#53 in Science fiction
Leviathan Wakes
- 592
- Pages
- about 11 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Leviathan Wakes” wastes little time on set-up: after a brief opening, one tense event follows another, in a solar system that feels like a believable human future. The story alternates between two viewpoints, Miller and Holden; some readers find Miller’s detective thread the stronger, and Holden tests the patience of others. At nearly six hundred pages it opens a nine-book series, so it best suits readers ready for a long space saga.
Worth knowing James S. A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck; the solar system they share began as Franck’s setting for a planned online game and then a tabletop campaign. The book alternates between two narrators, Holden and Miller, and moves from noir mystery to something much larger. The series runs to nine novels, finished with Leviathan Falls in 2021, and the TV series The Expanse (2015–2022) adapted the first six.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Leviathan Wakes is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of American writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. It is the first book in the Expanse series, followed by Caliban's War (2012), Abaddon's Gate (2013) and six other novels. Leviathan Wakes was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. The novel was adapted for television in 2015 as the first season-and-a-half of The Expanse by Syfy. Five short stories that take place before, during, or after Leviathan Wakes were published between 2011 and 2019.
Reading order · The Expanse
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 3,174 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 96% of the weight and the score stays at 8.6 — the Science fiction average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 167 | 5% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 3K | 95% |
Frequently asked
How long is Leviathan Wakes?
It has 592 pages — longer than 77% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
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