“Abaddon’s Gate” Review

“Abaddon’s Gate” (The Expanse No. 3) by James S.A. Corey

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.

Review

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 story line, 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 had been more of that part of it.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Abaddon’s Gate”.

Book Details

The book cover is yellow with various ships taking up most of the cover there are at least three of them in various shapes. The bottom half of the cover is taken up by the title an author's name.

Author’s Website
James S.A. Corey
Publisher / Date
Orbit Books, June 2013
Genre
Science Fiction
Page Count
560
Completion Date
May 14, 2024