One of my favourite volumes so far. Instead of the group setting off in the Rocinante to save the universe, each of the three crew members leaves to go home. An important woman in Amos' life dies and he returns to make sure everything is on the up and up. He runs into people from his past. Alex leaves because he needs to know if there could be a chance for him and his ex, as he's sorry he left her. He ends up getting together with Bobbi. Naomi receives a message from her ex and she leaves mysteriously not saying where she is going. All three of them end up having to deal with issues and people from their past. This was great background info on the characters. I just loved this. And in the end everyone gets back together to save the universe. ( )

And they all come tumbling down.

A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle. Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price. And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.

Well that was quite the ride. I’m liking Avarasala so much -- I realize she’s just a side character that, despite being a major power in and of herself, just pops up for flavor, but I really love her. Someone who knew I’d just started the book described it to me as ‘Corey throwing a wrench in the works.’ GOOD description. This may be my favorite one since Leviathan Wakes. ( )

I finished this one. For die-hard fans I think they will greatly enjoy it. Seeing the individual points of view and some of their past is excellent for anyone invested in these characters. I would say I like this book but not loved this book. The reason being is that I am looking for the plot concerning the aliens, their motivations, what happened to them etc to move forward and this book hardly touches upon that thread at all. Instead, we get the eruption of war, earth attacked (which was interesting) and another race, out to the gates to bring this one to a close. This is book 5 in the series and honestly this is the longest series I have read back to back. I really want to finish the whole series but at the moment just not excited to start book 6. The problem is more with me and my likes and expectations that anything wrong with the series. Maybe after a few days I will get the urge to start the next one. ( )

My slow meander through The Expanse series continues with my first audiobook from it. Whizzed through it very quickly. Enjoying it a lot. I also finally felt that I was starting to distinguish Alex and Amos from each other as we got back stories for everyone except Holden. He is sidelined in this novel largely. But it was also a rather depressing novel as it turns out humans who have managed technological wonders and leapt into space can still comprehensively shit things up due to monumental political and psychological stupidity. I have to assume that the echoes of 9/11 were deliberate. ( )

felt like more of a transition/exposition/backstory novel than anything else. at least it was a gamechanger ( )