Leviathan Wakes

Begin The Expanse with an ice-hauling crew and a detective investigating a disappearance. The nine-novel arc gradually makes their working lives part of a much larger contest over humanity's future, while fuel, distance and political loyalties keep the expansion tangible. Read from Leviathan Wakes through Leviathan Falls; Memory's Legion collects the shorter fiction. This is a long, completed central story, especially rewarding if you want ordinary shipboard competence to retain its value as the horizon changes.