THE FRACTAL, FRACTIOUS POLITICS OF THE EXPANSE: TAKING HUMANITY FROM EARTH TO THE STARS ISN'T EASY.

• Author: Suderman, Peter

IF YOU HAVE spent any time reading or watching science fiction, you have almost certainly encountered stories in which humanity has spread throughout the galaxy and is capable of traveling relatively easily between star systems. These stories tend to treat the mechanics of interstellar travel as long solved, often via dubious gimmicks (warp drives, hyper-space) that hand-wave away the problems of interstellar migration. Star Trek, Star Wars, and even the Alien films all take place in futures where traveling the galaxy is as accessible via spaceship as Earth is by plane or by boat: Trips can take some time, but fundamentally there's little question about whether or not people can traverse the distance between stars. Yet few science fiction tales have attempted to answer the question these easily traversed galaxies imply: How exactly did we make the leap from our solar system to the stars beyond?

That is the question the series of stories called The Expanse, much of which was adapted into a six-season television series that aired on SyFy and Amazon Prime Video, sought to answer. Over the course of nine novels and a handful of novellas, authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, writing under the pen name James S.A. Corey, took human beings from the solar system to the galaxy beyond.

The authors trace our species's arduous journey from Earth to Mars to the asteroid belt, and eventually to a vast array of new worlds. They offer a vision of humanity's expansionary potential situated somewhere between the hard limits of a solar-only civilization and the magical ease of convenient interstellar travel. It's a vision that presumes we can and should reach the stars, but that doing so will require making a lot of difficult choices and solving a lot of difficult problems--and not just the usual problems of grand adventure. They'll be the frustrating, mundane problems that people always face when confronted with big challenges: politics and social compromise, engineering and risk-taking, and the irrepressible idiosyncrasies of individuals, all of whom seem to have their own particular ideas about the best way to live.

WHEN GRAND PLANS FAIL

AMONG THE GREATEST compliments I can pay the series is that I have almost no idea what the authors' personal politics are.

This is not for lack of opportunity. The Expanse novels deal extensively and intricately with the machinations of economics and politics, from planetary council votes to trade negotiations to union contracts to corporate security complications. Yet the series takes pains to give plausible motivations to even the most villainous characters, and nearly every political cause has at least one or two sympathetic adherents. Characters regularly speak about their viewpoints and worldviews, but there is no sermonizing, no sense that the authors have merely organized an ideological demonstration project in novel form. You understand where the characters are coming from, but the authors don't seem to be channeling an agenda.

If there is a big idea about politics underpinning the series, it is more elemental: Grand plans fail, yet people keep trying them anyway.

When the series begins, our species has split into three primary political blocs. There is Earth, humanity's home and its breadbasket. Earth is a political power center owing to its large population and vast agricultural resources. Its economy is flush, and its residents...