Alien Invasion, Human Subjugation

Fans of science fiction, especially the subgenre commonly called “space opera” are very familiar with the author James S.A. Corey. Corey is the pen name of a pair of authors. One is an accomplished fantasy author in his own right named Daniel Abraham, and the other is Ty Franck, who had worked as a game designer and personal assistant to George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame before teaming up with Abraham on The Expanse series, the most popular space opera series of the last decade.

The Expanse series, and particularly the adapted-for-TV version, won accolades for its scientific accuracy in the depiction of space flight and potential living conditions on other worlds within our solar system. The book and TV series have a huge fan base.

Beyond its scientific veracity the series is well loved for its cast of characters, its depiction of politics extrapolated into a human-colonized solar system, its pacing and its action. The Expanse took a turn toward a more fantasy orientation in the later part of the series with the introduction of the ring gates, remnants of a lost civilization, along with interstellar travel between the gates.

With the end of the Expanse series fans eagerly awaited a new book from the Corey duo, and were rewarded last fall with the publication of The Mercy of Gods, the first book in a new series called The Captive’s War. The new book introduces a world / universe and a plot line sufficiently different from that of The Expanse to give some hardcore fans pause. Just search YouTube for video reviews of the book to see what I mean.

Alien species didn’t have a big role in The Expanse, and alien influence was mostly there to amplify the human politics of the series (the protomolecule setting off a weapons race for example).

Things are much different in The Mercy of Gods. Aliens are everywhere.

The first part of the new book finds humanity located on an alien planet called Anjiin, where they have been resident for at least 3,500 years. When they arrived on Anjiin, why they were there, and where they had come from are questions to which the answers are “lost in the fog of time and history”. But humans had brought with them to Anjiin other species - dogs and cows, bees, wildflowers and oak trees, etc. Humans and their companion species made a home alongside Anjiin’s native flora and fauna, but the two different trees of life were never able to intersect.

It’s in this world that our characters appear - a scientific research team on the verge of making the biggest breakthrough in human history on Anjiin. They’ve found a way to bridge the gap between the native life forms and those species who accompanied humans to Anjiin. We meet up with our characters at the Scholar’s Common celebrating the end of another academic year, and in the midst of competing with other scientific teams for grants to continue their work.

And then the Carryx appear, an alien species that have waged wars of conquest and enslavement for thousands of years. The Carryx carry out a brutal and swift invasion of Anjiin, and a subjugation of the human civilization they find there. With brutal efficiency the aliens chose the best and brightest from humanity, including our team, and transport them to their home world.

There, they are more or less dumped among many other conquered species, all charged with serving the Carryx, but with little information or support to do so. They must fend for themselves and adapt to a struggle they knew nothing about. They must learn how to survive, and how to understand, and hopefully manipulate, the Carryx themselves.

One member of the team, Daffyd Alkhor, becomes the focus and driver of much of that effort. He has the assistance of a spy in the midst of the team, an envoy from a species that has long fought the Carryx.

The writing is excellent, and the world building intriguing. The aliens are a mixed set of originality (the Carryx) and too familiar. Many species are described as “like this familiar species” - like a horse, or a turtle, or an ape, or a chimpanzee, etc., to the point where it felt like these metaphors were becoming a crutch for the authors. The book doesn’t end with a cliff-hanger, but it also doesn’t finish with a clear resolution, so that I found frustrating.

I’ve seen at least one reviewer compare this book to the books of Adrian Tchaikovsky, and if you are a fan of his I think you will find a lot to like in this book. Others have said that the writing style is quintessentially Corey, so if you are fan of the Expanse you’ll find that familiar, even if the plot is pretty far removed.

Other reviewers found the pacing of this book slow and complained that it dragged in places. This is not an action-packed book to be sure. But it held my interest, and it starts a story focused on how a group of humans find a way to overthrow an uncaring, militaristic and totalitarian regime, a theme I find all too timely. I found that theme and the book’s plot fascinating, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.

RATING: Three and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐🌠

RATING COMMENTS: A slow build to a new series by James S.A. Corey, punctuated by a sudden brutal alien invasion. This book sets the stage for what promises to be a fascinating new series.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I read the ebook on Libby. The ebook, hard cover and audiobook all came out last fall. The trade paperback edition will be available August 5, 2025.