Nemesis Games

I loved getting the perspectives from each of the view of the Rocinante. I also loved splitting them up so we can see a little more of what they're like outside of Holden's orbit. My only quibble would be that the story arc leaves me hanging which in show business I believe is called leaving me wanting more. Which ultimately is a good thing but damn. All of the Expanse novels have left you on a hook for the next one but never as intensely as this one I don't think. SO MANY MYSTERIES! ALL THE MYSTERIES!

Pros: splitting the characters up into their own interweaving arcs is good to learn a lot more about them; finally seeing all the different characters on the board at once is fun and feels like an appropriate payoff for the size of series and how far we are into it; still more smart than most fun books and more fun than most smart books (I.e. the politics have a lot of reasonable depth in them and the scenarios feel quite realistic in how people and people groups react to things); Naomi's backstory in particular adds a lot of depth to her since she didn't really have any apparent flaws

Cons: a whole book without the most interesting part of the series (what do we do when we face an alien thing and have no clue what it is or how to interact with it safely?); we're jussssst starting to stretch the credulity of “wait, is every main character linked somehow to every important person in the galaxy?”

Der bisher beste Teil der Reihe. Statt auf Nebencharaktere setzt dieser Teil komplett auf die Perspektiven der StammCrew. Dazu ein Wiedersehen mit den besten Nebenfiguren der Serie.
Die Geschichte ist dieses Mal nicht, wie zuvor in den anderen Teilen abgeschlossen, aber wenn der nächste Teil auch so gut wird wie dieser, bin ich schon sehr gespannt.
Achja... Und der Mechaniker Amos ist inzwischen eine Comicfigur, einem SinCity Marv nicht unähnlich.

At first I was worried that this was a step back, as we're focused on solar system politics again, as opposed to #4 which had a different sci-fi flavor entirely. At the start, the crew is somewhat separated and dealing with their own various matters.

But holy cow, did things pick up about halfway through. I just hope they can keep up the one-book-a-year pace!

In Cibola Burn, the crew of the Rocinante spent most of their time on one of the planets opened by the gate constructed by the protomolecule. In this one, they return to space, but due to damage done to the ship in CB, the crew is grounded for repairs in the first half of the book. For differing reasons, all of the crew members take leave in different parts of the solar system, leaving Holden back on Ceres station overseeing repairs. Then all hades breaks loose. There's really not much else I can say without major spoilers.

I will say, if you've enjoyed the series up to this point, this book does not disappoint. There is a ton of action, intrigue, and more than a little mystery.

In my opinion, the key of this series is the masterful way in which the authors mix all of the action and yet fantastically build characters. In this novel in particular, you really see huge character development in all of the major characters you already know.

(As an aside... I've not watched any of the TV show, though I've generally heard good things about it. Anybody care to comment on it based on having read the books? Is it worthwhile?)