Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse book 8) by James S A Corey (book review).

‘Tiamat’s Wrath’ is the eighth novel of ‘The Expanse’ space opera series by James S A Corey.

High Consul Winston Duarte rules the accessible universe in Laconia. The crew of the Rocinante is scattered. Bobbie Draper as captain and Alex Kamal as pilot are aboard the destroyer Storm Shadow, built using alien technology and stolen from Laconia by the underground. Naomi Nagata is the underground’s strategist, hidden from Laconian authorities in a container that is moved from ship to ship. Amos Burton went on a secret dangerous mission to Laconia itself and has not been heard of in two years. Jim Holden is an honoured prisoner at the State Building on Laconia, helping Duarte discover more about what killed the gate builders.

Each in their own way is trying to help the underground bring down the Laconian rule. Bobbie leads her crew in skirmishes against strategic targets Naomi has chosen or approved. Amos is still on Laconia, keeping an eye on the heart of the Laconian Empire while, to him, doing the right thing. Jim is playing a subtle long game to get rid of the mad scientist, Paolo Cortázar, as he does protomolecule experiments on humans to help give Duarte immortality.

One of Bobbie’s operations retrieves four balls of antimatter from a Laconian transport ship. This helps give the underground a chance to take out one of the two operational Magnetar ships, which are the key to controlling the Laconian Empire. They choose to attack the one oppressing the solar system. The incident starts a chain of events that work towards improving the underground’s position.

This storyline is up front and progresses at pace to produce an easy-to-follow classic space opera adventure. However, there is a second deeper and darker story interweaving its way through the narrative. That of discovering more about the nameless enemy that had killed the protomolecule gate-builders’ civilisation. Duarte and Holden are on the same page, which is why the latter is an honoured prisoner at the heart of Laconia. On Holden’s recommendation, Duarte has Dr. Elvi Okoye lead a scientific mission to examine the dead systems, those where there are no longer any habitable planets, for clues.

However, Elvi’s ability to scrutinise the remarkable scientific discoveries they have left behind is limited. Admiral Sagale is on board to ensure they examine these systems at pace. This means that after Elvi’s team has gathered preliminary data on the system, the catalyst, a woman heavily infected by the protomolecule that has not yet reached the infectious stage, is brought out to trigger a reaction from any in-system protomolecule or its artefacts.

They reach a dead system comprising a ‘Jupiter-sized diamond floating around a white dwarf,’ which has a faintly greenish hue due to radiation damage. Definitely built, not naturally occurring, according to the novel. I found this novel annoying for several niggling detailed reasons, even taking into account this novel being published in 2019. These include radiation damage in a diamond that comes from moving a carbon atom out of its lattice position into a space in-between the lattice. This results in more damage being found closer to the surface than towards the centre. In fact, gemologists are all too aware of this phenomenon. Yet there is no description of the variation in the planet’s appearance that suggests this.

The planet 55 Cancri was discovered in 2004. By 2012, analysis had shown it was about the size of two Earths, and at least a third of its mass was pure diamond. It is only a couple of steps from there to having a natural, larger, pure diamond planet.

It turns out this planet is supposed to be a data backup system for the gate-builders. But it is not that reliable, given it has suffered from radiation damage, i.e., the displacement of carbon atoms from the lattice nodes.

Despite how interesting this system is, Sagale orders them to press on to investigating the next system on their schedule, the Tecoma system. This comprises a single neutron star with ‘more than three stellar masses stuffed into a ball half the size of Rhode Island,’ which means it is on the edge of collapse. The star’s pole very unusually points to the gate. Even Elvi has to agree this system is of little interest.

This is when Sagale tells Elvi the mission is changed; basically, it is to send an antimatter bomb to the nameless enemy via the gate system.

Of course, the nameless enemy reacts. It collapses the neutron star in the Tecoma system to send a gamma ray pulse out of the poles through the gate. Worse, that gamma ray pulse continues through the ring space that leads to all the gates and on to the opposite Thanjavur gate. They lose both those gates.

This is not the end of the nameless enemy’s actions and the significant consequences for all the protagonists.

‘Tiamat’s Wrath’ is very much in the vein of ‘The Expanse,’ but liberally spread with reminiscences of episodes from the previous novels. At times, it became a nostalgia feast. I found that a bit too much, as it slowed down the reading of the new story plot and character development.

It gives enough innovative science fiction to hold those readers who want to explore new ideas in the genre, while giving the thrills and spills for those who read these novels for fun and entertainment. Its appeal to varied interests is its strength in getting copies of the novel sold, but also its failing in that it can rarely fully satisfy anyone. Whichever camp a reader is in, it is still overall a good read.

Rosie Oliver

July 2025

(pub: Orbit, 2019. 537 page hardback. Price: £20.00. ISBN: 978-0-31633-287-3).

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