Gods of Risk
An Expanse novella
James S. A. Corey
Orbit
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: David Draper is everything a good Martian boy is supposed to be: studious and dedicated to a future helping terraform the red planet into a second, better Earth. He also, unknown to his family and schoolmates, has been cooking up drugs on the side for friends Hutch and Leelee... particularly Leelee, who may be Hutch's girlfriend but has been giving him enough hints of interest to keep him hopeful. Rising tensions with Earth lead to terrorist attacks on Mars, raising the risks for everyone involved - but when Leelee calls for help just before disappearing, David isn't going to walk away. He just needs to act without his parents or his fellow students finding out what he's been up to... not to mention without attracting the attention of his family's recent houseguest, his aunt, the former Martian Marine Roberta Draper.
Part of the Expanse series, chronologically placed between Book 2, Caliban's War, and Book 3, Abaddon's Gate.
REVIEW: This side adventure, referenced in a later Expanse novel, works decently as a standalone even as it fills in more details of Martian culture. David's not a bad person, but naive and immature enough, not to mention irritated enough by the chafe of the restrained, straight-arrow life he's expected to lead as a future Martian scientist, to be an easy mark for Hutch. He doesn't quite know what to make of his ex-Marine aunt, but has more to learn from her than he realizes as he finds his own life upended by events beyond his control. Unlike the previous series novella I've read (The Churn), this story felt complete in itself, without the nagging sense that it had been unnaturally shortened or rushed. Here and there it might've used a little trimming, but all in all I enjoyed it as a quick Expanse-flavored tale.
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