Review: The Mercy of Gods begins a bold new saga from The Expanse author James S.A. Corey

Are you one of those people who finished The Expanse and has been in an unmoored state of existence ever since? In the past few years, the beloved sci-fi saga by James S.A. Corey wrapped up with Leviathan Falls and the short story collection Memory's Legion, and even the television show by Syfy and Amazon Prime Video ended its run after six seasons. What's an Expanse fan to do in these dry, fictionally destitute times?

Why, start reading a new series of course! And on that front, I have very good news: James S.A. Corey — that's The Expanse co-writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — have a new book out. The Mercy of Gods is the start of a brand new series from the authors, called The Captive's War. It has enough similar DNA that you'll probably enjoy it if you liked The Expanse, while still being a whole different kind of sci-fi story. I've read it, and am here to report my SPOILER-FREE impressions.

Book review: The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey

In The Mercy of Gods, humanity lives on a distant planet called Anjiin; how they got there is lost to time, but humans have settled in nicely. They've established a flourishing scientific community focused on unlocking the mysteries of how they can co-exist with the plant and animal life on the planet. Into that mix comes the Carryx, an insectoid alien race which captures other intelligent life forms and forces them to either integrate into their empire or be wiped out — provided that they're useful enough to keep around in the first place, that is.

The Mercy of Gods is the story of what happens when the Carryx come to Anjiin and capture the humans there. Do they accept their new alien overlords? Fight back? Wail in despair and give up? These questions are at the heart of the story, which centers around a group of top-tier scientists whose work has captured the particular attention of the Carryx. The science team is a solid ensemble which calls to mind the Rocinante crew from The Expanse. Each has their own specific strengths and weaknesses, moral blindspots and virtues. It's too early in the series to say if they'll capture the hearts of readers in quite the same way as the Roci crew, but Corey does great work delving deep into the psyches of the characters, and that was definitely a highlight of the book for me.

Since there's such a heavy focus on the psychological aspect of what the human characters are going through, The Mercy of Gods is perhaps a more cerebral book than any of The Expanse novels. Those had a good balance between action, political intrigue, and science fiction elements. The Mercy of Gods still has all of those things, but the balance is tipped much more toward the human quest for understanding of how exactly they fit in a universe which contains the Carryx and their multitudes of servant alien species. The Mercy of Gods reminded me at times of 1980s sci-fi like David Brinn's Uplift series or Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, which had a heavy emphasis on humanity figuring out what coexistence among truly alien creatures looks like.

That might make The Mercy of Gods challenging for readers who are hoping for non-stop action, but personally I enjoyed it quite a lot. There's still plenty of terrifying twists and thrilling sequences, but the story isn't really about action at its core. The journey of understanding is fantastic, as characters come to better understand both themselves and the various aliens they're surrounded by. And it's all set against compellingly dire, extinction-level stakes for the captive humans, where one wrong move could mean catastrophe.

The Mercy of Gods unleashes James S.A. Corey's imagination

The fact that The Mercy of Gods isn't set within our own solar system also gives James S.A. Corey far more freedom to pull from the imagination. There are tons of alien species in this book, and the entire thing generally feels far stranger and more dreamlike than anything in The Expanse. Just like the characters, you never quite know what you're going to be confronted with on the next page, whether that's a brand new alien, a new scientific quandary, or a cultural boundary being crossed that the humans weren't even aware existed.

Despite what I just said about Corey's imagination being front and center, this is also a book that leans even more into hard science than The Expanse did. The characters face a barrage of scientific questions which they have to reason their way through. The Mercy of Gods feels like a space opera because of all the aliens, but it still very much has the flavor of hard sci-fi. And it's pretty clear that Corey is very well equipped to write on both ends of that spectrum.

The writing itself is also exceptional. The main character, Dafyd Alkhor, is a research assistant with an undeniable knack for getting inside the minds of other people. That leads him to make plenty of smart choices to help others, as well as make seemingly cruel decisions that bring him ire. Within one chapter, I was sold on Dafyd Alkhor as a manipulative, highly intelligent human who was intrinsically linked to the rise and fall of empires, which is a testament to how good the character writing is. James S.A. Corey imbues The Mercy of Gods with a feeling of weighty, inexorable destiny right from the very start.

All of this gives The Mercy of Gods the feeling of a grand, epic sci-fi that is only the beginning of a much larger tale. Which actually leads to one of my only real complaints about the book: it feels very much like a part one, which leaves way more doors open for the future than it closes. It's almost hard to judge the overall story of The Mercy of Gods because so much of it is set up for the larger tale yet to come. That's not a huge drawback, and this opening chapter of the saga hooked me pretty strongly, but I do generally tend to like when a book has a stronger conclusion. (Notably, the first Expanse book Leviathan Wakes did have one, so this is a Mercy of Gods issue more than a James S.A. Corey issue.)

That said, my wish for a bit more out of the ending is a pretty small quibble considering how good the ride was. I'll absolutely be continuing the series, because I very much want to know what happens next to Dafyd Alkhor and the rest of his companions. It's an exciting time to be a fan of Corey's writing.

Verdict

The Mercy of Gods is a strong start to an imaginative new series from the creators of The Expanse. It has enough similar DNA that it will appeal to fans of the authors' previous work, while forging a bold new path filled with alien species, impossible decisions, and an unknown future for humanity among the stars. If you enjoy reading science fiction, this is one of the must-read books of the genre published this year.

The Mercy of Gods is out now from Orbit.

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