The Churn: An Expanse Novella (The Expanse)

Great short story that really added a lot of depth to Amos. If you've read any of the books in the Expanse series than this is a must. Explains a lot as to his personality and how he interprets the world around him.

Great look into the mean streets of Baltimore in the world of The Expanse and the struggles of some small time gang members as they try to survive a government sponsored crackdown on crime. Really great twist I should have seen coming but did not which proves again why this is one of the most enjoyable Sci Fi series going.

EXCELLENT READ. I HIGHLY recommend this, & any other Expanse books regardless of whether it's the "series," OR the "novellas." Also, the TV is the best SF TV show EVER MADE as well. Hope this helps.

Enjoyable exploration into an Expanse character's past. Helps build his back story and to better understand his motivations. Although I enjoy the Expanse novels, it's nice to be able to read about that universe in one sitting. The Churn was well crafted and immediately drew you in.

The ebook:
It was over-priced. imo, this should be a free tor.com story used just to wet your appetite for, and get you to buy, Cibola Burn. It is NOT a novella: it's length puts it at the upper range of a short story, lower range of a novelette. Half of the advertised pages are an excerpt for the new book. At $2.99, it's a total ripoff and I'd avoid buying it.

I'm all for authors making money, and they deserve every dime they ever make. But, when you pay $10-$15 for every 600 page novel (and you buy every awesome novel they write), then paying $3 (that's 30-20% of a novel charge) for a short story (5-10% the length, and 5% the story, of a novel) just doesn't add up. Honestly, this book was a marketing tool to sell the next novel (I doubt the authors would insist on charging for it). It should be conveyed as such and not packaged as a separate, valuable, product.

The story:
The story was cool. I love Amos, so his background was neat to read. This was told in a different style then the books or novellas; they used 3rd person omniscient mostly, I think. It wasn't bad; it was noticeable and different that their usual style, but the story still flowed and I still read it in one go.

A great next novel in the series. Gives first person from all the familiar characters and delves into some great insights into each. Enough action to keep it moving, but slow enough to get a taste for the time. Plus it's pretty clear that the story will continue!

This is a GREAT backstory that adds a lot to our understanding of one of the main Expanse characters. I even noticed a reference to this novella in one of the recent episodes of the SyFy series. Definitely a must-read for any true Expanse fan.

A nice evening's read putting in a bit of backstory for one of Holden's crew.
Written in the same gritty style as the rest of the Expanse series, I enjoyed this brief look at the criminal underground of Earth in the far future.

While this is a good story, it does not provide any necessary information for the Expanse series. At $3 which I spent in preorder, it is a complete rip off. Only 72% is this story, 28% first chapters of next book. Not 77 pages.

I had always been interested to know how Amos got to be Amos. His life story. The events that made him who he is. This short does that and so much more. You get a better understanding for who he is and the "real" conditions of how folks lived on Earth.

Decent short story. It was tough to get into until the final 1/3. Good characterization of Amos and although the "twist" was foreseeable, it does help develop a character of a series I am very much in to. I liked this less than the Butcher of Anderson, but more than the Gods of Risk.

As a fan of the earlier books in the series, I was disappointed in this one. It is a tangential story, describing life planetside in the same time/universe as the earlier books. I wasn't interested in the story or the characters.

I really have enjoyed this series and highly recommend it science fiction readers!
Now that the door is open to exploration, humankind sets out to settle--or resettle new worlds, but not without trouble.

This review may prove to be quite brief, the reason being that The Churn is at its best when the reader is left to discover events as they are revealed in the story. That experience is easily ruined by the book description copy which gives away a major portion of the novella’s end in the advertising copy. I am most grateful I pre-ordered my copy long ago without glancing too closely on the store. If the publisher was the one who provided this blurb to sellers, it is a real shame.

This novella moves the focus away from solar system travel of the novels and places it Earthside, on the city of Baltimore. In doing so it provides an interesting, if sad, view of the state of affairs on Earth. It fits well within the confines of the story to paint a bleak future as part of the kick-in-the-butt humanity needed to reach out into the solar system.

The Churn focuses on a handful of characters in a criminal organization, who come under fire when the Star Helix security detail targets Baltimore for clean up. The writing team of James S.A. Corey are known for character-focused fiction with multiple viewpoints, which is how they approach this novella. Readers are introduced to the organization head, Burton, his former lover, Lydia, one of his henchmen, Erich, and a newcomer to the group named Timmy. It is of particular interest that the story is chock full of characters who are hard to root for, and yet the writers make you do just that, playing with your loyalties throughout the story. In the end you find yourself hoping for the best for characters whose behavior is nothing if not reprehensible.

Life in a criminal organization is grim, and no punches are pulled in painting the kind of environment in which these characters exist. This is dark, but not dark to the point of being a depressing read. The suspense picks up early, leaving the reader to guess at the direction the story will take while also thinking about the greater Expanse universe and how this story might fit in. Rest assured, it does fit in rather nicely.

I think it best to wrap this up before spoilers become impossible to avoid. My personal experience is that I received a great reading experience in exchange for the money I spent. It was brief, to be sure, but I did not feel cheated. I was able to get lost in the story to the degree that the end surprised me in the way that I expect the writers set out to accomplish. If you are a fan of the series, it is well worth taking the time to read this, as well as the other works of short fiction set in the Expanse universe.

I read the books leading up to this novel, and I must say, it was not his greatest book. Some of the characters seemed shallow/rushed, and there were parts of the plot that seemed to just "happen" so that the book could be finished. I enjoyed the read, but I wasn't that impressed, and there were a moments where I felt the author could have put far more effort to wrap up the story. I will not be waiting as anxiously for the next book in the series, but I will surely read it when it comes out.

As a huge fan and evangelist of the Expanse series it pains me to deliver such a low-rated review, but I'm going for honesty over brand loyalty here. None of the reasons that I've enjoyed the Expanse series were present in this book. The science fiction concepts were so minimal that the story could largely have been set in present day and they played no real role in the plot. The characters felt fairly flat to me - devoid of color, depth, and appeal - and the story certainly didn't leave me feeling like I knew Amos any more than before I started. In fact I'm left wondering how the character in this story becomes the character that we know from the series as the gulf in engineering knowledge and interest seems huge.

Beyond those facts, I just found the story background rather mundane and plodding. I kept reading in hopes that the S.A. Corey energy I knew would kick in and that the story would kick into high gear, but it never happened. I had to push all the way to complete the story. The vital take-aways for Expanse fans could probably be summarized in a sentence or two. The tale just didn't seem to justify larger format. The info could have been better presented as a candid Amos moment in a novel.

I'm very much looking forward to the next novel and have expectations that it will deliver as solidly as the three before it. But what I learned from this novella was not to impulsively buy Corey/Expanse by by brand, but to wait for reviews on future novellas.

3.5 stars. Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

The Churn is referred to as Installment 0.2 in James S.A. Corey’s THE EXPANSE series, meaning that it’s a prequel. It tells the origin story of Amos Burton, a member of the Rocinante crew. This story takes place entirely on Earth, in Baltimore, a cramped, run-down, seedy city that’s been overrun by crime organizations.

Amos Burton is the boss of one of those organizations and lately he’s been adding extremely violent men to his team, a move which signals to some observers that “The Churn” — a police crackdown on organized crime — is imminent. One of these violent men is Timmy, a man who seems like a big dumb cold-hearted brute — the kind of guy who walks around smiling and oblivious until his boss asks him to “take care of” someone. When The Churn arrives, Burton gives Timmy a job that will end up changing the course of both of their lives.

On its own, The Churn doesn’t offer much but a short, bleak, violent (and well-written) story, but as an origin story for a main character in the beloved EXPANSE series, it is an important episode that fans will definitely want to read. I highly recommend the audio version produced by Hachette Audio and read by Erik Davies. It’s 2.5 hours long.

(Review first published at Goodreads by myself)
Live on Earth, interesting addition to the Expanse Multiverse.
The MC Timmy is interesting, and very well developed. Would like to see more of him in other books. Some sex (not explicit, more talked about), very well done, with the problems with a young men and an older woman having sex.

Depending on wether he pops up in other books, not really necessary read, nor a great addition. Without the other books not worth it, price ok, for the length of the book.

Three solid stars, recommended for hard fans and completionists. Will add to this review if the character is also in other books.

(Added July 28th, 2017)
Being at 21% in The Expanse #05, Nemesis Games, the genius behind this little story forces me to change the review and add a star, giving it 4. Not to spoil it, this should be read bevore Nemesis Games, and then imidiatly followed with Nemesis Games. Wow. Nice one, did not see that twist coming. So, this one is also a must-read for understanding the series, even if that is not immediately obivous.

It's a bit expensive for its length. The good part is that it follows the pre-EXPANSE back-story of one of the major characters. I suspect that many more will be written as this is a good way to monetize some of the background character development that never gets directly into the main novels. Worth reading for the back-story.

This a review of the Audible audio book version of The Churn novella. I loved Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War and have eagerly watched The Expanse on Sci-Fi Channel each week, so this short story was a welcome look at the background of Amos Burton. The narrator is different from the full novels in the series and I think that's a good move actually. The Churn is a completely different setting and mood, so the new voice and timbre is fitting.

The Churn is dark and gritty - there's almost a film noir feeling. The Amos Burton we know from the Rocinante crew is a much different man than Timmy from Baltimore, yet there are certainly glimpses of his former self when hard choices have to be made. I feel like listening to this short story definitely enriched my upcoming experience for the third book in the series overall - I have a better understanding of the Earth politics and economics which in turn explains the prejudices that the Martians & Belters have toward Earthers.

Answers the question, "How many authors does it take to to half-bake a story?"

If you remove an interesting situation, a protagonist that you can care about, and anything worth thinking about from a well developed scifi universe, this is what you get. It should have been entitled "Almost Amos"

This story read like character outline for the preparation of a screenplay or a TV scifi series, or possibly an exerpt from an early draft on an Expanse novel, cut because it did not move the main story along and could be implied with minimaum of dialog. About as interesting as a story of James T Kirk as a teenager joyriding in a stolen car in Des Moines, that is, not very.

Just to be clear, this is labelled a 'novella,' but do not expect much of anything in the way of content. The amount here is the equivalent to what a number of fantasy writers release for free on their blogs as 'deleted scenes.' If you have to read everything in the Expanse, by all means read this, but it has none of the punch you would expect from the series. This is true for all the secondary material, though, so buyer beware.

What you do get is some of Amos's backstory, but only really a fraction of it. It does not cover a pivotal plot event left under-explained in the books, like The Butcher of Anderson Station, or a landmark event, like the freely available Drive. It essentially explains one relationship between characters that is by no means essential to reading Nemesis Games, like Gods of Risk did with Bobbie. Read it before Nemesis for maximum enjoyment.

No James Holden, but that's OK. Confined to Baltimore, but that's OK too. You can't blame an author(s) for wanting to branch out into another genre for a change of pace.
It feels questionable to empathize or sympathize with any of the characters in The Churn; despite spending the first two-thirds of the book not caring much at all about their fates (which usually signifies a major problem), somehow The Churn is mysteriously alluring.

Talking points:
- The future of crime: a glimpse into a somewhat dystopian future (an extension of the dystopian present, if you've spent much time in Balto you know what I mean) and the tactics that Big Brother may use in futile attempts to "solve" crime without addressing root cause. The Churn is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Star Trek (utopian future vs. dystopian), but that's not a surprise if you've been reading SA Corey.
- Beating a man to death: not usually something I want a blow by blow account of, but for some odd reason it wasn't repulsive... perhaps the author(s) did make me care about "Timmy" after all.
- The end of the book is satisfying and ties into the series. If you read The Expanse in earnest, you would be a fool not to read The Churn.

Amos is such an enigmatic and interesting character in the books and the TV series. You would not expect a character, who on the surface seems to be so destructive and remorseless, to be a sympathetic character. One of the great things about the Expanse (and there are many great things) is the depth and complexity of its main characters. This novella goes into details of Amos' past and gives insight on who Amos is and why he is the way he is.

I love the Expanse series, one of the best in recent years. However, The Churn doesn't seem written nearly as well as the major works in the series and doesn't add much to the story line. It's of some interest to those who have read the other books, but is not a must-read. Since I borrowed it for free from the store through the Los Angeles City library, I can't complain about the cost.

This was billed as a bit to hold us until the next novel in the series is available - soon. It is an intriguing story about an antihero who you can't help but like. Seems to be a theme with the series. This is a very good read and creates enough suspense to keep one very interested.

Started reading James S. A. Corey with Leviathan Awakes. Absolutely love the Expanse series and eagerly awaiting the last one. This is a novella about Amos Burton, one of the core characters. I would advise reading the main books first, then coming to the Novella's. Excellent series.