Babylon’s Ashes is the sixth book in The Expanse series, following Nemesis Games.  In my review of the last book I wrote, “I am definitely looking for some serious Expanse-style twists and turns in the next book.”  Well, that didn’t really happen.  In fact, after miscounting the number of read volumes on my bookshelf, I thought this was also the fifth book, a filler in a second trilogy.  No proto-molecule magic changing the course of humanity.  Just space battles and interpersonal conflict.

What we do have in Marco Inaros, creator of The Free Navy, self-appointed savior of people living on the moons of Jupiter and in the asteroid belt.  During the prior book, he wiped out a third of earths population by crashing asteroids into the surface.  Now he’s stripping one “belter” station bare, then giving supplies to another, creating zealot supporters and leaving behind a swath of damage to the people he was supposed to protect.  A “Only I can save you” kind of guy.

I am really hoping for some of that first three volume magic in the next book.  There is plenty of alien technology to uncover.  We still have the “John Galt” characters who deserted and took dozens of Martian Navy ships with the righteous and disappeared through a known gate.  The solar system is neither stable or known to be still viable for humans.  Plenty of opportunity for the authors to deliver.

The one positive thing I can say is that I am officially a book ahead of the TV series.  Now I can judge the “film” against the book the way life was meant to be.