The previous book, Babylon's Ashes, was a big step down in quality. It focused too much on ancillary characters away from the Rocinante's crew. But Persepolis Rising is a return to form for the series. The focus is again back on the core characters and the politics of space conflict, without nearly as much focus on the establishment of new trade organizations. The problem I have with this novel is the timeline of things. This takes place years after the events of the earlier novels, but there's rarely attention paid to the effects of years of heroic space adventures on bodies that must be pushing forty, at least. In a series that devotes so much attention to how the human body isn't built to live in space and the physical difficulties and dangers of trying to make a life in the vacuum of space, I would have like to see more focus on the Old Man Holden aspect of things.