Book Six of the Expanse (now a major TV series on Netflix)

Great fights. Great struggles. Humanity realizing that depravity isn't what drives most of us but we're too scared to stop the monster before and as he rises. It happened before. I will happen again.

This book was wildly disappointing. Glacial pacing, missed the main characters, “new” perspective of Pa is just...awful. I have been so excited for every new book, but this one was so meh that I returned it. May get the new one from the library, see if it’s worth coming back, but this one...ugh.

This book took longer to get started than others. The first half of the book spends a lot of time jumping from character to character and from storyline to storyline. The book becomes very enjoyable once all the threads tie together. The most memorable scene in this book is one of the space battles which is the best I've read in recent memory.

James Corey is the king of deus ex machina writing. If you like poor writing with the use of acts of god to resolve all the problems in your stories, this guy is your guy. Virtue signaling, nauseating political correctness, all those things make up these books.

I love how the series keeps expanding (pun intended) its scope and depth while keeping focused on the main characters who continue to grow in complexity rather than becoming caricatures of themselves as the series gets older.

It seems one would require three or four masters degrees to cover all the background of space travel and the physics of combat in space and another two or three to assemble the story, the characters, the political framework within which the events take place, and moral struggles with which the characters must deal. A very good read.

Another great installment of the expanse world. It's quite the shame that this series doesn't get the acclaim or exposure over the fake sci-fi stories like star wars and star track. I hope this one gets done and put to video just like the first few books.

I've greatly enjoyed the Expanse book series (the TV series as well) and was glad to see the final outcome, which was satisfying in virtually every way. My only caveat was the prose at times became MUCH too talking; it just didn't seem like it lent much to the overall effect of the novel. I found my self skipping thru the backchat until the story started moving again. Otherwise, good.

If you have invested the time to read the preceding Expanse series novels, this book answers a few more questions while setting the characters up for new challenges. If you're an Expanse series fan, you'll love this book. If you're not yet a fan, read the first Expanse novel, "Leviathan Wakes,"

I love the series and loved this book. These guys really knock it out of the park. It's space opera, but it's great. It's fully developed and really feels like this could be the future. It's not too far out there.

Don't read this until you've read the others before it.

It’s a good, compelling narrative. But it suffers from being the 6th book in the series. The tension and drama of it all seem a bit tired now, and I found myself spacing out at times instead of directly listening to the story. Not that the story is bad... I enjoyed it. I would listen again, when I inevitably restart the series to hype me up for book 8 in December.
Great work James S.A. Corey!

A friend once told me, why do all stories eventually devolve to war. I told him you need a protagonist and an antagonist, but now I agree with him. What makes The Expanse novels great is the glimpse into another reality. Conflict can come from a lot of places. I enjoyed the tension of The Belt, Mars, and Earth. I would have liked to have seen that tension evolve around the colonies rather than devolve to war.

I enjoyed it like a guilty pleasure, In full knowledge that the resolution of the final conflict was contrived and too many loose ends were left to dangle. On the other hand, the depth of the universe they have imagined leaves plenty of room for sequels, and co-authors, and the characters became real over the course of the story, and I liked them, and wanted them to win. :-{)}

The first books in the series gave me nightmares ,so I've been invested in these books. I was greatly anticipating the release of Babylons ashes. If you're a follower of the expanse books or the TV series you will not be disappointed. I'll not give any spoilers here, but to say very well written and wonderful plot twists .

Don't bother, everyone dies. just kidding! Most series are getting stale after three or four books the Expanse series just keeps on cooking. This book wraps up allot and it will be very interesting to see were we go next. Whatever the direction, I cant wait until next year.

My paperback copy had missing pages. Pages 123-154 were repeated and 155-186 are missing. I felt like I missed a huge chunk of the story, and not sure how many copies of this book are affected or if it's just mine.

Easily my least favorite of the novels so far. Can this even be called Sci-Fi when it is just politics and pointless drama? You could easily change the names of the locations in this book to villages / towns during any of a hundred different points in Earth's history and miss nothing in the translation. In fact, wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that Babylon's Ashes was inspired by an eighth grade history book. Give me some sentient alien goop, hard radiation, proto-zombies and keep your stupid meetings and 1,000 page business plans!

Great wrap up to the second Expanse trilogy. One of the best books in the series. Full of great political intrigue and SF action. Surprisingly funny. Some of the best SF being written today. Looking forward to the third trilogy (and the second season of the excellent tv adaptation on SyFy).

This series started out like gangbusters, but this volume dragged. It felt like filler and many of the newer characters are annoying and not well filled out. I think the series should have expanded out into the new systems, not have a war in the old. This and volume five, with the exception of Amos (my favorite character) and the redemption of Clarisse, felt like too butter over too little bread. Will I read the next book? Maybe.

I find it challenging to express my appreciation for The Expanse world of Holden, Avasarala, Earth, Mars, the Belt, and The Ring. And Anna. This world fills my heart with a deeper appreciation of our own.

With deep character, story, and world development, and more than enough heart and ambiguity to match its intelligence, this series has forced me to shed my aversion to declaring favorites. I'm half a century old and this series satisfies, thrills, drives me nuts with suspense, feeds my mind, and touches my heart like nothing else I've experienced. Buy Leviathan Wakes and you will be hooked.

This is the most recent in the Expanse series and it does not disappoint. By this time, the characters are fully fleshed out and you feel like you know them. Always full of surprises and it sets up brilliantly for follow on books. Can't wait for the next one.

World building with bricks made of solid characters.

From start to finish we see the building of characters as they form and stack one on the next a deep gallery of gals and guys who's life form from serendipity and sorrow. More real then real for their depth created in this frictional world. Moments build often with joy when in interplay with the others characters and places. The ships and station and space characters as deep and bold as the people in this grand grand space opera.

I can't wait to read the next and the next and the next ...

Ah ,also what a great thing that SiFi has decided to give this series men and women of depth and color and strength too. Giving this story another stage to play out this incredible story.

Let it all
Play on and on and on

The Expanse on Netflix TV was taken from the first book of this series, and didn't finish that book. This is the sixth book. The story finishes but I can see a 7th book to come. As before entertaining. Recommend the series and the TV show.

As always the characters and interaction is outstanding, but a huge gorilla in the room was left unresolved. Without spoiling the seeming purposeful avoiding one of essential protagonists of this saga kept me from giving 5 stars. When I reached the final chapter I said immediately, " There's a 7th book, right?"

Awesome writing. I've read every book in the series and I'm looking forward to more. This book is more politics and intrigue and less spooky alien stuff. But if you liked any of the other books in the Expanse series then this one isn't going to disappoint.

Just finished watching The Expanse Season 2 Finale and very good cliffhanger. I've closed with the Expanse book/television characters and kudos for staying to script. Please do not get too commercially-Hollywood motivated that it denigrates this excellent science fiction book series. It is in the realm of Asimov's and Herbert's legacy formats

Good continuation of the story, however it feels like this book is just a bridge to a bigger story. Kind of a way to clean up some lose ends before the next book. I liked it but it felt more like the second half of the last book then a story on it's own.

Its hard to bounce back after the epic that precedes this novel. As a result the rising action and climax dont hold the same intensity as the previous books. Measured by itself its a great book however when compared to the rest of the series I felt a little let down.

True to the already well established style and story, "Babylon's Ashes" leads you to the eventual endpoint that as in history itself, had to happen. And in the process explains why the series is called The Expanse. Truly awesome storytelling,!

Its an interesting continuation of the political aspects of the story, but neglects the alien aspects. A proper setup for what's to come I suppose. I'm not sure I'm enjoying the story as much anymore, but I am hooked on the characters and would read one more book to see where it goes.

The first three novels were excellent (pulpy, trashy, but excellent). This one is excruciating; I began hoping the bad guys would win and kill everyone, and then I stopped reading. Think I'm done with this series (the TV show is quite enjoyable, however!).

I can only hope the authors continue to write more books and continue the story. Loved it like all the others. The political stories seem especially relevant now, and show the authors grasp of human nature and history perfectly

As always, a fantastic offer from James S. A. Corey, "Babylon's Ashes" sets out to resolve the issues raised in Nemesis Games. While avoiding spoilers, the end of the book may well shift the paradigm again, as happened at the end of the third book "Abaddon's Gate".

I would strongly recommend this book to any fan of science fiction, and particularly to those who are fans of "hard" science fiction.

Excellent addition to the series! Feels like Nemesis Games ended up being too long for one book and was split in two. Babylon's Ashes is part two of the events started in Nemesis Games. Fans of the series won't be disappointed!

Excellent, realistic view of how factions might react in the face of sudden existential changes in their universe, i.e. OPA factions dealing with being bypassed by gateways to other worlds. No aliens, no protomolecule, only a gritty look at the political chess game between three major players on a solar system wide scale. This read went fast as it sets the stage for the next book, eagerly awaited.

As always the writers do a great job with providing the reader with a well conceived book. My reduced rating stems from how this work really seemed to drag on far more than what has been their norm. While I still do recommend reading, be prepared to slog through some parts.

I made the mistake of reading other reviews before reading this book so maybe there might be a slight bias. This book feels like a book in between that is just there to keep the story going. It's a good book full of the witty prose they are known for just not as engaging as some of the others in the series.