Book · 2011
Leviathan Wakes
by James S. A. Corey
A ship crew and a washed-up detective cross paths after an ice-hauler is destroyed — book one of The Expanse.
What does Reddit think of Leviathan Wakes?
The Expanse starts here, and r/suggestmeabook treats the first book as the series on-ramp. The pitch in the threads is structural: a ship-crew thriller welded to a noir detective story, and the top excerpt says it "ticks off all the boxes on your list" (↑316). r/Fantasy's contribution is the gag that James S. A. Corey finished an entire nine-book space opera in the gap between Patrick Rothfuss releases (↑266), which doubles as the real pitch: the series ends. The recurring complaint names Holden's narration in book one: "I nearly dropped the series when I realized he was going to be the only POV" (↑167). The same threads praise the ending: "chefs kiss" (↑166). r/printSF logs its mentions but its harder-SF verdict doesn't surface in the displayed excerpts.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Book one as the on-ramp to a finished nine-book series
- · The two-halves structure: ship-crew thriller and detective noir
- · Holden's narration as the recurring point of friction
- · The TV show as both discovery channel and comparison point
Common praise
- + Gets pitched through its structure: the detective half and the crew half share the book, and the top r/suggestmeabook excerpt calls it "good, solid, sci-fi" (↑300).
- + The Rothfuss joke is praise in disguise — a nine-book space opera that actually shipped (↑266).
- + Readers who stayed for the ending call it "chefs kiss" (↑166).
Common criticism
- − Holden as the first book's narrator nearly kills the series for some readers: "I nearly dropped the series when I realized he was going to be the only POV" (↑167).
- − The book gets sold through the TV adaptation as often as on its own terms.
- − r/printSF's harder-SF crowd logs mentions without contributing a scored excerpt to the sample, so its actual verdict isn't represented.
Who it's for
Want a space opera that finishes — all nine books, completed — instead of another Name of the Wind wait? Start here. If the noir half sounds like the hook, know that it shares the book with a ship-crew thriller; neither dominates. Coming from the show? Threads say the books are the basis, and readers who watched first still recommend going back to book one.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
- r/suggestmeabook 1,272
- r/booksuggestions 497
- r/printSF 449
- r/Fantasy 206
- r/horrorlit 15
- r/RomanceBooks 10
- r/YAlit 6
- r/TrueLit 2
Which Reddit comments matter for Leviathan Wakes?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey ticks off all the boxes on your list. The first book is *Leviathan Wakes*.
“Leviathan Wakes by James S.A Corey. The series of books are the basis of the show The Expanse. Good, solid, sci-fi Redshirts by John Scalizi. Parody of many sci-fi tropes. Funny but still good sci-fi.
“*The Expanse* series does this a lot, but I especially enjoyed it in the first book, *Leviathan Wakes.* You have the crew of the a spaceship and a detective working on Ceres both following the same story but with completely different pieces of information. When they finally meet and share that infor…
“It's scifi but Leviathan Wakes is a fantastic title. For Fantasy I'd go with the Left Hand of Darkness or A Memory of Light
“I loved Leviathan Wakes, the first in the Expanse series.
“He did eventually grow on me in the later books but Holden in the first two Expanse books, I nearly dropped the series when I realized he was going to be the only consistent main character throughout. The detective guy in Leviathan Wakes was way more interesting.
“Thats why I really liked Leviathan Wakes (the first Expanse book). The ending was \*chefs kiss\*.Holden realizing that Miller knew exactly what would happen, that he killed Dresden knowing all the costs to himself, that he would lose his place on the crew, and regardless of that he still did it - i…
“The prologue of the Wheel of Time where Lews Therin goes mad. The first chapter of Promise of Blood where Tamas announces he has killed the king and initiated a revolution and says the line: “The age of kings is dead, and I have killed it.” The prologue of Leviathan Wakes where Julie hears her cre…
“The Expanse series, starting with Leviathan Wakes is written by 2 authors. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t read it yet, especially if you’re a sci-fi fan.
“The Expanse is a great gritty scifi / space horror. The series starts with Leviathan Wakes
“The first Expanse novel, *Leviathan Wakes*, could fit. One of the main characters is a detective who lives on an asteroid turned space station and spends most of the book working on a missing persons case across various locations in the asteroid belt.
“* **Surface Detail** (2010) *by Iain M. Banks* * **Embassytown** (2011) *by China Miéville* * **Leviathan Wakes** (2011) *by James S.A. Corey* * **The Hydrogen Sonata** (2012) *by Iain Kim M. Banks* * **The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August** (2014) *by Catherine Webb* * **Children of Time** (2015…
“Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, because it is one of the works of fiction that got me thinking about alternate ways of living in a positive way, especially beyond capitalism. James SA Corey’s Leviathan Wakes for getting me back into sci fi novels after a multi-year drought caused by being busy w…
“It's hard sci-fi, so the fantastical stuff is tech or aliens, not magic, but I'll always take the opportunity to recommend "The Expanse" series, which starts with a book called "Leviathan Wakes".
“I love The Lies of Locke Lamora. Great alliteration and fits the setting of the book very well. As someone else noted ‘The Gentleman B*******’ is also a great title for the series. The contradiction between the two words is extremely intriguing. Leviathan Wakes is another great one imo. Very ominou…
Convinced? Pick up Leviathan Wakes
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Leviathan Wakes — counted from the comments, not curated.
Leviathan Wakes — frequently asked
Is Leviathan Wakes worth reading if you've already watched The Expanse?+
Yes, according to the threads. The top r/suggestmeabook excerpt points out that the books are the basis of the show and still calls them "good, solid, sci-fi" (↑300). Readers who started with the adaptation treat book one as the series on-ramp rather than a retread — the displayed excerpts recommend the book, not the show.
What does Reddit think of Leviathan Wakes as the start of The Expanse?+
It's the standard entry point. r/suggestmeabook's most-upvoted excerpt pitches the whole series through the first book — "The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey ticks off all the boxes on your list. The first book is Leviathan Wakes" (↑316). r/Fantasy's top comment is a joke about the series being finished, which reads as endorsement from a sub burned by unfinished sagas (↑266).
Is Leviathan Wakes more detective noir or space opera?+
Both, by design. The top excerpts describe a ship-crew story running alongside a detective investigating a missing person, and readers who respond to one half are told the other is coming. The complaint that shows up is not about the structure but about Holden's narration, which some readers nearly quit the series over (↑167).
Does Leviathan Wakes hold up as a standalone book?+
Yes, with a caveat. Readers who only finished book one praise the ending — "chefs kiss" (↑166) — and recommend it on its own. The caveat is that the series discussion follows you out of the book: the Holden complaint (↑167) is about trajectory across the first two books, so most recommendations frame it as an entry point rather than a one-off.