The Expanse series was my comfort a few years ago, during a time when I was seriously physically unwell. To me they are the best, up there with Dune, His Dark Materials, the works of Jo Walton, and Connie Willis. They are the fine steak and perfectly roasted vegetables, or the perfectly seasoned stew of beans and vegetables, of books- not just complete intellectual protein, but rich with the flavors of near future characters, future politics and the problems of humanity as very likely potential outcomes as a reflection of the issues we grapple with today, science of space travel and life that is plausible and thoughtful. I love these books. I last finished the series before later ones came out. I was pleased to find there were more, but anxious that they would just be a disappointment after the riches of the earlier books. These later ones are still riveting and satisfying. I would absolutely say please read the books before watching the show. But in this case we have the beyond rare luxury of a TV series that parallels the riches of the books and does justice to them, as its own standalone work of art. The series only enriches the Expanse. Which does not seem possible since the books are so good. I do not appreciate the white earth guy saves the world aspect of them, so my next stop is a return to the amazing Octavia Butler, with more insight into our society than I had when reading her work as a child. Meanwhile, The Expanse held me tight with 1. The other compelling characters and philosophical cultural and scientific quandaries in the series, and 2. By this point the books are more fully than ever fully acknowledging and making clear, and the TV series framed right out of the gate, the human problems of colonialism, ethnic and gender oppression, marginalization of "other" - when "other" is just a dangerous construct- disconnection from each other, might makes right, and greed that humanity is likely to be stuck with as long as we exist... but that we may also be able to recognize and heal. So... it just keeps getting better and I don't look forward to the end of the series, TV or novels. But I'm the richer for having experienced them. And I wonder how many times I'll keep re reading and re watching. I'll have to grieve for a while when there are no more episodes novellas or novels.. but after that I'll be back to my happy place.

James S.A. Corey’s Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, 6) follows on the heels of his Nemesis Games. Earth is in dire straights after the “Free Navy” bombarded it with asteroids. Billions are dead and the rest are refugees living under falling ash and dirt. Filip, Naomi’s son, now knows she’s still alive–and he blames Holden for her having left him and his father, even though Holden had nothing to do with it. Medina Station (in the middle of the alien gates) has been repurposed as a sort of Belter homeland, while Captain Michio Pa thinks maybe there’s something wrong about following Marco (Naomi’s ex and the architect of the current disasters). The Rocinante and her crew are on their way to confront a ship that may be the one hurling rocks at Earth, and they have Bobbie on board now. And Marco’s true colors are showing through–he claims to be working for the benefit of the Belters, but he’s all too happy to abandon them as it suits his goals.

We’re getting to see the effects of the war on various people, governments, and sectors. A couple of old characters from a previous book (Pastor Anna and her family) make a reappearance as refugees on Earth. We get to see Avasarala interacting with one of her granddaughters (I may have cried a little). Prax shows up briefly regarding a particularly useful new strain of yeast that could help ease Earth’s hunger crisis.

I love the fact that relationships include a variety of orientations and situations. Pastor Anna has a wife. Michio Pa is in a plural marriage that’s accepted as perfectly normal by those around them. Holden and Naomi have never bothered getting married despite the closeness and length of their relationship. Holden’s eight parents are also in a plural marriage, although it’s partially for convenience.

This entire book, actually, is about tribes and families (really, so is the entire series), of every kind. Marriages, parent-child relationships, romantic love, and more get explored against a magnificent backdrop of military science fiction with plenty of action. There’s also a good theme of whether humanity deserves to be admired or reviled, and where that line lies.

The big problem coming up is the viability of the new economy. One of Marco’s advisors is very clear on the fact that certain things have to be accomplished by certain times in order to make sure that the Belt becomes self-sustaining within five years, which is how much time they have before the situation becomes critical. Unfortunately, Marco doesn’t entirely care about such worldly matters, so not everything is getting done.

It’s also fascinating to explore one station that’s taken over by the Free Navy and how the people there live–the ones who support the Free Navy, the ones who don’t, and the ones who just want to do their jobs and live in peace.

This is a great continuation of the series!

Once again, I couldn’t put the book down once I got started, even with all the stuff I had going on in my life, I was still able to read the entire novel in less then 3 days. It would have been less, except life, sleep and other things intruded.

I really enjoyed this novel due to the use of the various differing viewpoints it shared. I thought it was very well done that so many past characters each would get an occasional chapter, and possibly even show how their interactions with how the Roci crew impacts their current lives, even still, years later.

A good example of this was Prax. An obviously intelligent man who usually just keeps his head down and most of his enjoyment in life is either his daughter, his new family or his dataset runs while tweaking the biology of plants and systems with his expertise and knowledge. That his past made him aware when things changed this time on Ganymede was well said. That he decided to act because of simple outreach videos that originally started with Holden, was a great tie-in.

The Expanse series is good at showing the basic pettiness of humanity as well as the best that some strive for. I always hope that in our real lives we get more of the best, but sadly it seems the petty and harsh parts seem to always get the limelight. It makes the novel a lot more realistic because it shows humanity is still both, petty and magnanimous.

I find the stories of people’s relationships to be very believable as our culture continues to change and grow. How the authors give the reasoning behind group marriages was a well thought out and believable concept. Such as for Holden’s family that allowed them to have their land and farm but also allowed them to bring a child into the world, wherein if it was just a couple, it likely couldn’t have occurred. Pa’s marriage family but also being her shipmates under her as captain, or just having Holden make the Roci crew into a family unit, different then Pa’s but similar.

The one area I find pushing the boundaries of believability is that Holden and the Roci are always in the perfect spot and the right time or that suddenly they figure out a necessary puzzle’s answer that saves them at the last minute. Like with the gate system and missing ships. With as many ships that had disappeared, it seems unlikely Naomi would be the first to get the data to find the necessary cause of it, and then reproducing it so quickly as needed. I understand they are the heroes of the story and they need to be central to the action and to find a way to save the day, but there is believability and then there is just wishful fantasy. I wish they brought the realities back in line and not just create a magic answer when it’s needed, no matter how much foreshadowing they do throughout to get you to this magic response. At least in the previous novels, you could blame some of the last minute saves and spectacular scenarios that occurred on the alien protomolecule and Miller as the architect using Holden. This one didn’t have that ready made excuse though.

Though this is a work of fiction, with the exception of the above comment, I can easily see this is how our race could evolve when we finally are able to reach for the stars. When we do get there, I hope that we have a lot more people like the Roci crew and people like Prax, Pastor Anna, Bobbie Draper and Avasarala and less of those like Marcos Inaros. Though likely it will be a mix of both just as this series shows it, I will continue to hope for more of the better qualities as humanity grows.

Looking forward to a new novel in James S.A. Corey's Expanse space opera series has become an annual event in my household, and it was no different with the 6th and latest entry in the series, BABYLON'S ASHES. I might also point out that every time an announcement came out that the novel was delayed there was much anguish not only here at the homestead in Illinois but in Colorado as well with the other half of the Duel Fish Codices pair wailing loudly enough to be heard all the way back to Chicagoland (okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point). The Expanse is that seemingly rare breed of action, heroism, great deeds, space battles, terrific characterization, and excellent writing that your high school English teacher, who may not approve of you reading science fiction, would be fond of.

When last we left the Expanse universe, the Earth was a planet in ruins. The Free Navy, led by Marco Inaros, has dumped rocks onto the planet's surface, destroying the planet's infrastructure and killing millions. His goal is to remake the political structure of the Solar System. He has begun attacking colony ships, those vessels heading for the ring gates to get out of the Solar System and start new lives of their own. He feels his people, the Belters, have been given the short straw all throughout their existence, and it's time to start a new regime with his people on the top of the food chain. The Earth and the Martian Navy are weak and without enough power to stop him - and pretty much everyone in the Solar System other than his own people want to stop him. Even some of his own people are turning against him. But Inaros is power mad and a megalomaniac who sees that he can do no wrong, that his plan is the best for his people. It will succeed.

Of course, this is where James Holden and the rest of the crew of the Rocinante come in. What's left of the Earth and Martian governments - let's face it, for all intents and purposes, this means my personal favorite character of the entire series, Chrisjen Avasarala - enlist the aid of the crew if the Roci to try to take over Medina Station out at the Rings to attempt to stop Inaros from wreaking even more havoc. And while they're out there, Holden and the crew discover something that is more sinister and worrying than the Free Navy (and thus setting things up for the next book, PERSEPOLIS RISING, presumably to be published later this year (and thus restarting the whole looking forward to a new Expanse novel thing I wrote earlier in this review).

BABYLON'S ASHES is quite a departure from the previous two books in the series, 2014's CIBOLA BURN and 2015's NEMESIS GAMES. CIBOLA BURN took us outside the Solar System for the first time, going to a colony planet where Holden has to play - what else? - peacemaker. NEMESIS GAMES brought us back to the Solar System, but more importantly had a very small cast of characters - basically the crew of the Rocinante itself - who have to deal with their own personal struggles while the Solar System collapses around them. In BABYLON'S ASHES, the whole world has already crumbled around them, and they are charged with trying to pick up the pieces. To tell this story requires a massive cast of characters, several subplots and storylines, and just a whole lot of juggling of things not only for the characters but the authors (Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham, the writers who collectively make up James S.A. Corey) themselves.

I'm not completely convinced that Corey could have written this novel six years ago when the series began with LEVIATHAN WAKES. As the series has gone on, Corey has grown as a writer - which in part means, I'm sure, that Frank and Abraham have gotten the collaboration act down to an art form (or maybe a science - who knows?) and can feed off each other really well. LEVIATHAN WAKES was terrific because it was the type of story a lot of us have been waiting for, but BABYLON'S ASHES is that and a whole lot more. Corey manages to weave intricate plotting with characters that we care about in a feat of one handed juggling that is a sight to behold.

Yeah, I loved the book. Can you tell?

So, Jefferson Mays. I cannot possibly say enough about his narration of the book. I look forward to listening to these books almost as much as I do reading them in the physical form. His voice is perfect for the story. His voicing of Chrisjen Avasarala is the single, biggest reason I'm going to miss that character when the series ends, supposedly, after the ninth book. Every time a chapter that featured Avasarala began, a smile came across my face. Mays voicing her profane, no holds barred character is perfect.

The Expanse novels keep getting better. Trust me. We'll all be looking forward to the next book.

Basically, this is "life in war time," solar system edition. The book isn't focused on military engagements so much as how people are dealing with the war. Nineteen different people get at least one chapter. Besides the POVs of the Rocinante crew, we get chapters representing Marcos Inaros, the megalomaniac leader of The Free Navy; his son Filip; a few Belters working on Medina Station; biologist Prax Meng, whom you might recall from Caliban's War; Michio Pa, whom you might recall from "Abaddon's Gate;" the delightfully foul-mouthed Chrisjen Avasarala, and more.

I enjoyed the diverse assembly of viewpoints. It kept me engaged, which might've been difficult to do considering what little actually transpires during this 544-page behemoth. There's a lot of waiting around for things to happen, but from what I've read elsewhere, that's often what happens in war.

With the exception of Marcos, no one is really painted as evil. The authors try to show how there are good people on all sides, that the circumstances of one's life leads one to make choices, join a team that makes empty promises. There are obvious parallels to life in Axis-occupied Europe during WW2 or even the Soviet Union: propaganda everywhere, dissenters disappearing in the night, secret police interrogations, everyday people just trying to keep their heads down to avoid suspicion and sometimes failing. There's hope that everything will be alright until something happens that affirms that things are actually very wrong.

I particularly enjoyed Alex's two chapters which dealt with the importance of finding an emotional connection, someone to share your downtime with before you ship out again—and might very well die. Alex is out at a bar with his crewmates from the Roci and sharing stories with Fred Johnson's crew, deflating the tension from battle. He finds himself exchanging flirtations with one of them.

He didn't know if the way her eyes were locked on his was a sign of how drunk she'd gotten, the beginning of an erotic invitation, or a little bit of both. Either way, he found himself smiling back.

Her knee pressed against Alex's in a way that was absolutely innocent. Unless it wasn't, in which case it absolutely wasn't. ... And later... ... Maybe it was only that he knew how much the war might take from them all, and she was his chance to refill some cistern of his heart and body that there wasn't going to be time for later. A place of gentleness and affection and pleasure like a hurricane eye.

Now if only the ending hadn't been so Deus ex Machina, I probably would've really enjoyed it. Enough hints had been dropped, from the end of "Nemesis Games" right up through a certain investigation in this one, to know tthe way it's going to end. Still, the resolution of this middle trilogy wasn't satisfying. But I guess it's ok because I still have three more books to go.

This book neatly wraps up A LOT of story arcs. It also takes the approach of the last book and gives you a ton of viewpoints. I personally do not care for this. I feel it is more clever when a story is written so that you can experience it from less eyes rather than, hey this person's POV would be cool during this battle, lets write about it! That said I loved the fifth book, maybe because the fourth book was such a huge deviation from the their typical style.

Regardless, if you are reading this series, I doubt one terrible book will stop you and this is still a pretty decent novel. I love this series, beyond specific writing choices or flaws, the authors have managed a very approachable science fiction series while still maintaining a decent amount of realism and faith to actual principals of science.

Read this one, smile as they close several plot threads and then keep waiting for more information about the aliens. From the way this one ends, I have a feeling the next one will finally get back to them.

So, after the exciting, pulse driven, and bombastic 5th book, the 6th book, which entails the full blown "war" between the Martians, Earthers, and Belters, moves at a snail's pace and rehashes storylines, character arcs, and spend a lot of time with new unkown characters that seem to go nowhere.

If you've made it this far then surely you are a fan of the Racenante and it's crew, but you'll find yourself missing them here. While they finally get some decent "screen time" towards the end...most of the book is told through the narration of new characters and spends a massive portion in stories that take us far away from our beloved crew. For the final showdown where all the cards are on the table, this felt like a poor decision by the authors.

Some low light take-aways..(possible minor spoilers)

Remember Havelock? The former partner of Miller that was a decent enough guy who worked with Belters and even helped Miller out finding pieces of his Mao puzzle after leaving Ceres and the force...and then came back 3 books later as a Belter hater and enemy to the Racenante...because...um...he takes on the personality of those around him and he worked for people who had these views, at least that was the reasoning given at the time... We'll meet the female version of him in Pa, arguably the main character of this book...who was a tertiary character 2 books back...now she hates Fred and the OPA and all the Earthers and Martians, because her secret, out-of-the-blue girlfriend was killed (by a Belter no less) and Fred made her too important when she felt she was too green....whatever. So now she is the main military and navy captain of Inaros Free Navy and pirating colonial ships while Earth is destroyed by her pals... But just as Havelock learns the error of his ways...so too does she.

Remember Clarissa Mao, the embodiment of daddy issues who goes on a homicidal ramage bent on destroying James Holden and the Racenante....Meet Filip Inaros, the male version...with daddy issues that make Mao seem petty, who is hell bent on destroying the Racenante and James Holden and the crew....hmmm...wonder how this is gunna turn out.

Now let's go check on some Belters in Medina station who we have never met before...let's spend 6 or so chapters getting their points of view on Earth, and Inaros, and what life is like for a Belter (because we don't have enough Belter points of view). Let's read about them fixing the ship and installing weapons, and drinking beer. And then let's show half of the final battle from their point of view as they drink beer and watch it on tv...and then let's forget about them because they have no point, and end their story there...seriously.

Prax is back...but as much as I liked his character and it's nice to see him again, I wish he wasn't. Let's spend 5 chapters on a story line that is tangentially attached to the main one and goes nowhere. Bye again Prax.

High-lights

Avasaralla makes me laugh...and we get a decent enough amount of her. Mao is growing on me. The highlights are a much shorter list.

For the shortest book in the series so far, (at least by how my ereader broke it down) that so much time is spent learning so many new characters, getting points of view from these characters-which you have no attachment to- and having so many rehashed plot points it made the book a slog and bore to get through....3 evenings for me...compared to 1 evening for the 5th book. I kept putting it down and finding other things to do. Tension is minimum, a lot of the big events are told in the rears after they happen in reflections after you know who is victorious. Just a really poor ending to the whole war of humanity and the solar system. Maybe some of these characters will show up in the the next book or 2 books from now and they will all have switched sides...again...but I'm not getting on it as I've been told 30 years passes between this book and the next...so the final 3 novels of the series are like their own trilogy of sorts. Hopefully it makes up for this.

Coming back and doing reviews of the previous works as I make my way through the story makes me feel a bit lazy considering I usually do my reviews right away. Honestly though I need some time to think. The series overall started out strongly and remains entertaining to some degrees. However I also get the feeling that they might not have known where the series is going and needed material to keep the show going perhaps. While we again see many third person limited povs most of them are familiar this time, so that does help the flow. At the same time it feels meandering. The story kind of goes off on a few different places setting up some key points that come in hand in the end but really are not engrossing for the most part.

A three star rating is usually pretty good for me but considering the top of work this is it is a sign of disappointment. The excitement isn't really there for me and I do love me some sci-fi.  For this book of the series I can't really say it's really anything with the political or social meanings of the authors as they've shown in previous works. While it is still there it's okay. It's more the story in plot elements don't really pull you through the story. You jump between characters, and while there are some good emotional moments and some satisfying relationship elements between friends, I found myself disengaging from the story when I should have been pulled in.

For me a lot of the series is a bit off because of the story beats with the multiple point of view chapters switching gears between plot points subplots and catching up with what's going on in certain locales, just doesn't work together when taken as a whole. Some series can pull it off but there is a limit to how many points of views and story lines that can be carried by singular book.  It helps to have a few point of views that you continually see throughout a series, but within this series you get offten the new and out of the blue point of views with each book which brakes pacing and makes the reader readjust. By the time the reader is back with the story we jump point of view again.

To be honest the series does feel like it was written more to be shown on TV than in book form at this point of it.