Babylon’s Ashes Is Political Space Opera at Its Most Human

Earlier this year, The Expanse debuted on SyFy, adapting the solar system-spanning book series by the same name. At the helm of the show as executive producers: Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, the men behind the pen name James S.A. Corey, who had brought us five books in the ambitious space opera series by the time the show hit the screen. Fans of adaptations, myself included, love when creators of the source material are involved, because they can be trusted to see the tone of their work translates properly from page to screen. In the case of The Expanse, it paid off, and the show, which garnered tons of great reviews and acclaim, helped propel the sixth book in the series onto my list of most coveted 2016 releases. It earns that position: Babylon’s Ashes is more of the same, in the best way: it’s the kind of cunningly plotted, beautifully characterized, politically relevant science fiction we’ve come to expect from these authors.
Beware: spoilers for book five, Nemesis Games, to follow!

Post-Nemesis Games, the Earth has been attacked by a political force arising out of the asteroid belt. Refugees pour off the damaged planet. Those still on the surface are battered by continued terrorist attacks as the planet struggles to survive as its environment and infrastructure deteriorate. The Free Navy responsible for the attack, commanded and directed by Belters, has also taken control of the alien transport gate. The thousands of habitable worlds once available to humanity have been cut off at a time when they might be of the most use to billions of new refugees. The inner planets struggle with their losses, both personal and political, as war forces the what military power Earth and Mars have left to muster to form an alliance in order to have a hope of survival.
In Babylon’s Ashes, tensions rise and those on each side of the conflict face hard decisions. We meet new people and revisit old characters: the crew of the Rocinante, their allies, and people on the opposite side of the war. The son of the Free Navy’s commander, Filip, struggles with the outcome of his father’s choices as the united inner planets push back against the Free Navy’s efforts. Michio Pa, a commander within the Free Navy, has to choose the path she will take to best protect her people and her family. Holden welcomes Bobbie Draper and Fred Johnson’s crew onto the Rocinante, and struggles both with his new shipmates and his place in the new political order. Avasarala, newly established leader of the Earth, directs the war from the Moon. And on Ganymede, a former ally makes a life-altering choice that will dictate the course of humanity’s future.

If the last Expanse novel was about an unfolding conspiracy, this one is about war. War is messy and sad. Personal choices made during a conflict become more fraught and emotionally gutting, sometimes, deadly, even when they’re the correct ones. The sheer number of perspectives in play grant us a 360-degree view of how war touches different individuals and organizations, and the ways these people and groups react. The personal becomes political, and vice versa: how people wage war and why, how people survive war or not, and whether war is ever the correct choice in a universe that has given us so many other ways to communicate and solve our problems. The politics in this series are incisive and intricate, and this volume doesn’t back away from the dark veins it exposes.
And yet, I’m a reader who comes to a story for the characters—especially the ones we’ve grown to know over the last five books. The fiery core of my love for this series burns for the way it humanizes all its characters, even the ones I don’t like very much, the ones who have done terrible things but are trying to make amends (or, perhaps, not). To a person, they’re fully human, complicated, and nuanced. You may not like all of them, but you’ll be hard-pressed to deny their  perspectives as the conflict builds and humanity struggles to survive. The universe is hard and unforgiving, but Babylon’s Ashes reminds us that by remembering that people are people and not monoliths, and that change is not only possible but necessary, we create space for empathy, understanding, and, most importantly, hope.
Babylon’s Ashes is available December 6.