Caliban’s War

Corey (a joint pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) returns to the politically charged future solar system setting of Leviathan Wakes for a sprawling space opera thriller. Eighteen months have passed since the now defunct corporation Protogen tried—with horrifying results—to harness an alien molecule with the power to rearrange living and inanimate matter. The planet Venus is now infected with the molecule, which may be controlled by an extra–solar system intelligence. The shaky détente among Mars, Earth, and the Outer Planets Alliance shatters after aliens attack Earth and Mars forces on Ganymede, making it look like Earth was the aggressor. Capt. James Holden, lately of the OPA, joins up with a botanist on Ganymede whose missing toddler might be the key to this new incident, while U.N. diplomat Chrisjen Avasarala and Martian soldier Bobbie Draper try desperately to avoid interplanetary war. This breakneck tale will have readers itching for book three. (July)