Babylon's Ashes

Babylon’s Ashes is the sixth of nine novels in The Expanse series, which also includes eight novellas and short stories. The first novel, Leviathan Wakes, was published in 2011 and introduces the narrative approach of the series, which uses the third-person limited perspective, alternating chapters among various characters. The first novel also establishes the basic world-building elements of the series. It’s set in the 24th century, and humans have colonized the solar system, particularly Mars and “the Belt” (the asteroid belt), and have built sophisticated space stations on various moons. These stations include Earth’s moon, now called Luna; the outermost of Mars’s two moons, Deimos; Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede; and Saturn’s largest irregular moon, Phoebe.

The second novel, Caliban’s War (2012), follows individuals from Earth (Earthers), Mars (Martians), and the Belt (Belters) as they navigate political tensions and face an alien threat. In the third novel, Abaddon’s Gate (2013), the crew of the spaceship Rocinante confronts challenges from a mysterious alien construct. The fourth novel, Cibola Burn (2014), focuses on the exploration of a new planet beyond the ring gates (an ancient complex of artificially sustained wormholes), which leads to conflict between settlers and corporations.