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Leviathan Wakes cover art

Leviathan Wakes

Written by: James S. A. Corey
Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
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Publisher's Summary

From a New York Times best-selling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl.

Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the Universe.

The Expanse

  • Leviathan Wakes
  • Caliban's War
  • Abaddon's Gate
  • Cibola Burn
  • Nemesis Games
  • Babylon's Ashes
  • Persepolis Rising
  • Tiamat's Wrath
  • ​Leviathan Falls
  • Memory's Legion

The Expanse Short Fiction

  • Drive
  • The Butcher of Anderson Station
  • Gods of Risk
  • The Churn
  • The Vital Abyss
  • Strange Dogs
  • Auberon
  • The Sins of Our Fathers
©2017 James S. A. Corey (P)2017 Hachette Audio

What the critics say

"Interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written." (George R. R. Martin)

What listeners say about Leviathan Wakes

Average Customer Ratings
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This is going to be an awesome series I can tell

This is going to be an awesome series I can tell already!!
I needed something to read after finishing and loving the red rising series. This is written different but I like it.

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Good enough to finish the series.

Not the best book ever written, but enjoyable and exciting enough. I would this book recommend to any science fiction fan

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So good. One of the best audio books I've bought

The voice actor was great and the story is wonderful. Great scifi and one of the best audio books I've bought on Audible

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the best SciFi out there.

you either look forest floors or steel floors. and if your into steel floors this is the right series for you. the best sci Fi on the market with the final installment on the way. buckle up and hold onto your that's.

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Worth multiple listens

I've read the book, watched the TV show, and now listened to this presentation three times. the book is (books are) brilliant, the show is fun, but this is my favorite version by far. Jefferson Mays' performance is just pitch perfect in every way.

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The Beginning of An Epic

As I'm sure many have, I came to the Expanse books after watching the excellent (well, except season 6) TV show. So, I largely know how the overall plot of the series goes. However, I'm invested enough in the universe and the characters that I wanted to start going through the books to get more detail and context. While the first book will do that, you'll definitely recognize a lot of the key events if you've watched the series, as well as some surprising omissions. None of the "political characters" make an appearance in this volume, even though they would have been well introduced at this point in the show. It'll be interesting to see if that happens in future books.

The narrator initially didn't click with me, but after the first hour or so, I found that he did a really good job of conveying the story and the different characters. I really appreciate that he was able to clearly distinguish when female characters were talking, while not doing that often cringey thing some narrators do of trying to imitate female voices, even through they're male. The one complaint I have is that the authors use way too much "X said" and "Y said" during conversations, especially during ones where there's only two characters talking and it's very obvious who is speaking because the narrator voices them differently. Overuse of this is a pet peeve of mine and I hope it's something they improve in future books.

Even if you haven't seen the show, I think this is the beginning of what I hope will be an epic sci-fi series. And if you have seen the show and just want more Expanse to fill in between the lines, this is well worth it too.

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Modern Sci-Fi masterpiece.

Leviathan Wakes is an absolute breath of fresh air compared to the piles of generic sci-fi being released currently.

The first book in the expanse series sets up a near future landscape with an intense political triangle as well as cast of interesting and compelling characters working to solve a mystery that spans our solar system and more.

Absolutely a treat to listen to. #Audible1

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Good Book, okay narrator

Narrator mispronounced a lot of words. It was very distracting to listen to. Book is great though.

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First Audible Audiobook

This audiobook was my first Audible experience and I enjoyed the spit out of it. I liked Jefferson Mays' narration and he has a pretty great range for voices, including female voices.

As for the story? I'm caught up on The Expanse, and I'd read the books already, so I knew what was coming. Holden is a character that will never not low level annoy me, but I loved the Miller chapters and the grey morality.

Looking forward to hearing the rest in the series!
#Audible1

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Incredible.

like the TV show, the books are brilliantly written, the world building is breathtaking, the characters are fascinating, the action is non stop.

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