The Faith of Beasts
My notes
I think this one might have been a step down from both the first book in the series and the typical propulsive pacing that the Corey duo typically impresses on me.
And honestly, I think it's my fault.
Unlike the Expanse - where I only read the main entries - I ripped through Entry 1.5, the Live Suit novella. I had finished The Mercy of Gods with a reductive belief that the authors were moving from a multi-arc physics-as-a-character story to 'humans are space orcs.' Live Suit contributed to that belief, but Faith walked it back a bit.
Humans aren't space orcs, per se. But we are adaptable, and our society as a collection of individuals makes us uniquely dangerous. So less "humans are space orcs" and more "humans are uniquely crafty weapons."
The other part that's leaving me a little sour on this book is, I think, there's too much plot left to cover. The Expanse was always rather tightly plotted, with structural elements supporting each other and the overarching story being tied to "therefore" structures rather than a series of set pieces tied together by "and then" constructs.
The weight of what's left to accomplish and the pure level of work required to get there makes me feel like the third book has a lot of heavy lifting to do.
I don't know; maybe that's just me being pessimistic.