Tiamat's Wrath -- The Struggle is Real

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Tiamat's Wrath is the 8th book in The Expanse series. This book continues the 3rd arch of The Expanse series storyline. And this book really starts to reveal the alieness of the ”alien life”. Sometimes the writers struggle to describe what they are imaging, and I think this is one of those times. And it’s clear that the English language is really limiting their narrative. The result is a somewhat messy and confusing read on the part about aliens.

The story continues after the aftermath of the last book. Our beloved characters had settled into a different lifestyle. A lifestyle that is forgein and yet familiar to them. I guess the cycle of the universe must continue. We follow the narrative of old and new characters and learn about their new life in the first 70% of the book. It’s a slow read especially after the fast pace of the 1st and 2nd arch of the series. So I suggest the readers to prepare themselves. This book starts very slow.

It is difficult to balance the amount of new and old elements in the book. I felt the writers were trying their best to inject new stories about the aliens into this book while not ignoring the existing human aspect of the narrative. The writers did their best, but I felt that they can use more time at polishing the words when describing alien “life” and technology. Again, this could be a limitation of the English language.

The last 30% of the book is very fast paced. It’s almost a shock to me how fast the story goes. It almost feels like the older books in the series. The blockbuster action style of writing was in full swing in the later part of the book, and it’s a satisfying read.

If I have to describe the book in one word, that would be “struggle”. The writers were struggling to find words to describe their vision, I was struggling to understand them. But it’s still a very good book, and the ending is very satisfying.