Cibola Burn is the fourth book in a series of nine books by James SA Corey (a pseudonym for two science fiction writers creating together). It is important to read from the beginning of this series because there are lots of themes, events and characters which appear, disappear and reappear as you go along – it is really one long story, told in instalments. I had read the first three books, which I loved, and then bought the fourth in 2018. Somehow, I never got round to reading it and when I picked it up last year I had obviously forgotten quite a lot of what was happening in the overall plot. There is no recap. I worked it out eventually, but my second piece of advice is that, if you have committed to the series, there should not be a long break between reading each book.
The story is set in the future. Mankind has space travel and, as a result of events in earlier books, now has access to the stars. Our heroes are James Holden and his crew of a small, independent, ship, the Rocinante. Whatever happens across the galaxy in these books they are in the middle of it, or possibly the reason for it. James is a very honest man, so honest that he continually gets into trouble for his actions, but he is trusted by the leaders of many of the factions which have grown up in this new galaxy. James is also haunted by a dead man who has a link to the civilisation that once occupied space and which was wiped out. In this episode of the story James and his crew are sent to stop a war, which involves a mining planet, but begin to think that they have been set up to fail. During their mission they also find out more about the civilisation that once ruled space.
The series of nine books covers a long period of time and James, and his crew, are old in the final story. They see wars between different ways of thinking and observe how groups of humans use situations in different ways. At one point they are the friends of the leaders and at other points they are on the run and trying to avoid conflict. They have new shipmates and allies, many of whom don’t survive the turmoil. They are together and then they split up into different groups. James is always seeking to do the right thing, even if it hurts or endangers him, and his crew are loyal to him, often to their cost.
This is a series about people and how they react to opportunity and threat. The characters are very real – they make mistakes, they are betrayed, they get hurt and sometimes they hurt others. By the end of the series we know these people very well, and in Leviathan Falls, the last book, the author ties up all the loose ends and provides a satisfactory ending. And, in case you need more loose ends tied up, there is a book of short stories called Memory’s Legion which tells the stories of some of the minor characters and fills in a few gaps.
I loved these books, but nine books, each of over 500 pages, is a big commitment for a reader. I thought it was worth it. I enjoyed my journey on the ship and the company of the crew, and I felt that the authors did a fine job of writing books about people which also deal with many big issues.
Anne Is Reading 