Leviathan Wakes

My full review can be found here:

http://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/review-james-s-a-corey-leviathan-wakes/

Overall, I liked this story. It is a fun space opera people with characters that are - for the most part - easy to like and identify with, a mystery that keeps you reading long past the "just one more chapter" mark and language that flows easily. I read these 500 pages fairly quickly despite a long and hard workweek.

I recommend this novel for space opera newbies like me. You don't have to know lots of jargon or have a degree to understand the science. Quite the opposite - this story could just as well be set on Earth (with planes or ships instead of spaceships). It isn't the kind of science fiction like Orwell or Le Guin that makes your brain spin with new thoughts after you read it. It's quick pleasure and therefore, I recommend it whenever you're in the mood for a Hollywood movie between two book covers (Annalee Newitz on io9 said it best!).