“We made it so far out into the darkness; why couldn’t we have brought more light?”
SNAPSHOT
A thriller set two hundred years in the future, The Expanse follows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history. (synopsis via The Expanse wiki)
There is nothing quite like a well-written grand, sprawling, epic space opera in which to immerse yourself.
It’s why the books of celebrated sci-fi authors like Peter F. Hamilton – my favourite writer in the genre by far thanks to his gripping narratives finely-wrough characters and detailed world-building – and Kevin J. Anderson have so enthralled me over so many years.
And why another impressively broad, and richly-realised series by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write under the pseudonym James S.A. Corey, is the perfect candidate for another in syfy’s new slate of original series set in the vast reaches of our galaxy.
Anthony Domanico at c|net has quite rightly described the series of nine books – the series will initially kick off with the first book Leviathan Wakes – as Games of Thrones in space, an appropriate description since even George R.R. Martin himself has described the books as “really kick-ass space opera.”
And the newly-relased trailer for the series, which will comprise 10 episodes as is the way of TV shows these days, backs up that idea, full to the Fedora brim with philosophical musings, exquisitely-written portentous dialogue and political machinations aplenty (and yes zero-G sex which frankly looks exhausting).
While we have been led astray by trailers before, sometimes so far from the truth of the eventual TV series that it feels like we were slingshotted out between Mars and Jupiter so far from reality were we, this one looks to have the goods, embodying a highly-accessible Games of Thrones look and feel, space opera writ large and yet still intimate enough to be engaging.
The Expanse races with conspiracy-busting vigour on your viewing schedule sometime in 2015.