The Faith of Beasts
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4.5 • 298 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND LA TIMES BESTSELLER
James S. A. Corey's Expanse series has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 23 languages, establishing itself as a modern masterwork of science fiction. Now, the Hugo-award winning author returns with the second volume in their New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed space opera trilogy, The Captive’s War.
"Corey is always one of the most engaging voices in the genre." —Adrian Tchaikovsky, bestselling author of Children of Time
The monstrous Carryx empire was built by subjugation and war. Thousands of species are bound to their Sovran’s command in an endless, blood-soaked test: be useful in the eternal conflict or be slaughtered.
Dafyd Alkhor, highest among their human captives, is feared and despised by the very people he champions. Ruthless in carving out his niche in the eternal war machine of the empire, he will reshape human nature itself as a tool for their alien masters’ use. But Dafyd’s loyalty is not what it seems.
The Swarm, an agent of the Carryx’s deathless enemy, has been smuggled into the Carryx world-palace along with the human slaves. Its mission: discover a way to bring down the empire’s eternal reign. But the longer it lives among and within humanity, the more it forgets that it is a weapon.
As the human captives spread through the battlefronts of empire, the awesome power of the Carryx becomes clear. And with it, a desperate plan for their destruction.
But empires hide secrets, and even the deathless enemy may not be what it appears …
★ "Stellar . . . The authors continue to expertly balance character and plot development, setting the stage effectively for the series’ denouement. This wows." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ "Grand-scale SF storytelling at its very best. In a word: mind-blowing." — Kirkus (starred review)
"The start of something truly epic." ―Fonda Lee on The Mercy of Gods
For More from James S. A. Corey, check out:
The Captive’s War
The Mercy of Gods
The Faith of Beasts
The Expanse
Leviathan Wakes
Caliban’s War
Abaddon’s Gate
Cibola Burn
Nemesis Games
Babylon’s Ashes
Persepolis Rising
Tiamat’s Wrath
Leviathan Falls
Memory’s Legion
The Expanse Short Fiction
Drive
The Butcher of Anderson Station
Gods of Risk
The Churn
The Vital Abyss
Strange Dogs
Auberon
The Sins of Our Fathers
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What sacrifices and compromises are you prepared to make to ensure survival? Not just yours, but humanity as a whole. This second installment of The Captive’s War series digs deep into that question. Former lab assistant Dafyd Alkhor betrayed a human uprising against a conquering alien race known as the Carryx, believing it was the only way to save them all. Now he’s their unwilling human liaison, communicating the Carryx’s directives to a resentful populace. Their latest edict: that humans reproduce to provide them with more useful servants for their war. Perhaps the answer lies with the swarm: the devouring hive mind spy for the Carryx’s enemy who’s still lurking within the body of one of Dafyd’s colleagues. We’re really getting into this sweeping sci-fi saga from the duo who brought us The Expanse. Always-relevant issues like colonialism, slavery, and the nuances of collaboration drive the storyline, making it as thoughtful as it is thrilling.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this stellar second entry in the Captive's War series, bestselling author duo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, writing as Corey, ingeniously expand on the worldbuilding of The Mercy of Gods. The arthropodlike Carryx aliens are bent on subjugating all other intelligent life forms, including the humans of the planet Anjiin. From Anjiin, the Carryx abducted those it believed could help them in their eternal war, including genius scientist Tonner Freis and his subordinate, Dafyd Alkhor. After the humans were transported to a Carryx vessel, they were pitted against other species to prove their worth and justify their continued existence, leading to difficult moral choices, including Dafyd's decision to betray other humans planning a revolt he knew would only accelerate all their deaths. The repercussions of that choice play out here, with the protagonists of the first book mostly working and living apart. Meanwhile, one human is revealed to be the host for a parasitic swarm bent on gathering intelligence about the Carryx to enable its kind to defeat these merciless foes. The authors continue to expertly balance character and plot development, setting the stage effectively for the series' denouement. This wows.
Customer Reviews
beautiful, frankly.
contemplation of the human experience, etc. etc.
Pacing issues
Moves faster than the first book, but there are still pacing issues. Too many scientific details that just bloat the story without moving it forward. There’s a good story buried in here though.
I’m done with this series.
This book is just as dreary and depressing as the first, with equally slow pacing that leads nowhere and characters who seem to exist just so I can watch them suffer endlessly. It’s just endlessly bleak and full of dull little tasks, with none of the wonder or fascination the authors gave us with their previous series.
And what happened to believable villains (or quasi-villains) you could understand AND loathe? Don’t look for Inaros or Dawes here. In these books, you basically get a bee hive of obedient drones. No personality, no drives of their own, just insects with edicts.
One extra star given for the interesting (but under-featured) “spy” character. I’m getting off this train here. I may check back with the authors in a decade or so.