Storyline: 4/5 
 Characters: 3/5 
 Writing Style: 2/5 
 World: 2/5 
 If the first in the series, Leviathan Wakes, was a Raymond Chandler detective novel set in space, then Caliban's War is a Tom Clancy political thriller set in the same solar system. Slightly changing the genre mix was enough to keep this from feeling too repetitive, but by the end of the book I couldn't help but feeling that I had somehow been tricked into reading the same story twice. This book felt like it had been written for a television series - the appropriate amount of material for a season of shows, the right number of characters playing overly-broad roles, and a new action scene every five minutes to make sure you haven't lost your interest. I have to admit that I was looking forward to reading this, and I got pretty much exactly what I expected from it. 
 With some series you can tell that the author had no idea where he or she was taking it after the founding book. Not so here. It is obvious that Corey mapped out both the short plots and the long arc, determining ahead of time how to dole out enough of the latter to keep you interested in the series while focusing on the former to make it a self-contained and satisfying book. I wouldn't recommend reading this as a stand-alone novel because so much of the fun in the book is seeing the relationships develop between characters established in the first of the series. That said, the authors (like any good television series) give you enough information so new fans can jump in at any time.