A rocky start, but overall a very high-action packed sci-fi thriller that fits perfectly in the series.

Story

Babylon’s Ashes picks up right after Nemesis’ Games. The crew is back together after their individual escapades and the battle for the solar system is about to begin. After getting their asses handed to them in Nemesis’ Games, it’s now time for the thin alliance between Earth and Mars to step up, and take the fight back to the agressor.

We start the story jumping from one POV to another, mostly to establish the current situation. To my chagrin, we spent way to much time looking through Filip’s eyes, observing the actions from the Free Navy’s POV. I’m sure he’s supposed to, but Filip comes of as an incredibly dimwitted, short-sighted, clearly-brainwashed kid, and I had nothing but contempt for him and having to ‘be’ inside his head for so many chapters really got on my nerves. Luckily, after we passed the halfway mark, things started to heat up and the action pretty much eliminated that issue.

World-building

Incredibly solid world-building as always. The Expanse is a series that prides itself on it’s science being correct, and it’s something that truly shines in all parts of the series.

Characters

Like I said, in the first half of the story I was annoyed with the POV more often than not, but the second half made up for it in spades. It’s not a bad thing, but maybe I just have too little patience with short-sighted dimwits ?

Writing

Great writing all around. Very clear and precise. A joy to read.

Conclusion

High octane fun, if you can stomach stupid youngsters for a while.