Are you one of those people who The vastness and has been in an unbound state of existence ever since? In recent years, James SA Corey’s popular science fiction saga ended with Leviathan Falls and the short story collection Legion of Remembrance, and even the television series from Syfy and Amazon Prime Video was canceled after six seasons. What is a Width What can a fan do in these dry, fictionally destitute times?

Of course, I am starting to read a new series! And I have very good news: James SA Corey — this is The vastness Co-author team Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck have released a new book. The Mercy of the Gods is the beginning of a brand new series by the authors, called The War of the Prisoners. It has enough similar DNA that you will probably enjoy it if you liked The vastnessand yet it is a completely different kind of science fiction story. I have read it and am here to share my SPOILER FREE impressions.

In The Mercy of the GodsHumanity lives on a distant planet called Anjiin. How they got there is lost to time, but the humans have adapted well. They have built a thriving scientific community focused on unlocking the secrets of how to coexist with the planet’s plant and animal life. Added to the mix are the Carryx, an insectoid alien race that captures other intelligent lifeforms and forces them to either integrate into their empire or be wiped out – assuming they’re even useful enough to keep.

The Mercy of the Gods is the story of what happens when the Carryx come to Anjiin and take the people there captive. Do they accept their new alien overlords? Do they fight back? Do they whine in despair and give up? These questions are at the heart of the story, which revolves around a group of high-profile scientists whose work has attracted the special attention of the Carryx. The science team is a solid ensemble reminiscent of the Rocinante crew from The vastness. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, moral blind spots and virtues. It’s too early in the series to tell if they’ll capture readers’ hearts in the same way the Roci crew did, but Corey does a great job of digging deep into the characters’ psyches, and that was definitely a highlight of the book for me.

Because the focus is so much on the psychological aspect of what the human characters go through, The Mercy of the Gods is perhaps a more intellectual book than any The vastness Novels. These had a good balance between action, political intrigue and science fiction elements. The Mercy of the Gods still has all of those things, but the balance is tipped much more toward the human quest to understand how exactly they fit into a universe that includes the Carryx and their multitude of servant alien species. The Mercy of the Gods sometimes reminded me of science fiction from the 1980s like David Brinns Raise Series or Orson Scott Cards Spokesman for the deadin which great importance was placed on humanity finding out what it would be like to live together with truly extraterrestrial beings.

This could The Mercy of the Gods challenging for readers who want nonstop action, but personally I quite liked it. There are still plenty of terrifying twists and suspenseful sequences, but at its core the story isn’t really about action. The journey of understanding is fantastic, as the characters gain a better understanding of both themselves and the various aliens they are surrounded by. And all of this is set against a backdrop of grippingly terrifying, extinction-like risks for the trapped humans, where one wrong move could spell disaster.

The fact that The Mercy of the Gods not set in our own solar system, James SA Corey also gives him a lot more freedom to draw on imagination. There are tons of alien species in this book, and the whole thing generally feels a lot stranger and more dreamlike than anything in The vastness. Just like the characters, you never really know what to expect on the next page, be it a brand new alien, a new scientific dilemma, or the crossing of a cultural boundary people didn’t even know existed.

Although I just said that Corey’s imagination is the focus, this is also a book that relies even more on hard science than The vastness did. The characters are confronted with a flood of scientific questions that they must work through with arguments. The Mercy of the Gods feels like a space opera because of all the aliens, but still has the flavor of hard science fiction. And it’s pretty clear that Corey is very well equipped to write on both ends of that spectrum.

The writing style itself is also exceptional. The main character, Dafyd Alkhor, is a research assistant with an undeniable talent for looking into other people’s minds. This leads him to make many smart decisions to help others, but also seemingly cruel decisions that earn him wrath. After just one chapter, I was convinced of Dafyd Alkhor as a manipulative, highly intelligent person who is inextricably linked to the rise and fall of empires, which is a testament to how good the character drawing is. James SA Corey gives The Mercy of the Gods with the feeling of a heavy, relentless fate from the very beginning.

All this gives The Mercy of the Gods the feeling of a grand, epic science fiction novel that is just the beginning of a much bigger story. Which actually leads to one of my only real complaints about the book: it feels very similar to a first part that leaves many more doors open for the future than it closes. It is almost difficult to judge the overall story of The Mercy of the Gods because so much of it sets up for the larger story that is yet to come. That’s not a huge downside, and this opening chapter of the saga kept me quite hooked, but I generally like it when a book has a stronger ending. (Notably, the first Width Book Leviathan awakens had one, so this is a Mercy of the Gods problem rather than a James SA Corey problem.)

However, my wish for a little more from the ending is a minor one, given how good the story is. I will definitely continue reading the series, because I really want to know what happens next with Dafyd Alkhor and his companions. It’s an exciting time for fans of Corey’s works.

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

The Mercy of the Gods has now been published by Orbit.

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