Astrid Hawk
This was my 2nd read - my first being shortly after discovering the TV show. For some reason I remembered not liking book 2 quite as much as book 1, but this time around I decided I liked it better.
Book 2 introduces 3 new narrator characters - Praxidike Meng, Roberta "Bobbie" Draper, and Chrisjen Avasarala - to join Holden in telling the story. Meng is a biologist living on Ganymede - he's devoted his whole life to the science of growing things to sustain ecological systems indoors on space stations and asteroids and moons. I remember finding his chapters boring last time -- and certainly at first they still were. As the book went on, though, I started appreciating and then being impressed by the way his scientific perspective and habit of seeing everything as a system allowed him to see the larger patterns hidden in even unfamiliar situations, so he was able to provide some insight (and in some cases solutions) in ways that Holden and his crew couldn't.
Avasarala is by far my favorite character, and on this re-read it really became clear to me how the show changed her from her original form. Book Avasarala is so much better than show Avasarala - in the book, she is FAR more foul-mouthed and incisive, and equally determined to win, but not to the extent that she's willing to backstab her allies or throw them under metaphorical busses to get what she wants. She's more likeable in the book, despite having a harsher demeanor. And frankly, her over-the-top use of foul language and her dry insults just made me smile. There is a lot more visible political maneuvering in this book than in Book 1, but Avasarala makes it just as fun as the space action.
Bobbie... actually might be my least-favorite character this time around, but she does serve an important role. It's through Bobbie, a patriotic Martian marine who is forcibly soft-retired and betrayed by the government/military she feels intense loyalty to, that we see a more realistic glimpse of what Earth has become. Non-Earthers look down on Earthers as lazy and useless, just living on government Basic assistance (the classic Conservative viewpoint today when it comes to imagining socialism and expanded welfare) - and Bobbie is no different until she ends up actually walking along the city streets and meeting people. The frequent descriptions of gun-cleaning, the Martian super-suit, her devotion to her identity as a marine... those bits I found tedious and could have done without.
And finally, there's of course Holden, who I still love as a character. This time around he's struggling with the accumulated effect of the horror and violence he saw and participated in in Book 1, and his fear is causing him to be someone he doesn't want to be. His process of figuring it out is maybe a bit abrupt, but it still continues to build depth to his character beyond the typical space-opera-ship-captain trope.
The stakes and intensity get high starting at about the 65-70% mark, and from there on out the book is hard to put down. Plenty of political back-stabbing, coalition-building, and entire fleets changing sides left and right. It took me almost a month to read the book this time around, but that's more to do with my reading habits than to do with the book itself. It's still engrossing, but right now I only get 20-30 minutes to read at a time, which makes it hard to really immerse in a story like the way this one requires. (Plus, I read this one in the beautiful hard-cover special edition format, which means I can't just pick the book up during the day when I get a free minute - all my reading time for this one is at night when I'm half falling asleep before I even start.). Despite the long reading time, I liked this one even better than Book 1 this time around, and I'm looking forward to finishing the whole series even if it's a month per book.
This was my 2nd read - my first being shortly after discovering the TV show. For some reason I remembered not liking book 2 quite as much as book 1, but this time around I decided I liked it better.
Book 2 introduces 3 new narrator characters - Praxidike Meng, Roberta "Bobbie" Draper, and Chrisjen Avasarala - to join Holden in telling the story. Meng is a biologist living on Ganymede - he's devoted his whole life to the science of growing things to sustain ecological systems indoors on space stations and asteroids and moons. I remember finding his chapters boring last time -- and certainly at first they still were. As the book went on, though, I started appreciating and then being impressed by the way his scientific perspective and habit of seeing everything as a system allowed him to see the larger patterns hidden in even unfamiliar situations, so he was able to provide some insight (and in some cases solutions) in ways that Holden and his crew couldn't.
Avasarala is by far my favorite character, and on this re-read it really became clear to me how the show changed her from her original form. Book Avasarala is so much better than show Avasarala - in the book, she is FAR more foul-mouthed and incisive, and equally determined to win, but not to the extent that she's willing to backstab her allies or throw them under metaphorical busses to get what she wants. She's more likeable in the book, despite having a harsher demeanor. And frankly, her over-the-top use of foul language and her dry insults just made me smile. There is a lot more visible political maneuvering in this book than in Book 1, but Avasarala makes it just as fun as the space action.
Bobbie... actually might be my least-favorite character this time around, but she does serve an important role. It's through Bobbie, a patriotic Martian marine who is forcibly soft-retired and betrayed by the government/military she feels intense loyalty to, that we see a more realistic glimpse of what Earth has become. Non-Earthers look down on Earthers as lazy and useless, just living on government Basic assistance (the classic Conservative viewpoint today when it comes to imagining socialism and expanded welfare) - and Bobbie is no different until she ends up actually walking along the city streets and meeting people. The frequent descriptions of gun-cleaning, the Martian super-suit, her devotion to her identity as a marine... those bits I found tedious and could have done without.
And finally, there's of course Holden, who I still love as a character. This time around he's struggling with the accumulated effect of the horror and violence he saw and participated in in Book 1, and his fear is causing him to be someone he doesn't want to be. His process of figuring it out is maybe a bit abrupt, but it still continues to build depth to his character beyond the typical space-opera-ship-captain trope.
The stakes and intensity get high starting at about the 65-70% mark, and from there on out the book is hard to put down. Plenty of political back-stabbing, coalition-building, and entire fleets changing sides left and right. It took me almost a month to read the book this time around, but that's more to do with my reading habits than to do with the book itself. It's still engrossing, but right now I only get 20-30 minutes to read at a time, which makes it hard to really immerse in a story like the way this one requires. (Plus, I read this one in the beautiful hard-cover special edition format, which means I can't just pick the book up during the day when I get a free minute - all my reading time for this one is at night when I'm half falling asleep before I even start.). Despite the long reading time, I liked this one even better than Book 1 this time around, and I'm looking forward to finishing the whole series even if it's a month per book.