“Memory’s Legion” Review

The cover shows a large red planet in the center (possibly Mars) with a large asteroid in front of it and a ship below and to the right shooting a laser or something at it Full Title: “Memory’s Legion: The Complete Expanse Story Collection”
Written by James S.A. Corey
Published by Orbit Books, March 2022
432 pages
Completed June 20, 2024

On Mars, a scientist experiments with a new engine that will one day become the drive that fuels humanity’s journey into the stars.

On an asteroid station, a group of prisoners are oblivious to the catastrophe that awaits them.

On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, a crime boss desperately seeks to find a way off planet.

On an alien world, a human family struggles to establish a colony and make a new home.

All these stories and more are featured in this unmissable collection of short fiction set in the hardscrabble world of The Expanse.

This is a good collection of short stories that take place throughout the timeline of the novel series – with some set pre-series and one post-series. Overall I think they’re good stories but I definitly like some more than others. I especially like the post-series story “The Sins of Our Fathers” as it answers a question about a certain minor character from one of the earlier books. While this collection was published after the final book was published, all but the last story were previously published elsewhere. The included short stories are:

“Drive”
“The Butcher of Anderson Station”
“Gods of Risk”
“The Churn”
“The Vital Abyss”
“Strange Dogs”
“Auberon”
“The Sins of Our Fathers” – this story is new for the collection and is set post-series.

Though some are pre-series like “Drive”, “The Butcher of Anderson Station” and “The Churn” I think they make more sense read later on in the series rather than starting with them. The authors* have written one additional short story “The Last Flight of the Cassandra” but it remains exclusive to the Expanse Roleplaying Game.

* James S. A. Corey is actually two authors who wrote the series together Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck