Read Faster

The Expanse is probably one of the best space opera television shows in a genre that's much too rare which, of course, is why they killed it off before finishing the adaptation. A while back I decided I'd start reading the books, realized the book series wasn't finished, and decided to wait for the last one to come out. Re-read Cibola Burn to get re-acquainted with the series in an effort to finish it out this time.

The novel covers my favorite arc/season in the show. I love the idea of people living in the ruins of civilizations; it's one of my favorite tropes in fiction. One neat thing about reading a series whose television adaptation so closely follows it is that I can compare/contrast the season with its source material. The first time I read Cibola Burn, I felt that the show had done the arc better. I'm a little more 50/50 about it this time.

I think the TV show is better in the visuals department; I think the empty plains and haunting alien ruins of Ilus/New Terra just…work better in visual format. The novel always tends to have a sparse depiction of larger structures and ships in order to benefit from the Theater of the Mind filling in the gaps for you but I've always struggled with that due to…the idiosyncracies of how my brain works (tl;dr: I think I have some mild form of aphantasia.)

I also personally think the show's portrayal of Murtry comes across better. In the novel, he comes across as hard but almost psychopathic. Something about Burn Gorman and his unique appearance gives Murtry a lot more cold, subtle menace and fierceness that the character deserves. The character archetype they were going for with Murtry is western sherrif, the newly arrived lawman in town and I think the actor in the show pulls that swagger off better than the novel's version.

The perspective characters in this go-round are excellent, with one notable exception. I like that Havelock returns as a foil to the "return" of Miller. I like that the central question of the novel is civilization and whether we bring it with us or whether we have to build it ourselves. It's the dynamic represented by Murtry and Holden and their conflict, and Havelock's journey over the course of the story from second-in-command and corporate yes-man to making his own decisions based on his own sense of right-and-wrong illustrate the decisions and things we would all have to grapple with in the dynamic epitomized in the novel's central question.

Basia, too, is an interesting choice for a viewpoint character. He's the father of one of the kids that was also experimented upon during the events of Caliban's War-slash-the show's second season. However, unlike that arc's Praxidike Meng, Basia's child is not saved and as a result he experiences a pain, grief, and driving urge to protect his family. All of this is part of why he does the thing to set the factional conflict of the novel in place. I like that; while Meng was saved from a need for revenge by the actions of the Rocinante crew, Basia wasn't. (As an aside, this is why I think the show's adaptation of that arc is infinitely better in the novel because the 'I am that guy' scene so neatly sums up Prax's development). It's an interesting look at a kind of component of the civilization vs barbarism question posed by the novel as, without ways for people to protect their family, men like Basia will continue to act out in vengenace and it shouldn't take the actions of exceptional people like James Holden to fix that. But as long as people like Murtry exist, people like Basia will continue to be made and that's part of the inherent injustice of the universe.

The perspective character that I didn't like was Elvi Okoye. One of the things I love about the series are the way it focuses on very basic, primitive human needs in a universe of advanced technology (something that science fiction often fails to do). So Okoye's central arc is that she distances herself from the humans around her: she doesn't participate in the romantic trysts of the staff of the ship during their long-haul through space, nor does she allow herself to get close to the people around her. It's kind of mirroring her insistence that the people of Ilus not contaminate the biosphere of the planet; they should minimize their pollution and stay apart from it its like poetry it rhymes.

But the way this manifests is her having to lust over James Holden in nearly every interaction the two characters have. Many unnamed characters are just killed, Elvi blushes at Holden. The characters suffer infection from native fauna, Elvi wants to hold Holden's hand. Elvi, an othersie knowledgeable scientist and often the source of scientific exposition in the narrative, delivers a talk about the biological dangers on the planet, and feels flustered when Holden asks her a question. It's very….unreal, like the authors were trying to write a character that is quirky and socially awkward, but still need to focus that output through sex while the men around her get to be serious and focused without it.

Naturally, of course, she has sex (with the male character who's been secretly pining after her all this time) and that fixes her. Oh, she just wanted closeness and affection and physical intimacy. Stick a dick in her and she's now a focused and professional scientist. It's really, profoundly irritating writing. Her character felt very…"this was written by a straight, allosexual person".

Okoye aside, I enjoyed Cibola Burn a lot more than I did last time. I still think the show edges the novel out juuuuust a little bit, but I have a better impression of it.