The Captive’s War release date
There it is, the long awaited first novel of The Captive’s War series has a release date, a cover and a title!
On the 9th of November 2023, James S. A. Corey has revealed the cover of The Mercy of Gods, the first instalment in The Captive’s War series via a public event on Crowdcast (link here).
The Mercy of Gods will be out on the 6th of August 2024.
What do we know about the background and the main arc ?
James S. A. Corey has unveiled a bit of background, but remained very careful about not spoiling the surprise. We can only salute that attention.
Ty Franck pitched The Captive’s War in one sentence that seemed encompassing the general arc of the series :
The core cast is a group of humans from their human world who are kidnapped from their home planet after a conquest by this alien species and taken back to the home world of this alien species to serve as tools of the empire.
Ty Franck
We know also the group is largely researchers and scientists and they are given this specific task, by the Carryx, the conquering alien empire.
Finally, Ty Franck mentioned one wildcard character that is a spy deliberately in the group that gets captured
What we know about the plot of the first novel is summarised in the page dedicated to The Mercy of Gods.
Going deeper into The Captive’s War
On thing that came out as well from that event was the ponder the duo had about their fans. Very logically they were wondering if fans were fans of The Expanse or fans of James S. A. Corey. That artistic introspection is common for any artist, and vital for any successful one.
With that change of universe and writing style (no more strict POV) James S. A. Corey is taking a risk anyone should recognise (and especially Orson Scott Card, wink to you Ty). Instead of fattening up in their – well deserved – success, the duo is going forward and getting excited to play with new toys. That is a sane evolution for any artist, but one known to cause a stir (remember the reception to Metallica’s Load and Reload?).
Here we think it is a great decision, The Expanse was awesome, but it should rest in peace for now, as this never changing friend that we reach to for comfort, and, all flattery apart, good taste.
The cover of the Mercy of Gods
The cover of The Mercy of Gods is gorgeous. The style of Daniel Dociu is immediately recognisable,and fans of The Expanse won’t be disturbed.
The Romanian artist had already signed the covers of all the previous series as well as the uncropped art decorating the jackets inside for the anniversary editions.
It is still difficult to say exactly what the cover represents, but it looks like some form of habitat, rather fantasy-like looking, though potentially located under a dome. The “sky” in its honey hue is kind of meshed by a honeycomb-like structure. Is this a connection to the “hive” mind the Carryx supposedly have? Time will tell.
Last point concerning the cover: let’s publish an article in 10 years to see what Jay Clark’s version will be for the 10th anniversary edition (joke…or?).