Hubbry Logo
Persepolis RisingPersepolis RisingMain
Open search
Persepolis Rising
Community hub
Persepolis Rising
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Persepolis Rising
Persepolis Rising
Persepolis Rising
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Persepolis Rising is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, and the seventh book in their series The Expanse. The title of the novel was announced in September 2016 and the cover was revealed on December 12, 2016.[citation needed]

Key Information

Plot summary

[edit]

Twenty-eight years have passed since the events of Babylon's Ashes, and no one has heard from Admiral Winston Duarte and his rogue fleet in the decades since they broke away from the Martian Congressional Republic Navy and journeyed through the Laconia gate. They have spent their time in the Laconia system building an advanced fleet using leftover technology from the Protomolecule's creators, along with the sample of the Protomolecule they stole from Fred Johnson on Tycho. Duarte uses the Protomolecule to massively extend his life, planning to become the immortal emperor of the 1,300 worlds joined by the gates.

Meanwhile, back in the Solar System, Earth is back on its feet after the attack that crippled the planet. The crew of the aging gunship Rocinante (Holden, Naomi, Alex, Amos, Clarissa, and Bobbie) are still together, working contracts for the Transport Union, who control trade through the Slow Zone and the worlds the gates lead to. After receiving a morally dubious order to blockade trade to an entire system from union president Camina Drummer, upon returning to Medina, Holden and Naomi decide to retire and hand over the Rocinante's captaincy to Bobbie.

The Laconians send out a message announcing the end of their self-imposed exile and send an enormous, incredibly advanced battleship, Heart of the Tempest, through their gate to capture Medina station. The battleship obliterates the railgun emplacements installed in the Slow Zone using a new magnetic weapon that can disintegrate matter at the atomic level, and easily takes control of the station.

A Laconian navy commander, Santiago Singh, is made governor of Medina. At first, Singh tries to govern Medina station fairly, but after a failed assassination attempt he is shaken and becomes paranoid, having never been in combat before. His orders become increasingly ruthless, including creating public prisons, strictly limiting communications, and enforcing heavy curfews and censorship. Singh also fires his head of Security, drawing rebukes from his superiors. The crew of the Rocinante become part of a resistance movement on Medina station, which is headed by Saba (Drummer's husband).

The Tempest leaves Medina to conquer the Solar System ahead of schedule, leaving a single small gunship, the Gathering Storm, to defend the station while another battleship, the Typhoon, is dispatched from Laconia. The Rocinante crew help the resistance with a plan to steal vital intelligence about the Laconian military and their advanced weapons. They steal Laconian encryption codes, disguising their intentions by using a carefully placed bomb as a distraction, hoping this will fool the Laconians into believing they were committing a terrorist attack and not a theft. The plan goes awry and Holden has to manually set off station alarms to maintain the distraction, which results in his capture. His intervention succeeds however and the Laconians do not realize their encryption codes have been stolen. This allows the remaining crew of the Rocinante to decrypt the station's security data, and begin to form a plan to free Holden and escape.

In the Solar System, the Tempest decimates the combined fleets of Earth, Mars, and the Transport Union. However, when the Tempest uses its magnetic weapon, everyone in the Solar System blacks out for several minutes. The Tempest crew then discover a strange artifact that has appeared on board their ship, a sphere of the same floating matter that had destroyed the alien technology on Ilus decades before. On Medina station, Singh interrogates Holden, one of the only witnesses to the artifact on Ilus, and learns that the artifact on board the Tempest came from the same race that killed the Protomolecule builders. Realizing that Holden has a unique insight into this mysterious race, Singh has him shipped to Laconia.

Back in the Solar System, as the Tempest crosses the asteroid belt, the entire combined fleet mounts a final stand against it, using atomic weapons that would destroy any other ship. The Tempest somehow survives the attack. Although it does not use its magnetic weapon again, it is still able to decimate the combined fleet. After realizing that the ship cannot be stopped, Drummer surrenders, and the governments of Earth and Mars quickly follow, letting Laconia take control of the Solar System.

On Medina, the resistance decodes the intelligence they stole and formulates a plan to evacuate as many people from the station as possible, where they will scatter through the ring gates to other colonies before the Typhoon can arrive. The plan is for Saba to release all prisoners on the station to sow chaos while the resistance takes control of the docks. Meanwhile Alex in the Rocinante will distract the Gathering Storm while a boarding team led by Bobbie and Amos take control of the Laconian gunship, allowing the other ships docked at the station to escape. Clarissa and Naomi will disable the station's sensors so that the Laconians cannot tell which gates the evacuating ships have gone through.

Although the first part of the plan works, Naomi and Clarissa are betrayed by a double agent in the resistance, informing Singh who sets up an ambush. Clarissa uses her blackmarket adrenal gland mods to kill the ambush team of Laconian marines, but dies as a result. Bobbie leads the assault on the Gathering Storm and takes control of the ship. She is joined by the Rocinante and others and they escape the Slow Zone and go into hiding on a colony called Freehold. After the massive security failure, Singh instructs his security chief to cull the remaining population on Medina. Instead, the chief informs Singh that he has been instructed by Duarte to kill him for his failure to stamp out the resistance, and shoots him.

In the epilogue, Holden arrives as a prisoner on Laconia. He meets Duarte, and attempts to warn him of the danger the protomolecule-destroying artifact on the Tempest poses. Duarte ignores his concerns, reveals he plans to use the Protomolecule as a weapon to rule all of humanity, and asks Holden to join him.

Characters

[edit]
  • James Holden, aging Captain of the Rocinante, after over 30 years of working the Rocinante, Holden looks to the next chapter of his life, retirement. When the Laconians return through the gate, Holden is drawn back in to the fray. While his companions all escape to lead the resistance against Duarte, he is taken back to Laconia as a captive.
  • Bobbie Draper, former Martian Marine and now working on the Rocinante. When Holden retires, Bobbie takes up the mantle of Captain of the Rocinante.
  • Camina Drummer, former head of security at Tycho Station, now the president of the Transport Union. The Transport Union's control of Ring station, and the 1,300 worlds it connects to, makes Drummer one of the most powerful people in all of humanity.
  • Santiago Jilie Singh, a Captain in the Laconian Navy, recently promoted to command The Gathering Storm. After the Laconians take Medina Station, Singh is appointed as the governor of the station.
  • Naomi Nagata, one of the best engineers in the solar system and XO of the Rocinante, she is looking forward to a quiet retirement alongside Holden, until the Laconians return and Naomi gets pulled in to the resistance with the rest of the crew of the Rocinante.
  • Alex Kamal, pilot of the Rocinante, after another failed marriage, and a son who is in university, Alex is still at the helm of the Rocinante, with no plans of leaving.
  • Amos Burton, mechanic on the Rocinante, still very close friends with Clarissa, Amos has become her caretaker as her health is declining.
  • Clarissa Mao, daughter of the disgraced Jules-Pierre Mao and former prisoner on Earth, now a mechanic on the Rocinante alongside Amos. Clarissa's health is deteriorating due to the body modification implants she got over thirty years ago, during her quest to destroy Holden and restore her father's good name. During the final assault to steal the Storm she activates her mods one final time and is killed by a combination of the chemicals being released and injuries received in the fighting.
  • Paolo Cortázar, a former member of Protogen's nanoinformatics research division who was a prisoner of the OPA after the raid on Thoth Station. He was released by rogue members of the OPA, and has been working with the rogue Martian fleet under Admiral Duarte ever since. He is the lead researcher on Laconia and is working on making Duarte immortal using protomolecule technology.
  • Winston Duarte, a former Commander in the Martian Congressional Republic Navy,[1] until he and a splinter group broke away from Mars and went through the ring gate to the planet Laconia, where he was awarded the rank of Admiral in the newborn Laconian Navy. Duarte learned of Laconia and the vast amount of protomolecule technology that was left behind by the creators through his position at the MCRN, and felt that it needed to be acquired and understood, in the event that the race that destroyed the protomolecule builders returned. He sees himself as a Philosopher King who will lead humanity to victory over whatever destroyed the Protomolecule builders. To achieve this and avoid problems with succession he has begun treatments to make himself immortal.

Reception

[edit]

A review on Elitist Book Reviews praised the characterization in the novel, saying "Characterization in this book was on point. In fact, it’s likely the best they’ve done in the series. There were so many moments that had me holding my breath, or whispering “no…”, and seriously tearing up."[2] Andrew Liptak of The Verge was slightly critical of the book, however, saying "[Persepolis Rising] does fall short in some places. The Laconians feel too much like a stereotypical evil empire, complete with super weapons and armored foot soldiers. Singh himself feels particularly naïve — it should be obvious why governments don’t want to accept Laconian rule. One would think a powerful military power would have a more realistic understanding of invasion forces and dealing with insurgencies. Even if the series is reaching for new stakes in its final arc, it’s less interesting than the nuanced politics of past books."[3]

Niall Alexander of Tor.com praised the dark tones and themes of the novel, saying "Though the seventh part of [The Expanse] opens on an unusually hopeful note, with humanity writ large finally united and our ever-hopeful heroes planning happy retirements, Persepolis Rising is ultimately among the darkest chapters of this insatiable saga. It takes a little longer than I’d like to get going, but when it does, Persepolis Rising proves as pulse-pounding and poignant as any of its powerful predecessors, and given how near the end is from here, I don’t expect there to be another dull moment before the whole story’s over."[4]

Short story

[edit]

"Auberon"

[edit]
"Auberon"
Short story by James S. A. Corey
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenresScience fiction
Space opera
Publication
Media typee-Book
Publication dateNovember 12, 2019 (2019-11-12)[5]
Chronology
SeriesThe Expanse
 
Strange Dogs 		 
—

"Auberon" is a short story published by James S. A Corey set between Persepolis Rising and its sequel Tiamat's Wrath on November 12, 2019.[6] It consists of 63 pages. The novella was received well, with an average rating on Goodreads of 4.5 stars.[7]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Persepolis Rising

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
is a by , the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and , and the seventh book in the Expanse series. Published on December 5, 2017, by , it depicts the crew of the starship navigating a galaxy-spanning network of human colonies threatened by an old adversary empowered by advanced alien-derived technology from the lost colony of Laconia. The narrative, set decades after the prior installment, centers on the Laconian Empire's bid for dominance over the Sol system and beyond, leveraging protomolecule innovations to impose a hierarchical order on fractious human factions including , Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance. Returning protagonists like James Holden and Naomi Nagata grapple with aging, loyalty, and resistance against authoritarian expansion, while new antagonists introduce geopolitical intrigue and ethical dilemmas rooted in unequal technological access. As part of the bestselling Expanse series—which has sold over ten million copies and earned a —the novel advanced the franchise's exploration of realistic physics, political realism, and the causal consequences of interstellar empire-building, earning praise for its intricate plotting and character depth.

Background and Development

Writing and Conceptualization

, the pen name of Daniel Abraham and , structured Persepolis Rising as the opening volume of The Expanse's final trilogy, transitioning the narrative from localized solar system disputes to expansive interstellar threats after the fragile peace established in the prior six novels. This shift allowed exploration of systemic consequences from earlier protomolecule-related events, emphasizing scalable human governance challenges over resolved factional rivalries. The authors selected a 30-year temporal leap from Babylon's Ashes to enable character maturation—advancing the Rocinante crew into middle age—and institutional developments across human settlements, averting narrative stagnation by simulating extended periods of relative stability that foster new disequilibria. This decision aligned with the series' commitment to realistic sociopolitical dynamics, where prolonged tranquility permits unchecked power accumulation and innovation plateaus absent external pressures. Conceptualization drew on historical analogies of imperial expansion, such as Roman administrative centralization and Persian logistical networks, to model causal pathways of formation through superior technology and strategic isolation rather than contrived ethical conflicts. Abraham and Franck's collaborative method—Franck devising high-level outlines and Abraham refining prose through iterative revisions—ensured fidelity to the series' hard science foundations, including Newtonian physics and resource-driven economics, while scaling conflicts to galactic proportions without violating prior causal logic.

Publication Details

Persepolis Rising was released on December 5, 2017, by , an imprint of . The edition featured 560 pages and measured 6.38 x 1.75 x 9.63 inches. The novel was published in multiple formats, including , via Kindle, and unabridged . The , narrated by and produced by Recorded Books, has a runtime of 20 hours and 34 minutes. A edition followed on , , with 592 pages. As the seventh installment in The Expanse series, Persepolis Rising achieved commercial success, contributing to the franchise's recognition on bestseller lists including The New York Times. Promotional materials from Orbit Books highlighted the narrative's 30-year time jump and introduction of new adversarial forces to underscore the story's shift toward large-scale interstellar conflict.

Series Context and Setting

Position Within The Expanse

Persepolis Rising is the seventh novel in the primary sequence of The Expanse series, written by James S. A. Corey as the collaborative pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Released on December 5, 2017, by Orbit Books, it succeeds Babylon's Ashes (published October 2016) and precedes Tiamat's Wrath (March 26, 2019), transitioning the storyline from the resolution of the Belt-Earth-Mars civil war to the emergence of trans-systemic imperial dynamics in the final trilogy. Narratively, the book demarcates the start of the Laconian arc, the series' concluding phase after the initial trilogy's focus on protomolecule discovery and (books 1–3) and the Rocinante-centered conflict escalation (books 4–6). This placement enables a significant temporal advancement, amplifying the scope from intra-solar human rivalries—rooted in resource disputes and political fragmentation—to broader existential perils across the ring gate network, which connects over a thousand extrasolar systems unlocked in earlier volumes. , first activated in (2013), facilitated rapid colonization but also sowed seeds for decentralized power structures, setting the stage for consolidated threats beyond Sol. Central to this expansion is Laconia, an extrasolar colony system appropriated by Martian naval defectors who harnessed protomolecule-derived advancements for rapid technological supremacy, evolving from a peripheral outpost referenced in prior books into a dominant galactic entity. This buildup underscores the series' progression toward causal chains of technological proliferation and imperial consolidation, where early alien artifacts from (2011) catalyze systemic upheavals. The franchise's growth mirrored this narrative ambition; by Persepolis Rising's publication, the series had cultivated substantial readership, culminating in over four million North American print sales by 2021 amid synergy with the television adaptation launched in 2015.

The 30-Year Time Jump and Laconian Empire

The narrative advances approximately 30 years after the events of , shifting focus to a stabilized yet fragmented . has undergone substantial reconstruction, restoring much of its pre-war industrial capacity and population levels following the Free Navy's assaults, with governmental authority reconsolidated under a renewed . The Martian Congressional Republic persists as a cohesive, technologically advanced , upholding its traditions of rigorous and centralized amid ongoing resource extraction from its . Concurrently, the Belt's Transport Union has orchestrated widespread expansion via the ring gates, populating over 1,300 extrasolar colonies with supporting , , and governance, fostering a decentralized economy reliant on gate transit control. In parallel, the Laconian Empire emerges from isolation in the Laconia system, centered on a fortified colony established by Martian defectors who absconded with protomolecule artifacts during earlier conflicts. Under High Consul Winston Duarte, a former Martian naval , and his subordinate Antonio Trejo, Laconia evolves into an authoritarian state emphasizing meritocratic selection, familial stability, and absolute loyalty to the regime. Decades of seclusion enable systematic reverse-engineering of protomolecule-derived technologies, yielding advancements including Magnetar-class battleships with self-healing armor plating, fusion drives exceeding efficiency limits, and biomedical interventions extending average lifespans beyond 150 years through neural and cellular repairs. This geopolitical divergence underscores the consequences of spatial isolation: Laconia's unmonitored development accelerates military and scientific progress, unhindered by the regulatory oversight and resource competitions plaguing the inner systems and Transport Union, much as historical enclaves like or Meiji-era reforms harnessed insulation for disproportionate leaps in capability. The empire's structure prioritizes hierarchical command and technological monopoly, positioning it as a consolidationist force amid humanity's dispersed stellar footprint, without the diluting effects of democratic deliberation or interstellar .

Plot Summary

Core Narrative Arc

Persepolis Rising commences roughly thirty years following the conclusion of Babylon's Ashes, depicting the crew of the corvette Rocinante involved in standard missions under the auspices of the Transport Union, which regulates passage through the ring gates to burgeoning colony systems. This era of uneasy equilibrium across the inner planets and the Belt is abruptly upended by the resurgence of the Laconian colony, which executes a swift and multifaceted incursion commencing with the seizure of Medina Station in the slow zone—a critical nexus for gate traffic—and extending to the conquest of the Sol system itself. Subsequent developments center on coordinated countermeasures by disparate human coalitions, including disruptions to Laconian supply lines, opportunistic partnerships among former adversaries, and skirmishes in contested orbital and planetary theaters that test the limits of against emerging protomolecule-derived armaments. Laconian operations, characterized by disciplined hierarchical command and technological superiority honed over decades of isolation, methodically dismantle resistance nodes, enforcing compliance through blockades, purges, and infrastructural overhauls. The arc reaches its denouement in a protracted standoff that underscores the chasm between imperial cohesion and oppositional fragmentation, precipitating unresolved perils for gate-accessible domains and priming narrative threads for ensuing installments in the series.

Characters

Returning Protagonists and Crew

James Holden, captain of the Rocinante, enters the narrative in his late fifties, his longstanding as a moral compass strained by decades of interstellar crises and a growing sense of obsolescence in an era dominated by hierarchical imperial structures. This aging process reflects realistic physiological tolls from prolonged high-gravity maneuvers and cumulative stress, diminishing his once-unyielding and prompting on personal relevance amid broader systemic shifts. Naomi Nagata, serving as executive officer and chief engineer, remains a pivotal strategist whose Belter-honed ingenuity in propulsion and systems adaptation persists, though the time elapsed has deepened her relational anchors with Holden while fostering a tactical mindset suited to asymmetric challenges against superior foes. Her role underscores continuity in engineering prowess, tempered by the crew's collective evolution toward coordinated, less improvisational resistance frameworks necessitated by the Laconian Empire's disciplined professionalism. Alex Kamal, the ship's primary pilot, contends with adaptations to emergent technologies like enhanced maneuvering drives, drawing on his Mars background while navigating midlife familial strains, including a strained marriage history and grown son. In his sixties chronologically but functionally younger due to spacer medical regimens mitigating low-gravity and , Kamal's reflexes show empirical wear from sustained career demands, shifting his contributions toward precision in fleet-level evasion tactics. Bobbie Draper, a former Martian Congressional Republic Navy now piloting for the , embodies the transition from frontline marine to veteran operator, her combat-honed instincts applied to piloting amid physical markers of decline such as joint stiffness from prior high-g exposures and injuries. This aging manifests causally in reduced peak agility, compelling reliance on strategic positioning over raw athleticism in defiance operations. The ensemble's dynamics, forged over prior volumes, fracture under the empire's onset, compelling a pivot from ad-hoc heroism to institutionalized opposition; their midlife statuses—ranging from late fifties to over sixty—impose verifiable constraints on , favoring engineered alliances and resource leveraging reflective of mature operational realism.

Antagonists and New Figures

Winston Duarte serves as the High Consul of the Laconian Empire, a former in the Martian Congressional who defected with a rogue fleet during the protomolecule crisis, establishing Laconia as a base for advanced research and imperial expansion. Leveraging protomolecule-derived technologies, Duarte oversees the development of superior naval vessels, including ships with enhanced hull plating capable of withstanding unprecedented impacts, and pursues human augmentation protocols aimed at extending lifespan and cognitive capabilities. His governance model emphasizes strict meritocracy and centralized control, fostering a disciplined society that prioritizes technological supremacy and long-term human survival across the ring gate network. Admiral Anton Trejo functions as the High Admiral of the Laconian Imperial Navy, commanding the flagship and directing operations to consolidate imperial authority over the Sol system and beyond. Trejo's approach is characterized by pragmatic enforcement, as seen in his coordination of fleet deployments that exploit Laconian technological edges, such as protomolecule-integrated defenses, to achieve rapid dominance without unnecessary escalation. His directives maintain operational discipline, ensuring that Laconian forces adhere to protocols that balance conquest with administrative efficiency. Dr. Paolo Cortázar, a returning figure from earlier protomolecule experiments, holds the position of president at and leads exobiological , focusing on adapting alien for , including efforts to achieve effective for key leaders like Duarte. Recruited from captivity following the raid on Thoth Station, Cortázar applies his expertise in nanoinformatics to refine protomolecule strains, enabling breakthroughs in biological modification that underpin Laconian military and societal advantages. His work exemplifies the empire's integration of salvaged alien science into practical applications, though it reflects a continuation of high-risk experimentation rooted in prior corporate ventures. Captain Santiago Jilie Singh represents a new generation of Laconian officers, appointed as governor of Medina Station after rapid promotion within the merit-based naval , embodying the empire's emphasis on disciplined loyalty and administrative control. Trained from youth in Laconian doctrines, Singh implements policies to integrate station populations into the imperial framework, drawing on advanced and surveillance technologies to maintain order. His tenure highlights the empire's structured promotion system, which rewards competence in executing directives, yet also reveals challenges in adapting to unconventional resistance amid the vastness of gate-space .

Themes and Analysis

Imperialism, Power Dynamics, and Causal Realism

The Laconian Empire's model prioritizes a rigid with centralized , allowing for streamlined command structures that expedite mobilization and territorial consolidation across the gate network. This undivided leadership, embodied in top-down directives from a singular executive, contrasts sharply with the fragmented decision-making of the preceding era's coalitions, where competing interests among , Mars, and Belt entities often delayed responses to existential threats. Such efficiency in and underpins Laconia's ability to with minimal forces, as demonstrated by the rapid subjugation of key solar system assets using advanced and weaponry derived from protomolecule . Empirical patterns of reveal how the solar system's enduring divisions—stemming from unresolved resource disputes and ideological rifts—render it vulnerable to a cohesive aggressor, echoing historical precedents where disunited polities yielded to unified imperial campaigns. Laconian doctrine exploits this fracture by imposing swift occupation before opposition can coalesce, bypassing the protracted negotiations that characterized prior interstellar . Resistance efforts falter not due to inherent moral superiority of decentralized systems but from causal failures in coordination, as autonomous factions prioritize parochial defenses over collective strategy, enabling piecemeal defeats. Control over protomolecule artifacts concentrates technological advancement within Laconia's insular regime, fostering breakthroughs in shipyard automation and energy systems that outpace rivals reliant on shared or scavenged innovations. This monopoly illustrates a causal pathway wherein stable, hierarchical control accelerates R&D cycles unhindered by egalitarian diffusion or veto points, yielding asymmetries that decisive in power projection. Analogous to ancient empires harnessing novel military edges—such as composite bows under Genghis Khan or phalanx discipline under Alexander—Laconia's edge stems from regime-induced focus rather than collaborative diffusion, underscoring how innovation thrives under enforced unity amid existential pressures like alien artifacts.

Technological Innovation and Human Limitations

In Persepolis Rising, the Laconian Empire leverages protomolecule-derived technologies to develop Magnetar-class battleships, which integrate advanced hull materials and propulsion systems far exceeding contemporary human capabilities after 30 years of isolated research. These ships build upon the drive's fusion-based efficiency—originally enabling sustained high-thrust maneuvers without violating conservation laws—but incorporate protomolecule enhancements for superior and , allowing rapid dominance in engagements across ring gate networks. Laconian armaments, including stealth-coated torpedoes and projectors, exploit protomolecule properties for low-observability signatures and area-denial effects capable of obliterating stations, yet remain constrained by relativistic physics: targeting solutions suffer from light-speed lag in vast interstellar voids, and energy outputs, while immense, dissipate predictably per inverse-square laws without magical circumvention. Control systems, augmented by experimental neural interfaces tied to protomolecule serums, facilitate operator-ship for tactical precision, but expose users to physiological vulnerabilities like tissue rejection or overload, reflecting the alien tech's incomplete integration with carbon-based . Human crews, despite prolongevity therapies extending median lifespans beyond 150 years, confront inherent biological limits in adapting to these systems; post-30-year time jump, personnel exhibit slowed neural firing rates and reduced proprioceptive acuity—quantifiable declines averaging 20-30% in reflex arcs by age 60—hampering real-time decision-making amid high-g maneuvers or overloads. Such entropy-driven degradation in complex organic systems parallels mechanical wear, where even optimized interfaces amplify from operator , countering narratives of seamless technological transcendence with empirical parallels to terrestrial aging studies on cognitive throughput.

Aging, Obsolescence, and Resistance

In Persepolis Rising, the 30-year time jump propels the crew into advanced , underscoring their personal and operational amid the Laconian Empire's ascent. James Holden, aged approximately 60, confronts eroded physical resilience and a waning that once defined his leadership, as evidenced by his reluctant return to and strained interpersonal dynamics with Naomi Nagata, who at 58 navigates her own fatigue from decades of high-stakes navigation. This contrasts sharply with Laconia's cadre of younger officers, often in their 20s and 30s, whose ideological fervor and unscarred fuel the empire's expansionist drive, mirroring real-world demographic patterns where generational renewal injects vitality into authoritarian structures while incumbents grapple with . The crew's mid-life reckonings extend beyond Holden, manifesting in Alex Kamal's domestic entanglements on Mars and Bobbie Draper's adaptation to prosthetic enhancements amid declining combat agility, collectively illustrating how prolonged exposure to relativistic travel and zero-gravity stressors accelerates subjective aging despite medical advances. These frailties challenge romanticized narratives of enduring heroism in , grounded instead in empirical observations of power transitions: historical on regimes shows that entrenched leaders over 55 face higher rates of strategic miscalculation due to cognitive rigidity, a dynamic the exploits to depict the Rocinante's crew as relics outmaneuvered by Laconia's meritocratic youth pipeline. Resistance against Laconian dominance unfolds through decentralized underground networks on Medina Station, prioritizing gritty endurance and insider intelligence over symmetric confrontation. Led by Saba, a Belter operative leveraging familial ties and hidden comms isolated from imperial oversight, these cells execute sabotage via low-tech improvisation—such as manual overrides and rumor dissemination—echoing the structure of historical insurgencies like those in Vietnam or Afghanistan, where local terrain knowledge sustained operations against technologically superior foes for decades. Empirical analyses of such conflicts confirm that insurgent success correlates with 70-80% reliance on human intelligence networks rather than hardware, a principle the novel renders without glorification, portraying resistance as attritional and prone to internal fractures from aging participants' diverging priorities. This approach critiques assumptions of inevitable obsolescence for the old guard, affirming adaptive resilience rooted in accumulated experiential capital over ephemeral vigor.

Reception

Critical Evaluations

Critics commended Persepolis Rising for its intricate world-building, particularly the depiction of interstellar imperialism drawing on historical analogies to authoritarian expansions. A Tor.com emphasized the novel's dark tonal shift and incisive commentary on empire-building, praising how the second half delivers startling reversals that underscore power imbalances, even as the first half prioritizes setup over immediate action. The Quill to Live review highlighted the realistic treatment of generational obsolescence, portraying the aging protagonists' experience as insufficient against adversaries wielding generational leaps in technology and strategy, which grounds the narrative in causal limitations of human . Several assessments noted mixed responses to pacing, with the deliberate early focus on political consolidation and criticized as compared to prior volumes' kinetic conflicts, though this serves to establish the Laconian Empire's structural dominance. Reviewers also observed an abrupt pivot from the series' earlier equilibrium toward unrelenting subjugation, signaling a foundational reconfiguration for the concluding but risking alienation through diminished agency for established characters. Aggregated data underscores these structural merits: the novel averages 4.38 out of 5 on from 84,734 ratings as of late 2023, with high marks attributed to geopolitical depth over episodic thrills.

Fan Responses and Debates

Fans in online communities, particularly on Reddit's r/TheExpanse subreddit, have engaged in extensive discussions about Persepolis Rising, often highlighting its ambitious shift in narrative scale while debating its execution. Many praised the novel's of empire-building and resistance, appreciating how it portrays the Laconian Empire's dominance as a plausible outcome of technological superiority derived from prolonged , rather than contrived plot devices. This view aligns with defenses of the story's causal fidelity, where Laconia's monopoly on advanced propulsion and weapons systems—stemming from decades of isolation—renders opposition from aging factions realistically futile without equivalent innovation. Criticisms frequently centered on the 30-year time jump, which propels protagonists like into their fifties, prompting debates over perceived inconsistencies in depicting them as technologically obsolete despite prior series events showcasing adaptable ingenuity. Some fans decried this as undermining character arcs, arguing that middle-aged crews should not appear so outmatched by Laconian youth and tech without more buildup to the generational gap. Counterarguments emphasized the jump's role in enforcing realism: the protomolecule's physics-altering effects created insurmountable tech disparities over time, making resistance a story of rather than heroic triumphs, consistent with earlier books' emphasis on material limits. Debates also arose over the plot's perceived "let-down" quality, with some readers labeling it "meh" for lacking the interpersonal intrigue of books 1-6, attributing this to Laconia's rapid conquest feeling like "nonsense" dominance unsubstantiated by logistical challenges of interstellar control. Defenders countered that the empire's appeal lies in its provision of stability amid post-protomolecule chaos, portraying grey morality where authoritarian efficiency attracts collaborators, avoiding simplistic anti-authority narratives by grounding loyalty in pragmatic benefits like reduced factional violence. This nuance drew appreciation for eschewing ideological purity, with fans noting characters like Admiral evoke sympathy through their commitment to order over chaos, reflecting real-world historical empires' seductive stability.

Novella "Auberon"

"Auberon" is a 67-page in The Expanse series by , released on November 12, 2019, by as an e-book and audiobook. It serves as a standalone expansion within the series' later chronology, depicting the Laconian Empire's administrative challenges in subduing distant colonies after their initial conquests. The story is set on the planet Auberon, a lush but ecologically precarious colony world with a population exceeding 10 million across 12 major cities and surrounding rural areas, established as one of humanity's early extrasolar settlements. Chronologically positioned between (2019) and (2019), it unfolds amid the Laconian consolidation phase, roughly 30 years after the protomolecule crisis devastated and created power vacuums across human space. The narrative follows Laconian Governor Biryar Rittenaur, dispatched to enforce imperial order on a planet whose strategic resources and independent-minded inhabitants resist centralized control. Central to the plot is Rittenaur's pragmatic navigation of local power structures, including entrenched criminal syndicates led by figures like Erich, who leverage Auberon's black-market economy and environmental adaptations—such as remediation issues plaguing agriculture—to challenge authority. Interactions between the rigid, militaristic Laconians and the colony's multicultural colonists, shaped by decades of isolation and hybrid governance, reveal tensions over , loyalty oaths, and cultural norms, culminating in uneasy accommodations rather than outright . Failed attempts and personal entanglements underscore the novella's examination of how imperial expansion encounters human frailties like and unforeseen alliances on alien . By illustrating the bureaucratic mechanics of Laconian —such as installing loyal administrators and quelling without full-scale occupation—"Auberon" enriches the series' portrayal of empire-building, emphasizing causal risks like in underestimating planetary peculiarities and local resilience. The story highlights enduring human dynamics of power negotiation amid technological superiority, without relying on the series' core protagonists, thus providing a microcosmic view of broader imperial overreach.

Expansions in Comics and Broader Series Impact

published The Expanse: Dragon Tooth, a 12-issue comic series from 2023 to 2024, set in the approximately 30-year period between (2016) and Persepolis Rising (2017), depicting the crew confronting conspiracies amid fragile post-war stability in the . This miniseries, written by with art by Rubine, maintains continuity with the novels by illustrating the gradual erosion of transport union authority and emerging threats from hidden factions, without introducing elements that contradict the Laconian empire's later emergence. In 2025, released The Expanse: A Little Death, a four-issue sequel to Dragon Tooth, co-written by (Amos Burton's actor) and , with art by Francesco Pisa, focusing on Amos's protective actions toward a amid escalating dangers in the same temporal gap. The series launched via a record-breaking campaign on September 10, 2025, raising funds for print editions and emphasizing direct-to-consumer support, which exceeded prior Expanse comic efforts in backer engagement. These comics preserve the source material's causal mechanisms, such as power vacuums fostering opportunistic empires, by portraying unaddressed instabilities that precondition the Laconian invasion without romanticizing human complacency or technological safeguards. The ' placement in the pre- interregnum cements the novel's role as a pivot, extending the core series—now comprising nine novels and multiple novellas—into while heightening fan anticipation for adaptations of later arcs, unproduced as of October 2025 following the television series' conclusion after its sixth in 2022. By adhering to empirical depictions of interstellar failures and unmitigated expansionist risks, these expansions avoid narrative softening, instead underscoring the realism of unchecked authoritarian consolidation as seen in Persepolis Rising's empire-building.

References

  1. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/james-s-a-corey/persepolis-rising/9780316332828/
  2. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/newreleases/persepolis-rising-brings-new-life-new-drama-expanse/
  3. https://www.space.com/38977-persepolis-rising-expanse-book-released.html
  4. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780316332835
  5. https://transfer-orbit.ghost.io/james-sa-corey-writing-patreon/
  6. https://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Rising-Expanse-James-Corey/dp/0316332836
  7. https://www.audible.com/pd/Persepolis-Rising-Audiobook/B074XM52YQ
  8. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/persepolis-rising-james-s-a-corey/1125908523
  9. https://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Rising-Expanse-James-Corey/dp/1664427244
  10. https://www.amazon.com/The-Expanse-9-book-series/dp/B09DD17H3N
  11. https://www.cbr.com/expanse-admiral-duarte-laconia-explained-season-6-set-up/
  12. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87528-the-expanse-saga-takes-its-final-space-flight.html
  13. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/bha191/time_lapse_between_babylons_ashes_and_persepolis/
  14. https://thewallflowerdigest.co.uk/books/book-reviews/3-star-books/persepolis-rising-the-expanse-7-by-james-s-a-corey/
  15. https://poweredbyrobots.com/2021/12/01/review-of-tiamats-wrath-book-eight-in-the-expanse-series/
  16. https://novelnotions.net/2020/09/28/book-review-persepolis-rising-the-expanse-7-by-james-s-a-corey/
  17. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/189368/how-did-laconia-get-its-name
  18. https://poweredbyrobots.com/2021/11/17/review-of-persepolis-rising-book-seven-in-the-expanse-series/
  19. https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2021/01/review-expanse-persepolis-rising-by.html
  20. https://beerrantsandbooks.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/book-review-persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey-book-seven-in-the-expanse-series/
  21. https://spaceandsorcery.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/review-persepolis-rising-the-expanse-7-by-james-s-a-corey/
  22. https://forwinternights.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/
  23. https://reactormag.com/book-reviews-persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/
  24. https://jvbrown.edu/persepolis-rising/
  25. https://jeroenthoughts.wordpress.com/2022/03/26/james-s-a-corey-persepolis-rising-2017-review/
  26. https://english.netmassimo.com/2020/11/09/persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/
  27. https://www.friendsofcc.com/2017/12/09/the-reactor-a-review-of-persepolis-rising-an-expanse-novel/
  28. https://sffworld.com/2017/12/persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey-the-expanse-7/
  29. https://helmlingdotcom.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/persepolis-rising-book-7-of-the-expanse/
  30. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/u48gmh/is_60_the_new_30_in_the_expanse_pr_onwards/
  31. https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2023/12/persepolis-rising-expanse-7-review.html
  32. https://www.trishtalksbooks.com/2023/12/review-persepolis-rising-by-james-sa.html
  33. https://slckismet.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-expanse-profiles-winston-duarte.html
  34. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57755573-persepolis-rising
  35. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-reading-persepolis-rising-helped-me-re-imagine-changes-spruill-jcmhe
  36. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34600958
  37. https://templetongate.net/expanse2.htm
  38. http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2023/12/persepolis-rising-expanse-7-review.html
  39. https://cityonthemoonblog.wordpress.com/2017/12/27/the-art-of-empire-building-a-review-of-persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/
  40. https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/03/persepolis-rising-by-james-sa-corey.html
  41. http://thequilltolive.com/2018/01/02/persepolis-rising-new-year-same-great-expanse/
  42. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/je9piq/ages_in_persepolis_rising/
  43. https://onemore.org/2018/10/13/persepolis-rising/
  44. http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2018/01/persepolis-rising.html
  45. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/9/16753892/the-expanse-persepolis-rising-james-s-a-corey-science-fiction-book-review
  46. https://cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/book/en/persepolis-rising.pdf
  47. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/16gm1r3/new_fan_just_finished_persepolis_rising_my/
  48. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/7kmdht/persepolis_rising_discussion_thread_all_spoilers/
  49. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/jyki1x/struggling_with_persepolis_rising/
  50. https://theillustratedpage.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/review-of-persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/
  51. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/vaaqzg/just_finished_persepolis_rising_for_the_first/
  52. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/1k6d122/persepolis_rising_meh/
  53. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/7syrlf/spoilers_all_over_so_persepolis_rising/
  54. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/s6zynf/persepolis_rising_anyone_feel_sorry_for_singh/
  55. https://evanw.com/2021-my-year-in-reading/
  56. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51209450-auberon
  57. https://www.amazon.com/Auberon-Expanse-James-S-Corey-ebook/dp/B07YKR19FN
  58. https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Auberon
  59. https://spaceandsorcery.wordpress.com/2020/02/04/auberon-an-expanse-novella-by-james-s-a-corey/
  60. https://www.ericsbinaryworld.com/2021/09/19/review-auberon/
  61. https://lelaebuis.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/review-of-auberon-by-james-s-a-corey/
  62. https://nikihawkes.com/2020/02/11/novella-review-auberon-by-james-s-a-corey/
  63. https://www.boom-studios.com/archives/the-expanse-dragon-tooth-series-announcement/
  64. https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/The_Expanse:_Dragon_Tooth
  65. https://www.boom-studios.com/archives/the-expanse-a-little-death-announcement/
  66. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boom-studios/james-sa-corey-returns-to-the-expanse-in-a-little-death
  67. https://www.boom-studios.com/archives/the-expanse-a-little-death-series-announcement/
  68. https://comicbook.com/comics/news/the-expanse-new-story-season-6-kickstarter-comic/
  69. https://www.boom-studios.com/series/expanse/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.