SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey: https://t.co/uwEpcJjdB4
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 5, 2021
Short Review: 7.5 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): The fourth Expanse novel finds Holden and the Rocinante trying to mediate between Belters and Earther scientists trying to colonize the first new planet, as alien devices awake around them and threaten everything. Solid Fun Space Opera.
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 5, 2021
2/3
Cibola Burn is the fourth book in James S.A. Corey's (also known as Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) space opera series, The Expanse, and well if you're reading this blog I probably don't need to explain the series to you. The Expanse just finished its fifth season on TV and is scheduled for one final season, and so this book covers the events of roughly the fourth season of the TV show (which I fell behind after the end of book 1's adaptation). I've both really enjoyed this series and found it hard at times to be that eager to continue it - it has provided excellent space opera action, with strong characters and a background that has some serious themes held within it....but it has little interest in exploring those themes, and so the books never rise too far above fun popcorn fare.
And Cibola Burn is no exception to that trend, once again grounding the story in a serious theme - who has a claim to land? - and not really exploring that, focusing instead on the conflict between humans of different sides on a new alien planet, where not everything left behind by the aliens is as safe as it seems. Once again we get a mix of characters that include series protagonist James Holden plus a cast of newbies and the authors manage to keep everything moving so the plot never slows or tires, despite the book being nearly 600 pages long. And yet, it all does seem kind of formulaic after book 3, so while I enjoyed reading this and stayed up late to finish, I'm not that eager once again to jump into book 5.
-------------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
The protoculture has opened a path for humanity to explore new worlds, through a gate network left behind by a mysteriously gone alien race. And with new land comes new conflicts, as Earth, Mars, and the Belt each reach to make the first claim on these worlds. On the planet of Ilus, also called New Terra, Belters searching for a new life made landfall, hoping to start a new. But a corporation from Earth has sent a ship full of scientists and security crew to make their own claim to the planet, earlier settlors be damned. And so when fighting breaks out, it seems that bloodshed is inevitable - especially with Belter colonists determined to preserve their own rights on one side and Earth security forces eager to show what they can do with superior weaponry on the other.
And so Earth and the OPA contacts James Holden, the man most known for causing disaster, but one definitely not beholden to either side, to go and mediate the situation. Holden and the crew of the Rocinante know they're expected to fail, but they can't refuse the mission despite that. For Holden is still haunted by the protoculture-image of Miller, who has warned him that the beings who destroyed the protoculture might still be out there and that the planet being fought over may contain the remnants of those who managed to destroy such a vast alien civilization....
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Like prior books in the series, Cibola Burn features as its background issues and themes very relevant to our world. So you have new lands, and people making a claim to it - the Belters - who are from a relatively oppressed group, only for a more advantaged group, a corporation with powerful weapons and a shoot first ask questions later attitude, to decide that land is theirs. And so our series protagonist, James Holden, has to come in the middle of a trio of point of view characters from the different factions - one of the belter colonists (Basia), an Earth scientist who ignorantly just wants to do good (Elvi), and a member of the security team (Havelock) for the corporation.
But Cibola Burn isn't really interesting in dealing with a scifi exploration of the issues of claims over land, of minorities vs the powerful, of corporate power vs ignorant science vs people just trying to scrap by - the most it goes in that direction is to sympathize with the colonists and scientists, and force most of them to come together when facing a more dangerous threat. The head of the security crew is almost comically sociopathic and evil, and the book also comes up with an obnoxiously bloodthirsty secondary antagonist up in space for the rest of the characters to deal with in the final act - this series has never been one with much nuance when all things are said and done, and that doesn't change with this book.
The protoculture has opened a path for humanity to explore new worlds, through a gate network left behind by a mysteriously gone alien race. And with new land comes new conflicts, as Earth, Mars, and the Belt each reach to make the first claim on these worlds. On the planet of Ilus, also called New Terra, Belters searching for a new life made landfall, hoping to start a new. But a corporation from Earth has sent a ship full of scientists and security crew to make their own claim to the planet, earlier settlors be damned. And so when fighting breaks out, it seems that bloodshed is inevitable - especially with Belter colonists determined to preserve their own rights on one side and Earth security forces eager to show what they can do with superior weaponry on the other.
And so Earth and the OPA contacts James Holden, the man most known for causing disaster, but one definitely not beholden to either side, to go and mediate the situation. Holden and the crew of the Rocinante know they're expected to fail, but they can't refuse the mission despite that. For Holden is still haunted by the protoculture-image of Miller, who has warned him that the beings who destroyed the protoculture might still be out there and that the planet being fought over may contain the remnants of those who managed to destroy such a vast alien civilization....
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Like prior books in the series, Cibola Burn features as its background issues and themes very relevant to our world. So you have new lands, and people making a claim to it - the Belters - who are from a relatively oppressed group, only for a more advantaged group, a corporation with powerful weapons and a shoot first ask questions later attitude, to decide that land is theirs. And so our series protagonist, James Holden, has to come in the middle of a trio of point of view characters from the different factions - one of the belter colonists (Basia), an Earth scientist who ignorantly just wants to do good (Elvi), and a member of the security team (Havelock) for the corporation.
But Cibola Burn isn't really interesting in dealing with a scifi exploration of the issues of claims over land, of minorities vs the powerful, of corporate power vs ignorant science vs people just trying to scrap by - the most it goes in that direction is to sympathize with the colonists and scientists, and force most of them to come together when facing a more dangerous threat. The head of the security crew is almost comically sociopathic and evil, and the book also comes up with an obnoxiously bloodthirsty secondary antagonist up in space for the rest of the characters to deal with in the final act - this series has never been one with much nuance when all things are said and done, and that doesn't change with this book.
Still, for what it is, it's still really good. Holden is still an enjoyable hero, who has learned a lot more about looking before he leaps and is a lot smarter in his dual role here of negotiator and explorer of an alien world under prompting from Miller. The rest of his crew, who we again don't see from their own points of view, are strong secondary characters to join him. And the newcomers are very strong characters in their own right: you have Basia, a belter colonist who is insistent on making a new life and first throws his lot in with their resistance force but who doesn't want to harm anyone and just wants to protect his family; you have Elvi, the scientist whose reaction to fear is to both dive into her work (and to fall in love with the idea of Holden) and who is self-absorbed but also wants merely to do good; and you have Havelock, Miller's former partner who is now second in charge of the security team and is just doing a job.
All of these point of view characters work really well to build a plot that works very well, even if it feels a bit formulaic - you have an alien threat, coming from both native creatures to this alien planet and the leftover alien technology from the two alien civilizations, and you have the human threat, which for at least the second time in as many books (if not fourth time in four books) fails to recognize that human squabbles shouldn't matter when threats to survival are prominent. But while this formula might feel perhaps a bit old, it works really well, the plot reads really well and is always strongly paced, with the new threats that pop up throughout being excellently done. The book features occasional interlude from an alien point of view that don't really add anything, but that's about all that doesn't work pacing wise, so if you've enjoyed the past three books in this series, you'll enjoy this one.
Basically Cibola Burn is fine space opera, just like the other three books in this series, and it ends with an epilogue that only promises more of the same. So I'll be back for book 5 eventually, but I'm in no rush to do so....but if you love space opera, you'll enjoy this highly.
All of these point of view characters work really well to build a plot that works very well, even if it feels a bit formulaic - you have an alien threat, coming from both native creatures to this alien planet and the leftover alien technology from the two alien civilizations, and you have the human threat, which for at least the second time in as many books (if not fourth time in four books) fails to recognize that human squabbles shouldn't matter when threats to survival are prominent. But while this formula might feel perhaps a bit old, it works really well, the plot reads really well and is always strongly paced, with the new threats that pop up throughout being excellently done. The book features occasional interlude from an alien point of view that don't really add anything, but that's about all that doesn't work pacing wise, so if you've enjoyed the past three books in this series, you'll enjoy this one.
Basically Cibola Burn is fine space opera, just like the other three books in this series, and it ends with an epilogue that only promises more of the same. So I'll be back for book 5 eventually, but I'm in no rush to do so....but if you love space opera, you'll enjoy this highly.
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