James S. A. Corey's The Expanse is a masterwork of modern science fiction, blending hard science, political intrigue, and noir detective fiction into a sprawling, nine-book epic. The series is set a few centuries in the future, where humanity has colonized the Solar System but is dangerously divided.
Three factions teeter on the brink of war: a bloated, bureaucratic Earth; a militaristic, terraforming Mars; and the Outer Planets Alliance (the OPA), a loose coalition representing the exploited miners of the Asteroid Belt and outer moons, known as "Belters." Into this cold war comes a paradigm-shattering discovery: the protomolecule, an alien agent of unimaginable power that does not build, but remakes.
At the center of it all is the crew of the stolen Martian gunship, the Rocinante: the idealistic Captain James Holden, the brilliant Martian pilot Alex Kamal, the genius Belter engineer Naomi Nagata, and the stoic Earther mechanic Amos Burton.
This guide organizes the entire saga, including all the novellas, into a single, comprehensive timeline of their journey from a simple ice hauler to the most important ship in human history.
The Complete Expanse Chronology
The books and novellas are presented in their in-universe chronological order.
Novella: DriveThe origin of the Epstein Drive
Set 150 years before the main series, this short story serves as the foundational myth of the Expanse universe, chronicling the pivotal moment humanity moved from interplanetary crawlers to true spacefarers. It tells the story of Solomon Epstein, a brilliant but frustrated Martian engineer who is tired of Mars being dependent on Earth. Through a reckless and unauthorized experiment on his personal yacht, he accidentally invents a hyper-efficient fusion drive capable of sustaining high-g thrust for weeks. The narrative is a tragic recount of his final moments; trapped by the immense g-forces of his own creation, unable to shut it down, he watches his life flash before him while hurtling into the dark.
His death, however, gifts Mars the edge it needs to declare independence, fundamentally altering the balance of power in the solar system and enabling the colonization of the Belt.
Novella: The ChurnAmos Burton's Backstory
This novella offers a gritty, noir-drenched dive into the brutal underworld of Baltimore on a future Earth where employment is a luxury and survival is a daily war. It chronicles the early life of Amos Burton - then known as Timmy - and his complex relationship with a local crime boss named Erich. We witness the specific trauma and violence that forged Amos's unique psychological profile: his lack of fear, his violent capabilities, and his unwavering, almost childlike loyalty to those he deems "his people." The story explores the concept of "The Churn" - the moments when civilization breaks down and only the ruthless survive. It explains why Amos fled Earth and how he acquired the identity of a mechanic named Amos Burton, providing essential context for his moral compass and his later actions in the main series.
Novella: The Butcher of Anderson StationFred Johnson's Backstory
This tragic narrative follows Colonel Fred Johnson, a celebrated and decorated UN Marine, during a pivotal military operation against a worker uprising on Anderson Station. Believing he is neutralizing a violent terrorist threat, Johnson orders an assault that results in the massacre of countless civilians who were trying to surrender - a surrender that was jamming due to equipment failure and ignored by his superiors. The story details the crushing weight of guilt that descends upon him when the truth is revealed, earning him the reviled nickname "The Butcher of Anderson Station." This psychological break leads to his defection from the UN and his eventual rebirth as a leader within the Outer Planets Alliance, driven by a desperate need for redemption.
1. Leviathan WakesThe Protomolecule is Unleashed
The saga begins with a distress call that changes the course of human history. James Holden and the crew of the ice hauler Canterbury investigate the derelict ship Scopuli, only to trigger a trap that destroys their ship and ignites a system-wide war.
As they flee across the Belt in a stolen Martian gunship they rename the Rocinante, they are drawn into a conspiracy involving a missing heiress named Julie Mao.
Parallel to this, the world-weary Belter detective Joe Miller is hired to find her, his investigation leading him into the darkest corners of corporate greed. They converge on Eros station, where they uncover the protomolecule - an alien bioweapon that repurposes biomass to create something new. The horror of Eros, where the entire population is infected and transformed, serves as the terrifying catalyst for a new era, ending with the station crashing into Venus and the protomolecule beginning its mysterious work.
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2. Caliban's WarThe Hybrid Soldiers
While the protomolecule builds a massive structure on Venus, a secret faction initiates a plan to weaponize the alien tech. On Ganymede, the breadbasket of the outer planets, a strange super-soldier slaughters a squad of UN and Martian marines, leaving Bobbie Draper as the sole survivor.
The political landscape expands with the introduction of Chrisjen Avasarala, a brilliant, foul-mouthed UN politician playing a high-stakes game of chess against warmongers in her own government.
The crew of the Rocinante agrees to help a botanist named Praxidike Meng find his daughter, who was kidnapped during the Ganymede attack. Their search reveals a horrific child-experimentation ring designed to create "Caliban" hybrids - monsters controlled by humans but powered by alien biology. The climax sees a desperate battle on Io to stop these weapons from being sold to the highest bidder.
Novella: Gods of RiskBobbie Draper's Interlude
Set in the gap between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate, this story brings the focus down to the domestic struggles on Mars. Bobbie Draper, struggling with PTSD and the loss of her career as a marine, finds herself navigating the civilian life she never wanted. The plot centers on her nephew, David, a brilliant chemistry student who gets mixed up with a dangerous criminal gang cooking illicit terraforming drugs.
It is a smaller, more intimate thriller that juxtaposes the grand scale of the main novels with the personal cost of Mars's singular focus on terraforming. It highlights the cracks forming in Martian society as their dream of a green planet begins to fade in the face of new realities, while showcasing Bobbie's fierce loyalty to her family.
3. Abaddon's GateThe Ring is Formed
The structure on Venus launches from the planet and travels to the edge of the solar system, transforming into a massive, stable wormhole gate: The Ring. This creates a gold rush and a tense military standoff as fleets from Earth, Mars, and the OPA race to control humanity's first door to the stars. The crew of the Rocinante is pursued by a vengeful captain who blames Holden for her downfall, while a religious delegation faces a crisis of faith.
Inside the Ring's "slow zone," a strange speed limit is enforced by an automated defense system, trapping the fleets together. The novel is a tense, claustrophobic thriller about fear, sabotage, and the need for unity. Holden, guided by a vision of Miller projected by the protomolecule, must communicate with the station's control center to prevent the alien machinery from perceiving humanity as a threat and wiping out the solar system.
Novella: The Vital AbyssThe Protogen Scientists
This chilling novella takes us inside the mind of the enemy. It is narrated by Dr. Paolo Cortazar, one of the primary researchers who conducted the horrific experiments on Eros. Imprisoned in a nanomaterials research station in the Belt, he and his colleagues are interrogated for their knowledge of the protomolecule.
The story is a disturbing study of amoral curiosity, showing how these scientists rationalize mass murder as a necessary step for human evolution. It details the internal politics of the prisoners as they vie for usefulness to their captors, and ultimately explains how Cortazar's unique expertise leads to his extraction by a rogue faction, setting the stage for the rise of Laconia in the later books.
4. Cibola BurnThe First Extrasolar Colony
The Ring gates have opened access to over 1,300 habitable systems, triggering a chaotic diaspora. On Ilus, the first world to be settled, tensions explode between independent Belter refugees who claim the planet and a corporate charter from Earth sent to mine its lithium. The Rocinante*crew arrives to mediate a conflict that has already turned violent. However, the true danger lies in the planet itself. As the settlers bicker, ancient automated technology from the long-dead Ring Builders begins to wake up.
The novel blends a sci-fi western frontier story with cosmic horror as the planet's defense mechanisms trigger fusion failures and death slugs. Holden must navigate the human politics while the "investigator" (Miller) guides him toward the terrifying truth about what killed the galaxy-spanning civilization that built the rings.
Get the Books5. Nemesis GamesThe Fall of Earth
The narrative scope contracts to the personal before expanding to the catastrophic. The crew of the *Rocinante* separates for the first time to attend to personal business: Amos returns to Baltimore, Alex visits his ex-wife on Mars, Naomi searches for her estranged son Filip, and Holden remains on Tycho Station. This separation leaves them vulnerable when a radical OPA faction, the Free Navy led by Marco Inaros, launches a coordinated stealth attack of unprecedented scale. They bombard Earth with stealth-coated asteroids, killing billions and shattering the planet's biosphere.
The novel is a story of apocalypse and intimacy, exploring the backstories of the main crew while detailing the collapse of Earth and Mars as superpowers and the terrifying rise of a new, extremist Belter power.
Novella: The ChurnAmos Burton's Backstory
Note: While this novella is set chronologically before the first book, many readers find it most impactful to read alongside or just before Nemesis Games. Understanding the brutal reality of Amos's life in Baltimore - the hierarchy of crime, his relationship with Lydia, and the survival-at-all-costs mentality - adds immense emotional weight to his return to a devastated Earth.
It contextualizes his ability to navigate the apocalypse with a calm, almost comfortable demeanor, reinforcing that for Amos, the end of the world is just another Tuesday.
6. Babylon's AshesThe Free Navy War
The solar system is in ruins. Earth is crippled by a nuclear winter, Mars is fracturing as its citizens flee to the new worlds, and Marco Inaros's Free Navy controls the Ring gates, holding the system hostage with the threat of continued asteroid bombardment. The crew of the Rocinante reunites to lead a desperate coalition of the shattered inner planet navies and moderate Belter factions like the one led by Michio Pa.
This sprawling war epic deals with the logistics of survival - starvation, supply lines, and the battle for hearts and minds. It is not just a space opera of ship-to-ship battles, but a political drama about the collapse of empires. The war ultimately concludes not with a bang, but with a strategic gamble involving the alien entities that live between the gates, ending Inaros's reign but leaving humanity changed forever.
Novella: Strange DogsThe Laconian Experiments
Set on the colony world of Laconia, settled by the Martian defectors who stole the protomolecule sample, this unsettling story is seen through the eyes of children. Specifically, a young girl named Cara who discovers strange, dog-like creatures in the forest. These "dogs" possess the ability to repair biological damage using protomolecule technology. When Cara's brother dies, she brings him to the dogs, and he returns... changed. This story is critical for setting up the final trilogy, introducing the concept of the "repair drones" and the price of immortality.
It establishes the alien foundation upon which Winston Duarte is quietly building an empire that will challenge all of humanity.
7. Persepolis RisingThe Laconian Empire
A thirty-year time jump brings us to a new era. The Solar System has found a fragile stability under the Transport Union, and the crew of the Rocinante is aging, looking toward retirement. This peace is violently shattered when the Laconians return from their decades of isolation. Led by High Consul Winston Duarte, they bring warships built with advanced alien technology that are practically invincible. They conquer Medina Station and the Sol system in a matter of days, establishing an authoritarian empire dedicated to forcing human evolution.
The story transforms into a resistance drama, with the old crew of the Rocinante forced to go underground and wage a guerrilla war against a benevolent dictator who believes he is saving humanity from the gods that killed the Ring Builders.
8. Tiamat's WrathThe Underground Resistance
The Laconian occupation is absolute, but the resistance burns on. This novel is often cited as the emotional peak of the series. The crew is scattered: Naomi is leading the underground information war, Bobbie and Alex are piloting the Gathering Storm on dangerous missions, and Holden is a prisoner of Duarte on Laconia. The narrative also follows Teresa Duarte, the High Consul's daughter, as she begins to question her father's godhood. The stakes escalate to a cosmic level as Duarte's experiments provoke the "Goths" - the extra-dimensional entities that killed the Ring Builders - leading to attacks that wipe out entire star systems.
The novel features high-stakes espionage, the tragic death of a beloved main character, and a desperate gambit to capture Laconian antimatter technology.
Novella: The Sins of Our FathersThe Final Novella
This coda follows Filip Inaros, who escaped his father's madness years ago and has been living in anonymity under a new name. Now residing on a failed, isolated colony world cut off from the gate network, he faces a harsh existence. The story is a character study of redemption and the impossibility of outrunning the past.
When a local conflict arises involving a monstrous native predator, Filip is forced to make a choice between fleeing again or standing up for his community. It serves as a quiet, poignant closure to the arc of the Inaros family and a meditation on the legacy of violence.
9. Leviathan FallsThe End of Everything
The grand conclusion to the nine-book saga brings the conflict between humanity and the "Goths" to a head. High Consul Duarte, driven mad by his attempts to fight the gods, has merged with the protomolecule and is attempting to turn all of humanity into a hive mind to fight the extra-dimensional enemy.
The crew of the Rocinante, reunited for one last mission, must race to the Ring Station to stop him. Holden, Naomi, Alex, and Amos face the ultimate question: is survival worth the cost of free will? The novel weaves together the political, biological, and cosmic threads of the series, culminating in a sacrificial choice that fundamentally alters the nature of human civilization and the structure of the universe itself, followed by an epilogue set 1,000 years in the future.
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