The stories in these books are told through the points-of-view of multiple characters, each chapter focusing on the perspective of one person and alternative or cycling through the players. One other comment I'd like to make pertains to the characters. The last 25% was just so damn good, it warranted a rating bump by one whole star from me because of it. I think I stayed up late and burned through the rest of the novel in an hour and a half at this point, when reading everything that came before probably took me three days. The remainder of the book, however, was all good stuff - the roller coaster's loops, dips, corkscrews, etc.
Using this metaphor, I would say that this book was about 75% chugging up the lift hill - the first three-quarters of it did not wow me at all, and at times even annoyed or frustrated me, but I recognized it all as the necessary story and character build-up. I likened the pacing of the first couple of books to a ride on a really tall roller coaster, where you spend a lot of time doing a slow climb to the apex before the excitement and thrills can truly begin in earnest. Unseen forces and players have been pulling the strings behind the scenes to get him and his crew right where they're supposed to be.Īdmittedly, I thought Abaddon's Gate was quite slow to start, but so far I'm finding that to be the pattern for all the books in this series. However, Holden's involvement is no accident. It appears to be a gate leading to a dark void on the other side, and the Rocinante finds itself joining a vast flotilla of science and military ships venturing out to study it.
The mysterious proto-molecule that had been uncovered and released into the solar system has somehow created a massive ring structure just outside the orbit of Uranus. The story continues with the adventures (and misadventures) of the crew of the Rocinante things are never boring for Jim Holden and his team. I sure hope so, and there's also apparently a couple Star Wars novel projects by them in the works, which makes me fantastically excited.Īnyway, coming back to my thoughts on Abaddon's Gate, this book is the third installment of Expanse, so as a caveat there may be mild spoilers in this review for the first two books in the series. Show More stories to come set in this universe.
PROTOMOLECULE THE EXPANSE BOOKS SERIES
I strongly recommend this series for anyone who likes smart sf/space opera, or just tight plotting and memorable characters. The plotting is, again, intricate and suspenseful, and is an intelligent mix of Big Events and the small ones that guide people's actions and reactions. And then Clarissa/Melba is on an arc of revenge, unfortunately not aimed at Avasarala who is the one who mostly deserved it, if it were deserved at all. Meanwhile the Methodist minister Anna brings compassion and good sense to some very complex and hair-raising situations. I was disappointed that the amazing Chrisjen Avasarala did not appear in this book, except in one brief mention, but am hoping she will be in subsequent ones. Meanwhile, even faced with an Alien Menace, the various humans engage in political infighting and bigotry, some of which we grow beyond. The plots of the novels vary, as the situation started in the first book evolves, and humans' understanding evolves as well.
These books have some of the best-drawn characters I've read in space opera. but all are comprehensible and in their own ways sympathetic. All the characters are nuanced, and range from naive through savvy political creatures, and from pretty sane and sensible through pretty nutso. Allies have differing priorities, and who is allied with whom changes in the face of circumstances. ALL the characters- good and bad- are so complex and coherent that it's hard to tag them with the Good Guy or Bad Guy labels.
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