Published by Orbit on June 26, 2012
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 595
Format: Paperback
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 . . . .
Discussion Guide
- Compare and contrast James Holden and Chrisjen Avasarala’s attitudes and approaches towards the conflicts in the galaxy. How do they act as foils to one another? How do they influence each other’s perspectives?
- What are your thoughts on the ways Holden and Avasarala manage information?
- How is trauma / PTSD explored through the characters of Bobbie and Prax?
- This is the first book that introduced a Martian’s POV (Bobbie). How did the inclusion of her POV expand your understanding of the interplanetary conflicts? Of the Martian people?
- Prax is a father trying to save his daughter. What does his POV offer that the others may lack? What does his perspective reveal about the systematic issues in the galaxy?
- How does Prax give us a new perspective on the crew of the Rocinante?
- How is family explored through Avasarala’s relationships with her husband, her children, and grandchildren?
- What are your thoughts on Holden’s sense of morality? How has it changed since book one? How does it change over the course of this book?
- Naomi mentions that Holden was becoming too much like Miller. What do you think caused these changes? What is the effect of these changes on Holden? On the people around him?
- The crew goes through a lot of hassle to save Mei. In the process, they even harm others. Are their actions justified? Is one girl’s life more important than the lives of the people who died (or were killed) for her sake?
- Did Strickland’s actions to treat the children’s immunodeficiency justify his experiments on them? Why or why not?
- How do the reactions of Holden’s parents to his girlfriend inform us about the interplanetary tensions? About Holden himself?
- “All of human civilization had been built out of the ruins of what had come before. Life itself was a grand chemical improvisation that began with the simplest replicators and grew and collapsed and grew again. Catastrophe was just one part of what always happened. It was a prelude to what came next.” How do you see this playing out across the history of the world of The Expanse? Over the course of events in the timeline of the series? Alternatively, which character’s (or people group’s) philosophy most aligns with this quote?
- How do the tensions in the futuristic world of The Expanse reflect tensions that you see in our world today?
- Predict: What do you think is the ultimate goal of the protomolecule? (E.g. Find a place to live? Colonize the galaxy? Destroy the galaxy?)
Let’s Chat
Have you read Caliban’s War or watched The Expanse show?
I’d love for you to share your response to one of the discussion questions!
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