Tiamat's Wrath: Book 8 of the Expanse

tl.lane

Sep 09, 2025

Ok, but not one of the better novels in the seriesI did not care for this novel in the series, as much as some of the others. I think the writing was a bit trite and loose. Almost as if it was just going through the motions.I have heard that a couple of major characters are leaving the television series, and it makes me wonder that though different characters, by killing off a couple here, it shows it could happen there, and hopefully they won’t upset their fan base. Too late, they did!Though Avasarala was one of my favorite characters in the series, with the time jumps between books, it did actually make sense to have her pass from old age. She of course would have likely fought and bitched about it the whole way but it was believable. That her granddaughter didn’t know, or at least she said didn’t know it, was a bit unrealistic - the saying that she and her husband would say to one another was put on her headstone. It is a wonderful story behind it and the granddaughter would have been sharing it happily because if nothing else, she could think of them together this way.I did like that the two kids from the Strange Dogs novella were introduced. Very sick about how they have been treated, but knowing the level of willful ignorance in Laconian society, it’s not surprising.I didn’t care for the Falcon storyline as such. I liked that Dr. Okoye had such a large presence in that portion of the story. The whole tit for tat military concept was unrealistic. Maybe because Duarte was no longer truly human and he has made his cult of Laconians willing to follow whatever he may think is the right course allowed for this level of hubris when dealing with the alien killers, but I would have thought someone would have spoken up in retaliation to it, not just Dr. Okoye.Having Bobby die how she did was wrong. She was an important character in her own right and I think having her watch someone under her having to die to achieve the final goal, would have been more realistic and ultimately more worthwhile in the storytelling. I think this was just an easy way to clean the characters back down to the main 4 of the Roci crew. That Amos is no longer just a human Amos, could be interesting.I hope that the next couple of novels will be well done, because this one came up short. Though, I think maybe they just ‘jumped the shark’ and are looking to close the story as easily and quickly as possible. If that the case, just bite the bullet and kill the story with a trite ending, just as this story did with everyone magically returning to the Roci. No reason to drag it out if there is no good story left to tell.