Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Orbit (New York, 2016). 1st edition, 1st printing. 544 pages. $27.00.
Description
"A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood. The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them. James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network. But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member JohnFair
Although this was apparently the sixth book in The Expanse series but, while there were some signs that some of these characters had a prior life, the fact that I hadn't read the relevant stories I didn't feel too lost, which is a tribute to Corey's abilities.
The Solar System is at war. After
After a peace mission almost goes down the pan before it starts, James Holden, captain of the Rocinante finds himself in command of the remnants of the loyalist inner system fleets and breakaway elements of the Free Navy but will they be able to land a decisive blow against the charismatic Marco Inaros, self-proclaimed Admiral of the Free Navy? For a solar system on the brink of extinction, the answers are of vital importance.
Cory is a well established author, and this shows through in the way that this book hangs together.
The Solar System is at war. After
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generations of virtual slavery to the Inner System corporations, the belters have decided to take things into their own hands and they've got access to all sorts rocks out there in the asteroid belt and Earth has been reduced to a dust choked shell of itself. Meanwhile out in the Belt the Free Navy enforce their own rules on the myriads of stations and bases scattered in the deeps of the system, not hesitating to strip them of anything required to keep their ships, and the fight going. After a peace mission almost goes down the pan before it starts, James Holden, captain of the Rocinante finds himself in command of the remnants of the loyalist inner system fleets and breakaway elements of the Free Navy but will they be able to land a decisive blow against the charismatic Marco Inaros, self-proclaimed Admiral of the Free Navy? For a solar system on the brink of extinction, the answers are of vital importance.
Cory is a well established author, and this shows through in the way that this book hangs together.
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LibraryThing member alexezell
Another excellent entry in this series. After the departure of Nemesis Games, this book felt more like one of the earlier books in the series. Lots of action and political intrigue and a splash of alien science for good measure. It may suffer from a decidedly and I believe intentionally
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anti-climactic ending but I believe that will all get repaid in the next book. Show Less
LibraryThing member majkia
I kept thinking, as the events in this unfolded, wow, I soooo want to see this in the SyFy series!
Immense events nearly break everything. Well, they do break a lot of things, and Holden and the crew, Avasarala and Fred Johnson fight to bring some sort of equilibrium to the solar system. But can
A culmination of events begun in book 1, so no surprise in the deeds, just in the execution of them.
Immense events nearly break everything. Well, they do break a lot of things, and Holden and the crew, Avasarala and Fred Johnson fight to bring some sort of equilibrium to the solar system. But can
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they do it?A culmination of events begun in book 1, so no surprise in the deeds, just in the execution of them.
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LibraryThing member Whiskey3pa
Another solid installent in The Expanse. The story really seemed to lag at Abandons Gate but has recovered it's momentum. There is enough closure to avoid being wholly unsatisfied, but plenty of threads unresolved to provide food for thought and speculation. Characters move in and out of relevance
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to events in a fluid way, which is a real feather in the author'(s) cap (s). Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
Twice, twice, after having established the multi-layer planning of their adversary our guys go harrying right straight after his forces - with only the slightest discussion that of what they might get into. Of course they survive, but I can't believe they should. Clarissa and her prior skill set is
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rather underused and her integration with the crew the merest hint. Lots of action, space battles, not much alien appears, this one is all about dealing with Marcus. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
At its sixth book the series still able to renew itself. After the world shattering events of the previous volume our heroes must face its inevitable consequence, war. Entertaining book with a real cliffhanger at the end. My only criticism is the main villain who is almost nothing more than a big
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lump of boring two dimensional cliche. Show Less
LibraryThing member StormRaven
Babylon's Ashes is the sixth book in the Expanse series, and is something of the second part of the story that was begun in Nemesis Games. As this novel opens up, the heroes have been reunited, but the Earth is still under siege and Inaros' splinter portion of the OPA still holds the alien gateway
The entire Expanse series of novels has a few themes running through it, and Babylon's Ashes is no exception. The only odd thing about this novel is that one of the themes is not "Holden makes any situation he comes into contact with worse", but the other - "Humans continue to try to kill one another in the face of inscrutable alien technology" - is definitely to be found here. The grievances that caused Inaros' and his followers to launch their attack on Earth are rooted in the very existence of the alien gateway to the stars that has formed the core storyline that runs through the entire series. Fearful at being left behind now that they are no longer needed, Inaros' radical group of Belters leveraged the existing grievances the denizens of the outer planets had before the protomolecule opened up a thousand new worlds to colonize, and once they had obtained a sufficient power base, they lashed out and murdered hundreds of millions of people on Earth, essentially wrecking the planet (and in the process, almost unthinkingly dooming the people they claimed to be representing). The interesting twist on the running theme is that even though the inscrutable alien technology is the primary driver of the conflict in this novel, it doesn't really appear in it much. The novel is essentially about the consequences of introducing humanity to alien forces, but none of those consequences actually flow from the actions of the alien presence.
This novel continues the practice of rotating between viewpoint characters in each chapter, but unlike previous volumes, the range of viewpoint characters is not limited to a handful of critical individuals. Instead, there are at least seventeen viewpoint characters in this novel, including both Chrisjen Avasarala, Fred Johnson, and Marcos Inaros. The most frequent viewpoint characters are Holden, who is as close as this series has to a central protagonist, and Pa, one of Marcos' fleet captains, but we also have chapters told from the perspective of other familiar character such as Amos, Alex, Naomi, Prax, Bobbie, and even Filip. This works to show just how expansive the conflict is as it reaches across the entire Solar System and affects nearly every human within it, and also emphasizes that every previous element of the series has been leading to the events in this volume, Equally important to the breadth of characters featured is exactly who is featured - the viewpoints expressed come from all sides of the conflict, and in many cases, multiple social levels within each side, resulting in a multifaceted perspective on the interplanetary war. Using the rotating viewpoint has always been an element of this series, but in Babylon's Ashes, the rotating viewpoint is not merely a literary device, it is an integral part of telling the story.
[More forthcoming]
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to the thousands of extra-Solar worlds. Even though Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos are reunited, and Avasarala and Bobbi have survived to try to salvage something out of the wreckage of the inner planets, the "free Navy" still seems to hold all the cards and our heroes still have their backs up against the wall.The entire Expanse series of novels has a few themes running through it, and Babylon's Ashes is no exception. The only odd thing about this novel is that one of the themes is not "Holden makes any situation he comes into contact with worse", but the other - "Humans continue to try to kill one another in the face of inscrutable alien technology" - is definitely to be found here. The grievances that caused Inaros' and his followers to launch their attack on Earth are rooted in the very existence of the alien gateway to the stars that has formed the core storyline that runs through the entire series. Fearful at being left behind now that they are no longer needed, Inaros' radical group of Belters leveraged the existing grievances the denizens of the outer planets had before the protomolecule opened up a thousand new worlds to colonize, and once they had obtained a sufficient power base, they lashed out and murdered hundreds of millions of people on Earth, essentially wrecking the planet (and in the process, almost unthinkingly dooming the people they claimed to be representing). The interesting twist on the running theme is that even though the inscrutable alien technology is the primary driver of the conflict in this novel, it doesn't really appear in it much. The novel is essentially about the consequences of introducing humanity to alien forces, but none of those consequences actually flow from the actions of the alien presence.
This novel continues the practice of rotating between viewpoint characters in each chapter, but unlike previous volumes, the range of viewpoint characters is not limited to a handful of critical individuals. Instead, there are at least seventeen viewpoint characters in this novel, including both Chrisjen Avasarala, Fred Johnson, and Marcos Inaros. The most frequent viewpoint characters are Holden, who is as close as this series has to a central protagonist, and Pa, one of Marcos' fleet captains, but we also have chapters told from the perspective of other familiar character such as Amos, Alex, Naomi, Prax, Bobbie, and even Filip. This works to show just how expansive the conflict is as it reaches across the entire Solar System and affects nearly every human within it, and also emphasizes that every previous element of the series has been leading to the events in this volume, Equally important to the breadth of characters featured is exactly who is featured - the viewpoints expressed come from all sides of the conflict, and in many cases, multiple social levels within each side, resulting in a multifaceted perspective on the interplanetary war. Using the rotating viewpoint has always been an element of this series, but in Babylon's Ashes, the rotating viewpoint is not merely a literary device, it is an integral part of telling the story.
[More forthcoming]
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LibraryThing member malcrf
Essentially the second part of a two-part story, so I just had to read this straight after Nemisis Games. Whilst I felt the latter had some padding, this was a belter (pun intended!). Full return to form for the most impressive multi-volume spare opera out there. Read and enjoy!
LibraryThing member jwilker
Another great entry! A good mix of action and further world building.
LibraryThing member Vinjii
Babylon's Ashes neatly wraps everything up that was started in Nemesis Games and actually might be a good stopping point if you're tired of this series. I won't stop though, since the entire reason I'm reading this series is because I thought the blurb of Persepolis Rising sounded amazing!
It's a
The Expanse continues to be a very entertaining space opera series, that I recommend to every science fiction fan.
It's a
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bit slower than the previous instalments and essentially a three star read with a four star ending. In my opinion there were too many POV characters and not enough Avasarala. She's one of my favourite characters in genre fiction and deserves her own book.The Expanse continues to be a very entertaining space opera series, that I recommend to every science fiction fan.
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LibraryThing member Gkarlives
All the sins of the human race have come home to roost. Can the players in the solar system bring the fractured remnants of the human societies together or will it all go down in flames as started in Nemesis Games? This is the point we have reached after six books in the Expanse Universe. In a
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rapidly changing solar system ancient grudges have boiled over and placed the human species on the brink of extinction. James Holden and the crew of the Rocinate must help Avarensala and the other leaders save what is left. Tall order, but the Rocinate crew have become used to such things. Another great ride from the writers of Leviathan Wakes. Show Less
LibraryThing member tduvally
Damn, I love this series!
LibraryThing member rivkat
In the wake of the near-total destruction of Earth, the remains of Earth, Mars, and the Belt scrap it out, with our favorite characters trying to hold together what Marco Inaros tried to destroy. It’s a hopeful entry in the series, despite all the preceding death, which we really needed at this
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point. General comment: I want someone to talk to about TV show Amos v. book Amos; it seems to me that the portrayal changed by becoming visual/physical, but maybe others disagree. Here’s a quote that seems unduly timely: “They underestimated the anger in the Belt. And the desperation. People want Inaros to be a hero, and so what he does, they interpret as heroism.” This book also has some set pieces that seem designed for filming, such as a hilarious montage in which a politician goes around telling people exactly what they want to hear about James Holden, directly contradicting whatever he said last (of course, he—did you think that Chrisjen could ever do such a thing? Fuck you, then). Show Less
LibraryThing member cindywho
The gang takes us on another roller coaster ride through the continuing apocalypse (damn rock throwers!) I was happy to get some Avasalara time, but Marcos ended up being flat and overplayed as a big bad.
LibraryThing member kinwolf
I admit, I'm getting burned out of the series. I jumped in for the secret of the protomolecule, but this series is more about the old same humanity always at war for always the same reasons.
LibraryThing member pwaites
While it doesn’t match the intensity of Nemesis Games, Babylon’s Ashes is another solid entry into the Expanse series.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Expanse, it’s a space opera where humanity has colonized Mars and the asteroid belt. Political intrigue, war, and some extraterrestrial
Babylon’s Ashes picks up right where Nemesis Games left off. Marco and his Free Navy are terrorizing the solar system. He’s got control of Ceres and he’s preventing colony ships from leaving the system. Earth, Mars, and the remnants of Fred Johnson’s OPA call upon the Rocinante to help them defeat Marco. Thanks to Naomi, they know him better than anyone else. Oh, and ships are still disappearing through the gate…
The major change with Babylon’s Ashes is that it throws out the POV structure established by previous books. Gone are the limits of only three or four POV characters. Babylon’s Ashes takes all the work done by the five prior books in character development to expand the chapters dramatically, giving a wide look at the conflict rocking the solar system. We get POV characters from prior books, like Avasarala and Clarissa, and new insights from characters like Fred Johnson and Filip.
I always expected the Expanse to go this route eventually, and it works well for Babylon’s Ashes. It does mean that we get less time with each individual character and that there’s not as much focus or character development. For the story that Babylon’s Ashes is, I think this is okay. It’s a very large-scale conflict, and it’s important to see it from a lot of different angles. Also I don’t get stuck with a bunch of chapters about a character I dislike!
Not that Babylon’s Ashes doesn’t have characters I dislike. Marco easily falls into the “love to hate” category. He’s undeniably the Expanse’s most memorable villain, partly due to his prior connection to Naomi. In our read along, there was a lot of discussion about Filip (Marco’s son) and Pa, one of Marco’s allies. Both receive a sizable number of chapters. Both are participating in war crimes, and both look like they might be getting redemption arcs. It’s weird. I wasn’t a huge Clarissa fan at first, but by Babylon’s Ashes I’m all like “Let Clarissa join the crew! Peaches!” But why do I feel differently about Pa and Filip? Especially Filip, who’s arguably been brainwashed by his father. In Clarissa’s case, we’ve had a couple book’s distance from what she’s done, and she’s also acknowledged that what she did was wrong and tried to face justice for it. I think I’d need to see similar from Filip and Pa to buy into any sort of redemption arc for them. For instance, I felt like Pa didn’t seem to care that Marco killed fifteen billion people.
One last character note: I loved Clarissa and Bobbie as additions to the crew! I was so excited when it looked like this would happen, and I’m glad to have more women join the team.
While Babylon’s Ashes doesn’t have the tight emotional focus that made me love Nemesis Games, it’s a satisfactory ending to this plot arc. It could even work as an ending to the series, if there wasn’t still the destroyer of civilizations hanging out there, among the stars…
Review originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Expanse, it’s a space opera where humanity has colonized Mars and the asteroid belt. Political intrigue, war, and some extraterrestrial
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discoveries make this a very exciting series. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it, and if you haven’t read it, head on over to my review of the first book, Leviathan Wakes. The Expanse is definitely a series you should read in order.Babylon’s Ashes picks up right where Nemesis Games left off. Marco and his Free Navy are terrorizing the solar system. He’s got control of Ceres and he’s preventing colony ships from leaving the system. Earth, Mars, and the remnants of Fred Johnson’s OPA call upon the Rocinante to help them defeat Marco. Thanks to Naomi, they know him better than anyone else. Oh, and ships are still disappearing through the gate…
The major change with Babylon’s Ashes is that it throws out the POV structure established by previous books. Gone are the limits of only three or four POV characters. Babylon’s Ashes takes all the work done by the five prior books in character development to expand the chapters dramatically, giving a wide look at the conflict rocking the solar system. We get POV characters from prior books, like Avasarala and Clarissa, and new insights from characters like Fred Johnson and Filip.
I always expected the Expanse to go this route eventually, and it works well for Babylon’s Ashes. It does mean that we get less time with each individual character and that there’s not as much focus or character development. For the story that Babylon’s Ashes is, I think this is okay. It’s a very large-scale conflict, and it’s important to see it from a lot of different angles. Also I don’t get stuck with a bunch of chapters about a character I dislike!
Not that Babylon’s Ashes doesn’t have characters I dislike. Marco easily falls into the “love to hate” category. He’s undeniably the Expanse’s most memorable villain, partly due to his prior connection to Naomi. In our read along, there was a lot of discussion about Filip (Marco’s son) and Pa, one of Marco’s allies. Both receive a sizable number of chapters. Both are participating in war crimes, and both look like they might be getting redemption arcs. It’s weird. I wasn’t a huge Clarissa fan at first, but by Babylon’s Ashes I’m all like “Let Clarissa join the crew! Peaches!” But why do I feel differently about Pa and Filip? Especially Filip, who’s arguably been brainwashed by his father. In Clarissa’s case, we’ve had a couple book’s distance from what she’s done, and she’s also acknowledged that what she did was wrong and tried to face justice for it. I think I’d need to see similar from Filip and Pa to buy into any sort of redemption arc for them. For instance, I felt like Pa didn’t seem to care that Marco killed fifteen billion people.
One last character note: I loved Clarissa and Bobbie as additions to the crew! I was so excited when it looked like this would happen, and I’m glad to have more women join the team.
While Babylon’s Ashes doesn’t have the tight emotional focus that made me love Nemesis Games, it’s a satisfactory ending to this plot arc. It could even work as an ending to the series, if there wasn’t still the destroyer of civilizations hanging out there, among the stars…
Review originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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LibraryThing member fancypantalons
Slow. Decent ending, but the journey wasn't worth the effort.
LibraryThing member libgirl69
Loving this series
LibraryThing member Guide2
Not a bad continuation with some interesting battles, but it's hard to imagine that the distances and travel time make sense really for these types of fleet maneuvers.
LibraryThing member Skybalon
Maybe you've watched the series, it is still well worth the read. Hard Science Fiction with a great narrative surrounding it. Is this trilogy as good as the first? Maybe not quite, but it still very good. I'd rank this one as 3rd best in the trilogy, but it really is quibbling at this point.
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Babylon’s Ashes by James S. A. Corey is book six in a nine-book series, but it feels a lot like Empire Strikes Back to me. In this, I mean that things are bad for our hapless Rocinante crew and don’t look like they are going to get better any time soon. The unthinkable already happened in the
All this action and desperation is a good thing. Much like in book five, Babylon’s Ashes is intense. In fact, one might say it is the most intense book to date, as the brewing conflict between the Outer Belt, Mars, and Earth comes to fruition. Let’s face it, it is a conflict we have been waiting to see since the first book. The thing is that the fight isn’t as satisfying as I expected. With the cast of characters different than expected, it seems a completely different fight. Mr. Corey helps this feeling along by making sure there is no such thing as a safe character.
Babylon’s Ashes is an excellent novel. That is, it is until the ending, which is so anticlimactic as to be a major disappointment. In truth, the ending is the very definition of a copout. It is also the result of lazy writing. In my opinion, it appears as if the duo behind Mr. Corey chose to take the easy way with an ending that works but is anything but satisfying rather than to take the time to finish what they started. Think the ending to Breaking Dawn but even less satisfying.
If it weren’t for that ending, Babylon’s Ashes would be another stellar story in a series of stellar stories. Until that ending, it ranked up there among my top favorites within the series itself. Still, until that point, it was pretty amazing, with battles and political maneuverings and the reintroduction of characters we first saw three books prior. The sheer number of narrators, which is pretty much every character ever introduced, adds even more because we get a wide view of the entire spectacle as it unfolds. If only the ending were not so spectacularly anti-climactic and lazy.
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previous book, but the crew and their allies find their options limited and shrinking ever smaller as this new force takes the stage. This means that the action is hot and heavy, and the stakes are as desperate as ever.All this action and desperation is a good thing. Much like in book five, Babylon’s Ashes is intense. In fact, one might say it is the most intense book to date, as the brewing conflict between the Outer Belt, Mars, and Earth comes to fruition. Let’s face it, it is a conflict we have been waiting to see since the first book. The thing is that the fight isn’t as satisfying as I expected. With the cast of characters different than expected, it seems a completely different fight. Mr. Corey helps this feeling along by making sure there is no such thing as a safe character.
Babylon’s Ashes is an excellent novel. That is, it is until the ending, which is so anticlimactic as to be a major disappointment. In truth, the ending is the very definition of a copout. It is also the result of lazy writing. In my opinion, it appears as if the duo behind Mr. Corey chose to take the easy way with an ending that works but is anything but satisfying rather than to take the time to finish what they started. Think the ending to Breaking Dawn but even less satisfying.
If it weren’t for that ending, Babylon’s Ashes would be another stellar story in a series of stellar stories. Until that ending, it ranked up there among my top favorites within the series itself. Still, until that point, it was pretty amazing, with battles and political maneuverings and the reintroduction of characters we first saw three books prior. The sheer number of narrators, which is pretty much every character ever introduced, adds even more because we get a wide view of the entire spectacle as it unfolds. If only the ending were not so spectacularly anti-climactic and lazy.
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
One thing I like about The Expanse is the way it structures each individual novel, and the way it plays with those structures. Book one had two alternating narrators; books two through five had four, though it didn't move through them in a strict rotation, instead bouncing back and forth as needed.
I wasn't sure what I thought about this. It definitely gives a wider perspective on events; some of the earlier novels, I think, struggled to place the events in the broader political and cultural context of the solar system. It's also nice to check in with characters such as Prax, who I suspect we will have no reason to hear from again. But it also prevents the book from obtaining a thematic unity because the character arcs that I think are supposed to be important don't have enough room. I feel like there was something about Holden's increasing awareness that doing the right thing is complicated that was too subdued to be clear; similarly, I think Michio Pa's arc was meant to resonate with that, but she often seemed to vanish from the narrative, and we would only hear about things she did, instead of see them. I think I would sacrifice hearing from Prax again to make that work better. I wanted to hear more from Filip, too, though I liked how his story arc ended.
I'm curious about where this series is going. The first trilogy was very directly about the protomolecule; the middle one was more about the consequences the protomolecule has had on the wider politics of humanity. I like that idea in theory, but I also found that the all three books of the middle trilogy were weaker than all three weeks of the first trilogy. I wonder if the protomolecule will come into increased prominence again in the final trilogy, and if the series will recover the energy and depth it had in the original trilogy. Babylon's Ashes was fine, at times very good, but I feel like there's a better version of it that could have existed.
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(Plus each book has additional narrators for the prologue and epilogue.) Book six initially seems like it's going to have six: we're introduced to four narrators in turn, then we cycle back to the first, then to the second. But then a fifth is added, then a sixth. All in all, Babylon's Ashes features sixteen narrators, though some just for a chapter or two.I wasn't sure what I thought about this. It definitely gives a wider perspective on events; some of the earlier novels, I think, struggled to place the events in the broader political and cultural context of the solar system. It's also nice to check in with characters such as Prax, who I suspect we will have no reason to hear from again. But it also prevents the book from obtaining a thematic unity because the character arcs that I think are supposed to be important don't have enough room. I feel like there was something about Holden's increasing awareness that doing the right thing is complicated that was too subdued to be clear; similarly, I think Michio Pa's arc was meant to resonate with that, but she often seemed to vanish from the narrative, and we would only hear about things she did, instead of see them. I think I would sacrifice hearing from Prax again to make that work better. I wanted to hear more from Filip, too, though I liked how his story arc ended.
I'm curious about where this series is going. The first trilogy was very directly about the protomolecule; the middle one was more about the consequences the protomolecule has had on the wider politics of humanity. I like that idea in theory, but I also found that the all three books of the middle trilogy were weaker than all three weeks of the first trilogy. I wonder if the protomolecule will come into increased prominence again in the final trilogy, and if the series will recover the energy and depth it had in the original trilogy. Babylon's Ashes was fine, at times very good, but I feel like there's a better version of it that could have existed.
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LibraryThing member tduvally
Damn, I love this series!
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
Less grim than the previous two books in this series, Babylon's Ashes simultaneously widens the number of narrative arcs followed, while telling a much narrower story than before. The first four books followed four characters plus Holden. Those characters never included the rest of the crew of the
As usual, the authors do best in their portrayals of a number of characters, and societies, with diverse goals and emotional triggers, and in keeping the story moving coherently and grippingly for 500+ pages. With many series, it can be hard to separate one book from another (I'm looking at you, Long Earth), but so far The Expanse has managed to tell a modern pulp space opera, with a consistent tone, but a diverse enough set of plotlines that a 7 books remain distinct.
Recommended, but not as a starter to the series.
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Rocinante. The fifth, Nemesis Games, flipped that and followed only the crew member. Now, Babylon's Ashes visits many characters, a few new, many from before, some only for a chapter or two. But these many characters are there primarily to tell one story: Naomi Nagata's former husband drive to defeat the rest of the solar system, particularly James Holden. Only passing references are made to the protomolecule, its long-gone makers, or the new colonies in other star systems, though the existence of those colonies is a motivating factor. As usual, the authors do best in their portrayals of a number of characters, and societies, with diverse goals and emotional triggers, and in keeping the story moving coherently and grippingly for 500+ pages. With many series, it can be hard to separate one book from another (I'm looking at you, Long Earth), but so far The Expanse has managed to tell a modern pulp space opera, with a consistent tone, but a diverse enough set of plotlines that a 7 books remain distinct.
Recommended, but not as a starter to the series.
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LibraryThing member sandra_gibbons
Babylon’s Ashes did a nice job of finalizing the major events from Nemesis Games, and left me with a sense of poetic hope in the form of Tolstoy.
In this 6th book, we spend a lot of time in the heads of Filip Inaros, Michio Pa, and Holden and crew, and there were some unexpected endings to some of
Avasarala is her riotous self; Bobbie, Alex, and Amos are in top form; Clarissa is getting settled, and Naomi still struggles with her feelings of failure as a mother to Filip and her responsibility to do good by humanity.
This book had some action-packed space battle scenes, but it felt more like a book 5 wrap-up and subsequent setup for the ongoing conflicts in the next one. Looking forward to it!
In this 6th book, we spend a lot of time in the heads of Filip Inaros, Michio Pa, and Holden and crew, and there were some unexpected endings to some of
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the characters which fell a little flat for me. We also get snapshots of some of the folks we haven’t seen in a while—Anna back on earth, and Prax. And we play around in Marco’s head.Avasarala is her riotous self; Bobbie, Alex, and Amos are in top form; Clarissa is getting settled, and Naomi still struggles with her feelings of failure as a mother to Filip and her responsibility to do good by humanity.
This book had some action-packed space battle scenes, but it felt more like a book 5 wrap-up and subsequent setup for the ongoing conflicts in the next one. Looking forward to it!
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Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2017)
Dragon Award (Winner — Science Fiction Novel — 2017)
Locus Recommended Reading (2016)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016-12-06
Physical description
544 p.; 6.5 inches
ISBN
9780316334747