For the last four years I've been watching this series grow book by book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. They looked intimidating. Ultimately, I broke down and bought the first one and it entered my queue of things to read. Then, when Syfy announced that it would be a series in December of 2015, I had to move it up in the queue.
This was a good story. I started reading it in November, and it took me a few hundred pages to really start getting into it. The initial mystery at the end of the prologue was enough to hold my interest and have me wanting to read until it was resolved. However, this wasn't exactly a fast read for me. I can frequently read 500 - 600 page books in 7 - 12 days. This took me 2 - 3 times as long. The writing style and noir aspect were initially a little off-putting for me. While I did get past it, this still took me longer to read than normal. The story was engaging, but not gripping - I wasn't on the edge of my seat, anxiously turning the pages to find out what would happen next (the Dresden files is like this for me).
I enjoyed the deepening mystery that linked the two protagonists, who eventually meet, and the ending leaves much to build on in the sequels. It reminded me of Babylon 5, which also had a deep mystery which was gradually revealed over 3.5 seasons before you had a clear picture of what was really going on.
The universe is gritty, dangerous, and very realistic where human behavior is involved. Human society, which has expanded into the solar system, is filled with distrust and conflict between Earth, Mars, and the Belters, While it would appear that Earth and Mars have the Belters at a major disadvantage technology wise, the Belters do have access to asteroids which could make excellent weapons when thrown into a "gravity well", as they put it, making it clear that escalation of violence past a certain point would ultimately spell out the doom of the human race.
The details of the story reminded me of several other works of science fiction. Living conditions on Ceres, and asteroid in the belt, reminded me of Los Angeles in the movieBlade Runner. Also, the way that the workers are treated unfairly with regard to living conditions, as well was paying for water and air, was similar to the colonists in the movie Total Recall. Travelling at high-g requires special drugs to keep you from passing out, which is similar to travel at high speeds in the book The Forever War.
I've also been enjoying the Syfy TV series. While reading this book, I was keeping ahead of the series by a few hundred pages. At this point, I've seen 5 episodes of the 10-episode season, and it really seems that they are less than 50% of the way through the story. It will be interesting to see if the first season completes the full story in the book. From the name of the final episode, it seems it could go either way, depending on the event being referred to. This would be a good thing - it means less will be cut out of the story. The TV show also has some changes from the book, which make it somewhat fresh after reading the book.
I'm looking forward to eventually reading the rest of the books in the series, and I do recommend this to those who enjoy a technology filled story with a mystery that unfolds.
