Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse)

Unlike other series, this third book kept the space opera stamina on the same level of the previous books. The continuing plot was the strong point, with characters new to the story not as deftly developed. The three books comprise a pretty good space opera, and a fourth installment for the series would be certainly welcome.

If you've read the first two books in the series, you're going to read this one. There's no question about that. You're not going to want to miss this one.

But - this book isn't nearly as good as the first two. The scope is far too small. Basically it boils down to a single event in the history of The Expanse, at one single location (as well as the leadup to it). Whereas the previous books where bouncing all over the solar system, this one seems too constrained in scope, and should really have been maybe a third of an actual book.

That said, the book is still good, and Abraham's writing is strong as ever.

The best new science fiction series. The human, philosophical, political, and technological threads at play in yhe issues of life expanding throughout the solar system and beyond are believable, engaging, and thrilling.

The Expanse novels consistently provide an epic SF experience that is grounded in the elements of how humanity would adapt to outside pressures and stresses of space. I will continue to buy these the day they release, as they have yet to disappoint me in any way.

If you have seen or read any of the Expanse — reading the 2 previous books is the best since the first season of the Expanse covers only half of book 1 — Abaddon's Gate continues the story, you will not be left thinking it could have been done better. It is concise prose without a lot of time consuming filler. I would not hesitate to recommend any of the James S. A. Corey books, they are all interconnected with common characters and developing situations.

Holy crap this book and series are just amazing. This is the best SciFi I've read in a dozen or so years. Yes it's in he future but its not Star Trek future where everything unctions autonomously, which can get old. This book=amazeballs.

Although I didn't read the first two books, you're not lost in the story.
I like the ideas on our future society and the characters that have been created in it. The story catches you but..... there's no real end to it (part 4?)

A fantastic science fiction space opera novel that has an epic story arch. I was very impressed on how easy of a read this one was, it never gets too overbearing. It's an engaging and thrilling novel that is worth reading every page. I loved this book.

I can understand why there are mixed reviews for this third book of The Expanse Series.

Abaddon's Gate tells the story from the Point of View of several new characters and villain of this book.
Our hero James Holden and his crew is relegated to be supporting cast members in this book. I can understand the rationale behind it though. The authors build James Holden to be a super hero but now wants to inform us readers that James Holden is after all human and that he is Not the chosen one. But then you kind of expect that the next series of books is to build him up again as the hero. I cannot be certain but it is predictable.
Was i entertained by this book? Yes. But as the third book in the series, strangely it is only meant as a set piece to drive other narratives in future books.

Abaddon's Gate tries to wear the shoes of two of the best recent space opera epics. It succeeds by diminishing the scope of the action and bringing it back down to a small group of factions spread accross much smaller distances than in previous entries. With the future of our species in the balance, the stakes remain high, but the threads connecting every point of view characters are much clearer, and the impact of each characters' actions can be felt accross all point of views immediately.

While Abaddon's Gate feel like the end of a storyline, there is still a good amount of universe building in it, and doors are opened for the next book in this universe.

Holy crap this book and series are just amazing. This is the best SciFi I've read in a dozen or so years. Yes it's in he future but its not Star Trek future where everything unctions autonomously, which can get old. This book=amazeballs.

Although I didn't read the first two books, you're not lost in the story.
I like the ideas on our future society and the characters that have been created in it. The story catches you but..... there's no real end to it (part 4?)

A fantastic science fiction space opera novel that has an epic story arch. I was very impressed on how easy of a read this one was, it never gets too overbearing. It's an engaging and thrilling novel that is worth reading every page. I loved this book.

I can understand why there are mixed reviews for this third book of The Expanse Series.

Abaddon's Gate tells the story from the Point of View of several new characters and villain of this book.
Our hero James Holden and his crew is relegated to be supporting cast members in this book. I can understand the rationale behind it though. The authors build James Holden to be a super hero but now wants to inform us readers that James Holden is after all human and that he is Not the chosen one. But then you kind of expect that the next series of books is to build him up again as the hero. I cannot be certain but it is predictable.
Was i entertained by this book? Yes. But as the third book in the series, strangely it is only meant as a set piece to drive other narratives in future books.

Abaddon's Gate tries to wear the shoes of two of the best recent space opera epics. It succeeds by diminishing the scope of the action and bringing it back down to a small group of factions spread accross much smaller distances than in previous entries. With the future of our species in the balance, the stakes remain high, but the threads connecting every point of view characters are much clearer, and the impact of each characters' actions can be felt accross all point of views immediately.

While Abaddon's Gate feel like the end of a storyline, there is still a good amount of universe building in it, and doors are opened for the next book in this universe.

So far the weakest of the series.It was clearly build to be a jumping platform for the series into new grounds, not tobe told as a story on itself. The plot is weak and quite obvious (both on actions as on resolutions). A very large number of humans making very obviously bad decisions with no one even darignto stop and question the insanity of the actions. A long, very tiring and dragged firearms battle is used to fill up the end of the book after it is obvious that there can be only one conclusion to the book.

If I did not know there are other books ahead int he series I would have stopped reading the book before its completion.

Asa jumping platform it works, and found a way to really turn completely the scope of the series without just throwing away what had been built up before... but the resoudl woudl ahve been better with a smaller book (Without the last 1/4th of the book firefight) and with muchless people being stupid at the same time.

Right up there with Peter Hamiltons "Reality Dysfunction" triology. Same mix between technical believable and a good plot.
Not as well written as "Iain M Banks" though, but really a hitter for good S-F.

Once more, another gripping tale from James Corey. This one seemed a bit fractured to me and didn't flow as well as the first two. However the action was non-stop, and the science fiction was totally believable - a big plus for me - and I was left looking forward to the next episode.

Third Book was really good read until the last chapters.

It became preachy and the final ending was a big disappointment!

I will not go into a spoiler posting but just say the philosophical drivel ruined it for me.

Not everybody is redeemable or worthy of redeeming!!

Aside from the last few pages and chapter it was a good reading and enjoyable book.

If the first book crafted the expanse universe, the second expanded on the crew, this book focused on the villain(s) and the nature of this universe.

I personally can't wait for the 4th book. And the 5th. 6th? Keep 'em coming!

Abaddon's Gate marks a new direction for the series. In that aspect, it works well. As a continuation of "The Expanse" series it leaves the reader wondering where the danger presented in the other books has gone.

If anything, it feels as if the writers were given the chance to expand their 3 book series into a longer form, so they put together a reason for the series to continue.

The writing is well done though, and I enjoy the characters. So, if we get to spend more time in their world, that's fine.
I just wish it hadn't been such a departure from the tighter storytelling in the previous books.

(Minor spoilers, won't really spoil anything) The main problem with this book is there are so many good characters from Caliban's War that couldn't be bothered to show up for this outing. In place of the only politician I've ever loved, and a hard as nails Russian space the store dressed to kill in power armor we get a dull lesbian nun (I didn't think it was possible for that to be boring) and a paraplegic driving around a futuristic forklift. Even our ghostly gumshoe doesn't do much. Introducing new characters doesn't mean you can't mix in some obvious old favorites. Least favorite of the trilogy but I'm excited for the next one.

I was disappointed with the end. After investing a lot of time reading, I just felt that there was not a good conclusion to the protomotecule storyline. Just felt like putting the series on life support to continue milking it. I believe we could have had a good ending to the current cycle, as well as a continuation of the series through the world (and possible characters), but alas it was not to be. I won't read on.

Abaddon's Gate had so much promise going in. After the epic, closing moments of Caliban's War, with the proto-molecule erupting from a terraformed Venus and assembling a giant ring near the orbit of Neptune, it seemed Abaddon's Gate was destined for great things. Instead, the authors turned away from their strengths in this third installment of the Expanse series to prop up a trifecta of stick-figure villains, and to burden their tale with an absolutely insufferable, brow-beating protagonist.

Abaddon's Gate is an opportunity lost. The authors took epic space opera--potentially on the order of Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep--and shrunk it down to an improbable (and uncompelling) revenge story and a 100-page long gunfight. Yes, I can see the potential value of crafting a rich, character-level conflict at the edge of the vast unknown. But Abaddon's Gate is not that. In fact, it is the opposite of that.

The authors have struggled with effective characterization throughout the entire series. What has spared them (or, I mean, us) is the fact that these inexpertly drawn characters are generally likable. From James Holden's aw-shucks earnestness to Amos' gentle, wise-cracking veneer, there's *just* enough to these characters to make them compelling. We know they are stick figures, but at least they are stick figures we like, and they are stick figures with reasonable story arcs and reactions to events.

But Anna Volovodov? A disaster. A sanctimonious, speechifying, buzz-kill of a disaster. And don't even get me started on the multiple, inexplicable, absolutely-extreme character turns forced onto Melba, Cortez and Ashford.

Abaddon's Gate could have been a great sci-fi novel. It offered glimpses of that greatness at moments. But alas, the authors failed to take the leap off the high board they themselves had crafted. I understand now there are more Expanse books coming. Perhaps the great tale will be told in those. But after slogging through the uncompelling mess that was Abaddon's Gate, I don't know if I'll be putting down money to find out.

If you like big, rollicking adventures with great characters and non-stop action, stop here, you've found one. The third book of The Expanse series does not disappoint. The author(s) do a great job with their big cast of characters, both POV and supporting, with very distinct voices for all of them. I still somewhat suspect them of writing disguised Firefly fan fiction, but hey, it's not like that's a bad thing. Genuinely great book.

For fans of the expanse series, this book will keep you on the page from beginning to end. At no point was the pace too slow or boring. The already established cast is complimented with some worthy additions.

The ending, while satisfying, leaves the series future in uncertain ground, in regards to how much the narrative may change and deviate from the very solid formula already presented.

In any case, this is a very worthy read and one I highly recommend.

Game of Thrones in space. Book 3. The pace of events was a bit more even in this book. Solid read but a little bit of patience is in order. Not everyone makes it out alive but the deaths serve the story well here. The incarnation of Miller in this book answers a lot of questions lingering since the beginning, but like most everything else in this series, the answers lead to more disturbing questions. 4/5 stars because a lot of the characters were cardboard in the sense you could predict their role in the end by first introduction.

The third book in the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is Abaddon's Gate. Happily, it maintains the quality of the first two entries Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War, which were both excellent examples of sci-fi space opera at its finest.

Abaddon's Gate continues the story by following the series of events that are happening to Jim Holden and the rest of the crew of the spaceship Rocinante that began in Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War.

The structure of these books is that the story is told from the point of view of various characters, which in this book are Holden, Anna Volovodov (a lesbian pastor from Europa who is part of a humanitarian contingent sent to investigate the anomaly called "The Ring" that has formed at the edge of the Solar System in the end of Caliban's War), Clarissa Mao (the sister of Julie Mao who was one of the key characters who died in Leviathan Wakes; Clarissa is masquerading as Melba and is determined to kill Holden as revenge for the part he played in her sister Julie's death) and Bull (security officer on Behemoth, the largest ship in the fleet of the Outer Planets Alliance, which is also on its way to The Ring).

Sadly, key characters from the previous books do not return in the latest book, most notably Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (the profane grandmother who while appearing to be a mid-level functionary in the United Nations is probably the most important on Earth) and Sergeant Bobbie Draper (a Martian Marine who was the sole survivor in the alien attack on Ganymede that catalyzed events in Caliban's War).

The only character who has had POV chapters named after him in all three books is Holden. What Corey seems to be doing is introducing new characters in each book while simultaneously ramping up the action and expanding the scale of the plot.

The Expanse series (as it is now called) is most well-known for incredibly detailed action sequences, wry humor, political intrigue and thoughtful and nuanced characterization. All of these features are apparent again in Abaddon's Gate, in addition to another aspect of the books: pulse-pounding suspense!

Although the series was initially conceived as a trilogy the great news is that the series has been expanded to six books, and the fourth book in the series, Cibola Burn, will be released on June 17, 2014. I can't wait!

Title: Abaddon's Gate.
Author: James S.A. Corey.
Paperback: 576 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: June 4, 2013.
Date Read: July 23, 2013

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

Most readers of Abaddon's Gate will have read the first two parts of The Expanse trilogy. If so, they will not be disappointed, the authors follow the same tightly plotted, character rich formula which makes the trilogy a benchmark in emergent space opera. Duplicative detail is absent to the point that Abaddon's Gate would be a much lesser novel if the reader had not read the previous installments.

Any commentary on the plot would be a spoiler but, in summary, members of a diverse and flawed interplanetary society struggle against their foibles to unify their civilization against a bleak alien challenge. The fate of this struggle is no sure thing and the literary device of narrating from key characters' points of view works very well for me. The plot is not spoon fed and the reader has a little latitude in deducing the big picture. Humour and quotidian perspective abound, and the reason behind the menace slowly emerges - well, almost - the emphasis is on personal journeys more than the eternal questions raised by Heinlein, Clarke or, these days, Brin and Robinson. Joining the dots to show why the alien menace exists seemed a bit sketchy but the novel's conclusion is sound. Short of using strong characters to showcase the values that perpetuate civilization (and those that definitely do not), this science fiction journey does not seek to offer great allegory, insights or take home messages. It does, however, succeed totally as a compulsive bit of fun from a team which has set a new standard in the genre.

The first two books were incredible reads and my expectations reached very, very far with Abaddon's Gate. Compared to the believable creativity of the first two books the third book just seemed to try to hard. It left me rolling my eyes at some of the scenarios played out. While it is a weak point of the trilogy I did still enjoy it but I would have been just as happy if I read the conclusion from the Wikipedia synopsis.

This is the kind of action packed space adventure that I love, however I didn't realize till almost half way through the book that this was book three of a trilogy. That turned out not to be a problem since enough back story was included so I understood what was happening. My big regret was not knowing about the series when book one came out. This would have allowed me to savor 3 books instead of one

The whole "Expanse" series was excellent but this one is outstanding. Good action, people you care about, and a worthwhile story looking at faith, reason, morality, and sacrifice.

At the core is the character of Melba/Clarissa. In her Corey has somehow created someone we can feel empathy for and hope for her redemption even if she is a mass murderer; she is not evil, rather a lost soul driven by inner demons.

Corey does an excellent job with character development. Anna, Holden, Melba, and Cortez are all believable and these characters (along with others) and their interactions are well thought out. The author gives enough hints as to the motivation behind the protomolecule without giving the whole thing away until the plot lines come together at the end of the novel. Corey is on my short list of SF authors to watch!

This book focused on several side characters that I did not find as interesting as any of the characters from the first two books. It barely advanced the overall story arc. I'll swing for the fourth to see where it goes, but if it's more of the same I'll just stop there and consider it a great 2-book run.

Took me forever to get into this one, unlike the first two. The new characters took awhile to grab me and there wasn't enough Holden in the beginning. But once I got into it, perhaps a third of the way through, it was a really great read. The ending seemed a touch too pat, but certainly makes sense, and this third act in the series was definitely cinematic and space operatic.

The 'Corey' tandem is getting better and better as the series evolve: the story is becoming more and more complex, and more intriguing with every revelation. And the stakes get higher and higher too with each book. Really enjoyed the book: around the small group of appealing but quite conventional characters of the Rocinante's crew, many interesting and original figures enrich the story and make the plot unpredictable (here are Anna the Preacher, facing unexpected moral dilemmas, and Bull the Behemoth's XO, whose skills and experience will be tragically put to the test. A novel in the best tradition of vivid and unhinibited Space Opera. Even if the storytelling doesn't match (yet) a Peter F. Hamilton at his best, and even if the universe is not (yet) as rich and funny as in Ian M. Bank's novels, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck clearly are part of the family.
De la bien bonne SF vivante et prenante comme on l'aime.

I discovered in reading this something of a double standard I have that I didn't previously recognize. In fantasy, I am okay with a more human-centered story that focuses on the characters more than the cool world. But that's not the case with sci-fi. At the end of this book, I found myself wishing for more of the strange and alien, and less of the human politics. Keep in mind, I just finished Daniel Abraham's The Tyrant's Law and loved it. Hopefully Corey will move back to exploring the alien and the strange in the next volume of The Expanse. I'm sure I would enjoy it more.

In the tradition of Larry Niven' Known Space, the authors continue their story and open up the future possibilites of many more stories. So far, I'm sticking with them. The space operas are fast-moving and mildly complex. Good reading without hurting the brain.

First two books were OK, even though I don't care much about the whole "zombies in spaaace" idea. But, they were a nice read nevertheless.

I couldn't finish this book due to endless proselytizing. Science took away the value of personal experience? Seriously? Stopped reading right there.

Oh, and I haven't noticed this in prior books, but in this one the authors treat the Solar system as a fixed map, like if all planets and other objects are permanently in a state of the grand Planets Parade. In reality, Earth or Mars could easily be closer to an object behind Uranus' orbit than Ceres or Europa.

Edit: out of curiosity, I've checked what the planet positions would be on September 2, 2214 (I'm not sure at what date the book is set, but I was under impression it's about 200 years after today). So, Earth will be the closest to a point opposite Uranus, the next is Ceres, then Mars and then Jupiter along with Europa. In July that year, Earth, Mars and Ceres will be more or less equidistant to that point, but the party leaving from Earth would have an advantage of the Earth's own movement around the Sun, while Mars and Ceres parties would have to work against that.

I enjoyed it a great deal, but in general, this book did not need to be so long, and as with the others in this series, Abaddon's Gate got "a bit much", i.e. stretching the imagination healthily, but a bit far.

Plus I do not know how you could die from a bullet shot in the slow zone, if there is a max speed most recently set by a hand grenade lob in The Station. The bullets would not be able to travel fast enough.

I'll still catch Corey's next book, though. It's fun and thoughtful. I expect it will be the journey of the Rocinante through the other gate(s).

Another impressive outing in the Expanse series which we can only hope continues to expand, though there is no teaser for a next book in the back of this one. The story certainly lives up to its title---Hebrew for "place of destruction" or "realm of the dead". At times, the slaughter became almost too much to bear. My only complaint is that a shocking number of good guys bit the dust while too many villains survived. As Amos would say some bad people just deserve to die and it's not satisfying when they don't. The book concludes with enough loose ends to make you think there's another Rocinante adventure in the works and that's a good thing. If it's as good as this one and its predecessors, the authors can give up their day jobs (if they haven't already) and enjoy enlarging their franchise.

Excellent third installment to a vast and entertaining series. Corey pays good attention to detail, but doesn't stray into the realm of hard science fiction. He keeps the action moving, but balances nicely with character development.

This was possibly the slowest of the three books in this series using these characters. I think the slower pace derives from a more thoughtful, considered approach in which the author sought to convey a point about why we as a species continue to explore. The introduction of a religious subtext and subset of characters was well executed. Whenever I've read about religious characters in a book in the past, these people are portrayed as straight crazy or overzealous. And there is at least one of these characters in the book. But Corey compensates for it with a strong well balanced religious character who is decisive. In the end, a new trilogy is setup along with a new mystery and mysterious new employer on a even more enigmatic quest.

I enjoyed the first book. It was an interesting story with solid writing. The second book wasn't as good, but still managed to make me anticipate reading the third.

This book started out just OK. I didn't really like the new characters that much, but was at least interested in finding out what would happen to the crew of the Roci. At about the half way point in this book, it became unreadable. It seemed like the book was supposed to end about half way through, but the authors pulled back and padded the second half with ridiculous and boring convolutions. Not only that, but the writing itself dropped to a 5th grade level. There was absolutely no subtlety; character motivations and dialog started reading like a script. Did they farm the second half of the book out to other authors? I had to skip entire sections, then whole chapters because it was stressing me out reading such terrible prose. I picked through just enough of the last third of the book to figure out what happened to the crew, but it honestly wasn't worth the effort.

Overall this book was a big disappointment, and ended my interest in the Expanse.

As always the authors left everything else for the sequels! Seriously though, very well done, only sad it wasn't longer! Now I have to wait for new adventures with Holden and crew, and where's Miller gonna pop up? Devil really is in the details!

This a great novel. It's really hard to put down even when you have s*** to do. I wish i had discovered these books earlier. Corey is a great author. He will soon find himself referenced in the same sentence as Asimov, Heinlein and Herbert.

I suppose it could stand alone, but why would you? Read the other two, but be warned - I find the quality, the depth, the everything-ties-together-ness, everything about this one is better than the first two.

My title pretty much sums it up. I love this series, but I liked the new characters in the second book a lot more than the new characters in this one, and was disappointed that they didn't make a reappearance. This book felt like it was just an intro for the grander scale epic that's (hopefully) to come.

While still enjoyable, it wasn't quite as gripping as the first two. Not sure if it was the fact so many characters in the book are questioning their own direction or the fact that some of them just didn't resonate like previous books. I found myself slogging through long sections, pushing ahead, so I could get to Holden again (though his chapters seemed to always be the shortest). Here's hoping Cibola Burn is better!

Let me start by saying that Leviathan Wakes (the first book in the series), and that the writing team that is James S.A. Corey hasn't lost the ability to craft strong characters and produce excellent scenes.

With that being said, Abaddon's Gate (and to a lesser degree Caliban's War) failed to live up to the potential of Leviathan. The end of the first book left so many questions, so many mysteries surrounding the protomolecule, its origin, and purpose, that I couldn't wait to read more, and there was a core group of characters that the reader had gotten to know and love ready to find some answers.

Then came Caliban's War. Good book, and it introduced the best character in the series with Avasarala, but the plot was a side show to the real story (whatever was going on down on Venus). There was even dialogue to the effect of "You know, this Mars-Earth conflict is distracting us from the real threat. Oh well, let's keep fighting each other". So the reader got another nearly 600 pages of space-faring governments blundering into an obviously orchestrated war, developing characters we pretty much already knew and understood. Oh well, it was well written, and the additional characters were interesting enough, and with that ring thing at the end, surely there will be some answers in the next book.

And finally we get to Abaddon's gate. Again, we get close to 600 pages bouncing around between characters. Again, we get no real answers. Unfortunately, this time the added characters were detrimental to the story. Bull (whatever his real name was) ended up being pretty solid. The problem was with Anna, who was some kind of pastor/fountain of folksy wisdom/luckiest person alive(seriously, she survived through sheer, dumb luck). Every time she opened her mouth, the book stopped dead while the authors lectured the reader on their religious and social views, and about mankind's place in the universe. It felt like nails on a chalkboard whenever the walking caricature of love, tolerance, and empathy that was Anna opened her mouth. I actually agree with a lot of the points the author team was trying to make, but I still felt insulted.

Ugh. I really hated that character.

Well, just like in the comics, you know the good guys will win. So, we get the Vonnegut style of writing pitfalls ad nauseum for the good guys. Inventive and fun stuff, mind you, but I won't be buying any more of this series.

This book is okay. Of it where a standalone novel I would have rated three stars easily... But that's it.

It's nothing like the other two books on the series... Its a complete let down in every facet of the plotline. The proto molecule is re moved nearly completely from the plot.... Explained away in a hand waving stupid solution. The entire book plot is based around stupid people being stupid.... The villian's are a joke, not scary at all. Just sad....

The entire book is just that.... Sad.... Boring..... And takes the story into a completely new direction. Which is the stupidiest thing to do at the end of trilogy.

What a waist. I'll keep the first two books in the series.... But I'm trashing this one in the recycle bin, that's all its good for.

Third book in the Expanse and first one I read after watching the TV series. The series is doing a great job, so I'm happy to think of the actors as the characters in the book. The plot doesn't quite mesh as well as the other two books and the ending feels a bit forced to accommodate the direction the authors want to go. Still, they write great characters and their attention to the physical feeling of altered bodies and lessened or centrifugal gravity is well thought out. Can't wait to read the next one.

First off, I really like this series, but even so I felt the second book was just a bridge to this wonderful piece of writing. As far as sci fi books go, I love the universe it's creating better than most others I've read. The thing that makes this book stand out above the second one is all the complex themes it weaves through the book and overall successfully gives answers. I'm sure there were some missteps in the writing, but honestly I still loved it.

Recommended

This book was AWESOME. I loved it as much as I loved the other two. I don't think it went down in quality even a little bit. I love the story, the characters and the writing style. I just wish it was longer so I didn't kill it in the span of three days.

I suppose it could stand alone, but why would you? Read the other two, but be warned - I find the quality, the depth, the everything-ties-together-ness, everything about this one is better than the first two.

My title pretty much sums it up. I love this series, but I liked the new characters in the second book a lot more than the new characters in this one, and was disappointed that they didn't make a reappearance. This book felt like it was just an intro for the grander scale epic that's (hopefully) to come.

While still enjoyable, it wasn't quite as gripping as the first two. Not sure if it was the fact so many characters in the book are questioning their own direction or the fact that some of them just didn't resonate like previous books. I found myself slogging through long sections, pushing ahead, so I could get to Holden again (though his chapters seemed to always be the shortest). Here's hoping Cibola Burn is better!

Let me start by saying that Leviathan Wakes (the first book in the series), and that the writing team that is James S.A. Corey hasn't lost the ability to craft strong characters and produce excellent scenes.

With that being said, Abaddon's Gate (and to a lesser degree Caliban's War) failed to live up to the potential of Leviathan. The end of the first book left so many questions, so many mysteries surrounding the protomolecule, its origin, and purpose, that I couldn't wait to read more, and there was a core group of characters that the reader had gotten to know and love ready to find some answers.

Then came Caliban's War. Good book, and it introduced the best character in the series with Avasarala, but the plot was a side show to the real story (whatever was going on down on Venus). There was even dialogue to the effect of "You know, this Mars-Earth conflict is distracting us from the real threat. Oh well, let's keep fighting each other". So the reader got another nearly 600 pages of space-faring governments blundering into an obviously orchestrated war, developing characters we pretty much already knew and understood. Oh well, it was well written, and the additional characters were interesting enough, and with that ring thing at the end, surely there will be some answers in the next book.

And finally we get to Abaddon's gate. Again, we get close to 600 pages bouncing around between characters. Again, we get no real answers. Unfortunately, this time the added characters were detrimental to the story. Bull (whatever his real name was) ended up being pretty solid. The problem was with Anna, who was some kind of pastor/fountain of folksy wisdom/luckiest person alive(seriously, she survived through sheer, dumb luck). Every time she opened her mouth, the book stopped dead while the authors lectured the reader on their religious and social views, and about mankind's place in the universe. It felt like nails on a chalkboard whenever the walking caricature of love, tolerance, and empathy that was Anna opened her mouth. I actually agree with a lot of the points the author team was trying to make, but I still felt insulted.

Ugh. I really hated that character.

Well, just like in the comics, you know the good guys will win. So, we get the Vonnegut style of writing pitfalls ad nauseum for the good guys. Inventive and fun stuff, mind you, but I won't be buying any more of this series.

This book is okay. Of it where a standalone novel I would have rated three stars easily... But that's it.

It's nothing like the other two books on the series... Its a complete let down in every facet of the plotline. The proto molecule is re moved nearly completely from the plot.... Explained away in a hand waving stupid solution. The entire book plot is based around stupid people being stupid.... The villian's are a joke, not scary at all. Just sad....

The entire book is just that.... Sad.... Boring..... And takes the story into a completely new direction. Which is the stupidiest thing to do at the end of trilogy.

What a waist. I'll keep the first two books in the series.... But I'm trashing this one in the recycle bin, that's all its good for.

Third book in the Expanse and first one I read after watching the TV series. The series is doing a great job, so I'm happy to think of the actors as the characters in the book. The plot doesn't quite mesh as well as the other two books and the ending feels a bit forced to accommodate the direction the authors want to go. Still, they write great characters and their attention to the physical feeling of altered bodies and lessened or centrifugal gravity is well thought out. Can't wait to read the next one.

First off, I really like this series, but even so I felt the second book was just a bridge to this wonderful piece of writing. As far as sci fi books go, I love the universe it's creating better than most others I've read. The thing that makes this book stand out above the second one is all the complex themes it weaves through the book and overall successfully gives answers. I'm sure there were some missteps in the writing, but honestly I still loved it.

Recommended

This book was AWESOME. I loved it as much as I loved the other two. I don't think it went down in quality even a little bit. I love the story, the characters and the writing style. I just wish it was longer so I didn't kill it in the span of three days.

This is, at least so far, the culmination of the series started with Leviathan Wakes, and continued with Caliban's War. However, it is clear that the adventures of the spaceship (Corvette class) Rocinante (the name of Don Quixote's horse), with its captain James Holden, its XO and Engineer Naomi, its mechanic and warrior Amos Burton and its pilot Alex, could easily continue on further novels. James Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank. Abraham is mostly known as a fantasy writer, but he also wrote an excellent science fiction book (Hunter's Run) in collaboration with George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Ty Frank is mainly known, as far as I know, as the secretary of George R. R. Martin. These three novels are very old-fashioned space operas. They do not pretend to be more than what they are: pure science fiction entertaining (with a little bit of horror here and there) with as little hard science on them as necessary to keep a minimum of narrative plausibility and from that point of view they succeed. It is well written, the plot and the characters are engaging, and they are written in a way that they could easily be converted into movie scripts. They tell the story of a very strange alien invasion in a near-future (two or three centuries from now) on which humans have colonized Mars, some asteroids and some of the moons in the giant planets.
One flaw in the three books, which is particularly noticeable in Abbadon's gate, is the multiplicity of points of view, with far too many characters and different narratives. Each relatively short chapter told (or seen) from one particular character is followed by a chapter told (or seen) from another character and so on and so forth. This technique makes the narrative far too choppy and disconnected to the extent that when you reach the next chapter in one particular narrative strand you may have already forgotten what was going on before, and are forced to go back all the time. It is tempting to imagine that at least one of the reasons for this approach is that it makes it easier to pad the book to reach the seemingly obligatory 500+ pages of a relatively thin plot that could have been told in half the pages of less.
Another flaw, but this one is so common in so many science fiction novels dealing with aliens that cannot be singled out as an exclusive fault of the authors, is that at the end all the huge expectations raised about the mysterious aliens creators of the "protomolecule" go mostly unfulfilled.

Overall:
The story was great all together. It did get a little slow a little after the middle then sped up again. I can't wait to start reading the next book. I like the title as they are fitting. The author's writing style is easy to read and smooth. The story has me going back for more to find out what happens next.
Personal Opinion:
Because this story contains so much Leftist propaganda I refuse to give it a full five stars. The Leftist agenda is pushed, for example: gays are overly represented in the story. They should only maybe be mentioned but not a main character more of a background character. The authors clearly show how the Christian faith is tainted with the ways of world through the character Anna, a Methodist priest who is lesbian. The authors need to leave out the details about the characters skin colors as to leave more the readers imagination. This would allow the characters to become more flexible in their "physical form."

Again though it is great book but would be much better if it were more conservative.

While I greatly enjoyed the first two books (Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War), this one didn't capture my imagination and attention as well. It dragged a bit throughout the section in the 'slow zone', where the situation was not very dynamic, both literally and figuratively. New characters in the book were not quite as interesting as some of the book-specific characters in the previous books, and the old characters, while still enjoyable, were not developed very much further. I'm not saying in any way that this is a weak effort, but it was a minor disappointment after the earlier books, which rarely lacked for immediacy and kept me constantly looking forward to my next chance to read them. Assuming there is a next book, which I most likely will buy, I'm hoping for something more like the earlier works.

Good space opera, with interesting and multi-dimensional characters, gripping plot and great story twists.

I would say it does not reach the momentum level of the previous books, there are many slower-paced moments that almost felt dragging, but overall the execution is great, and there is a touch of mastery in the way villain character is constructed and presented.

I feel that some parts should have been shortened (describing the deck-to-deck combat inside the dreadnought lagged a bit) and I wish the secondary bad guys shared the character complexity of the main villain, but - overall - I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Couldn't have asked for a better conclusion to the Expanse series. So many great characters, villains and heroes alike. The author considered some big questions in the course of an action packed story: redemption, faith, self-sacrifice and even the nature of madness while blasting the hell out of a very awesome spaceship. I wish I could just subscribe to all future James Corey books and have them automatically appear on my Kindle as soon as possible.

Good rum read but not as good as the others. It felt a bit too generic with the zealotry, fire and brimstone religious elements. A departure from the agnostic stance of the others I'm the series. Still a good read though.

This, the third book in the expanse, is the first that dragged at times. When the ring which was created by the proto molecule on Venus plants itself outside the orbit of Neptune, the earth. Mars and the OPS all send ships to investigate. Of course Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are in the middle as are several new characters. Much like games of thrones, don't get too attached, also like GOT (the books) there are some dull, overwritten stretches. But still worth a read. Great space opera seems to be a rarity today, so take this as is.

The author brought this excellent sci-fi trilogy to a very satisfying conclusion and yet left the door open to write additional sequels should he so choose to do so. I hope he does. This is a good old fashion space opera with battles, intrigue, and well developed characters, both heroes and villians. But you must read the first and second books before this one, otherwise you would be lost.

I will not waste words with yet another brief plot summary. You can get that from dozens of other reviews.

I agree with many different reviewers that this chapter of the expanse series missed a golden opportunity -- to bring forward some of the characters from the previous novels, and make the story line more cohesive! Of course, I'm not talking about the main characters such as Holden's crew and Miller, but some of the bits and pieces of the other novels. It had Martian Marines, so why not bring back Bobbie? I absolutely loved the Bobbie character and wanted to see her kick some more ass in this one. Oh well. It had UN politicians, so why not bring back Avarsala? Her conniving and manipulating could have made the story more interesting. They did bring back Sam and her inclusion into the story seems forced, almost an afterthought, like the authors were afraid to make any old characters have big roles, so they threw here a few lines here and there.

One other thing I felt about this novel was that the "conclusion" or "finale" was far too long. It seemed to me that the "end" was about 40% of the novel (as indicated by my Kindle saying I was at about 60% when the stuff began to happen).

I would have to say the first Expanse novel was 5 stars , the 2nd was 4 stars, and this one was 3 stars. I sure hope the next one does not continue this trend downward.

I had to force myself to read through the first 1/3 of the book, authors need to cut on the number of spaced out, no pun intended, monologues, they don't add to the suspense or a build up, imo they just look like page fillers.

From about 1/2 it picks up pace, with occasional retardation into character self-reflections, occasional is enough, but when scifi novel start to compete with Tolstoy you realize it's enough.

Out of the first 3 books this one was the hardest for me to finish. :/

Overall a very good read. The crew of the Rocinante is back, as they explore the mysteries of the enigmatic ring. Don't want to give away any spoilers, but this book does a good job answering questions about the proto-molecule and the whole tale is well written with well thought characters and attention to detail we all have come to expect from the writers. I highly recommend this book.

A fantastic installment in, what I would argue is, the best sci-fi out there right now.
I am often worried about the middle of a series. All too often the charm begins to wear off and the author leaves the reader plodding along till they (hopefully) redeem themselves with an epic conclusion. This was not the case in the third installment of the Expanse series. Abaddon's Gate was a page turner from start to finish. The weaving of new character backstory into the storyline, while giving us a healthy dose of the characters we have come to know and love, was spot on.
The other item of note that I was pleased with was the tone of the book. If you have read the first two books in the Expanse you know that it wouldn't take too much from the authors to move this story into a very dark place. Without offering any spoilers I will just say that the balance of grit and wit was once again perfect.
I highly recommend this series and this installment. Great stuff.

what can I say? if you liked the others, you'll like this one. no let down in quality whatsoever.

the author managed the rare balance of finishing this story while unobtrusively setting up the next.

The book has been thoroughly reviewed and I can't add anything new to the enthused comments of others. I only want to add my five stars and say that it is a pleasure to find a series that entertains, keeps the suspense and action going, has engaging characters, and best of all, stimulates the imagination. Congrats to Abraham and Franck on creating one of the best space opera series ever. Keep 'em coming, guys!

I waited for this book in the series to come out.
The previous books were so good.
Not sure what happened.
It just could not hold my interest.
I skipped to the last few chapters to just finish it.
Oh well...

I am really happy to have learned about this trilogy from Goodreads. I have not read SciFi in ages and read this trilogy pretty soon after finishing the Reality Disfunction trilogy. I liked the Expense better since the metaphysics were more believable, if you will.

I do not think I have read a book series before which have gone from really great to really disappointing in one go like this one just did. There is nothing wrong with the writing itself. It is as good as before. It is the content, the story itself, which is simply disappointing as far as I am concerned.

Apart from Holden and his crew all the nice characters from the previous book like Bobby and the likable bitch Avasarala. The new ones introduced are nowhere near those that we lost in terms of interest and often downright annoying. Miller was brought back but he is not really the old Miller, not surprisingly, and more of a tool than an interesting character.

I was hoping that we would get more into the mystery of the protomolecule device and of course it plays an important part in the story but more as a piece of background or a prop than the centerpiece that I hoped it would. The events in the book are, at least initially, driven by a crazy and fanatical relative to the bad guy Mao from the previous book and who wants to both kill and discredit Holden for revenge. I was not too crazy about that from the start. Once her plan get going things goes bad rather quickly.

As if this revenge business was not bad enough the author drags in a useless as well as volatile and half-crazy captain, appointed for pretty much nothing but political reasons, and a whole bunch of more or less fanatical religious people. The latter was really dragging down the book for me.

Unfortunately the religious fanatics play a big role in the events in the latter half of the book and, not surprisingly, they cause things to go from bad to worse. Even the good ones of these priests and clerics is really ruining the book with their constant nonsensical preaching about how there were still some good in person x and person y etc. etc. and how we should try and talk to him instead of using violence. The maniac(s) were on the verge of, possibly, exterminating the human race for Christ sake! Just push the f-ckers out of a bloody airlock and be done with it.

I have to say that I am probably not really capable of giving a un-biased, possibly not even a fair, review of this book since I am so disappointed with it given how much I liked the previous ones. It is a well written book. Those of you who liked the previous ones should probably have a go at this one as well. I did not like it but that is because of personal taste.

The Expanse series is set in the not too far future of our solar system. As book 1,Leviathon Wakes, started out humanity was divided into three factions. Mars has been settled for centuries with a multi billion population living in domes and underground with a population that has more hustle than Earth which is consolidated under United Nations rule and drowning in people. A universal dole lets most earth citizens survive an economy where jobs are scarce as are resources and space. The third and by far the smallest faction is the Outer Planets, a very loose knit collective of hardy pioneer types with little love for governments, big corporations or outwardly imposed rules of any type. Differences in gravity make for distinct body types for each of the three, squat(by comparison) earthers, tall and slender Martians, and very tall and skinny outer planet types. Trade among all three is vital with many ships plying the space lanes. Large multi planetary corporations hold much of the power and not unexpectedly use it in amoral ways. Piracy is common in the further reaches of space and becoming more so. Both Earth and Mars maintain large military fleets with Mar's ships having the edge. Underpinning the series was the discovery of an alien protomolecule in the outer planets thats promised a leapfrogging in tech that would enable whoever possessed it to dominate the solar system. Bitter fighting between Earth and Mars ensued with a tense standoff as we head into book 3,this one,Abaddon's Gate. The protomolecule has gone runaway and exhibits signs of a very alien intelligence allied with immense power. It has built a vast ringlike apparatus of unknown purpose beyond the edges of human space. Naturally all three factions are competing to be the first there and to take advantage of anything they find. Into this tinder pot sail our favorite innocents, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante, scarred and not quite as innocent as they used to be. You can take for granted that the writing team of S. A. Corey(Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) will give you cutting edge space opera. The bonus that made this my favorite of the series so far is the interwoven tale of forgiveness and redemption done with a gentle and compassionate touch(many reviewers disagree with me and found those same parts merely boring-your choice). Corey's fleshing out of their characters until they're so real its easy to picture them in your head makes this their best writing to date.

The momentum of the first two books (great in their own right) carries this book into an awesome ride that at times left me chilled, hopeful, and sad to the point of crying. Every character becomes someone I care about, can relate to, or recognize in my own life. I've read too many books where a character becomes a placeholder, a NPC used to spout generic dialogue and move the story along. The opposite of that happens here, and it creates a story that I look forward to reading again soon, and makes me impatient for the next installment.

Reading this thing was like pulling teeth. WAY too much development of mostly uninteresting characters, unnecessary boring dialog, even completely superfluous chapters which I skipped while waiting for SOMETHING, ANYTHING to happen. And even when it happens, its boring.

Abaddon's Gate begins innocently enough, we are introduced to new characters and the overarching story takes a reasonable turn, the goal of the protomolecule is revealed. The novel moves at a much slower pace, but, slowly the authors' purpose for the entire series is revealed. We aren't being lead on a scifi/horror adventure for entertainment, or even to explore the complexities of human thought - but to be preached at.

If you agree with the premise of the lecture, you'll probably find the journey plodding but tolerable. Myself, I could barely finish the last 200 pages, when the mask slips and intent of the series is revealed. I fluxed between bored disinterest and moments of anger at the characters I've grow to care about being betrayed by their creators for some ideological end.

The entire narrative revolves around a number of new characters that are merely ideological tools. One in particular, Anna, serves as the mouthpiece of the authors' ideology and is an archetypal Mary Sue. She has no faults, and her only struggles involve finding the best way to manipulate others into accepting her worldview as correct. Our old favorite characters, and particularly Naomi, are used as props to justify and enable Anna. Other characters are introduced to serve as counterpoints to anyone who would disagree with Anna. These other characters are all broken, with clear, obnoxiously referenced, character flaws. Anna is perfect in every way and never exhibits so much as a moment of doubt or a single human flaw.

Anna is not a person, she is a bald-faced worldview awkwardly wearing a human's backstory. I've not encountered such a one-dimensional, arrogant, and unrealistic character since reading the unbearable works of Ayn Rand. I almost can't believe this was written by the same authors as the first two books. In fact I hope one of them didn't participate, so I can still respect the other.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series. Enough so that I pre-ordered Abaddon's Gate. Truth told, this one left me cold - I could barely finish it. The first third of the book was filled with what John Scalzi calls "flying snowmen," plot points that just jolt you out of suspended disbelief, or are just plain silly. Although, "Corey" later tries to explain it, the appearances by the late Detective Miller are an example. I'd skip this one.

My other disapointment was the attempt to create a novel with deep moral and spiritual undertones. This just failed for me. The intended sense of awe turned out to be more, "aw, shucks."

This explained enough that I got some sense of completeness about the alien disease/entity, without explaining too much and being trite. Ends appropriately, on a sad bit hopeful note. I really liked how this book gave a perspective on faith from someone who has it deeply.

Although I enjoyed both Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse) and Caliban's War (The Expanse), I wasn't quite as impressed by Abaddon's Gate. The book is very readable and moves along at a decent pace. The problem is that the sense of wonder, awe, and fear from the first two books is completely absent in this outing.

In Leviathan's Wake, the authors created an interesting setting with mankind spread about the solar system. There was political tension, personal struggles, and an awesomely terrifying protomolecule on the rampage. I was enchanted by Detective Miller's redemptive quest and grew attached to Holden and his crew. The novel built to a horrifying climax but humanity was saved by heroic sacrifice. Epic stuff and massively entertaining. The book was pretty much the epitome of "show, don't tell" as we're given an up close and intimate ride through the plot.

In Caliban's War, the series lost a bit of focus by expanding the number of viewpoints but the new characters were interesting (especially the caustic Chrisjen Avasarala.) The tension was ratcheted up as once again the corporations attempt to bend the protomolecule to their will and things go spectacularly wrong. Holden and company are right in the thick of things. Add in a shooting war and the sudden appearance of the artifact from Venus and the novel's roller-coaster ride ends on an ominous note. Great stuff and a page turner that I knocked out in two days.

*** mild spoilers ***

Then, we get to Abaddon's Gate. It starts promisingly with events pushing Holden and crew along with multiple (semi-hostile) fleets together into alien space, a bizarre alien artifact that bends the very laws of physics, and a handful of new characters (the only standout being Bull) with their own agendas and concerns. Where the first two books deftly combined alien machinations, mega-corporation intrigue, and personal struggles against a backdrop of interplanetary political struggles, Abbadon's Gate largely abandons that in favor of a much smaller story that takes place mostly on a single ship.

A daughter of one of the megacorp's executives is out for revenge - right up until she has an epiphany about the futility of hating Holden and about how she was really hating herself. Or Daddy. Or something. Whatever, didn't stop her from joining up with the next set of bad guys she runs into. Honestly, what the heck was with that entire character arc?

A priest joins the expedition because she's interested in how the Gate/Ring tie into the greater framework of His plans. Oh, that and she apparently exists to be there to teach Melba about forgiveness and redemption.

To make matters worse, most of the Roci's crew are sidelined for the bulk of the story. The Roci itself is, effectively, absent from the story. Holden, although present, is a shadow of his former self both in terms of the vibrancy of his character and his effective role in the plot. Worse, it feels that he is present mostly as a conduit for an info dump explaining the purpose of the artifact. At the end of the book, River Tam... uh, I mean Melba finds a new home and place in the universe and we'll apparently be seeing more of her in future sequels.

Despite being an easy read due to the author's writing style, it's an ultimately empty experience that serves as a placeholder for the next book which will presumably see mankind head out into the stars. Hopefully there the series will recapture what made it so awesome to begin with.

Highly enjoyed the first two books in the Expanse series and hoped for a good finale, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Several issues arose in plot and character development: a confusing alien presence, too many new characters that frankly had little to do with the plot and long extended fighting scenes that I just skimmed through to get to the resolution. Two out of three isn't bad.

I do not think I have read a book series before which have gone from really great to really disappointing in one go like this one just did. There is nothing wrong with the writing itself. It is as good as before. It is the content, the story itself, which is simply disappointing as far as I am concerned.

Apart from Holden and his crew all the nice characters from the previous book like Bobby and the likable bitch Avasarala. The new ones introduced are nowhere near those that we lost in terms of interest and often downright annoying. Miller was brought back but he is not really the old Miller, not surprisingly, and more of a tool than an interesting character.

I was hoping that we would get more into the mystery of the protomolecule device and of course it plays an important part in the story but more as a piece of background or a prop than the centerpiece that I hoped it would. The events in the book are, at least initially, driven by a crazy and fanatical relative to the bad guy Mao from the previous book and who wants to both kill and discredit Holden for revenge. I was not too crazy about that from the start. Once her plan get going things goes bad rather quickly.

As if this revenge business was not bad enough the author drags in a useless as well as volatile and half-crazy captain, appointed for pretty much nothing but political reasons, and a whole bunch of more or less fanatical religious people. The latter was really dragging down the book for me.

Unfortunately the religious fanatics play a big role in the events in the latter half of the book and, not surprisingly, they cause things to go from bad to worse. Even the good ones of these priests and clerics is really ruining the book with their constant nonsensical preaching about how there were still some good in person x and person y etc. etc. and how we should try and talk to him instead of using violence. The maniac(s) were on the verge of, possibly, exterminating the human race for Christ sake! Just push the f-ckers out of a bloody airlock and be done with it.

I have to say that I am probably not really capable of giving a un-biased, possibly not even a fair, review of this book since I am so disappointed with it given how much I liked the previous ones. It is a well written book. Those of you who liked the previous ones should probably have a go at this one as well. I did not like it but that is because of personal taste.

The Expanse series is set in the not too far future of our solar system. As book 1,Leviathon Wakes, started out humanity was divided into three factions. Mars has been settled for centuries with a multi billion population living in domes and underground with a population that has more hustle than Earth which is consolidated under United Nations rule and drowning in people. A universal dole lets most earth citizens survive an economy where jobs are scarce as are resources and space. The third and by far the smallest faction is the Outer Planets, a very loose knit collective of hardy pioneer types with little love for governments, big corporations or outwardly imposed rules of any type. Differences in gravity make for distinct body types for each of the three, squat(by comparison) earthers, tall and slender Martians, and very tall and skinny outer planet types. Trade among all three is vital with many ships plying the space lanes. Large multi planetary corporations hold much of the power and not unexpectedly use it in amoral ways. Piracy is common in the further reaches of space and becoming more so. Both Earth and Mars maintain large military fleets with Mar's ships having the edge. Underpinning the series was the discovery of an alien protomolecule in the outer planets thats promised a leapfrogging in tech that would enable whoever possessed it to dominate the solar system. Bitter fighting between Earth and Mars ensued with a tense standoff as we head into book 3,this one,Abaddon's Gate. The protomolecule has gone runaway and exhibits signs of a very alien intelligence allied with immense power. It has built a vast ringlike apparatus of unknown purpose beyond the edges of human space. Naturally all three factions are competing to be the first there and to take advantage of anything they find. Into this tinder pot sail our favorite innocents, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante, scarred and not quite as innocent as they used to be. You can take for granted that the writing team of S. A. Corey(Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) will give you cutting edge space opera. The bonus that made this my favorite of the series so far is the interwoven tale of forgiveness and redemption done with a gentle and compassionate touch(many reviewers disagree with me and found those same parts merely boring-your choice). Corey's fleshing out of their characters until they're so real its easy to picture them in your head makes this their best writing to date.

The momentum of the first two books (great in their own right) carries this book into an awesome ride that at times left me chilled, hopeful, and sad to the point of crying. Every character becomes someone I care about, can relate to, or recognize in my own life. I've read too many books where a character becomes a placeholder, a NPC used to spout generic dialogue and move the story along. The opposite of that happens here, and it creates a story that I look forward to reading again soon, and makes me impatient for the next installment.

Reading this thing was like pulling teeth. WAY too much development of mostly uninteresting characters, unnecessary boring dialog, even completely superfluous chapters which I skipped while waiting for SOMETHING, ANYTHING to happen. And even when it happens, its boring.

Abaddon's Gate begins innocently enough, we are introduced to new characters and the overarching story takes a reasonable turn, the goal of the protomolecule is revealed. The novel moves at a much slower pace, but, slowly the authors' purpose for the entire series is revealed. We aren't being lead on a scifi/horror adventure for entertainment, or even to explore the complexities of human thought - but to be preached at.

If you agree with the premise of the lecture, you'll probably find the journey plodding but tolerable. Myself, I could barely finish the last 200 pages, when the mask slips and intent of the series is revealed. I fluxed between bored disinterest and moments of anger at the characters I've grow to care about being betrayed by their creators for some ideological end.

The entire narrative revolves around a number of new characters that are merely ideological tools. One in particular, Anna, serves as the mouthpiece of the authors' ideology and is an archetypal Mary Sue. She has no faults, and her only struggles involve finding the best way to manipulate others into accepting her worldview as correct. Our old favorite characters, and particularly Naomi, are used as props to justify and enable Anna. Other characters are introduced to serve as counterpoints to anyone who would disagree with Anna. These other characters are all broken, with clear, obnoxiously referenced, character flaws. Anna is perfect in every way and never exhibits so much as a moment of doubt or a single human flaw.

Anna is not a person, she is a bald-faced worldview awkwardly wearing a human's backstory. I've not encountered such a one-dimensional, arrogant, and unrealistic character since reading the unbearable works of Ayn Rand. I almost can't believe this was written by the same authors as the first two books. In fact I hope one of them didn't participate, so I can still respect the other.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series. Enough so that I pre-ordered Abaddon's Gate. Truth told, this one left me cold - I could barely finish it. The first third of the book was filled with what John Scalzi calls "flying snowmen," plot points that just jolt you out of suspended disbelief, or are just plain silly. Although, "Corey" later tries to explain it, the appearances by the late Detective Miller are an example. I'd skip this one.

My other disapointment was the attempt to create a novel with deep moral and spiritual undertones. This just failed for me. The intended sense of awe turned out to be more, "aw, shucks."

This explained enough that I got some sense of completeness about the alien disease/entity, without explaining too much and being trite. Ends appropriately, on a sad bit hopeful note. I really liked how this book gave a perspective on faith from someone who has it deeply.

Although I enjoyed both Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse) and Caliban's War (The Expanse), I wasn't quite as impressed by Abaddon's Gate. The book is very readable and moves along at a decent pace. The problem is that the sense of wonder, awe, and fear from the first two books is completely absent in this outing.

In Leviathan's Wake, the authors created an interesting setting with mankind spread about the solar system. There was political tension, personal struggles, and an awesomely terrifying protomolecule on the rampage. I was enchanted by Detective Miller's redemptive quest and grew attached to Holden and his crew. The novel built to a horrifying climax but humanity was saved by heroic sacrifice. Epic stuff and massively entertaining. The book was pretty much the epitome of "show, don't tell" as we're given an up close and intimate ride through the plot.

In Caliban's War, the series lost a bit of focus by expanding the number of viewpoints but the new characters were interesting (especially the caustic Chrisjen Avasarala.) The tension was ratcheted up as once again the corporations attempt to bend the protomolecule to their will and things go spectacularly wrong. Holden and company are right in the thick of things. Add in a shooting war and the sudden appearance of the artifact from Venus and the novel's roller-coaster ride ends on an ominous note. Great stuff and a page turner that I knocked out in two days.

*** mild spoilers ***

Then, we get to Abaddon's Gate. It starts promisingly with events pushing Holden and crew along with multiple (semi-hostile) fleets together into alien space, a bizarre alien artifact that bends the very laws of physics, and a handful of new characters (the only standout being Bull) with their own agendas and concerns. Where the first two books deftly combined alien machinations, mega-corporation intrigue, and personal struggles against a backdrop of interplanetary political struggles, Abbadon's Gate largely abandons that in favor of a much smaller story that takes place mostly on a single ship.

A daughter of one of the megacorp's executives is out for revenge - right up until she has an epiphany about the futility of hating Holden and about how she was really hating herself. Or Daddy. Or something. Whatever, didn't stop her from joining up with the next set of bad guys she runs into. Honestly, what the heck was with that entire character arc?

A priest joins the expedition because she's interested in how the Gate/Ring tie into the greater framework of His plans. Oh, that and she apparently exists to be there to teach Melba about forgiveness and redemption.

To make matters worse, most of the Roci's crew are sidelined for the bulk of the story. The Roci itself is, effectively, absent from the story. Holden, although present, is a shadow of his former self both in terms of the vibrancy of his character and his effective role in the plot. Worse, it feels that he is present mostly as a conduit for an info dump explaining the purpose of the artifact. At the end of the book, River Tam... uh, I mean Melba finds a new home and place in the universe and we'll apparently be seeing more of her in future sequels.

Despite being an easy read due to the author's writing style, it's an ultimately empty experience that serves as a placeholder for the next book which will presumably see mankind head out into the stars. Hopefully there the series will recapture what made it so awesome to begin with.

I find James S.A. Corey to be an okay writer but I found Abbaddon's Gate to be boring. I was hoping the story would be about traveling through gateways to other worlds & it's just the politics of finding a system of gateways but not going through them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books’ simple classic, wittily operatic style and couldn’t wait for more of the same from this third volume of the Expanse series. What was the protomolecule artefact from Venus going to do? What is the purpose of the enigmatic reanimated Miller? What splendid scrapes would Holden and his stalwart crew get out of by the skin of their teeth? The anticipation was almost too much to bear but I patiently finished my last book before diving in.

This over-egged anticipation was, however, a little misfounded. This story focuses on the various human factions as they race to the strange ring built by the protomolecule and vie to become the first to metaphorically plant their flag. The chapters featuring Holden and his crew are, as ever, superb but it all rather grinds to a halt with the ship-load of ecumenical types trying to shoe-horn God into a multi-species universe – a sure fire winner for killing a bit of sci-fi stone dead. The Melba/Clarissa single-minded revenge thread adds a bit of spice as do the Bull segments but the chapter per character structure, which usually keeps the pace bowling along and the tension building, sags more than a little with each Anna segment. Unlike the other two books, this feels like a book written by two people.

I do, however, like the thought given to the names of ships; as well as being the name of the ship in Rush’s excellent Sygnus X1, Holden’s Rocinante is the name of Don Quixote’s skinny horse; the ultimate futility of aristocracy (in this case plutocracy) is nicely echoed in Melba / Clarissa Mao’s ship the Cerisier (aka The Cherry Orchard); and the naming of the religious ship ‘Prince’ is a wickedly appropriate allusion to Machiavelli’s most famous work. Also, as with the other volumes, the title has been carefully considered and again suggests well read and educated authors, Abbadon being a dwelling place of the dead in the Hebrew bible – most appropriate.

If the first two books hadn’t been so rip-snortingly brilliant then Abbadon’s Gate would have been a perfectly acceptable and enjoyable read and, as such, it deserves a four star rating. Also, notwithstanding the above, the ending is very satisfactory and tidily achieved – a fairly uncommon accomplishment in science fiction where a convenient deus-ex-machina is all too often pulled out of the bag.

A mysterious alien artifact - a gateway - has been constructed beyond Uranus's orbit. Its purpose is unknown. Representatives from Earth, Mars and the Belt are rushing to investigate, among them, reluctantly, Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante. The artifact holds the key to the future of the human race, an opportunity to spread mankind to the stars...but it is also a weapon that could incinerate the entire Solar system if it falls unto the wrong hands.

Abaddon's Gate is the third novel in The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which is expected to run to nine novels (and "Will soon be a major television series"). This book picks up after the events of Caliban's War, although unfortunately some of the more notable characters from that book are missing. Instead, we have a number of new POV characters joining the returning figures of Holden and the Rocinante crew.

The book initially opens with the different factions racing to the gate with their own agendas and goals in mind. There's a murderous character plotting vengeance on Holden in a (not very convincing) way of getting him involved in the plot. There's tensions on the Belter command ship between the psychotic captain and his more reasonable executive officer and security chief. There's a religious-but-non-fanatical leader who couples pious morality with hard-headed practicality. And so on. It's all reasonable enough, until the crew arrive at the gate and pass through it into a strange sub-pocket of space where physical rules can be rewritten and an ancient intelligence uses the form of Detective Miller to speak to Holden.

At this point things take a turn for the bizarre and it feels like The Expanse is about to break out into a fully-blown hard SF novel. The "slow zone" of the gateway space feels like a nod to Vernor Vinge, and the limitations of slower-than-light travel when the laws of physics keep changing is the sort of thing that would earn an Alastair Reynolds nod of approval. It's all nicely set up for The Expanse to move away from its MOR space opera roots and turn into something more than explosions and gunfights.

Except that doesn't happen. The novel soon falls back into its comfort zone of explosions and gunfights, with the major characters all forced into choosing sides between the psychotic captain of the Belter command ship and his other senior crew. This would have more resonance if we'd had the mad captain set up a bit better, but he isn't. It just feels like he's there and mad and antagonistic because, well, the book wouldn't have any conflict without him.

The action set-pieces are generally well-handled, there's some very nice zero-gee combat scenes and Abraham and Franck don't let up on the pace until the last page. There is no denying that there's fun to be had here. But it also feels a bit shallow, and it reinforces the feeling that The Expanse is SF with the training wheels left on. Abaddon's Gate feels like it should have been allowed to make a turn into crazy hard SF weirdness, but instead it's shoehorned back into being an action story. A very nicely-done action story, but there is military SF around that does this stuff a lot better.

As it stands, Abaddon's Gate (***½) ends up being just another readable, fast-paced and entertaining instalment of a readable, fast-paced and entertaining series. Which is fine, but there is definitely the prospect here, between the authors' excellent worldbuilding and solid prose skills, of elevating things onto another level. Hopefully later instalments will deliver on the promise of the series, which is so far tantalising but unfulfilled.

(Some Spoilers Ahead)
I had read the first three books of The Expanse before the summer started and had fallen in love with the series. Abaddon's Gate had previously been my favorite book in the series. After buying the first six books, and starting from the top I have finally finished the book a second time, and can easily say it is still my favorite book but now by an even larger margin. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I will try to touch on my favorite ones. Warning there are some spoilers ahead

Characters
I too was disappointed like many to see Avarasala and Bobbie not return other than throwaway references. However what I did not understand were the critics who attacked many of the newer characters introduced. Let's take Captain Ashford for one, I read a review criticizing him as being "a useless as well as a volatile and half-crazy captain, appointed for pretty much nothing but political reasons." To me, this criticism makes no sense, as Ashford in my eyes is one of the most important characters in the novel for his essential building up of one of the series' central themes, humanities factionalism, and greed(I will touch on this more later). Another thing that made no sense to me was how him being appointed for political reasons hurts his character, Avarsala spent a whole book showing how complicated politics were central to the universe and let's be honest, people who are unqualified are often given jobs they don't deserve due to politics and connections. Then there are the religious leaders. To me, this made perfect sense, as they offered a lense to view the ring that was sorely needed. It makes perfect sense that the novel doesn't go deeper into the working of the protomolecule as the characters themselves are confused like "a monkey playing with a microwave", but another book with the protomolecule as a weapon would be tiring. Now the religious/theological view is put into place, one that puts the view as a kind of god watching and observing but relatively unobtrusive. This lens allows the ring itself to become a rather interesting figure, but also once again puts focus on the themes of factionalism. And finally, there is Bull, who to me was the most interesting character of all, because Bull is in many ways just like Holden. Bull has the same charisma, the same mind for command, and the same determined nature which makes Holden, Holden. What Bull differs in, however, is the most important part of his character, unlike Holden he does whatever is necessary. This makes him an interesting foil to Holden's character, especially since rather than being enemies they become allies.

Theme
To me, its focus on the central theme of factionalism and greed is what makes the story. This novel shows how people, such as Ashford, will do anything for power; meanwhile, it also shows that even directly under the eye of God(the ring) Humans continue to fight each for their differing beliefs. Ashford consistently shows his bias towards other viewpoints, often being forced to do obvious tasks to avoid conflict, he consistently holds on to his factionalism. His hunger for power, and refusal to work with others outside his Faction lead to the power struggles shown in the novel. Ashford is central to this theme, and his very existence pushes the theme forward. Meanwhile, in smaller doses, the difference between the rich and poor are highlighted through Tilly, and even Bull is deprived command due to him being from a different faction originally. Meanwhile this factionalism stops humanity from questioning the literal physics-bending station, instead they are more concerned with capturing Holden, whos in power, and completing their goals, all the while staying ignorant of the damages they caused: like the Martian soldier who fired a grenade and killed thousands or Ashford willing to kill the solar system because he refused to believe the words of someone from the other side.

Story
This is a simple point, two stories in a row focused on the Protomolecule as a weapon that humanity tried to harness. It was a breath of fresh to see the protomolecule not become a literal weapon, but instead be more of a setting to explore the politics and factionalism present in The Expanse universe. This change of pace and a story that plays more like a political thriller than a typical science fiction story truly made this book stand out.

Build Up
The most exciting part of this package was the possibilities of what is to come next, with thousands of star systems open it becomes clear that the factionalism inherent to the series will only worsen. How will our heroes deal with the growing threats from possibly dozens of stars, and what new locations will the next book take us. Include the fact the Clarrisa Mao is now on the Rocinante, the possibilities for conflict and good storytelling are as countless as the planets now open to humanity

This series continues to suck me in...even when, as with this book, the new POV characters initially don't interest me as much as in the previous book. Holden is still around and, since it seems that he will be the glue that binds the series together, I don't expect that to change. In addition to him we once again get three new POV characters and I had definite feelings about each of them by the end of the book. I think it's the mark of some pretty damn good writing and characterization when I find myself all over the emotional map about the characters. One minute I'm commiserating with them, the next I'm cheering for them, and then before you know it I'm wanting to slap them upside the head. The ending chapters had me on the edge of my seat once again. I had to cover the page with a piece of paper, sliding it down so I could only read one line at a time so I wouldn't be tempted to let my eyes skip down the page to see how things turned out. The pacing continues to be excellent with the momentum building throughout the story as the different POV characters all head towards a collision course with each other.

Good stuff, this.

Why review a third book of a trilogy? Readers either give up after the first part or they want to know how it all ends. I wished I had chosen the first option. "Leviathan Wakes" was a pretty solid story, but everything that came after was just a series of letdowns. "Caliban's War" was a lukewarm and unnecessary repeat with different characters. And "Abaddon's Gate" is a premature and horribly inconsistent exercise with failing moral ambiguities.
The characters are card board. Where the authors try so hard to give them compelling backgrounds and moral struggles, the reader is left with naive dialog and repetitive monolog. While there are seemingly endless sermons by a priest, the atheists are foulmouthed ignorants who of course in the end will (have to) find their grain of faith. There wasn't a single character that I seriously cared about.
Overall, the story is too transparent. When I say that I wanted to finish this book as fast a possible, it only means that I wanted it to be over with. And the temptation to put it down for good was overwhelming more than once. The authors certainly know the techniques of writing. But they stick to them so stringently, that the whole book (or even series) could well be homework from a writers workshop. A workshop though, where you left before the last class: every now and then you have to break the rules. Otherwise the result will be boring and fail to on entertain.
The worst part (starting already in the prolog) were the inconsistencies, though. While the physics borders more on fantasy, this is fine and can be attributed to much advanced technologies. But changing the internal rules every few pages is unexcusable, especially if it is necessary for 90% of the story. I don't even know how this could have been missed in any sort of editing process.
(Rereading this review I have to remove the additional star that was intended for the ambition of the project.)

I've read all 5 of the tomes and have been a little bit in heaven. All I've ever asked of a SciFi novel is just give me spaceships and great character development. Three dimensional people not 2 dimensional cut-out cardboard characters. That requirement these writers have given me in these novels. I'm so happy! The science in these books is absolutely plausible.
Syfy has 4 episodes out at this date, and they've done an AMAZING job. No glowy, distracting CGI. The only casting discordance for me was Naomi. The actress playing her is a wonderful actress but does not have a Belter body with long thin bones. She has an Earther body and a huge part of Naomi's character is her Belter origins. Oh well, you can't have everything.
I don't think I've ever written a review, but when I explored the store to see what others had written, there was no review on this book. If you love SciFi and greatly appreciate fleshed out characters, I think these books will make you jump for joy.

This is the third book in The Expanse series and needs to be read in order. The first book is Leviathan Wakes.
This third installment doesn’t disappoint. The line of dominoes that was pushed by the release of the Protomolecule, has given the opportunity for someone to put Holden once again in the cross-hairs, setting a secret plan in motion, one that needed what the Protomolecule Gate inn order to pull Holden into the right place, at the right time. But this time the threat isn’t just The Protomolecule and the humans who have been playing God, and trying to manipulate things to their favor, it’s not even the player with grim intentions for Holden and his crew, the worst threat was already brought within them to the Gate.
By the end, again, one is left wondering where the humans of The Expanse will end up next.

The Good
SA Corey once again writes with an impressive level of detail ("Best cook flying can't bake right without thrust") and exposition ("No monkey ever reheated a frozen burrito"). This 3rd installment also isn't afraid to keep heaping philosophy on top of an action-packed narrative. These are the factors that keep me coming back to this series.

The Bad
Ori Supergate, anyone? And how about The Delphic Expanse? (see The Expanse)
It's common in sci-fi to borrow from previous works, but sometimes you are left wondering if a work is paying homage or if it is outright theft. Remember Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete Third Season?? A mysterious sphere (into which Captain Archer travels) in a zone that does not obey the known laws of physics? At least SA Corey's slow zone and rings have their own mythology.

The Ugly
It's depressing that Christianity still matters that far in the future. In the solar system according to SA Corey, human nature will never change: we will still go to war with one another, and we still believe in ancient tales of the supernatural. Makes for a good story that way, but I find it a pessimistic view of the future. At least the religious angle in this installment brings up some interesting philosophical points.

Have I got a treat for you, the cure to your mid-summer doldrums.

With Abaddon's Gate, James S.A. Corey brings to a conclusion the epic space opera series The Expanse with a bang that can only be described as explosive, even if it does have slow fuse to put all the pieces in place with an explosive and satisfying conclusion.

And it's all in the name.

If you Google the word "Abaddon," you'll find that it is a Hebraic word that refers to a place of destruction. In the New Testament Book of Revelation, it is the name given to an angel who is shown as the king of an army of locusts, even being variously translated as exterminator or destroyer.

While I figured that out long before it mattered, I was still surprised at how accurate a description it was. But I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. Let me just say that if something can go wrong for our heroes, it does. Over and over again.

In a future time where humanity has spilled out across the solar system, colonizing Mars, the moons of the gas giants, and the asteroid ring, an alien threat has appeared from beyond the stars. In Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War we saw the protomolecule break life down to its building blocks, defy the laws of physics and of nature, and create advanced technology in under the poisonous Venusian skies. Now it has launched a giant ring into orbit past Uranus, and a flotilla of all the nations of man are flying out to investigate it.

And so is Jim Holden. Our everyman hero, long tired of his days of "saving the solar system" and humanity, from itself and from the protomolecule, is planning on putting himself as far away from the ring as possible. Unfortunately for him, and his crew on the Rocinante, someone has other plans for him and once more he'll find himself at the center of the action again, to be hated, to be love, and perhaps to stand at the crossroads of humanities future.

If you enjoyed the Hugo nominated Leviathan Wakes, you should be wasting no time in picking up a copy of Abaddon's Gate. More than just a flimsy piece of space opera, Corey (the pen name of co-authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) has weaved the story through with hope and revenge, fall and redemption against a backdrop of space battles, alien civilizations, and zero gravity shoot-outs. There's a little of everything for everyone.

If I have any gripes about the book, it's that it takes a while to put all the pieces in place to start the action. For that reason, the pacing occasionally seems to suffer from starts and stops that throw off the flow. Further, so much time is spent developing certain characters motivation for revenge, that I struggled when they seemed to suddenly slip from villain to hero. It's a credible shift, in the balance, but could have been more carefully developed.

I liked Abaddon's Gate, and like its predecessors, it's a great book for a warm summer, whether by the pool, under a tree, or on a road trip. I may never land on the moon or experience null gravity, but James S.A. Corey does a great job of making me feel like I have.

This is the third book in the Expanse series, which continues to be highly entertaining. The book switches between four point-of-view characters to unfold an adventure that combines action, politics, and science fiction ideas. Three of the point-of-view characters were very likable, the fourth distinctly and deliberately less so. I rooted for the good guys, wondered about the mysteries, and snatched any odd moment to keep reading. Enthusiastically recommended.

I won't spoil anything. :) Book one (Leviathan Wakes) read like a hard-boiled detective mystery novel (in space, ahem). It told the story from two philosophically very different perspectives; each adding unique flavor to the other. Couldn't put it down.

Book two (Caliban's War) read like a Bourne-esque spy novel (ahem, in space). The story felt much more frantic to the characters (intended), and was told from a broader set of perspectives. Couldn't put it down, actively cheered out loud several times.

Book three (Abaddon's Gate) read kind of like Die Hard (ahem, in space). Could not put it down. Honestly, these books read so well that you can picture yourself running (or floating) alongside the characters, participating in each desperate race against disaster. The authors are not afraid to punish them, and do so over and over again. Captain James Holden's idealistic optimistic view of the universe and his unshakable urge to put himself in danger before his crew and friends is constantly tested - and not lightly. You really feel that he could be frustrating and inspiring all at once to hang out with because of his constant righteous streak. The topics of religion and faith are also dealt with in an interesting and pragmatic way, which is difficult to pull off (see the overtly preachy and critical Absolution Gap). Human fear and our barely suppressed instinct to revert to backing ourselves into a corner and throwing stones are captured beautifully (sometimes almost comically, it's so tragic).

I think one of my favourite things about these books is that the characters are not black and white: the stories capture a realistic picture of humanity full of grey individuals. They are all trying to do the right thing, but their ideas of "right" diverge drastically. You see yourself in some of them, your friends in others, and people you hate in still more of them.

Seriously, if you're reading this review you've likely read the other two books and you should quit wasting your time reading my review and put your eyeballs on the pages of this book. DO IT.

Definitely a step down from Caliban's War. Abaddon's Gate feels like too little butter spread over too much bread. Although I did find the conflict engaging, I found the pace to be a detriment. This is definitely a slow burn novel, and there isn't nearly enough Jim Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex to save it. Note for future volumes: if you're going to introduce new characters at expense of established crowd favorites, the story had better be top notch, seat-of-your-pants material. Abaddon's Gate hasn't soured me on the Expanse series as a whole, but I definitely feel that it is a speed bump along the way.

I'm rounding up around half a star.

This series remains well written (albeit with perhaps some unnecessary repetition), full of interesting characters, and as suspenseful as I can stand. (Granted, I'm a suspense wimp.) In this book, we finally approach a plot point one might have anticipated earlier. (I hope that's cryptic enough.) I look forward eagerly to #4.

So, now I've read the first three books (Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, and just today I finished Abaddon's Gate). Leviathan Wakes was a little slow, but the real action happened in the last quarter of the book, good character development. Caliban's War had a little more action spread out throughout the book and the real heart thumping action in the reaming quarter of the book. Again, with more character development that you are growing closer to the crew of the Rosinante. Book 3, Abaddon's Gate, if a rollercoast rush of action, sadness, grieving for lost loved ones, more heart thumping action from something like DIE HARD or Hollywood blockbuster movie. And this action is constant edge-of-your-seat all through the book and up until the end. If I didn't know there were more books I would swear the Rosinante crew were dead with no way out of their predicament. You owe yourself a treat and read Abaddon's Gate.

Abaddon’s Gate is the third book in the expanse trilogy by James S.A. Corey, so if you have not read the first two (Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War), stop reading this review here. For those who are looking to move on to the third volume of what currently stands as a quadrilogy (but remains in progress), Abaddon’s Gate flags very slightly in pace from the first two books, but remains en excellent read. Jim Holden and his crew remain at the helm, at least at the beginning of the book, and Miller even makes a comeback. But enough said: the expanse series is consistently good science fiction, and there is every reason to continue with it.

Another wonderful entry in The Expanse series. It really was only a matter of time before they started branching out of the solar system, and I really enjoy the way that happens in this book. The authors never disappoint in crafting enjoyable characters, page-turning action, and eagerness to see where the plot goes next.

This is another suspenseful book in the expanse series. If you enjoyed the television series, you'll like the books even more. In this book we get to see the continuing journey of the crew of the Rocinante as they explore the mystery of the ring. Of course the ring is more than what they expect, but what this book illustrates is how people will sabotage themselves and each other, but also how some people will still bring out the best in others. It's a riveting action packed read.

First: I recommend the first book in the series, and what I recall of the second was fair, but derivative.
That said, this third installment reeks. I never read ahead in books, with this one I had to, to continue (the antihero(ine) was so cardboard and so repugnant to me that I just had to, or walk away from the book). Not that I have any problem with superpowered bad guys, I like hard sci-fi, military sci-fi, funny sci-fi, and smart sci-fi, but this is just over the top stupid sci-fi. Perhaps this was written before espionage (terrorism) was a recognized military tactic (I think that puts it somewhere around 6000 B.C.). Otherwise the main plot device (lets sabotage not just one military space ship, but the whole fleet) is so risible as poison the entire story. I like the idea that the military has out-sourced so much of their duties, that a single contractor (corrupt contractors) can cause SOME havoc, but really: No automatic bomb sniffing? No security cameras? No background checks? Searches of personal luggage? Trust but verify? Murder is just matter of course? Disapperaring bodies? Why sure captain, that guy who disappeared was only responsible for the air we breath, its not like he needed a high security clearance or anything... That is hard to swallow, but the worst part of this is that Holden is your typical horror story character. Do something stupid, and continue to do the same thing over and over despite the OBVIOUS facts suggesting alternatives. At some point, its just implausible. So, anyway. I suggest you skip this. Personally, I have enough invested so that I'll skim thru to the end to find out about the ET technology, but the characters leave me cold. (I'm now half way through, although I already know the fate of Clarissa, Holden and Anna). I won't to enjoy it, its gone past the point of being redeemable. (Oh, by the way, its obvious that the way to kill the protomolecule is to toss "organic acid" at it (a la Alien).)
Dumb, implausible, sad and so many "just so" plot devices that I've gotta assume the authors must really dislike their audience.
Apparently, the sci-fi analog of the fantasy page stuffing ploy of describing evey scratch on the floor, every candle in the room is to add character lines. So, what should have been a 250 page read, turns into a 450 page waterboarding. If your idea of good sci-fi is analogous to fingernails on a chalk board, or if you think it makes sense that a military vessel isn't concerned about WMD threats then you may enjoy this. Oh, the last straw was when one old enough to know better character, asks someone who he KNOWS has a major problem with violence, and is a stickler for the rules, whether it would be ok to mutiny and commit murder. Its like the book was written by two authors trying to make the other look bad. No one (very) long in the military needs to be told that 1) If you know what the answer is you want, you shouldn't ask the question and 2) Its better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Just really sophomoric and incoherent. With so many holes in the electronic technology (viruses, whats a virus? is that something we need to worry about with our communications, fire-control and navigations systems??)

While the details and setting are different, this is a story that has been written time and time again. The creativity which grabs readers in the first two books is largely absent in this third offering. It is entertaining, if a bit slow, and has a pretty strong finish. But its also riddled with aspects which are unbelievable/hard to accept (much of the Melba storyline), which left me feeling that too many things took place simply for the convenience of allowing the story to occur. I understand suspended disbelief, but too much erodes at the reader's enjoyment.

Great read. I have read the 1st two books in the series. This 3rd book is a great follow up to the 1st 2 books. This is one of those hard to find book series where the quality of the writing and the story itself does not fall off with each new book