Mastodawn

The Expanse

https://lemmy.world/post/43838555

The Expanse - Lemmy.World

I just finished book 6 of the expanse. I live this series so much! I love great hard magic systems which this is, and the author is a bit Frederick Backman esk with how well his writing gets me to feel the emotions and moments of the characters. I’ve tried to watch the TV show and quit after the first season. I was just so confused. Once I finish the books later this year I’m gonna watch the series to the end of it.

Just starting book 9; it really keeps the quality high all the way. I’m more of a fantasy fan myself, but lately I’ve been finding a lot more sci-fi that is really high quality (this, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Vernor Vinge) than fantasy. The last fantasy book I read was The Scar by China Mieville (fairly steampunky actually) which was decent but not on their level, and before that some kinda meh book by Laurell K Hamilton.

I wouldn’t really call it “hard magic” though.

BallShapedMan Mar 4

Oh I’ll look into all of those, thank you!

I’m watching the TV series right now. Its not the best acting but I’m enjoying the story. I’d love go read the book after. I didnt know there was one.

I read the books first, but I thought the show did a great job of capturing the feel and the story beats with only minor character rearrangement. I believe I read that the authors (they’re a duo who originally wanted to make a space board game, I think?) rewrote and combined some characters from the show, so nothing seemed really out of place in either retelling

Not only are there 9 books, but there are also novellas in between that give extra context if you’re interested, but they’re definitely not required.

insaneinthemembrane Mar 6

I’ve seen the show but not read the books. Would you say the novellas stand alone or would you need to have book context?. And what about no context?

Having seen the show should give you most of the context you need for the novellas, though some characters will be different.

No context might be difficult, but I think they catch you up on the broader concepts as they come up.

MilitantAtheist Mar 4

I had a hard time getting into the series, took me like 3-4 tries to get past the first episodes.

Got really good after that though.

BallShapedMan Mar 4

I’ll keep that in mind.

I’ve read them all. I almost put the series down. I thought books 5 and 6 were awfully slow and could have been combined. But like most people say, the last three are really good. In my opinion, you have the best part right in front of you.

BallShapedMan Mar 4

I’m excited to hear that!

I really only liked Leviathan Wakes since it was basically a sci-fi hardboiled detective story. I couldn’t get through the other books

BallShapedMan Mar 4

I can see that. Particularly if you like detective writing.

HubertManne Mar 4

I was really confused with the hard magic thing. I thought it might be a fantasy series unconnected with the sci fi show.

BallShapedMan Mar 4

It’s a writing thing. Any system (magic, technical, science, etc.) that goes beyond what a typical person can do in our reality. Hard magic is a system with rules and consequences that can’t be broken. Soft magic doesn’t have rules or implies rules or breaks.

An example is Star Trek before JJ is hard magic. JJ turned it into soft magic by breaking all the rules because it was cool…?

bonegakrejg Mar 5

I’m in the same boat, I loved the book series but never got into the show. But yeah, excellent series, I was sad to be finished with it.

BallShapedMan Mar 5

I’m sure I will be too. I was when I finished the Hyperion series and so many other great series.

Never have I been so excited to read. This series is top tier!

BallShapedMan Mar 5

It really is! After I’m done with it I’m going to see what else the author has written and see if it’s this good.

janewaydidnothingwrong Mar 5

James SA Corey (which is actually a pseudonym for two individuals) got their start with the expanse series, so there isn’t much beyond that yet. There are a few novellas in the expanse universe so check those out for sure, and then they released the first book in a new series in 2024 called “The Mercy of Gods”. It is quite good! Very different, but quite good. It reminds me quite a bit of some of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s stuff so if you like his work you’ll definitely enjoy it.

BallShapedMan Mar 5

Thank you! I had no idea. Saves me a step

RememberTheApollo_Mar 5

Similar.

I read a bunch of the books but before the series was complete, so I figured I’d give the TV series a shot while I waited. The changes in the televised version were too jarring, so I quit and waited for the books to finish. The books are awesome.

I waited a while and then watched the TV show, that made it tolerable. It’s pretty good, but they don’t do some of the characters justice, and unfortunately had to cut it short and get rid of one of the characters early.

BallShapedMan Mar 5

That’s not surprising. That’s a normal trade when covering mediums. Sometimes it bothers me too much but normally I’m okay with it as long as the spirit is there.

Occasionally the medium switch makes the book better. Jurassic Park for example. The ending in the book is just bad and the author didn’t do nearly enough to get me to care about the characters. The movie fixes all of this.

Though the book opening is better than the movie IMO.

Your mean hard science system?

BallShapedMan Mar 5

The authors I’ve seen talk about / teach this all call it magic regardless because the rules are the same.

BurnoutDV Mar 6

Sounds a bit like a lecture from B. Sanderson

BallShapedMan Mar 6

Yup!

Also Naomi Novik and Steven Gould have used similar language when talking about it. But I’m mostly paraphrasing Brandon’s lectures.

Underwaterbob Mar 6

I quit after book 3 which was a whole bunch of soap opera on a spaceship. I heard book 4 (as far as the series had gotten at that point) wasn’t much better and never went back. I remember enjoying books 1 and 2 enough. I should give it another shot now that’s it’s finished.

It’s great to have on as an audio book while you’re doing something else. I did get pretty disinterested at a good few slower parts, but overall I still liked them