How ‘The Expanse’ established itself as peak science fiction
Why this nine-book series sets itself up as one of the best of all time
“Things change, and they don’t change back,” one character remarks to another in the book Nemesis Games. Given that this quote occurs roughly halfway through the nine-book series of The Expanse, and comes right in the middle of even more change that its speaker had no way of anticipating, it’s perhaps an odd choice to remember as a series-defining line. But reading through this science-fiction series by James S.A. Corey (the pen name for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), this moment stuck with me. In a series and book marked by high-stakes action and careful plot development, its the quiet moments like this one that lend weight and context to everything that comes later.
Upon finishing Leviathan Falls — the final book in The Expanse — this week, I’m still surprised by just how much this series impressed me. There’s a long list of things it does well, from world building, to plot development, to a compelling sense of change over time. Taken together, I’m left with a rare blend of excellent prose that also accompanies a compelling hard science fiction story. Given that these novels spawned a tv show, a video game, and multiple comic books, I’m hardly promoting a hidden gem here. But I want to take a few paragraphs to break down exactly why these books succeed so well.
World Building
From the first book — Leviathan Falls — onward, The Expanse excels at building a believable world that falls squarely in the realm of hard sci-fi. This is a future where Mars and the asteroid belt have both been colonized. Against that backdrop, it’s no surprise that politics, conflict over resources, and tension between organized governments all define life in the solar system. A discovery of alien technology kickstarts new cycles of violence and scheming, with our group of protagonists right in the middle of it all.
While it’s worth praising The Expanse for its devotion to credibility in nearly every event that takes place centered around human technology, what really makes the world so compelling is how the human interests and motivations play off of each other. Franck and Abraham care about making every piece of technology seem at least plausible, which makes the implausible events (when they happen) seem even more incredible. However, every single character acts in a way that both makes sense and is compelling from a narrative standpoint. From James Holden (the most central of the main characters), to actors who only show up near the end of the saga, there’s a maturity in the storytelling that keeps every character centered to his or her actions.
Telling a story set against the backdrop of outer space, Franck and Abraham also never let the reader forget the massive scale of our solar system (and universe). In combat between two space ships, a frequent occurrence, the two will often remind readers how big the space between two planets is and how fragile life is on a ship (even without someone shooting torpedoes at you). I’m constantly awed by the scale of the universe whenever I stop to think about it, so I appreciate that The Expanse is aware of this as well (and despite constant reminders to that effect, never becomes grating or repetitive).
Plot
Most of the books in The Expanse are relatively self-contained, but there’s an overarching plot that connects every event that ties the narrative core of the series together. Additionally, each set of three books forms its own trilogy (in a loose sense of the word). At the conclusion of Leviathan Falls, readers like myself may find themselves looking back to the first book with a deep appreciation for every event that happened along the way. I couldn’t escape the sense that the characters in the novels felt the same.
I’m a sucker for stories that are massive in scale, from individual movies like Interstellar, to developed franchises like Star Wars. I know how important character work and world-building are, but I find these aspects of storytelling most engrossing when they’re married to a plot with high stakes and importance. This is where The Expanse shines brightest. The fate of all humanity is up for grabs multiple different times in this series, but every time it feels meaningful and believable. “The world is ending,” is a common trope for science fiction, but rarely this well thought out and weighty.
In Leviathan Wakes, the protagonists uncover alien technology designed to destroy all of humanity. In another, they find another piece of (related) technology that could do the same if used improperly. And in a plot device that fits humanity perfectly, much of the conflict in multiple different books revolves around stopping human actors from destroying other human actors through their own selfishness and greed. By the end of the series, those stakes begin to cover the very nature of what it means to be human itself. No good science fiction series is complete without some attempt at philosophy.
Change Over Time
As the books progress, recurring characters go through change, develop, and hold on to their core principles (to varying extents). This is very much by design. “One of the things we do over and over with characters is we show them in the spot where they’re most comfortable, and then we drag them out of it,” Franck said in an interview. Conflict is an essential part of storytelling, and making at least some of that internal helps contextualize and develop everything else that happens.
That idea of change and continuity comes back again and again in the books. “Part of what we were doing with the whole series was making the argument that history is prophecy, that humans don’t actually change much as an organism,” Abraham said in the same interview. “The stuff we were doing in Rome, we’re doing now.” History is very much present in the expanse, with empires like Rome, leaders like Alexander the Great, and a host of others constantly referenced.
Holden and his friends develop over the course of the series, but their essential natures remain (largely) the same. The characters themselves are deeply aware of this, which is made evident through some of their final choices. Holden, in particular, makes a choice at the end of Leviathan Falls that is equal parts heartbreaking and completely in step with his character. Part of why this moment is so effective narratively is that the plot supports it perfectly, but it’s also a tribute to how effectively Franck and Abraham built their characters.
Overall Excellence
In one of my favorite essays on science fiction and fantasy, writer Ben Lindbergh argues that it’s essential to hold genre fiction to high levels of storytelling and overall craftsmanship. “To insist that they can best be appreciated by deactivating one’s critical faculties, or that they shouldn’t be held to the same standards as any non-genre fiction, is to concede that they can’t measure up unless they’re graded on a curve,” he writes. “It’s not a slight to subject them to scrutiny; it’s a sign of respect.”
It’s an idea I agree with completely — just because a fictional story involves far-future spaceflight or inscrutable alien technology doesn’t mean it can’t also feature well-written dialogue or believable characters. And while I’ll happily sop up mediocre Star Wars TV, my appetite for good science fiction that raises the bar narratively is far greater.1
And it’s against this bar that The Expanse shines its brightest. To be clear: I don’t just think that this series is excellent when stacked up against other novels in the science fiction genre, I think it’s one of the best book series that I’ve read in my entire life. It doesn’t carry the cultural weight and gravitas of genre fiction behemoths like The Lord of the Rings, but I’d argue that it holds its own against Game of Thrones, The Wheel of Time, or any other recent series of books (of any genre).
The Ending
The end of The Expanse gets truly weird in a way that none of the previous books do. Certain plot elements are tipped over at a moment’s notice and characters whose arcs had long seemed settled suddenly shifted in different directions. However, that ending was narratively satisfying in a way that few are. It’s no small achievement to (a) write nine compelling books set in the same fictional universe and (b) actually tell a cohesive story that branches through all of them. When the end arrives — as bittersweet as it is — it’s a fitting conclusion to the characters and their stories.
Despite the cancellation of the tv show after six seasons (which is a tragedy on its own), and the fact that no new novels are forthcoming, it seems that the world of The Expanse is far from finished. Telltale recently launched their video game set in this universe (which one hopes will encourage similar ventures in the future), the aforementioned comic books are still coming out, and the subreddit devoted to the books and tv show is still active and engaged.
In any case, there’s a new trilogy from James. S.A. Corey in the future — though in a different fictional universe — and based on what I’ve read in The Expanse, this seems like an easy purchase once it’s out.
A previous version of this post appeared on my Medium blog
Another great science fiction series worth checking out is Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Lords of Uncreation, which wrapped earlier this year. I wrote about it here.