The Expanse is a series of science fiction novels (and related novellas and short stories) by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
The Expanse is set in a future in which, after the creation of the Epstein Drive, a fusion engine capable of producing continuous acceleration, humanity has colonized much of the Solar System (but does not have interstellar travel).
[19][20] At the series beginning, the governments of Earth (led by the United Nations) and Mars control the solar system in an uneasy military alliance, although substantial tensions exist between the two superpowers.
Residents of the outer planets, living in stations built in the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, are referred to as "Belters".
As the series progresses, humanity gains access to thousands of new worlds by use of the rings, an artificially sustained wormhole network, created by a long-dead alien civilization.
Every book also begins and ends with a prologue and epilogue told from a unique character's perspective, who will occasionally interject in the main body of the novel.
Leviathan Wakes, the first novel in the series, begins with the destruction of the ice freighter Canterbury by unknown forces, and the surviving crew, led by captain James Holden, ends up in possession of the gunship Rocinante.
Together with help from Ceres-based Detective Joe Miller, who is searching for the missing Julie Mao, they uncover a complex plot by the Earth company Protogen to draw the inner planets and belt into a war to distract from a criminal operation where they experimentally infect residents of the asteroid Eros with an extrasolar biological hijacking organism they have discovered, known as the protomolecule.
With help from the Outer Planets Alliance, the crew of the Rocinante brings down Protogen, but the protomolecule assimilates Eros and launches itself at its original destination of Earth.
In Caliban's War, while assisting Ganymede-based biologist Praxidike Meng with finding his missing daughter, the crew of the Rocinante discover a criminal plot by the Mao-Kwikowski company, in league with rogue elements in the UN government, to manufacture protomolecule-enhanced super soldiers by deliberately infecting immunodeficient individuals with the protomolecule to turn them into weapons.
With help from Martian marine Bobbie Draper and UN politician Chrisjen Avasarala, they find Meng's daughter, destroy the protomolecule soldiers, and bring those responsible to justice.
They flee through the Ring (and are followed by Earth, Mars, and OPA forces), finding that it leads to the hub of a massive wormhole network consisting of 1300 gates, termed the Slow Zone.
Cibola Burn is a book heavily influenced by westerns which tells the story of one of the early colony worlds through the Ring Network, Ilus, experiencing a confrontation between refugee settlers and the corporation that has been granted rights to it.
Working together to survive, the crew of the Rocinante and the settlers overcome the tremendous odds stacked against them, and demonstrate the feasibility of extrasolar colonies to persevere through disaster.
In Nemesis Games, sometimes referred to as the series’ Empire Strikes Back, a rogue Martian group led by Winston Duarte sells warships to a radical faction of the OPA headed by Marco Inaros, who creates a fleet known as the Free Navy.
Eventually, the crew of the Rocinante figures out how to trigger the ship disappearances while traveling through the gates and uses this to cause Inaros and the rest of the Free Navy to vanish as they attempt to retake the Slow Zone.
In Persepolis Rising, set three decades after the Free Navy was defeated, the Laconians reemerge out of their gate with advanced, protomolecule-powered technology, including three incredibly powerful dreadnought battleships.
The Rocinante crew becomes part of the resistance movement on Medina Station in the Slow Zone and successfully manages to stage a revolt that allows them to escape to the various colony worlds.
In Tiamat's Wrath, Duarte attempts to attack the creatures that sometimes consume ships traveling between gates, which are realized to be the same forces that killed the protomolecule's creators.
In Leviathan Falls, Duarte reawakens from his catatonic state with new powers and realizes that his tyrannical ambitions have been "too small," and to defeat the dark gods, he needs to transform humanity into a hive mind.
He connects himself to the alien station and, after allowing all ships to escape, destroys the Slow Zone, shutting down the wormhole network between worlds.
Ty Franck began developing the world of The Expanse initially as the setting for a MMORPG and, after a number of years, for a tabletop role-playing game using the D20 Modern system.
[24] It has also been observed that there are similarities in the political and social setting of the series to Alfred Bester's classic science fiction novel The Stars My Destination.
As for the other crew of the Rocinante, Dominique Tipper was cast as Naomi Nagata, Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal, and Wes Chatham as Amos Burton.
The other major cast members are Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, Chad Coleman as Fred Johnson, and Florence Faivre as Julie Mao.
The comics were written by James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert and Georgia Lee and illustrated by Huang Danlan, Triona Farrell, Juan Useche and Rahzzah.