Full title: “Abaddon’s Gate: The Expanse No. 3”
Written by James S.A. Corey
Published by Orbit Books, June 2013
560 pages
Completed May 14, 2024
For generations, the Sol system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt – was humanity’s great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared beyond Uranus’s orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to a starless space beyond.
Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artifact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first two books, mostly because I never really warmed up to two of the point of view characters. These books all have multiple points of view – the first one had two and the second and third have four. With the previous books I enjoyed everyone’s storyline, not this time. One because her part of the plot was the most frustrating and the other just because I didn’t enjoy his personality. The most frustrating part of the book was the plot against Holden – all because someone decided to take revenge on him for stuff that wasn’t even his fault. I did enjoy everything else about the book – everything having to do with the artifact and finding out more about the aliens that had existed in the universe long before humans. I wish there’d been more of that part of it.