The Expanse Abaddon's Gate Review

Abaddon’s Gate Review

Abaddon’s Gate is the third installment and the closing of the first arc to the expanse series written by James S.A. Corey. Released June 2013, this book sets the direction for where the rest of the series will go and is a critical read to understand what will all be coming next for the series.

After the events of Caliban’s War, some mysterious ring shot out towards the edge of the solar system. This started being heavily patrolled and monitored to see what was going on. A person with a fast spaceship broke through this security and zipped through before disappearing through the ring.

This book is mainly covering the discoveries of this mysterious ring, and what that means for all the established civilizations in the solar system.

The New Characters

There are several new characters in this book that are introduced to pretty early on in the chapters. As like the other two books, each chapter covers one character and their point of view.

The first of these new Characters names is Clarissa Mao. If the name is familiar, it should be. Clarissa is related to Julia Mao and her father who was sent to prison after the events of Caliban’s War. Clarissa has special implants in her body that help her act super human with speed and strength. The downside is that this poisons her body every time they are used. She seeks revenge on the crew of the Rocinante for causing her dad to be sent to prison.

Another new character that we follow in this book is Bull. an OPA security chief, with all the chaos around the security of the ring and what happens through the story, Bull takes charge and leads the OPA.

Because of the ring appearing, diplomates where sent out as well including religious heads like the last new character introduced Pastor Anna Volovodov. She along with other priests and diplomates venture out to the ring and find themselves in the sticky political and violent clashes that ensue.

How does this book compare to Caliban’s War and Leviathan Wakes so far in the series? My opinion might not match most peoples opinions, but being the third book in the series, I liked it more than Caliban’s War but not as much as Leviathan Wakes. That being said, the series has been consistently great.

If you have enjoyed the first two books, you will enjoy this one quite a bit as well and it’s worth the read. It’s also at this point that you that if you like this book as well, you are probably going to stick with it for the long haul. I think that it’s totally worth it.

Abaddon’s Gate is the first book in the series that really gives the reader a view of the expanding world built by James S. A. Corey. The stakes become higher, the hard to explain phenomenon’s become normal, and the characters are so easy to buy into and want to do the “one more chapter” cause you cannot help but need to know what happens next.

If you want to get this book, you can purchase on paperback from Amazon using the link here, you can also buy the Kindle version here. If you click on the special edition cover image above, it will send you to get the special edition version as well.

If you like what you have read hear and want to see more Expanse content, consider checking out the reading order guide here; or check out our other reviews from other books in the series.

We will see you all around for the next entry into the series Cibola Burn.

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