Nightmares and Dreamscapes discussion

We're continuing our journey in The Expanse Series by James A. Corey in December 2022. Book #2, Caliban's War. Enjoy and please use spoiler tags when necessary!

We are not alone. On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .

Spot!

Awesome!

I cannot do one-a-month for a series so I'm gonna sit this one out.

Looking forward to this!

Spot!!

Fantastic and can’t wait to continue the series! Thanks Sally for setting this up.

You're welcome! I am really going to try and catch up with y'all! This month got away from me.

I’ll be in!

I'm joining in on this one.

Graeme wrote: "I'm joining in on this one."

Terry wrote: "I’ll be in!"

Awesome Terry & Graeme!

Okay I'm changing my hard no to a maybe lol

I just got book 2 yesterday and I'm keener to jump back in than I anticipated. I'll probably get fomo if I don't do it with you all lol

Krystal wrote: "Okay I'm changing my hard no to a maybe lol

I just got book 2 yesterday and I'm keener to jump back in than I anticipated. I'll probably get fomo if I don't do it with you all lol"

I'm going through the same thing Krystal. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with one book a month with this series but I might?
FOMO is real and I'm hooked! 😂🤣

I’m so excited for this after the first one that I’ve already jumped into it. And I love the start!

I'll start this shortly.

And also, Graeme, I'm loving Gunny Sergeant Bobbie Draper already! She's in it right away.

And to let my sci-fi nerdy-ness shine, in ch1, I'm loving the use (view spoiler)[ of the power armor! Nothing says space marines more than power armor, especially the 4-meter-tall units. Totally fascinated by it! Has Warhammer 40K vibes for me, haha. (hide spoiler)]

I have a short book due to the library in 3 days then I'm starting this one.

Terry wrote: "And also, Graeme, I'm loving Gunny Sergeant Bobbie Draper already! She's in it right away."

One of my favorite characters.

I will be starting this one tomorrow.

Sooo, I started this today and am already 28% in... Just finished Ch. 18... You guys were right. Naomi is good for Holden. She grounds him, because he definitely drifts back and forth with his reactions to crisis... Before he was spontaneous, but always willing to talk things out. Now he is starting to react with his trigger finger much more often... But she is there to remind him of the kind of person he wants to be...

Bobby is absolutely awesome! I love her and feel for her! Terry, you are so right about the power armor!!!:)))

Pax breaks my heart! He is totally out of his comfort zone and it is not good on him...

And finally, Grandma politician! I am in love with her fully and completely! Now her characters are my favorite, at least so far...

I will wait for you guys to comment further...

Ch. 20... Well, I spoke too soon... The Holden we have grown to expect is back... (view spoiler)[ He freaks out and jumps to conclusions!!! He drives me crazy when he does that! It's not even "well, maybe Fred has something to do with it, but I have to find out to be sure". Nope! It's straight up "Fred did it!". Because, of course, he is the only one who could have possibly been able to gather a sample. The original lab couldn't have hidden any! Ggghhhhhrrrr! (hide spoiler)]

Choko wrote: "Sooo, I started this today and am already 28% in... Just finished Ch. 18... You guys were right. Naomi is good for Holden. She grounds him, because he definitely drifts back and forth with his reac..."

You are so right about Avasarala (and Bobbie too)! At this point, she's one of my favorite characters all time. So many good characters in this series so far.

Choko wrote: "Ch. 20... Well, I spoke too soon... The Holden we have grown to expect is back... [spoilers removed]"

I really like Holden, and completely understand (view spoiler)[ his emotional over-reactions to what is going on. Not surprising with the trauma, he had to fly off the handle a little, even if it is not necessarily substantiated yet. He's been a good guy up to this point, so I expect he'll see the error of his ways. (hide spoiler)]

I've made it up to ch41 (about 75%). I haven't been able to put this one down! All of these characters are just amazing.

At the end of ch26, (view spoiler)[ I thought that the authors may have been making a reference to 'The Thing from another World' (or just The Thing more recently), which certainly would have fit with some of the ways this proto-molecule seems to work. As I've gone back and looked at that reference, I'm not so sure that is the intent with what is said though. (hide spoiler)]

At this point (view spoiler)[ I'm feeling like Mei is going to end up being found, but much like Julie Mao, much too late to help. I'm trying to decide if I think they're somehow turning the kids into the monsters that are showing up? (hide spoiler)]

Terry I am up to Ch. 42 and this has been my running theory... If so, I am terrified for Mei... Her dad would not be able to handle it...

You guys read/listen hella fast!! I'm juggling other reads - this being the longest - so I'm allowing myself two weeks to complete it.

I am currently six chapters in.

1. Do we ever see (view spoiler)[Mei again? is she still alive and human (hide spoiler)]?

2. Just met Avasarala. Is she (view spoiler)[friend or foe (hide spoiler)]? Something about her feels scarily intimidating!

3. I don't yet know how I feel about Prax. I've only read one of his chapters.

4. I like Bobbie. I hope she's safe.

Choko wrote: "Terry I am up to Ch. 42 and this has been my running theory...."

Kinda fits the best, although we've not had much evidence yet really.

Nyssa wrote: "You guys read/listen hella fast!! I'm juggling other reads - this being the longest - so I'm allowing myself two weeks to complete it.

I am currently six chapters in.

1. Do we ever see [spoiler..."

I cheated and started a week early, haha. This size book easily takes me two weeks (or more) normally.

Good questions!

Nyssa, you know how it is, you just get swept away sometimes...

Avasarala is a very intimidating lady, but she is also very human. Her relationship with her husband keeps her so. I love everything about her:)))

Terry, did you notice how the public opinion can build you up and then just as powerfully knock you down? Wow!

Choko wrote: "Nyssa, you know how it is, you just get swept away sometimes...

Avasarala is a very intimidating lady, but she is also very human. Her relationship with her husband keeps her so. I love everything..."

Things can turn so quickly, truth or not!

You are right...

I absolutely loved Holden's reaction to Bobbie in Ch. 42!!! "Mate with it or run from it!?" Haha!!!

My heart aches for Prax.

I understand Basia's decision.

So many angles in this one! Four points of view feel like a lot!

I hope to get through a chapter each (Chapters 7 - 11) before work this morning.

I got to the beginning of Chapter 24 last night. I love the characters of Avasarala and Bobbie. They are fantastic in the TV series too!

Avasarala's cussing makes me feel better about colorful words that I like to say all the time too. ;) hahaha

Choko wrote: "Ch. 20... Well, I spoke too soon... The Holden we have grown to expect is back... [spoilers removed]"

Yes!!! This drives me crazy too Choko. I really wanted to (view spoiler)[punch Holden in the face when he jumped to this conclusion about Fred. He's too impulsive and needs to think through all of his actions and words, and not have more people killed.
He jumps to conclusions about a lot of things and it drives me crazy. Ugh!! (hide spoiler)]

Ginger, right!? But his idea to go more democratic with his crew does curb this horrible tendency of his, eventually:)))

I'm only a handful of chapters in so far but loving Bobbie! Prax I'm still curious about - he does have a similar beat down vibe to Miller so I suspect I'll warm to him.

Very curious about Mei and I suspect she'll drive the story for me in a similar way that Julie did in the first book!

You guys have a good feel for the story:)))

Choko wrote: "You guys have a good feel for the story:)))"

As someone who’s watched the six seasons of this series, they really do Choko! 😃

Ginger wrote: "Choko wrote: "You guys have a good feel for the story:)))"

As someone who’s watched the six seasons of this series, they really do Choko! 😃"

6 seasons?! I'm not sure I want to get ahead of the books so I might have to slow myself to one season per book lol. I'm only a few episodes into the first season so far and already it's changed the way I'm seeing things reading the second book!

I finished this up this morning. I think I enjoyed book 2 more than book 1. I went with 5 stars. So many good characters! And what a way to leave it for book 3 to pick up.

Terry, same here. This was much better as a structure and character development. I went with 5* as well:)))

Ginger, I have been reluctant to watch the series, since I usually prefer the books, and once we read a few more, I am going to try and watch it:)

Choko wrote: "Ginger, I have been reluctant to watch the series, since I usually prefer the books, and once we read a few more, I am going to try and watch it:)"

That's what I'm going to do too. I was going to wait until I got 4 or 5 books under my belt before jumping into the show. Think I'll enjoy it more that way.

That might be a good idea to wait till book 4 or 5 before you start watching the show. Like in the first season, they have characters from this book in the show. It doesn’t change the overall story but they kind of mixed book 1 and 2 into the first season.

They likely did that with most seasons too in regards to the books.
Just a heads up for anyone trying to figure out a game plan if they plan on watching this.

Ginger wrote: "That might be a good idea to wait till book 4 or 5 before you start watching the show. Like in the first season, they have characters from this book in the show. It doesn’t change the overall story..."

Thanks, Ginger!

I hope to catch up, once I finish HP #1.

Ginger wrote: "That might be a good idea to wait till book 4 or 5 before you start watching the show. Like in the first season, they have characters from this book in the show. It doesn’t change the overall story..."

Yeah I noticed a few scenes and characters that I didn't recognise in the show are in book 2.

(view spoiler)[ AMOS IS DEAD!?!? Did they just kill him!?! Did Holden just get him killed!?! (hide spoiler)]

Nyssa, haha! That was my reaction too!:)))