The Expanse

On the data. The nine novels are a straight sequence and the argument is entirely about the eight shorter pieces, which were published out of order and sit in gaps rather than at the end of the line. Story order on this page places them as follows. Drive is set roughly a century and a half before Leviathan Wakes and is the invention of the Epstein drive, so it is first in the timeline and last in importance. The Churn is Amos as a teenager in a flooded Baltimore, decades before book one. The Butcher of Anderson Station is Fred Johnson a few years before book one, and although it is set first it reads better after Leviathan Wakes, when you know who he is. Gods of Risk goes between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate. The Vital Abyss goes between Abaddon's Gate and Cibola Burn. Strange Dogs goes between Babylon's Ashes and Persepolis Rising and is the first sight of Laconia. Auberon goes between Persepolis Rising and Tiamat's Wrath. The Sins of Our Fathers comes after Leviathan Falls and is the last thing written in this world. The Vital Abyss is the one placement sources genuinely disagree about. Its present-day frame is set between Abaddon's Gate and Cibola Burn, which is what the Expanse Wiki gives and what the site uses, but it was published in October 2015 after Nemesis Games, and Goodreads numbers it 5.5, which puts it two novels later. Its flashbacks reach back to before and during Leviathan Wakes, so no single number is fully honest. Nothing is spoiled either way; the difference is only which book you set down to read it. Memory's Legion, published in March 2022, collects all eight and first published The Sins of Our Fathers, so the eight can be bought once as a book rather than eight times as ebooks. One further short, The Last Flight of the Cassandra, was written for the tabletop roleplaying game and is not in Memory's Legion; it is not listed here. Publication years for the shorter pieces are first appearance: The Butcher of Anderson Station 2011, Drive 2012 in the Edge of Infinity anthology, Gods of Risk 2012, The Churn 2014, The Vital Abyss 2015, Strange Dogs 2017, Auberon 2019, The Sins of Our Fathers 2022. The television series covers the first six novels in six seasons, but the season lines and the book lines do not match anywhere after the start. Season one takes roughly the first half of Leviathan Wakes and pulls Avasarala forward out of Caliban's War so that the Earth side of the story exists from the beginning. Season two finishes Leviathan Wakes and moves well into Caliban's War, introducing Bobbie. Season three finishes Caliban's War in its first half and adapts Abaddon's Gate in its second, which is why the season splits so visibly in the middle. Season four is Cibola Burn and is the first on Amazon after Syfy cancelled the show. Season five is Nemesis Games. Season six compresses Babylon's Ashes into six episodes rather than the ten of earlier Amazon seasons, and threads in the Laconia material from Strange Dogs as interludes, which is the one place the show reaches outside the novels it is adapting. Individual endings differ from the page, most obviously Alex's, following the removal of the actor who played him. Episode counts are 10, 13, 13, 10, 10 and 6, sixty-two in total. The series stops at the end of book six, so the thirty-year jump at the start of Persepolis Rising and the last three novels have never been filmed. Somebody who has watched all six seasons and wants to continue should start at Persepolis Rising rather than going back, though Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes contain a good deal the show had to cut. There is no announced continuation of the show.

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