Do I need to read the first book in the series before this one?

This novel is the second entry in The Captive's War trilogy and directly continues the narrative and character arcs established in the first book, The Mercy of Gods.

Is this book related to the authors' previous series, The Expanse?

While both series are written by the same authors, they are entirely separate works with distinct universes and storylines.

Do I need to read the novella Livesuit before The Faith of Beasts?

No. Livesuit (2024) is a novella set in the same Captive's War universe and sits between The Mercy of Gods and The Faith of Beasts in reading order, but the second novel follows on directly from The Mercy of Gods and does not depend on it.

The Faith of Beasts

Science Fiction Space Opera

Pages: 560
Published: 2026
Language: English

Synopsis

The Carryx are an empire built on conquest, binding thousands of conquered species to the will of their Sovran. Humanity is the latest of them: captives who must prove useful or be destroyed. Dafyd Alkhor has become the highest-ranking human among them, feared and resented by the very people he speaks for, as he carves out a place in the empire's war machine and works to make humanity into what its masters want. His loyalty is not what it seems.

Hidden among the human slaves in the Carryx world-palace is the Swarm, an agent of the empire's deathless enemy, sent to find a way to bring the Carryx down. The longer it lives among humans, the harder it becomes to remember that it is a weapon.

As the captives are scattered across the empire's battlefronts, from a survey of a newly conquered world to a warship heading into battle, the true reach of Carryx power comes into view, and the humans begin to shape a desperate plan to destroy them. The second novel in James S. A. Corey's Captive's War trilogy, following The Mercy of Gods.

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