Reviews

This is another great entry in The Expanse. I would actually give it 4.5 stars as it is a step down from the full throttle burn of Nemesis Games, but the expanded perspective lends emotional depth and viewpoints on all sides of the conflict. This novel in many ways is a duology with Nemesis Games and focuses on the aftermath of that novel. If you're reading these you need to start from the start, and if you're still reading then you know what you want - and Babylon's Ashes delivers. I do wish I had reread Nemesis Games immediately prior to starting this one to refresh my mind on some of the more minor plot points

Personal note: thanks to me sitting in the last 2/3rds of this until I could focus on it after a busy winter and spring at work, I was able to continue a tradition of reading The Expanse while on the beach on the family vacation. 3 out of 4 years now (Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games, none, and now Babylon's Ashes.)

rob's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Content Warnings

tomasthanes's review against another edition

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5.0

Spoiler

the war of Marcos Inaros again the Inner Planets (general) and James Holden and Naomi Nagata (specific), a pointless and vengeful war of destruction with no ultimate benefit to the Belters he claims to represent

.

The entire story was about change. "He'd seen what it was like for a place to change in ways that didn't change back."

It's been interesting to watch James Holden change through the series of books. He has become a bit more hardened even though he still holds onto his optimism. "Against all evidence, I keep thinking the assholes are outliers." He does

Spoiler

transition from "James" to "Jim"

.

I also liked Michio Pa's character. If she was in earlier books, I didn't notice her. The author brought her into the spotlight in this novel. She has a strong and dominant role that will play out into the future. Her relational foundation is a polyamorous family.

I liked Sanjrani's role in Inaros' alliance. He was the economic adviser of how to organize resources, production, and the economy to improve the life of the outer planets (and, to be true, the system as a whole) and how totally he was ignored by Inaros. "The first thing we did," he said, "was destroy the biggest source of wealth and complex organics in the system. The only supply of complex organics that work with our metabolisms." He was looking at the big picture while Inaros was tremendously focused.

Amos was starting to use nicknames for some of the characters: "Babs" for Bobbie Draper and "Peaches" for Clarrisa Mao (even though this started in the previous novel

Spoiler

while they were still on earth

). There was nice interaction between Bobbie and Amos (especially

Spoiler

in the assault on Medina

).

I don't remember the term "Dusters" for Martians in earlier novels. It seemed more used by the Free Navy as a pejorative.

Spoiler

Rest in peace, Fred Johnson.

.

Lots of interesting ideas about the practical application of then contemporary technology. For example, "Old hand terminals had been fixed to each [magnetic pallet], showing what it contained, where it had come from."

There were a number of passages that were better than average words (in better than average science fiction): "The air recycler's fan had a little noise to it, resonant and unsteady. Wind passing over a bottle's mouth. Mindless, idiot music." and "Older people in academic-looking rumple" and "pleasant as potting soil". These phrases just resonated pleasantly in the back of my mind like a low-pitched temple gong.

We are pleasantly setup for the next novel with

Spoiler

Duarte coming back

and

Spoiler

Naomi thinking that her son, Filip, is dead

lhirl's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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