The Expanse #6: Babylon's Ashes

[Antti]

The Expanse won the Hugo for the Best Series, so this is a perfect time to join or re-join our Buddy Read!

This thread is for discussing the sixth book in the series, Babylon's Ashes, and the related novella, Strange Dogs.

[Antti]

Babylon's Ashes is really just Nemesis Games, Part Two. The war rages on, but the good guys are starting to get their act together.

There are many viewpoint characters: lots more than in the previous books. Some come and go: I think there are at least three that we only see once. Many old secondary characters reappear, so we can see the effects of the war through many different eyes. I didn't find the constant change of viewpoints to be confusing, but I do think some of them could've been cut.

Despite (or because of) the plethora of viewpoint characters, this is most emphatically not a character-driven book. We got to see some actual character growth in Nemesis Games, which was refreshing and welcome, but BA is pretty completely plot-driven book.

As an action-centered book, there's not much to complain. The action is good and there's plenty of it, the bad guys aren't stupid but they make mistakes, and the good guys don't get easy victories. The ending was... Well, I'll leave discussion about that for the later.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I'm reading the 3d one now FINALLY

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "I'm reading the 3d one now FINALLY"

Just a few more to go :)

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Where am I supposed to be? This one? Number 6?

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "Where am I supposed to be? This one? Number 6?"

Roughly yes. I finished #7 last month and plan to go #8 in mid-August after all monthly reads

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Hmm . . . well, I may never catch up, but at least I am reading them again

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "Hmm . . . well, I may never catch up, but at least I am reading them again"

If they are a good read for you, I guess you can care less about the time of reading them

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I'm having trouble keeping people straight, as usual, (and ships!) but I think I may have it now.

[Allan]

I started to read #8, Tiamat's Wrath, but found that I didn't recall the events and the sequence of the last couple books very well. I was about to dispose of my copy of BA, but I just decided to re-read it, then #7, then get back to Tiamat. I'm over halfway and picking up the next two from the library today. I am recalling the events, but the re-read is really refreshing, and knowing that I can continue the story instead of reading it piecemeal is helpful in putting them together. True, BA is action-packed, but there's the excellent political theme behind it. Despite its weak spots, I think the series is well-deserving.