THE FAITH OF BEASTS - James S.A. Corey

The frightening species, Carryx, built an inter-galactic empire through domination and war. Acquired species must either prove themselves useful in combat, to take over more species, or be resigned to being slaughtered. Humans are currently on the block, with some humans having been captured

Dafyd Alkhor is the highest ranking human in the Carryx captivity. Other humans don't think too much of him. Some, in fact, fear him as an advocate for the Carryx, as he seemingly works tirelessly to get humanity ensconced in the Carryx military. But Dafyd is more than he appears.

Along with human slaves being brought to the Carryx home world, some of the Swarm - a military arm of one of the Carryx's fiercest enemies - are also smuggled in. The goal is to help them find a way to bring the Carryx down by studying them in their natural state. One of the problems with this, though, is that the longer the Swarm spend among humans, the more they forget that they are a weapon.

With humans as slaves (and potentially food) for the Carryx and also serving on the front lines of various battles, the Carryx appear to be an unstoppable force. But even the most powerful of empires has its secrets.

I absolutely loved the first book in this new series by The Expanse series author(s) James S. A. Corey but my one complaint was that it felt like a lot of set-up. That initial set-up is now done and we're beginning the meat of the story and, yeah, that's a bit of a dark pun.

Not surprisingly (if you've read anything by Corey before), this gets really intense. We still have the heavy concepts that I mentioned in my review of the first book (imprisonment, genocide, and the human capacity for trauma), but it takes on a more personal tone here as we get to know Dafyd and some of the others (though honestly, Dafyd is the only one who was burned into my memory once the book was closed).

This reminded me quite a lot of some of the stories that came out of World War II and the holocaust, when the Nazis would put Jews in charge of their camps (aka ghettos) and have the puppet leaders make decisions about who got fed, how much, when, etc.  I'm thinking specifically of Theresienstadt and the "Paradise Ghetto." Those leaders often tried their best to make life in the ghettos as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances, which was not always understood or respected by those who couldn't see past the fact that they were simply prisoners. 

The stakes and the drama are about as high as you can get and drawing on one of the darkest periods in modern history, whether knowingly or not, certainly elevates the human drama here.

I wouldn't call this a fast read.  It's complex and complicated and there's a lot going on and you'll want to take it all in. But it's definitely not a boring read. Just make sure to give it the time it deserves.

Looking for a good book? The Faith of Beasts by James S. A. Corey is the second volume in the new The Captive's War series. It's powerful human drama on an intergalactic scale.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Faith of Beasts

author: James S. A. Corey

series: The Captive's War #2

publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 9780316525671

hardcover, 448 pages
 

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