this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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Science Fiction

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December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

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Lemmy World Rules

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Question for those who have read them: is the whole The Expanse series good? (self.sciencefiction)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by AFKBRBChocolate to c/sciencefiction
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I've read the first two books and enjoyed them both. I enjoyed the TV series. But I see there are nine novels and eight novellas in the series, and I know the book series goes on longer than the TV series. I'm curious: is the quality fairly consistent or, like a lot of longer book series, does it degrade over time?

Edit: Thanks everyone! Sounds like the vast majority of folks enjoyed all of the books - enough that I'll probably read them all. I have other books on my reading list, so I might take breaks and read some of those in between.

I really appreciate all the responses. Thank you all. Upvotes all around!

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Having read all of them, I think of these books as three different sets:

  • Books 1-6 of the main series basically cover the same time period as the TV show. If you enjoyed the first two books, it's extremely likely that you will enjoy books 3-6. The primary story arc started in book 1 comes to a very satisfying conclusion in book 6, broadly the same as it did in the show.
  • Books 7-9 are more like a sequel series than a direct continuation of book 1-6. The primary characters return but it's really a new story arc. Personally I read book 7 at release, then later bounced off book 8 when it came out however many months later. It was only when I came back to reread the entire series that books 7-9 clicked for me. For my money everything came to a satisfying conclusion in book 9, with answers to most of the bigger mysteries behind the entire series (i.e. who built the rings, how did they build them, who killed the ring builders, etc.).
  • The novellas and short stories focus on backstories and side characters. I particularly liked that they reveal where certain side characters eventually ended up; not naming any names for spoiler reasons. Memory's Legion collects all of these into a single book-length collection, which is probably the best way to get them.

TL;DR book 1-6 for sure for sure, books 7-9 probably, novellas if you go through books 1-9 and still want more.

[–] joshthewaster 2 points 10 months ago

I read them all at once and it's been a while but overall I enjoyed them. Definitely felt like it went on longer than maybe it needed to which is probably why I didn't bother with the short stories. I would still recommend the books.