Nemesis Games

Nemesis Games shifts the lens of The Expanse inward, delivering a story that is both intensely personal and devastatingly large in scope. After years of holding together as a surrogate family aboard the Rocinante, the crew is suddenly scattered across the solar system, each drawn back to confront ghosts of their pasts. While they are separated, the greatest catastrophe in human history unfolds—an event that will forever change Earth, Mars, and the Belt. James Holden, left behind on Tycho Station to oversee repairs on the Rocinante, tries to adjust to life without his crew. For the first time in years, he must lead without the comfort of Naomi, Amos, and Alex by his side. Yet the universe refuses to grant him respite: political tensions boil, alliances shift, and the ominous sense of something terrible building grows heavier with each passing day. Naomi Nagata returns to the Belt to confront the people and choices she abandoned long ago. Haunted by her past relationship with Marco Inaros, a charismatic and ruthless Belter revolutionary, she faces the painful truth that their shared son, Filip, has been drawn into his father’s orbit. Her attempt to intervene forces her into a battle between loyalty to family and loyalty to the billions whose lives hang in the balance. Amos Burton travels back to Earth, ostensibly to tie up loose ends from his old life in Baltimore. His gritty journey through the ruins of his past sheds new light on the man behind the muscle, revealing a history steeped in survival and moral ambiguity. Yet even Amos cannot escape the unfolding catastrophe as Earth becomes the target of a massive terrorist attack. Alex Kamal heads to Mars, seeking reconciliation with his estranged family and closure on a life he left behind. Instead, he finds a planet in decline, its military unraveling and its people disillusioned. Mars, once the great rival of Earth, now bleeds away its future to the promise of new colonies through the ring gates. But beneath this decay, Alex stumbles upon whispers of conspiracy that connect directly to Marco Inaros’s ambitions. As the crew struggles through their personal journeys, Marco launches his plan: a coordinated assault that rains stealth-shrouded asteroids down on Earth, killing billions and destabilizing the planet beyond recognition. This terrorist strike, unprecedented in scale, shifts the balance of power across the solar system, propelling the Belt into the spotlight as never before. Filip, caught between his mother’s pleas and his father’s ideology, becomes a symbol of the human cost of Marco’s crusade. Reunited amid the ashes, the Rocinante’s crew must face not only their own scars but also the shattering new reality of a solar system reshaped by violence. The personal and the political collide as they reckon with what it means to be family in a universe where trust, loyalty, and love are the rarest currencies. Nemesis Games is both intimate and explosive—a tale of fractured identities, painful reckonings, and survival against unimaginable odds. By tearing the crew apart and forcing them to stand alone, Corey deepens their characters while simultaneously unleashing one of the series’ most consequential events. The result is a novel that redefines the stakes of The Expanse and sets the stage for everything that follows.