This is my favorite of the Expanse books so far. The characters are well enough developed that the authors can rely on them and on us knowing who they are and what their motivations are. And yet there's enough room left for development. We get a lot more on Naomi's back story and Amos' and both characters develop significantly in the novel. (Poor Alex, still a blank slate.) This story feels more emotionally complex and insightful than previous books. There's barely any sci-fi at all in it really, and that's fine.

But my favorite part of this book is the deft structural trick of the narrative. Scattering all the main characters across the solar system at the start, I was sure this book was going nowhere. But they've been placed in a very clever way to make for a compelling and exciting narrative as people are reunited. Nicely done.