Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jacket Blurb: 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 thousand 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.
Read for December's book group meeting.
The deal with the Expanse series is, this is classic Space Opera spanning six (now seven) books - not counting those little side stories. And I continue to adore this series because it's classic space opera. As with any series, there are some books that are a bit better than others - this one fell solidly in the middle.
War has come to the galaxy: Marco's Inaros in the name of the Free Navy, has dropped rocks on Earth effectively killing most of the planet. Filip is reeling and bitter from finding out Naiomi didn't space herself while still under Marco's thumb. Michia Pa has parted ways with Marco's realizing a need to get supplies to those in need and now Marco's is gunning for her. Avasarala, leader of Earth and parts of space is trying to keep people alive from Luna. Bobbie is now crew with Holden. James Holden and the crew of the find themselves in a very fine mess and it's a matter of who has the most ammunition when the shooting does start.
And I'm greatly summarizing here.
I felt that there were a lot more characters viewpoints in this book, and more than once it took a bit of mental prodding to figure out just who was "talking". Yes, the authors used the characters names at the top of each chapter, but sometimes I had to think back a bit to remember where they fit into the grand scheme of things.
This installment putters along getting everyone into place, then the shift into overdrive happens so fast that I felt a little discombobulated and had to go back and re-read a chapter or two to see if I missed something.
I didn't. The plot really did shift gears that fast.
Then just as suddenly, everything is over and it felt a bit anti-climatic.
That's not to say there aren't some little "ohhhh...isn't that interesting!" bits at the end. Which there are and had me grinning like a kid in a candy store.
But I felt like there should have been a tich more BANG and there wasn't.
As I noted above: this is great Space Opera, we'll be reading book seven in the new year. Recommended if you've read the first five in the series. If not - go and start from the beginning!
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