given to, and used by, those who can be trusted to do the right thing with it. It’s an interesting moral argument within the narrative that adds some hidden depth to the wham-bam space opera antics.

The book is also interesting in the way it explores contrasting notions of justice. Miller’s character lends the book a hardboiled crime flavor. He wears a porkpie hat. Humphrey Bogart wore a hat. It doesn’t get much more hardboiled than that. Besides the porkpie hat, Miller also embodies the sense of frontier justice often represented in hardboiled crime fiction. Miller’s cynical attitudes towards crime and punishment contrast starkly with Holden’s more idealistic approach, and this is another source a narrative and thematic conflict in the book.

It’s not surprising that the makers of the television adaptation have chosen to bring forward the character Avasarala, a feisty and potty-mouthed elderly female politician, from the second book of the series to feature in the first series of The Expanse. It also looks like the role of Julie Mao, the tycoon’s missing daughter, has been expanded to give her character more agency. If my impressions are correct, these are smart moves by Syfy, directly addressing one of the problematic elements in what is an already very fun and accomplished space opera novel.

Expand your expectations with “The Expanse”

Mélanged Genre

Good story telling but not Great

Believability

What are you waiting for?

The Expanse Book 1 – Leviathan Wakes