Livesuit By James S.A. Corey Is Thoughtful, Exciting Sci-Fi
Livesuit by James S.A. Corey is book 1.5 of The Captive’s War trilogy. It is part of the same universe as the awesome The Mercy of Gods, but is a superb story in its own right.
Release dates and Amazon TV show
The Mercy of Gods (henceforth TMOG) is the first book in the Captive’s War trilogy and came out on the 6th August 2024. Livesuit is a novella related to TMOG but doesn’t share the same characters or setting, and came out on the 1st of October 2024.
The next book, as in Book Two, is called The Faith of Beasts and is due out on the 14th of April 2026. I have it on pre-order and have commenced impatient pacing.
It was also announced in November 2024 that The Captive’s War will be made into a TV show by Amazon MGM Studios. Which is incredible news.
What is Livesuit all about?
I might as well start with the blurb:
Humanity’s war is eternal, spread across the galaxy and the ages. Humanity’s best hope to end the endless slaughter is the Livesuit forces. Soldiers meld their bodies to the bleeding edge technology, becoming something more than human for the duration of a war that might never end.
In TMOG, we hear that there are people fighting back against the Carryx. Both humans and something called the ‘Swarm’. (It is possible they are the same thing.) The novella explores how some of that fighting is done.
Humans have developed a technology called the Livesuit that moulds with an individual and makes them badass. I initially thought it might be like the outfits Special Operations wear in The Culture books, but these go even further.
The suits become part of the user, and the way they protect users and make them incredibly lethal is well thought out. We already know some of the baddies they’re up against, and they are pretty terrifying. There are others we haven’t met before the story, and they are just as bad. The fact that the Livesuits make it believable that a human can take out these monsters is well-written and results in some ludicrously exciting fights.
I can’t say much more because we’ll enter spoiler territory.
Is it worth a read?
I adored The Mercy of Gods (my review) and was incredibly excited about reading Livesuit. Consequently, I read Livesuit in a few hours in one sitting. And I loved it.
Livesuit feels more integral to The Captive’s War than Expanse novellas did to the Expanse series
I have read a couple of The Expanse novellas and short stories, and they were generally fine to good. But I always got the impression they were written in addition to the main events, and sometimes felt like fan/publisher service. If you didn’t read them, it didn’t really matter. (I adored the Expanse books, though; you can read my review of the series here.)
Whereas Livesuit, despite being completely separate from TMOG, feels like it adds to and is important to the main events. There are things implied in the main book, and things implied here, that may not be crucial, but help build the universe. I’m sure you’d be fine if you skipped it, but I think you will miss out. It is described as Book #1.5 for a reason.
It’s a great short story in its own right
If you can’t be bothered to read TMOG, you’re daft. But your call, I guess. Even so, you will enjoy this. It is a genuinely good short story that would totally work as a standalone.
The novella has great characters and explores good science fiction beyond just a cool type of armor. It looks at what it means to be human and how we adapt and evolve. Some people will fight, some won’t.
It also explores the isolation that would result from fighting a war where systems are light years apart, and how time-dilation, reminiscent of Haldeman’s Forever War, plays a crucial role in distancing the protagonists from other humans. It’s not even clear when the story is set in relation to the main series.
Ultimately, Livesuit is just a well-written story by two highly talented writers – Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck – aka James SA Corey. And I thoroughly recommend it.
You can check it out here, if you want to learn more.
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