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 1,000 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.
The sixth volume of the Expanse series is the best yet! “Babylon’s Ashes” is an excellent sequel to “Nemesis Games”, replacing the darkness and destruction with hope in the form of new alliances. Old friends, as well as old enemies are back, some problems are solved, and some are left hanging for book seven. Bobbie features prominently and even Ms. Mao becomes an accepted crew-member of the Rocinante. I don’t want to go into too much for fear of spoiling it for future readers, so let me say that this book is just what the Expanse fan…
Latest book in the series moves the main story by fits and starts–not my favorite book in the series but not bad either. When Frank Herbert wrote his massive Dune series, there were a couple of books that felt like they were holding operations until the NEXT big book. The action was sometimes perfunctory and the characters were not very well developed with the concepts remaining the glue that bound the series together. Likewise, the last book by George R.R. Martin that pushed the Game of Thrones series forward had long sections with characters that weren’t well developed and, frankly, many that we didn’t care…
Solid continuation of the series, but parts of it are starting to drag… Like the series, this book begins strong then meanders It’s a solid 3.5 stars. It justifies the continuation of the series, and parts of it were solidly good. But each additional book seems more like trying t justify the series as a whole than individual books/stories. This one felt a bit bloated: some of the side characters weren’t particularly interesting, and quite a few of the most tantalizing threads are either not or not satisfyingly resolved.Â