This series of books already has a well loved television adaptation that, I believe is still in production. I gave it a try when the series premiered and I had trouble getting into it. Still, people raved about the source material and it doesn’t take much to sell me on a SciFi series especially when you throw in the words “space opera” so I picked up the first two on sale. The first installment absolutely lives up to the hype. It’s an engaging combination of loveable characters, intergalactic political maneuvering and nail-biting space battles with some sinister alien life thrown in for good measure.
The story shifts perspective between Jim Holden, XO of the water hauler “Canterbury” and Detective Joe Miller, a semi washed up detective on the now inhabited asteroid of Ceres. Both are fairly ordinary men who find themselves thrust into a situation that pits the major factions of the galaxy against one another and threatens to destroy the human race. The factions in question being superpowers Earth and Mars and the underdog Belters (those that inhabit the asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter). Holden, like all good space protagonists has a strong moral code and a scrappy, resourceful crew that become like a found family as the book progresses. Miller has spent the bulk of his career dealing in shades of gray and is an obvious contrast to Holden.
It’s hard to know where the series will go next. Honestly the first one could have been a standalone book though it certainly leaves plenty of openings for future novels. I’d like to see some different perspectives moving forward. Specifically the character of Naomi Agata, one of Holden’s crew members. Of course who knows what new voices will show up in book two. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you soon.