Chronological order
| Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leviathan Wakes | 2011 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Caliban’s War | 2012 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Abaddon’s Gate | 2013 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Cibola Burn | 2014 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Nemesis Games | 2015 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Babylon’s Ashes | 2016 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Persepolis Rising | 2017 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Tiamat’s Wrath | 2019 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
| Leviathan Falls | 2021 | James S.A. Corey | Buy |
The Expanse is set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system but hasn’t yet reached the stars. Earth is overpopulated and declining. Mars is an independent military power building toward terraforming. The Belt’s inhabitants mine asteroids and resent both inner planets. Into this tension comes the protomolecule, an alien technology that changes everything.
James S.A. Corey is two authors: Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Abraham handles prose; Franck handles plot and worldbuilding. They developed the setting as a tabletop RPG before deciding it worked better as novels. The collaboration reads like a single voice because they’ve refined it into one.
The series runs nine novels plus novellas, completing a full story arc from first contact to humanity’s expansion beyond the solar system. The later books jump forward in time, showing consequences decades after earlier events. Characters age. Politics shift. The stakes keep escalating.
Syfy adapted the series in 2015. Amazon picked it up after cancellation, running it for six seasons until 2022. The show is considered one of science fiction’s better adaptations, faithful to the books while making necessary changes for television. Fans who discovered the series through the show often return to the novels for the complete story.
The final book, Leviathan Falls, wraps up the main narrative while leaving room for future stories. Abraham and Franck have said they’re done with The Expanse, at least for now.