Leviathan Wakes
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Leviathan Wakes

James S. A. Corey

4.1825 learners

Set in a future where Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt teeter on the edge of all-out war, *Leviathan Wakes* ignites with the brutal destruction of the ice hauler Canterbury, pushing its first officer Jim Holden into a fight for survival and accountability. Meanwhile, grizzled detective Joe Miller hunts for a missing heiress, Julie Mao, on the lawless Ceres station. As their paths collide, they uncover a horrifying secret: the Protomolecule, an alien organism weaponized by the ruthless Protogen corporation, which threatens to consume humanity. Navigating political betrayals, interplanetary conflict, and the Protomolecule’s nightmarish spread, Holden and Miller must choose between vengeance, survival, and saving the solar system from annihilation. A gritty, high-stakes sci-fi thriller blending space opera, detective noir, and political intrigue, it lays the explosive foundation for The Expanse series.

UNErosProtomoleculeJim HoldenJoe Miller
Scenario

Canterbury Fake Rescue Trap

Holden and his 4 teammates took the small Knight shuttle to respond to the fake distress signal from the Scopuli, walking straight into Protogen’s pre-planned deadly ambush.

TrapOpening PlotThe Expanse
Scenario

Miller Kills Dresden

Miller shot Protogen’s lead scientist Dresden dead on the spot without a public trial, claiming Dresden would never face real justice even if he was arrested for his crimes.

Moral Choicekey plotThe Expanse
Scenario

Battle Over Thoth Station

The combined OPA militia and Rocinante crew attacked Protogen’s secret Thoth Station lab, fighting through heavy resistance to seize full control of all protomolecule research data.

The ExpanseKey BattleOPA
Scenario

Eros Protomolecule Massacre

Protogen secretly released the protomolecule on Eros station, using 1.5 million unsuspecting residents as test subjects to observe how the alien organism infects and transforms human bodies.

The ExpanseEthical CrimeSci-fi Case
Concept

Protomolecule Core Concept

The mysterious alien microbial organism secretly developed by Protogen, which can rewrite physical matter, take over human hosts and reshape the structure of asteroids.

Sci-FiAlien LifeThe Expanse
Insight

No One Is Fully Innocent

Even ordinary workers and scientists who only follow orders can become accomplices to mass atrocities. Protogen’s lab staff who followed orders to run the Eros experiment indirectly killed 1.5 million residents without questioning the ethics.

EthicsSci-FiMoral
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