Persepolis Rising Brings New Life and New Drama to The Expanse

[Editor’s note: Spoilers for the earlier books, through Babylon’s Ashes, to follow.]
Following the defeat of Marco Inaros after his attempted conquest of Earth, Persepolis begins on a hopeful note (at least for this series). Earth may never recover from the brutal attacks Inaros engineered, but a degree of stability has been achieved. A transport union, run by the citizens of the asteroid belt and beyond, has opened up commerce and encouraged coexistence between the inner planets, the Belters, and the hundreds of new colony worlds beyond the gates. Given the cloud of existential doom hanging over the last two books, it’s an opening both promising and ominous. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from The Expanse, it’s that someone will always come along and mess things up. It’s also jarring: we’re dropped right into this new status quo via a significant time jump. After following the Rocinante crew pretty closely thus far, several decades have passed as this one opens.

Between books, there have finally been some good times for humanity. The Rocinante crew is still together, including more recent additions—former Martian marine Bobby Draper and one-time terrorist Clarissa Mao. They’re returning to Medina station to pick up a new assignment and to drop off Jim and Naomi, reluctantly sending them off to a quiet retirement somewhere nice. It’s no spoiler to say things don’t go as planned.
On the other side of one of the gates is Laconia, a colony made up of Martian defectors who’ve been cut off from the rest of humanity for decades. They haven’t been idle: while most of the colony worlds have struggled for footholds in their respective systems, the Laconians have been building up their infrastructure and expanding their technology by studying and exploiting the last remnants of the alien protomolecule. When they arrive at Medina Station, the fighting is over before it’s begun. Their conquest is almost bloodless, in that there’s simply no defense against overwhelming technological superiority. With one ship, the Laconians take the station and, with it, the hundreds of new human colony worlds that it governs. All that’s left is to bring Earth, Mars, and the Belt to heel.

Laconia has developed under the guidance of a charming, but ruthlessly efficient dictator named Winston Duarte. He believes humanity is rudderless and doomed to collapse unless he steers it toward a new destiny. His followers, including very green officer Santiago Singh, have not the slightest doubt the megalomaniac running the show is ultimately benevolent in his goals. If a few undesirables are sacrificed to the protomolecule experiments, it’s a small price to pay for the advancement of humankind.
What follows is the story of a guerrilla insurgency on Medina. Given the overwhelming superiority of the Laconians, the goal of the reunited Rocinante crew and other dissident elements is survival and escape. Anything more seems unrealistic to the point of naiveté. Co-writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck have both expanded their canvas by introducing a threat that’s almost alien in its power and goals, and narrowed it: most of our time is spent on the station with the increasingly frayed crew. A health crises develops among members of the aging team, while long-simmering personal conflicts come to the fore.

We gain insight into the power politics of this new era—watch out for a visit from a particularly foul-mouthed elder stateswoman—but the primary focus is on the occupied station Holden and crew reject the leadership of the Laconians outright. Hope, such as it is, comes in a backhanded way: messing around with the protomolecule may have brought Duarte’s people far, but they may have awoken greater powers that have lain dormant until now.
In the seventh volume in their space opera series, Team Corey continues to celebrate the wild complexity and diversity of humankind. The series popularity can certainly be attributed to its extraordinary worldbuilding and realistic conception of a near-future in space, true, but also to its flawed, damaged heroes and villains, who are drawn from all walks of life. For all of the space battles, alien bio-tech, and galactic power politics, there’s a real humanity at its heart. That word usually refers to virtues, but Corey recognizes the messiness there as well,—messiness that makes for great drama. For as many characters who do terrible, even monstrous things, there are no truly unambiguous villains. The “heroes” screw up almost as often. Everyone believes that they’re doing a version of the right thing, and the justifications are often pretty rational.

Given the turmoil of the previous six books in the series, High Consul Duarte and his underlings aren’t entirely unhinged for thinking maybe humanity needs a firmer hand. Ignoring the fact that they’ve not offered anyone much of a choice, they actually seem pretty genuine in their desire to usher in order and peace with as little bloodshed as possible. Through the point-of-view character of Santiago Singh, Medina’s military governor, we’re invited to find their offer tempting. The problem, as Holden and company would see it, is in the very notion of the conformity the Laconians offer. As appealing as it has been for the leaders and politicians in this series to force people into boxes, even with the best of intentions, it’s increasingly clear the boxes themselves are the problem. No power in the galaxy will keep people from busting out eventually. It’s a case not for anarchy, but for recognizing that the different experiences of the people of Earth and Mars, of the belt, and of the new colonies, can be a source of strength. It’s an analogy that translates pretty well to 21st century Earth.
With Persepolis Rising, the narrative moves ahead in unexpected ways, kicking off a final trilogy of novels that will bring the series to its end.  This isn’t a case of being given a reheated serving of something we’ve enjoyed before—even seven books in, James S.A. Corey is still finding new ways to deliver this story. The Expanse series remains the gold standard of ongoing modern space opera.
Persepolis Rising is available in December 5 in a Barnes & Noble edition featuring exclusive content.