Nemesis Games

Book 5 of the Expanse

By: James S. A. Corey

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees.

The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price. And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.

©2015 Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"As close as you'll get to a Hollywood blockbuster in book form." (io9.com on Leviathan Wakes)

Enjoyable SciFi, recommendable, with faults

If you are into the expanse franchise this is still worth to listen to or read. It's great to be on the Roci with the crew and I really enjoyed it.

However this and the following book (Babylons Ashes) have really one big problem in their story.
--- VERY SMALL SPOILER - basically none at all ---

Something terrible happens, some bad guys do it, and even though it is very very terrible they still have the support from most of the fraction of humanity they belong to. Given the gravity of what happened it is not credible at all that they would have that support. Or not without at least a generation of brainwashing and isolation from facts. But that didn't happen.

It's really quite bad that the story kinda relies on the people being fine with that bad thing, so very often in that story I just got annoyed because of this. It's just not credible without assuming the that all the normal people are being extremely stupid, bad or downright sociopaths. And stories that rely on people, a whole fraction of humanity even, being stupid or bad really aren't well thought out.

Nevertheless: Enjoyable.

solar system war: crew on vacation

another masterpiece of hard sf in near future setting with our crew and chracters growing from narative ache types to complete persons. clearly this is an interlude story preparing us for the next increments of this series and tying up loose character ends. Again an exceptional performance from the narrator.

Again, so much better than the show...

Why they didn't stick to the build-up payoff reward scheme present in the book when making the show is a huge mystery.

Mediocre for this series

Narrator was fine.

Story was mediocre, for this series at least.

Guess it's just there to tie up the story and throw out new plot lines.

Great book, poor audio quality

incredibly poor audio quality. Did not expect this poor of a product on audible. Book is stil great.

fantastic

This narrator deserves an oscar... seriously! fantastic series, fantastic writing, you cant go wrong! a definit good choice!

Best so far!

I like them all, but if book 4 was the least exciting. This was certainly the best one so far.

Good book and narrator, terrible recording

Audible needs to have this remastered or something. There is an issue with the quality of both high and normal quality recordings of this book.
The story and narration are great and this book fleshed out the backstories of the crew very well.

Best book so far, lookin forward to the next one

Such a shame season 5 got gutted as much as it did. This is my favorite book so far

A step throught the living world of Expanse

Everything continues forward beatifully and naturally as the character do their best to make do with what they have.

Stunning next episode

As usual a great plot and wonderful characters. Great to learn more about the back story of our core team and in such an unusual way. Thank you for bringing back Jefferson Mays as the narrator.

Space Opera At Its best!

Wow! what can I say! Just finished reading James S.A Corey's fifth
instalment of his Expanse series of books and I believe this is his best
book yet. Now, that's a pretty weighty statement in light of his first three
books. Granted, his fourth part of this series wasn't quite up to his
incredible ability to tell a ripping yarn but on balance Corey sets a very
high bar and so for those who have read his other books in this series I think
my assertion that this could well be the best to date is an indicator of the
quality and fantastic story-writing skills that is Nemesis Games.

Although this is Corey's fifth book in his Expanse series, it is by no means
the last. There is just so much scope for further books that Corey has an ever expanding canvas from which to work with. As with his previous parts to this series, we are left with a tantalizing and somewhat unexpected cliff-hanger that has left me chomping at the bit for the next book. I was fortunate enough to have picked up on Corey's work late enough to have all first five parts of this series available and so no waiting time for the next one. Now, though I'll have to wait quite a while.

Corey brings together all the characters from previous stories such as the Martian marine Roberta Draper, the cranky under secretary Avrasarila and even Clarissa Mau and weaves them into this story and pulls them all together in a very satisfying way like an old friends reunion but is integral to the unfolding plot. Nemesis Games also expands some of the core characters back stories and provides interesting insights into their lives before joining up with Holden.

This book also sees a welcome return to the job of narration by Jefferson Mays with his smooth and flowing style that is flawless and competent in its delivery.

Nemesis Games is up there with the very best of any authors work in the genre I've read and Corey has raised the bar yet again with this absorbing and riveting read.

best of the series

hallelujah, welcome back Jefferson Mays! great performance, gripping plot, and a welcome shift in pattern to previous instalments.

can't wait for the next one!

Great sci-fi adventure!

Real page turning action, more depth into favorite characters and epic story progression. Great work from the reader too, like watching the best blockbuster in your head!

Copyright ending spoiled the experience.

You know how people tend to remember the beginning and end.

I can't talk about the beginning. but for the end, and thus my lingering experience of the book, the only feeling left is the copyright statement.

what a terrible way to end a book.

reading that at the end sounds like I was committing a crime.

I bet those who pirate the book won't hear that but us who do pay for it get this reprimand.

The Fifth Expanse Novel

This is the First Expanse Novel I’ve listened to on audible, it starts just a little after the 4th prime series finishes, and it’s really really good. The characterisation and interlacing of story threads is masterly. The voice artist is easy to listen to and captures the individual characters and jargon very well.
I will be buying the next.

Brilliant.

Reading all the fantastic series. This one focuses on the individuals more, but is just as suspenseful. Fantastic to see one of my fave characters featuring again - Avasaralava.
The narrator is BRILLIANT.

Best one yet

This book is a deeper dive into the individual characters we e met before, and I really enjoyed that. But also a great storyline and development.

Superb.

As gripping as the very first book from start to finish. That nothing in this series feels hackneyed or repeat is a testament to just how good the author is.

Great when it gets going.

In my opinion, Corey doesn't really write characters well so that I don't feel anything that strong about what they feel.
Neither do they ever say anything particularly interesting or memorable. There's no sparking wit in these books, no insight or wisdom to mull over and certainly never any humour. It's very much conversations about pushing buttons and what the coms are saying.
Where he does really shine is his knowledge of science and the developing story which is well thought out and that's what keeps me going with the books
Consequently, the first 7 chapters aren't really interesting to me as they chat mindlessly and describe drinking yet another cup of coffee or how the refit is going. Very slow and uninteresting. I very nearly gave up.
Once it gets back on track however it's an important part of the overall story so not to be missed and was very enjoyable
However, I I still don't feel he deals with it very well emotionally. There are a lot of terrible things that happen but you are left feeling very 'matter of fact' about the whole thing and that goes to him not writing that sort of thing very well.