Abaddon's Gate

Leviathan Wakes ???????????????Caliban's War ???????????????Abaddon's Gate ???????????????

The third book in the Expanse series establishes quite a few new point of view characters. It may have taken me a few books to catch on to the system of point of view characters in this series, but I have to admit it works well and I really enjoy it. Aside from the main cast of recurring characters, there are a few points of view in each book who are specific to that book. It allows the authors to widen to the scope of the plot while still keeping each aspect intimate and close to the reader. And these characters who we only see for one book feel just as real and firmly placed into the universe of the series as the others. There is only one other series I feel has managed multiple points of view this well before and at this scale, and that would be A Song of Ice and Fire.

This book was less action and more politics and plotting. Which is some of my favourite parts of any story.

This is more like a 3.5? Definitely closer to a 4 than a 3 though.

Last book's strength was characters, but unfortunately it wasn't the same here. I wasn't particularly thrilled by any of the POVs. But the adventure inside the ring? Hell yes!

Now to my usual comparison to the TV series: I found Clarissa a bit more convincing as a character here. Ashford isn't as much of an asshole in the TV series. Also, so far this one had the most differences between the mediums!

I think this was the most action-packed book of the series. There seemed to be so much action that at times I couldn???t quite see in my head what was going in low or zero gravity. It is kinda hard for me to imagine a world with no gravity, where the notions of up and down are useless.
The ending of this book is totally worth it! There are complex characters, like Clarissa, who got me cringing and being compassionate at the same time.

I should have written my comments earlier, a few months later and I can't precisely remember which parts happened in each book since they all fit together in the same story. I started reading Leviathan Wakes based on the recommendation by John Moltz on The Talk Show.

As you can see by the fact that after the first book I continued through the rest of the series, I liked the books. I kept wanting to read more about the compelling characters who make up the crew of the Rocinante. Besides the crew I also loved the characters of Avasarala and, in Abaddon's Gate, Reverend Doctor Annushka Volovodov.

I enjoyed the future that the authors write, especially that it is not all rainbows like Star Trek. Except for the Nauvoo, which was intended to be a generational ship used by the Mormons (I love that idea!), the future was pretty bleak. And then that one glimmer of hope was hijacked and stolen.

Another thing that jumped out at me is that, with the exception of the Epstein (fusion) drive, none of the human technology in the books is magic. Even the fusion drive doesn't challenge our knowledge of physics, a few hundred years of new technology makes everything seem very plausible. Well, the gates are magic, but they're alien technology, so I give them a pass.

Last item of praise for the series: the aliens are alien! We don't understand the alien technology, we can't communicate effectively with it (Miller shows just how much we can't) and it is just so weird. I don't recall a story that presented such truly alien aliens. And, despite that, the second book covers how we tried to exploit their technology, even though we don't understand it at all.

Leviathan Wakes starts out strong, dumping you into the mystery of Julie Mao and the destruction of the Canterbury. I was captivated immediately and loved how the mysteries progressed and intertwined.

This is (to date) my favourite of the Expanse novels. I felt a little unsure heading in, because while Holden and crew were around, the characters I had grown to love in Caliban's War were nowhere to be found. This seems to be the MO for author James Corey, though... and he introduces us to a new gang of misfits and miscreants who get thrust headlong into a situation that is both awe-inspiring and action filled. It's a wonderfully paced, evocative piece of writing.

Abaddon's Gate est le troisième volume de de la saga de science-fiction The Expanse signée James S.A. Corey, le nom de plume du duo composé des auteurs Daniel Abraham et Ty Franck. A ce jour, il s'agit du dernier roman adapté dans la série TV tirée de cette saga, les trois premières saisons diffusées couvrant globalement les trois premiers romans du cycle.

Le récit reprend là où Caliban's War, le précédent volume, s'achevait :

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.

The James S.A. Corey team did a fantastic job of wrapping up the Expanse Trilogy. There isn't that much I can say about it that I haven't already said for the previous two books. The dialogue is sharp, entertaining, and Whedonesque (The pain is Whedonesque too. So much pain). The characters are well-rounded, understandable if not always likable, and Holden in particular is a different person at the end than he was at the beginning or even in the second book. The new characters add another layer of depth and even spirituality to what was already a raucous adventure tale. The return of old ones (kinda) is welcome and not overdone.

There are some specific things that the Corey team does which set them apart from a lot of science fiction and clearly illustrate the advances in the genre. I like that in this book, a person's last name doesn't necessarily indicate their race. The picture of the future they paint is one in which we've pretty much crossbred enough that skin color, last names, gender, and sexuality have become silly ways to identify people. Everything seems downright Utopian from a contemporary civil rights perspective. So what do we do? We make new divisions. Now we've got Belters and Earthers and Martians and enough division there to keep humans snapping at each right up to Doomsday which is pretty much where the last book takes place.

I like that they show how humans gravitate towards an “Us vs. Them” mentality, and that even when faced with a horrific alien goo invasion, we are still pretty much the biggest threat in and of ourselves. I also like they the story remains hopeful, even as the authors increase their cruelty levels to Whedon levels for this last book.

I also have to say how much I like Clarissa. Well... not like like but enjoy reading her. I read an article recently that talked about how the trope of “Strong Female Character” is pretty empty if we don't also include horribly dysfunctional females as well. Clarissa is that. She's horribly dysfunctional, not at all evil, and a great little ticking time-bomb interpersed throughout this novel. She's a good foil to the primary antagonist since both of them are basically killing just out of a childish sense of pride magnified exponentially by stress, grief, and trauma.

I like Anna too. I like that this book has a spiritual center without ever getting preachy or heavy-handed. I imagine her playd by Gillian Anderson or Kate Mulgrew or one of the other badass heroes of my impressionable youth.

The book has its flaws. I pretty much picked out who wasn't going to make it to the end early on (the deaths all hurt but they are none of them at Firefly levels of cruelty). I can't speak for the science although the authors clearly did a lot of research on what life at zero g would be like. They are probably the team that most makes me feel the weirdness of that environment. It's not just people floating; it's downright unnatural and everything about it repeats that to the Earth-born characters. I also would've liked a bit more return to the protomolecule and some external antagonists, but that isn't really what the book is about. It's about humanity reaching for the stars and forgetting that stars are really, really hot.

The rating is for the whole trilogy. I definitely do not advise starting in the middle with this one, but put in the time and you will not regret it.

Executive Summary: Not nearly as good as [b:Caliban's War 12591698 Caliban's War (The Expanse, #2) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407572377l/12591698.SY75.jpg 17606541], but still quite enjoyable for me. Eagerly looking forward to [b:Cibola Burn 18656030 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405023040l/18656030.SY75.jpg 26109318] now.Audio book: The quality is about the same as the previous two. Mr. Mays is a good, but not great reader. One of the POV characters is Russian, but he doesn't read her that way. That'd be fine except that there are times when she interacts with other characters and he seems to deliver her lines with a bit of a Russian accent, so I don't really get the inconsistency here.I think this is a good series to be done in audio however, so I plan to continue listening to them this way, but it's certain not something where I think audio is the best way to go.Full ReviewI found myself a little disappointed at the start of this one. [b:Caliban's War 12591698 Caliban's War (The Expanse, #2) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407572377l/12591698.SY75.jpg 17606541] has some great POV characters with the addition of Avasarala and Bobbie. This book adds three new POV characters that I just didn't like as much.Anna I was pretty impartial to for most of the book, while Melba was just plain unlikable. Bull was a great character, but this series already has an abundance of strong male likable characters. I was really hoping they'd have kept at Avasarala as one of the POVs in this one.I think it can be a lot harder to enjoy a book when you're just not invested in the characters as much, especially POV characters.That said, I still enjoyed the book a lot. There were a couple of slow parts, and some murky motivations that I could probably pick apart if I spent a lot of time thinking about it, but that's not what this series is for me.These are just generally fun books. Popcorn flicks. Brain Candy. I think anyone who spends too much time picking apart the details of the book is sort of missing the point. But hey, to each their own I guess.There was fun new ideas introduced here like the slowzone or people who build cheap ships and slingshot themselves around stars for fun. Sort of the hot rods of space as it were.I haven't read news/interviews with the authors, but I kind of hope [b:Cibola Burn 18656030 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405023040l/18656030.SY75.jpg 26109318] ends this series. That isn't to say I wouldn't like other Expanse books, because I would, but I'd like to maybe see some other stories unrelated to the protomolecule. I don't want to see things stretched out too long.Update: Somehow goodreads lost my original review. Thankfully I had a back-up. Interesting that I was originally hoping for a 4 book series. I don't think that way anymore, especially given how great the series got with [b:Nemesis Games 22886612 Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407524221l/22886612.SY75.jpg 42456264].I did enjoy this and the characters more the second time. I barely remembered Bull, while my opinions on both Ana and Melba changed. I think that has a lot to do with the show though.Overall this is a solid book, but still towards the bottom of my list compared to some of the others.

I'll admit I was unsure ant this one at first. I was very excited to head out with Holden and crew again but it to so,e effort to want to get to know Anna and Bull. But the end it was definitely worth it. As a fanboy I'd always want more of the Rocinante crew, but that work to get to know these characters definitely pays off with an emotional end.

This series continues to be fantastic. With each book, Corey establishes what feels like a new status quo for the crew of the Rocinante, and then smashes it completely to hell. This results in a string of novels that feel like a cohesive whole, while each one also has a unique flavour to it. It's hard to pull off, but it's done well here.

In this novel, our characters venture out of the solar system for the first time - and given that the book is named after a demon known as “the destroyer”, one can imagine how well it goes. What's fascinating about it, though, is that most of the catastrophe in the novel comes from people acting like Holden - while Holden, at the same time, starts to realize that his habit of jumping in to situations without looking isn't always the wisest course.

Abaddon's Gate ends the first act of The Expanse, and does so in a fascinating way. It will be interesting to see where the next act goes from here.

4.00/5.00

She'd gone to so much effort to make him seem like an unrepentant megalomaniac, and then left to his own device, he named himself de facto ambassador of the whole human race. “Ma'am, we don't ask ‘how high' when James fucking Holden says jump”, the officer growled back.

What an amazing scene with Holden reliving the memory of a galaxy spanning hive mind! holy hell! Yass this what we need. The slow zone, the tangle between the station and the humans and the protomolecule-miller! WOWza!

Ahum, ja. Het komt allemaal tot een conclusie, maar mijn hoofd eraf als wat ik dacht een trilogie te zijn, niet ineens zeker vijf boeken zal worden.

(Even later: de internets bevestigen mijzo op het erste gezicht niet dat het waar is, maar zoals ik dus zei: mijn kop eraf als het niet zo is.)

Het is natuurlijk allemaal een béétje voorspelbaar: als er een wormhole-achtig iets in het zonnestelsel verschijnt, is het maar logisch dat de hoofdpersonages van de vorige boeken er zullen door vliegen. En als er alien-achtige dingen zijn, die onder meer een aantal voormalige hoofdpersonages hebben opgevreten, maar dat die misschien niet echt dood zijn, dat ze op de één of andere manier zullen terugkomen.

Maar goed, binnen de parameters een degelijk boek. Punten af omdat het soms te duidelijk uitgerokken was, punten bij omdat het niet te opvallen was, en omdat het proper deuren naar vervolgen openzet.

Een aantal degelijke nieuwe personages bij, bestaande personages verder uitgediept, en ik ben bijzonder benieuwd naar een vervolg.

(En ‘t zou mij ook niet verbazen dat er een film of zo van komt.)