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A review by tomasthanes
Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey
5.0
[b:Babylon's Ashes|25877663|Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse, #6)|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442247299s/25877663.jpg|45754030] is the sixth book in "The Expanse" series by [a:James S.A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. This book deals with .
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.
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). There was nice interaction between Bobbie and Amos (especially ).
I don't remember the term "Dusters" for Martians in earlier novels. It seemed more used by the Free Navy as a pejorative.
.
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 and . Just note that the seventh book, [b:Persepolis Rising|28335696|Persepolis Rising (Expanse, #7)|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481562381s/28335696.jpg|48382887], won't be available until December 2017.
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 representThe 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 earthSpoiler
in the assault on MedinaI 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