Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey

The fourth book in The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey is Cibola Burn. I have to say that it might be my favorite of the series so far.

In the previous book, Holden had helped to open gates to new worlds and people who had been forced off of Ganymede weren't being helped by anywhere else in the system, so they left to create their own settlement.  The Mars/UN coalition is quite upset by this.  So they send Holden to help diffuse the situation.

As always, Holden mucks things up.  Hijinks ensue.

This book was plot-driven, but I also absolutely loved the humor, especially when the humor was aimed at Holden.  Consider the following exchange:

"What," Holden said, "is all this?"

"You said to gear up fro the drop."

"I meant, like, underwear and toothbrushes."

"Captain," Amos said, almost hiding his impatience. "They're killing each other down there. Half a dozen RCE security vanished into thin air, and a heavy lift shuttle got blown up."

"Yes, and our job is not to escalate that. Put all this shit away. Sidearms only.  Bring clothes and sundries for us, any spare medical supplies for the colony. But that's it."

"Later," Amos said, "when you're wishing we had this stuff, I am going to be merciless in my mockery. And then we'll die."

Holden started a snarky reply, then stopped himself. Had anything ever gone the way he planned? "Okay, one rifle each, but disassembled and in a duffel.  Nothing visible. And light torso armor only. Something we can hide under our clothes."

"Captain," Amos said with mock surprise. "Have you actually learned from your past? Is this a new thing you do now?" (page 107-108)

So that's that. I think The Expanse is such a fun series. The stakes are high here with genuine life and death and the future of the universe at stake, but people are people. There's humor, sex, instant dislike, and miscommunication. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are the duo who co-write this series adn I'm not sure if I've ever read such a consistently well-written series by a pair. If you're into sci-fi and have felt put off by the extended Expanse world, I'd definitely recommend you dip in.