James S.A. Corey, Caliban’s War. Orbit, 2013 (2012).
Caliban’s War is the second novel in Corey’s “Expanse” series. All things considered, it is a much stronger novel, doing a number of things that interest me much more, than its predecessor. Caliban’s War builds on the setting of Leviathan Wakes, but its pacing is much stronger, and the three new viewpoint characters added to Holden’s are much more interesting than the Holden-and-Miller show of Leviathan Wakes.
Give me the POV of cranky old-lady super-politician-diplomats and badass female marines and my investment in a narrative goes well up, is what I’m saying. And Prax, the scientist whose search for his missing daughter drives a good section of the narrative, is a pure delight to read.
Holden remains, unfortunately, boring in the square-jawed American-hero way. Fortunately the characters around him are much more interesting.
It strikes me that this makes two books in a row in this series where the search for a missing female person has played a significant role in the development of the narrative. I wonder if that’s going to be an ongoing pattern?
This is a stronger book than its predecessor, and I’m glad I read it. It is also making me a convincing argument to keep reading: things exploded very entertainingly here.
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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 
On my reading list now :)
It strikes me that this makes two books in a row in this series where the search for a missing female person has played a significant role in the development of the narrative. I wonder if that’s going to be an ongoing pattern?
–Not in the third, no. :)