I recently finished Persepolis Rising, the seventh book in The Expanse series by James S. Corey. This is a review of that book.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Short Version:
Persepolis Rising is a must-read for any fan of the series who has read the first six books. It is not a good entry-point into The Expanse universe because it assumes a lot of pre-existing knowledge on the reader’s part. It’s not my favorite of The Expanse novels, but it sets up a new era, 30 years past the previous books, full of changes to the universe. In that sense it’s an important pivot point to the universe. I suspect that you can’t read the upcoming and planned last two books in the series without reading this one. Although the book is a little slow at the start, it picks up dramatically in the middle and leaves you with a desperate gritty feeling. The biggest upset is that we have to wait a year to read the next book to see where this is all going
Long Version:
It’s been 30 years since the events of the sixth book in The Expanse series. The Roci is a tired old ship and so is her crew. The bonds of the crew have cemented themselves into a family that is running missions for the various governments of The Expanse universe.
The early parts of the book does a good job catching you up with the characters so that you somehow feel like although years have passed, you haven’t missed much. The characters themselves seem different, less naive, less idealistic. There are a lot of reflective scenes where characters contemplate how their lives have gone and where they have ended up. It’s interesting to see how those characters have made peace with their lives, the good and the bad of it all.
Just when you feel tired reading about familiar and loved characters, now senior citizens, who feel tired about life and failing health in general, the universe spins you into a crisis of mysterious power and might that completely change everything.
That’s one thing The Expanse series has always been good at. The authors painstakingly build a universe, and make you feel like its solidified, unchanging. Then they rip up the carpeting and reformat the whole thing before your eyes in a furry of constructive destruction. Few authors can pull that off, but the authors of The Expanse have repeatedly demonstrated a talent for it in previous books and again in this one.
The peace is ripped apart as the former Martians of the Laconia gate and colony reappear from their 30-year self-enforced solitude. Everyone is expecting a thriving or dying colony, based on the progress the other human colonies are making.
No one expects a Laconian Empire, with warships and marine body armor created using protomolecule and alien technologies that outclass everything in the arsenal of the rest of humanity. While the rest of humanity wasn’t looking, the Laconians built a powerhouse behind a closed gate and it is unleashed.
The “Empire that’s trying to conquer the galaxy” motif should feel stale or overdone by now, but it doesn’t here. There is enough mystery and unknown X factors behind how and why that Empire came to be that it’s a mystery that you, the reader, are eager to keep reading to learn more about.
The middle and end of the book is dominated by the Sol System powers scrambling to fight this new threat. That’s what is happening in the big strategic military/political focused chapters of the book. A familiar face or two on that front, notably a certain “curses like a sailor” Earth politician who comes out of retirement just enough to make a scene or two really interesting.
Overall though, those strategic framework chapters of the book weren’t that great for me. Unless they were shining more light on the Laconian Empire’s mysterious capabilities, those chapters feel like the traditional powers, Earth, Mars, the Belt (in the form of the Union) going through the motions of mobilizing to defeat an enemy with a heck of a lot more questions than answers. The characters are haunted by past mistakes and fearful of what’s to come and they never really break free of that.
In the smaller world of the familiar characters of the Roci’s crew, the book shines. Acting as a resistance behind the lines of the war, the Roci crew are able to work with old OPA hands to fight back against Laconian rule. Just as interesting is their immediate enemy. A Laconian officer named Singh, he is a true believer to the Laconian ideology who barely understands the rest of humanity because of Laconia’s self-imposed isolation for 30 years. His faith in the dogma of the Laconian Empire (and its right to rule all of humanity) is absolute. But we get to see that this is just a man, a husband and father. He’s about the most relatable villain you can imagine. It’s hard to see him as the bad guy at all. But as the head of an occupying force, he’s got a job to do and he takes it personally when people close to him die in a hail of gunfire.
Somehow Singh’s character made me enjoy the book even more. He’s not a heartless psychopath like some of The Expanse’s past villains. He just believes that the Laconian Empire is going through a rough transition period and that it’s his job to help the poor non-Laconians feel at home in the growing Empire.
Meanwhile, for former OPA types and Belters in general, it’s like a return to familiar old times from a generation ago. They are back to being under someone else’s boot. Time to break out the bombs, the sabotage and everything else to fight the “inners” like the good old days. Only this time, James Holden and crew are right there with them. Even the usual ideological divides between James Holden and the rest of the OPA are gone. It’s all of humanity against the Laconian Empire, pure and simple.
Despite the simplicity of that notion, it’s difficult to see a way forward to survive, let alone to win this one. Persepolis Rising carries on this desperate and gritty vibe all the way to the final chapter.
The speed of new events in the book forces the authors to skim past trying to re-explain aspects of the universe that are already established. Concepts like who the Belters are, their language, use of gestures. Ideas like what Earth and Mars are like now. These pre-existing aspects of the universe are glazed over. This is fanboy/fangirl territory. This book is designed to be read by existing fans of the series who are very familiar with The Expanse universe in all its facets and the general plotlines of the first six novels leading up to this one. So it is not a good entry point into The Expanse Universe.
In many aspects, the end of the book is the most frustrating. A new status quo is taking shape, but it’s not one that can possibly last. The overall situation (as well as the specific situation of at least one character) forms a cliffhanger. It hints at some significant objectives that are on various characters’ minds to come but doesn’t tell you how those things will be achieved. If you really hate those kind of books, that leave you wanting more, you might want to wait to read Persepolis Rising until the eighth book in the series is closer to release in December 2018.
For ongoing fans of The Expanse novels, it’s hard to imagine skipping this one. I’m not sure I can say that about all the novels, but this one fast-forwards the timeline 30 years and reestablishes a whole new dynamic to what is happening throughout human civilization. From the Sol System (Earth, Mars, Belters) to the Colonies connected to the Sol System via the gates, to Imperial capital system of Laconia. Important events and framework setting are established here, along with new alien and protomocule affiliated technologies put into mainstream use by humans and an important new villain in the form of High Consul Duarte (ruler of the Laconian Empire).
Persepolis Rising represents an important hinge point in the series. In first six books, its Earth, Mars and the Belt and the series main cast of characters leading their lives through one series of adventures after another in fairly sequential order. The first six books have a pacing rhythm to them that follows the chronological series of events and story.
This book breaks from that, moving the characters and the setting into an entirely new era that barely resembles the old era.
Given all that this book represents, it’s hard to imagine that it’s the pivot point that’s shining a laser pointer in the direction of the end of the series (planned as book nine). But that’s exactly what it is. In retrospect, I almost feel like the first six books were a kind of trilogy. Book seven feels like it’s starting an entirely new saga against a new and powerful enemy.