| |
Author | James S. A. Corey |
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Country | United States |
Genre | Science fiction Space opera |
Publisher | Orbit Books |
Published | June 25 2011 – March 15, 2022 |
Media type | Print Audiobook E-book |
The Expanse is a series of science fiction novels (and related novellas and short stories) by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The first novel, Leviathan Wakes , was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2012. [1] The complete series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2017. [2] It later won, following its second nomination for the same award in 2020. [3]
The book series is made up of nine novels, nine shorter works and a story collection book. The series was adapted for television by the Syfy Network, also under the title of The Expanse . When Syfy canceled the TV series after three seasons, Amazon acquired it, produced three more seasons, and streams all six seasons on Amazon Prime Video. [4]
No. | Title | Pages | Audio | Publication date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leviathan Wakes | 561 | 20h 56m | 2011-06-15 | 978-0-316-12908-4 |
2 | Caliban's War | 595 | 21h | 2012-06-25 | 978-0-316-12906-0 |
3 | Abaddon's Gate | 539 | 19h 42m | 2013-06-04 | 978-0-316-12907-7 |
4 | Cibola Burn | 583 | 20h 7m | 2014-06-17 | 978-0-316-21762-0 |
5 | Nemesis Games | 544 | 16h 44m | 2015-06-02 | 978-0-316-21758-3 |
6 | Babylon's Ashes | 608 | 19h 58m | 2016-12-06 | 978-0-316-33474-7 |
7 | Persepolis Rising | 560 | 20h 34m | 2017-12-05 | 978-0-316-33283-5 |
8 | Tiamat's Wrath | 544 | 19h 8m | 2019-03-26 | 978-0-316-33286-6 |
9 | Leviathan Falls | 528 | 19h 40m | 2021-11-30 [5] | 978-0-316-33291-0 |
No. | Title | Setting | Pages | Audio | Publication date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.1 | Drive | Before Leviathan Wakes | 25 | 57m | 2012-11-27 [7] | 978-1-781-08056-6 |
0.3 | The Churn | Before Leviathan Wakes | 75 | 2h 18m | 2014-04-29 | 978-0-316-21766-8 |
0.5 | The Butcher of Anderson Station | Before Leviathan Wakes | 40 | 1h 1m | 2011-10-17 | 978-0-316-20407-1 |
1.1 | The Last Flight of the Cassandra | During Leviathan Wakes | 5 | 2019-05-14 [9] | 978-1-934-54797-7 | |
2.5 | Gods of Risk | Between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate | 75 | 2h 20m | 2012-09-15 | 978-0-316-21765-1 |
3.5 | The Vital Abyss | From before Leviathan Wakes to Cibola Burn | 74 | 2h 26m | 2015-10-15 [10] | 978-0-316-21756-9 |
6.5 | Strange Dogs | Between Babylon's Ashes and Persepolis Rising | 64 | 2h 29m | 2017-07-18 [11] | 978-0-316-21757-6 |
7.5 | Auberon | Between Persepolis Rising and Tiamat’s Wrath [12] | 63 | 2h 25m | 2019-11-12 [13] | 978-0-316-43428-7 |
9.5 | The Sins of Our Fathers | After Leviathan Falls [14] | 64 | 2h 23m | 2022-03-15 [15] | 978-0-316-66907-8 |
Memory's Legion: The Complete Expanse Story Collection [16] | Before Leviathan Wakes to after Leviathan Falls | 432 | 16h 22m | 2022-03-15 [17] | 978-0-316-66919-1 |
The book Memory's Legion is a collection of all eight short stories and novellas, except for The Last Flight of the Cassandra (which remains exclusive to the RPG). The collection includes authors' notes, and the final novella The Sins of Our Fathers, which is an epilogue to the series. [16] [14]
The series totals 5062 pages across the 9 novels, 467 across the other 9 short stories and novellas, and a total of 5529 pages in its entirety. The audiobook collections are approximately 178 hours, 17 hours, and 195 hours long respectively.
All novels and short works except the RPG exclusive short story have been released as audiobooks, with Jefferson Mays as the narrator for the novels and short works that include Drive, The Butcher of Anderson Station, The Vital Abyss, Strange Dogs, Auberon, and The Sins of Our Fathers. Erik Davies was originally the narrator for the novellas The Churn and Gods of Risk; [18] but both have been re-released with Jefferson Mays narrating them as of December 28, 2021. While most of Memory's Legion is narrated by Jefferson Mays, the author's note portions are narrated by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
The Expanse is set in a future in which humanity has colonized much of the Solar System, but does not have interstellar travel. The G-force exerted during acceleration when travelling across the Solar System is debilitating without the use of special drugs. In the asteroid belt and beyond, tensions are rising between Earth's United Nations, Mars, and the outer planets, often represented by the Outer Planets Alliance. [19] The residents of the outer planets have developed a creole language due to their physical isolation from Earth and Mars, with heavy influences from German and Chinese. The series initially takes place in the Solar System, using many real locations such as Ceres and Eros in the asteroid belt, several moons of Jupiter, with Ganymede and Europa taking center stage in several major plot-points, and small science bases as far out as Phoebe around Saturn and Titania around Uranus, as well as well-established domed and underground settlements on Mars and the Moon, referred to as Luna. [19] [20]
The authors have suggested that The Expanse might well take place in the future of Andy Weir's novel The Martian . [21] In support of this, they created a ship named the Mark Watney after the titular Martian. However, Andy Weir has publicly clarified that the reference was solely a fun reference. [22]
As the series progresses, humanity gains access to thousands of new worlds by use of the ring network, an artificially sustained Einstein-Rosen bridge or wormhole, created by a long-dead alien civilization. The ring in our solar system is two AU from the orbit of Uranus. Passing through it leads to a hub of starless space approximately one million kilometers across, with more than 1,300 other rings, each with a star system on the other side. In the center of the hub, which is also referred to as the "slow zone" after the second novel, a highly defended alien space station controls the gates and can also set instantaneous speed limits on objects inside the hub as a means of defense. [23]
Name | Books |
---|---|
James Holden | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (prologue, Interlude, epilogue), 9 |
Amos Burton | 5, 6, 7, 9 (2 interludes) |
Alex Kamal | 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Naomi Nagata | 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Josephus Miller | 1 |
Julie Mao | 1 (prologue) |
Fred Johnson | 1 (epilogue), 6 |
Bobbie Draper | 2, 4 (prologue), 6, 7, 8 |
Chrisjen Avasarala | 2, 4 (epilogue), 6 |
Praxidike Meng | 2, 6 |
Mei Meng | 2 (prologue) |
Clarissa Melpomene Mao | 3, 6, 7 |
Annushka Volovodov | 3, 6 (epilogue) |
Carlos 'Bull' de Baca | 3 |
Manéo Jung-Espinoza | 3 (prologue) |
Dimitri Havelock | 4 |
Basia Merton | 4 |
Elvi Okoye | 4, 8, 9 |
The Investigator | 4 (interludes) |
Filip Inaros | 5 (prologue), 6 |
Sauveterre | 5 (epilogue) |
Marco Inaros | 6 |
Anderson Dawes | 6 |
Michio Pa | 6 |
Salis | 6 |
Jakulski | 6 |
Vandercaust | 6 |
Roberts | 6 |
Namono | 6 (prologue) |
Paolo Cortazár | 7 (prologue) |
Santiago Jilie Singh | 7 |
Camina Drummer | 7 |
Winston Duarte | 7 (epilogue), 9 (prologue) |
Teresa Duarte | 8, 9 |
Anton Trejo | 9 (prologue) |
Aliana Tanaka | 9 |
Fayez Sarkis | 9 |
Kit Kamal | 9 |
Cara Bisset | 9 (interludes) |
Jillian Houston | 9 |
Ekko Levy | 9 |
Marrel Imvic | 9 (epilogue) |
The story is told through the points-of-view of many main characters. There are two POV characters in the first book and four in books two through five. In the sixth and seventh books, the number of POV characters increases, with several characters having only one or two chapters. The eighth book returned to a more limited number with five. In the final ninth book, there is an increase in POVs with some chapters having multiple POV characters. Every book also begins and ends with a prologue and epilogue told from a unique character's perspective, who will occasionally interject in the main body of the novel.
The central characters are the crew of the Rocinante, a salvaged Martian naval gunship. The main crew consists of:
Ty Franck began developing the world of The Expanse initially as the setting for a MMORPG and, after a number of years, for a tabletop roleplaying game. Daniel Abraham, who had authored a number of novels on his own, suggested, given the depth of the setting, that it could serve for the basis for a series of novels, noting: "People who write books don't do this much research." [24]
The authors have stated that the series gets some of its inspirations from Fred Pohl's Gateway and the other Heechee books. [25] It has also been observed that there are similarities in the political and social setting of the series to Alfred Bester's classic science fiction novel The Stars My Destination . [26] [27] Ty Franck has also stated Ridley Scott's Alien as having "the single largest influence on The Expanse." [28]
Franck writes all the Holden, Bobbie, and Anna chapters, while Abraham writes the Miller, Melba, Avasarala, Bull, and Prax chapters. [29] The writers meet weekly to discuss upcoming chapters and swap completed chapters for the other to edit. [24]
The novels are written in third-person limited. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a character central to the story, while the prologue and epilogue are told by a recurring character or a one-off viewpoint. Most of the books employ four point-of-view characters (plus the prologue and epilogue viewpoints). Leviathan Wakes features two, Babylon's Ashes features sixteen, Persepolis Rising features eight, and Tiamat's Wrath features five. James Holden is the only character to be used as a viewpoint character in all nine novels.
The series overall has been well received. Caliban's War was praised by both Wired.com's Geek Dad and Publishers Weekly . GeekDad cited the book's "believable human personalities and technology that is easily recognizable" as a highlight. [30] [31] Publishers Weekly gave Abaddon's Gate a starred review saying "series fans will find this installment the best yet." [32] The same publication gave Cibola Burn a starred review and called it "splendid" and it "blends adventure with uncommon decency." [33] Leviathan Falls won the 2022 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. [34] The Expanse won the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Series. [35]
Year | Novel | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Leviathan Wakes | Goodreads Choice Awards | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [36] |
2012 | Hugo Award | Best Novel | Nominated | [37] | |
Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [38] | ||
Caliban's War | Goodreads Choice Awards | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [39] | |
2013 | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [40] | |
Abaddon's Gate | Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [41] | |
2014 | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Won | [42] | |
Cibola Burn | Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [43] | |
2015 | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [44] | |
Nemesis Games | Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [45] | |
2017 | Babylon's Ashes | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [46] |
Goodreads Choice Awards | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [47] | ||
Dragon Award | Best Science Fiction Novel | Won | [48] | ||
The Expanse | Hugo Award | Best Series | Nominated | [49] | |
2018 | Persepolis Rising | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [50] |
Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [51] | ||
Dragon Award | Best Science Fiction Novel | Nominated | [52] | ||
2019 | Tiamat's Wrath | Dragon Award | Best Science Fiction Novel | Nominated | [53] |
Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science fiction | Nominated | [54] | ||
Google Play Users' Choice Awards | User's Choice Book | Nominated | [55] | ||
2020 | The Expanse | Hugo Award | Best Series | Won | [56] |
2022 | Leviathan Falls | Locus Awards | Best SF Novel | Nominated | [57] |
Dragon Award | Best Science Fiction Novel | Won | [58] | ||
Goodreads Choice Award | Best Science Fiction | Nominated | [59] | ||
The American television channel Syfy announced a straight-to-series commitment to a television adaptation of The Expanse in April 2014, ordering the production of ten hour-long episodes for a first season [60] which premiered in December 2015. As of 2022 [update] six seasons consisting of a total of 62 episodes have been produced, with the final episode of each season sharing its name with the respective book. The series stars Thomas Jane as Josephus Miller and Steven Strait as Jim Holden. As for the other crew of the Rocinante, Dominique Tipper was cast as Naomi Nagata, Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal, and Wes Chatham as Amos Burton. The other major cast members are Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, Chad Coleman as Fred Johnson, and Florence Faivre as Julie Mao. In season 2, Frankie Adams joined the cast as Bobbie Draper.
Four digital comics based on the books and tying into the television series were published by ComiXology. The comics were written by James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert and Georgia Lee and illustrated by Huang Danlan, Triona Farrell, Juan Useche and Rahzzah. The Expanse: Origins reveals the untold backstories of the crew members of the Rocinante before the start of the series. All four comics were also released in print as a compilation titled The Expanse Vol. 1: Origins by BOOM! Studios, which also featured a new story about Detective Miller.
Title | Character | Publication date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
The Expanse Origins #1 | James Holden | 2017-02-01 | [61] |
The Expanse Origins #2 | Naomi Nagata | 2017-04-19 | [62] |
The Expanse Origins #3 | Alex Kamal | 2017-05-24 | [63] |
The Expanse Origins #4 | Amos Burton | 2017-07-12 | [64] |
A second series was also published by Boom and written by James S.A. Corey and Corinna Bechko, and illustrated by Alejandro Aragon, Francesco Segala and Ed Dukeshire. To date 4 issues have been published.
In January 2023, it was announced that the continuation of the TV-series, set between Babylon's Ashes and Persepolis Rising , would be adapted into a 12-issue comic book series, The Expanse: Dragon Tooth . [65] [66]
An Expanse board game, designed by Geoff Engelstein and published by WizKids, was released in October 2017. [67] The authors of the book series collaborated with Engelstein on its development. [68] The game focuses on politics, conquest and intrigue similar to the board game Twilight Struggle , although with a shorter playing time. Players represent Earth's UN forces, the military of Mars, the O.P.A., and Protogen Inc, each struggling to become the dominant power in the Solar System. They use cards and action points to move and place Fleets and expand their Influence in contested areas. The cards represent characters and events from the universe of The Expanse, each bearing key images from the show. Each character has special abilities that must be correctly exploited in order to gain the upper hand in the struggle for control. [69]
The Expanse: Doors & Corners Expansion was announced for release by WizKids in February 2019. It contains five new modules that can be used independently or in any combination together with the base game. [70]
The Expanse Roleplaying Game uses the AGE (Adventure Game Engine) system designed by Chris Pramas. The core rulebook and Gamemaster's Kit launched on Kickstarter [71] in July 2018 and gathered over $400,000 from their campaign. The book was written by game designer Steve Kenson and is published by Pramas' company Green Ronin Publishing. [72] The game allows players to create their own character of the various Solar System factions and adventure through the Solar System and beyond at the various settings or even on their own ships. It includes a bonus short story by James S. A. Corey titled "The Last Flight of the Cassandra". [73]
A flag of Mars is a concept of a possible flag design, meant to symbolize the planet Mars or to represent a fictional Martian government, in works of fiction.
Daniel James Abraham, pen names M. L. N. Hanover and James S. A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of The Expanse science fiction series, written under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey. The series has been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Abraham and Franck serving as writers and producers on the show. He also contributed to Wildcards anthology series shared universe.
Wynonna Earp is a horror Western comic book miniseries created and owned by Beau Smith. The series was initially published by Image Comics, and from 2003 by IDW Publishing.
Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology, was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads as of September 2013. It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and manga across Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Windows 10, and the Internet.
James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, authors of the science fiction series The Expanse. The first and last name are taken from Abraham's and Franck's middle names, respectively, and S. A. are the initials of Abraham's daughter. The name is also meant to emulate many of the space opera writers of the 1970s. In Germany, their books are published under the name James Corey with the middle initials omitted.
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.
Caliban's War is a 2012 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey. It is about a conflict in the Solar System that involves the polities Earth, Mars, the Asteroid Belt and the outer planets, and a powerful extraterrestrial biological von Neumann probe. The second book in The Expanse series, it was preceded by Leviathan Wakes. The third book, Abaddon's Gate, was released on June 4, 2013. One of eight short stories and novellas published by James S. A. Corey, entitled "Gods of Risk", takes place directly after the events of Caliban's War.
Abaddon's Gate is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey. It is about a conflict in the Solar System that involves the polities of Earth, Mars, the Asteroid Belt and the outer planets, and a mysterious self-replicating alien technology of immense power. It is the third title of The Expanse series and is preceded by Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War. The series is continued in Cibola Burn. The book was released on 4 June 2013, as well released as an audiobook by Audible, narrated by Jefferson Mays.
Rocinante is the horse in the novel Don Quixote.
Cibola Burn is a 2014 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey and the fourth book in The Expanse series. It follows the crew of the Rocinante as they join the flood of humanity out into the galaxy, using the gates built by the ancient civilization which also produced the protomolecule. Cibola Burn is heavily influenced by western stories, departing slightly from the previous themes of the series to tell a story of survival on the frontier. At the release of Cibola Burn, Orbit Books announced that James S. A. Corey would write three additional books in the series to bring the series to nine novels and various short stories. Cibola Burn serves as the basis for the fourth season of the television series The Expanse, which was released by Amazon Video December 13, 2019.
The Expanse is an American science fiction television series developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby for the Syfy network and is based on the series of novels of the same name by James S. A. Corey. Set in a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System, it follows a disparate band of protagonists — United Nations Security Council member Chrisjen Avasarala, cynical detective Josephus Miller, and ship's officer James Holden and his crew — as they unwittingly unravel and place themselves at the center of a conspiracy that threatens the system's fragile peace, while dealing with existential crises brought forth by newly discovered alien technology.
Nemesis Games is a 2015 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, and the fifth book in their The Expanse series. It is the sequel to Cibola Burn. The cover art is by Daniel Dociu. Nemesis Games received has positive reviews. The novel has been referred to as "Corey’s 'Empire Strikes Back'".
Babylon's Ashes is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, and the sixth book in their The Expanse series. The title of the novel was announced in early July 2015, and the cover and brief synopsis were revealed on September 14, 2015. It won the 2017 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
The year 2015 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.
Brian Niemeier is an American science fiction horror author. In 2016, he was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and won the inaugural Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel.
Persepolis Rising is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, and the seventh book in their series The Expanse. The title of the novel was announced in September 2016 and the cover was revealed on December 12, 2016.
"Dulcinea" is the series premiere of the American science fiction television series The Expanse. It originally aired on Syfy in the United States on December 14, 2015. The episode was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and directed by Terry McDonough, and is based on the first chapters of James S. A. Corey's novel Leviathan Wakes, the first novel in The Expanse novel series.
Ty Corey Franck is an American novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known for co-authoring The Expanse with Daniel Abraham under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey, as well as Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series (2014) and The Expanse: Expanded (2016). The Expanse novels have been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Franck and Abraham serving as writers and producers on the show.
Leviathan Falls is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, and the ninth and final book of the series The Expanse. The title and cover art were announced by the authors at a virtual fan announcement on September 16, 2020 and the book was released November 30, 2021. The title echoes the title of the initial book in the series, Leviathan Wakes. The book won the 2022 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
"Babylon's Ashes" is the sixth episode of the sixth and final season of the American science fiction television series The Expanse. It originally premiered on Amazon Prime in the United States on January 14, 2022, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar, and directed by Breck Eisner. The episode title draws its name from the sixth The Expanse novel of the same name written by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of Abraham and Franck.
Alcon Entertainment has confirmed that Amazon will pick up the show for a fourth season, after outcry from the show's fans.
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