Book Review: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

This is the 3rd book in The Expanse series. I watched the TV series first but have been meaning to get through all the books at some point.

 Here is the Goodreads blurb:

For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artefact. 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.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This is probably my favorite part of The Expanse books thus far and when I watched the TV series was where it really turned around (I had bounced after the first season and the first 2 books). The cast of characters is larger and more interesting with lots of things going on across all factions and the plot feels a lot more connected since everything is happening pretty much in the same place.

Plot

This follows sometime after the events of the prior book, Caliban's War. The alien protomolecule has built something in Venus, launched it out, and now has deployed this mysterious Ring beyond Uranus. Humans have started to explore it and that leads all the factions out to figure out what to do with it, including folks like James Holden. The pace is pretty good throughout the whole book as lots of things are happening with characters sharing the same space as opposed to other novels where some characters were on other sides of the solar system for parts of the book.

Characters

We have some repeated characters, like James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante. That said, we don't get much from most of them other than a bit from Holden. We also have Monica, a reporter and her film crew; Bull, security chief of the OPA Behemoth; Melba, an engineer on a UN ship; and the Reverend Anna, on another UN ship.

I found some of the OPA folks surprising. I really liked Ashford and Drummer from the TV series, but the books are very different. Drummer isn't present at all, and Ashford feels more like a nervous/insecure captain than anything else, very much a secondary role as well. That said, it could be I'm remembering later-seasons Ashford. I also don't remember who was the XO and security chief of the Behemoth in the TV series; it's likely Drummer was one of these. Overall, I think the TV series compresses the cast of characters, which does help keep them interesting over many seasons instead of introducing characters just for a single book.

Setting / World Building

This book is really where the series starts taking off in terms of setting. We already have a plausible space-faring human race in the Solar System, with real considerations in terms of physics and the limitations of gravity and distance. The protomolecule was always an alien element and a bit of a bogeyman in the second book but is now part of a much broader thing with the Ring. The implications and mystery of it all is a real driver of this book, both in terms of character development and for the plot.

Final Thoughts

This was an excellent The Expanse book, my favorite thus far. It differs from the TV series in terms of some of the characters but otherwise stays pretty true to the plot and spirit of it. I think I enjoyed the character progression more in the TV series, but I'm sure others may have the opposite opinion depending on what they watched/read first.