I wasn't sure I was going to keep going after Book 1 but luckily Caliban's War was both really engaging and also so much better than Book 1 in terms of the gender dynamics. I can see how some might find it a bit slower than Book 1 because a lot of the action in the first half is about politics and diplomacy versus straight-up fighting vomit zombies. But I'm a big fan of political intrigue and I appreciated it.

On the women characters, whereas perspective of two bro-y white dudes and all women characters were viewed through their often sex-influenced eyes, Book 2 brought us POV chapters from Bobbie and Avasarala and it made a huge difference. They are both such strong, complicated characters that make Holden look dull by comparison. While there was still too much focus on how all the men perceived Bobbie's physical appearance (including a particularly gross section where Holden is torn by being afraid of her size/strength but also wanting to have sex with her), it didn't overtake the entire book and Bobbie still got to shine in her own right. Prax as the other POV character also worked and he had bigger concerns than evaluating how attractive he found every woman in the book. Still waiting for Naomi to kick a bit more butt like she does in the show, but overall I really enjoyed Book 2 and I'm hoping just to not see a backslide into horny bro writing.