Babylon's Ashes

Book Six of the Expanse

By: James S. A. Corey

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

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 1,000 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.

©2016 James S. A. Corey (P)2016 Little Brown Book Group

Anti-climactic end

Amazing characters, but the ending wasn't that good. It was too abrupt and ambiguous I think.

A good continuation

A good continuation of the story. A lot of potential in the universe still unexplored.

First book of the series that was a bit less good

So far I've loved this series, and all books including this one have been good, there's been very few moments when I felt like I something in the story makes no sense or that "why would they do that? it makes no sense" there are some things like the way the belter creole works that seems an unrealistic way for it to evolve, as someone interested in linguistics this is something I just have to accept though. However in this book the main problem with the story is how hard it is to keep track of where they are going and why. It is also hard to tell how much time passes in parts of the story, because of this, it often is hard to follow I got bored and uninterested which I never got in the previous books. Also the characters' behaviour are many times not realistic, like Marco's crew, and how characters who act in impossible and unreasonable manner are tolerated even in extremely serious and grave situations.
So this is the first book in the series where I will give it a lower score. The previous ones in the series got highest scores from me.
Babylon's Ashes only get this:
Overall: ★★★★☆
Performance: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★☆☆
Performance still gets top score as Jefferson Mays manages to be lively and exciting, and any range of emotions from any character, he does convincingly, without ever sounding silly or over-the-top.
Also this is the first series where I have been listening to most of it in higher than 1x speed, usually 1.10x or 1.15x speed. Any speeds between 0.90 and 1.20 sound good, and - I would say - completely natural. Which has not been the case with most audiobook productions I've listened to. Even 1.25 sounds fine most of the time, but at some points it sounds a little unnatural.

This is the best sci-fi of the era, period

Having orbital mechanics playing major role in the story is not just an added bonus. This book is filled with actual real physics... and a bit more.

The expanse is the best series!.

I highly recommend It from start to finish. I can't wait to listen to the next one.

Awesome as always

I just can't stop listening to this series and I dread for the day when the last book is released.

Story is obviously taking place in the same universe as the previous books but this time centered around Earth, Mars and the belt. We learn a lot more about the back story of the main characters while they are all on their separate journeys for the first part of the book.

I liked it even though you can kind of guess the ending quite early.

On to the next one!

Invisible pieces falling together leaving a mark

Possibly my least favorite book in the series, but this is expanse so it's still onw of the greatest books, things don't happen because they are the main characters but because they are the people they are doing their best in these situations

Touching

These books are incredibly well written. It makes you part of the crew of the roci in a way few writers are able to.

addicted

started on book one and became instant addicted to the books :) listen to them or read it is on my top 3 list off books

Maybe the best yet in the series

An excellent continuation of the Expanse story. The only downside is that now I have to wait for the next one.