The novel “Cibola Burn” by James S.A. Corey was published for the first time in 2014. It’s the fourth book in the Expanse series and follows “Abaddon’s Gate“.

The portal built by the protomolecul opened a new frontier for human beings and there are those who would like anyone to be free to settle on one of the many potentially habitable planets that have become available. A group of people reach one of them and call it Ilus but some time later another expedition arrives with United Nations support and the situation becomes immediately difficult with some colonists who decide to attack the new arrivals.

To try to avoid further bloodshed, Chrisjen Avasarala and Fred Johnson reach an agreement representing the United Nations and the Outer Planets Alliance choosing Jim Holden as a mediator. When he arrives on the planet with his crew on the spaceship Rocinante, he finds an explosive situation with Adolphus Murtry, the expedition’s chief of the security, ready to kill the colonists. Things get even worse when something very ancient on the planet awakens.

James S.A. Corey is the pen name of two writers: Daniel Abraham, who on his own writes mostly fantasy, and Ty Franck, who worked as an assistant to George R.R. Martin. Together, they’ve been writing the stories of the Expanse series, a space opera set in a future where humanity has colonized part of the solar system.

“Abaddon’s Gate” had showed the opening of a portal that allows access to other regions of space with the possibility of reaching other potentially habitable planets. The consequences come soon but also the problems because humanity is divided so it’s impossible for the various factions to agree on how to explore the new frontier. Independent groups of people who can’t afford to wait do that on their own, other groups supported by big corporations do that with the United Nations approval.

The planet that got named Ilum by an independent group and New Earth by another group that has an official charter ends up in the middle of a fight because the presence of a considerable amount of lithium makes it particularly valuable. For one group, lithium is the means to acquire the resources to establish a proper colony, for the other it means to make a lot of money to a corporation that’s already very rich.

The structure of “Cibola Burn” is the same as the previous novels, with chapters following the point of view of some protagonists. Jim Holden has been at the center of the most important events since the beginning of the Expanse series and is the only one present in all the novels. The “ghost” of detective Miller started appearing to him and the connection with the planet is one of this novel’s themes.

The authors introduce the new protagonists Basia Merton, one of the first colonists who, for his desire to protect his family, ends up mixed up in terrorist actions, and Elvi Okoye, a scientist of the official expedition. Dmitri Havelock, who appeared in “Leviathan Wakes” as Miller’s partner, returns as deputy head of security for the official mission.

Most of the plot is developed on the planet and in its orbit, an environment smaller than previous novels. Despite this, those events are important because the conflict between the independent colonists and the official mission represents a precedent that will influence the future of humanity’s expansion.

Especially at the beginning of the novel, there are themes such as migrations, big corporations willing to do anything to make more money with the contrast between people willing to use violence to defend what they believe is theirs and others who use it because it’s their nature and have someone covering them. However, in the Expanse series they don’t go very deep and “Cibola Burn” is no exception.

The positive side is that the protagonists embrace the various parties involved so the authors are able to offer different points of view that show a situation that is not black and white but has various shades of gray. The characters can have their motivations for the choices they made and also for the mistakes they made, including the way they act after having made them.

The downside is that only a few characters, including the protagonists, are well developed. The crew of the Rocinante and Miller are already well known by the readers, other known characters make only sporadic appearances apart from Havelock. Together with the new planet, the authors introduced many new characters and often resorted to clichés such as the chief of security Murtry, who is essentially a psychopath with no depth. The problem with Elvi Okoye on the other hand is that she’s supposed to be a scientist focused on her job while she often seems like a horny teenager, a really bad female character.

Plot development is what can be expected in the Expanse series, meaning full of action with a lot of moments of crisis. Some developments are easily predictable, occasionally there’s some surprise, especially about the consequences of certain events. In many cases, the cause is the choice by the independent colonists to settle on a totally alien planet without taking any precautions and without seriously studying the environment before exposing themselves to everything in it.

Since the beginning of the Expanse series, these novels seemed to me overall well crafted, even if sometimes certain characters’ behavior makes little sense. I think they’re not masterpieces but they’re enjoyable so if you like this series I recommend you “Cibola Burn” as well.