That was extremely satisfying. ( )

After the rich and interesting setup in Leviathan Wakes this series gets simpler and more ridiculous with every installment. All my fears after finishing the Caliban's War got confirmed and I think that author can't handle the potential of this story well. Still, it is generally OK - just could've been so much better!

What got better here is the writing. I remember being thrown off by some cheesy or unnatural one-liners in the previous parts, but haven't experienced this here - dialogues feel earned and rare catchy lines fit the scenes and characters well. It flows better and doesn't distrurb immersion on the writing level... but... there are many obstacles to get invested on the story level.

First, everything gets smaller. The vast setting I enjoyed in the first part got reduced to three ships that feel more or less the same. There is also a smaller cast and only 2 characters make some interesting choices that drive the story, the rest is just responding and gets carried away by the events unfolding - one of them being our protagonist Holden.

Second, everything gets dumber. The intriguing dynamic between the main factions that was so interesting in the beginning goes out of the window here. It feels like the race to outsmart opponents got replaced by the one to outdumb them, with only one person making sense in all of this mess and pulling the strings. Also, there is no price of being stupid, because there are no consequences whatsoever which was becoming a thing in the previous part. The protomolecule cataclisms had absolutely no impact on the humanity, the mistakes of characters ware generally forgiven and forgotten, the injuries heal without any scars (do you remember that Holden has a cancer and is about to die if he stops poping pills? Yeah, he neither), and the plan of the main villan is really farfetched scheme of consequitive impossibilities.

And lastly, there is too much tell, not enough show when it comes to characters. Authors attempt to write some psychological drama, but beacuse plays out in the characters' heads only it feels clumsy and inauthentic. The changes they go through are not earned and, again, bear no consequences. As for the Rocinante crew, we are not given much. There is a hint of some dark past, but it is not explored. Alex does absolutely nothing in this book. Amos is described as brutal and dangeruos, but we never see him doing anything that could justify it - we need to take authors word for it. Bull was the only intriguing character here, in many ways he seems to be an echo of Miller from the first part but more straightforward.

It wasn't a bad book. There were moments I enjoyed but more often I felt sad of the wasted potential, of what this book could've been. Thanks The Expanse for the trip, it was good but this is the stop I leave and let you go, bye! ( )

TW/CW: Body horror, death, injury, murder, perilous situations, sexual situations

RATING: 5/5

REVIEW: Abaddon’s Gate is the third book of The Expanse series. Because I don’t want this review to be full of spoilers, I won’t be elaborating much on the plot, but this book picks up a little while after Caliban’s War ends. It follows the crew of the Rocinante along with some fascinating new characters through an exciting plot dealing with aliens, interstellar travel, and revenge and betrayal.

I really enjoyed this book, just like the last two! It’s some of the best science fiction that I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot.

My one complaint was that maybe this book had a bit too many different POV’s, I prefer one or two, and this one had more than that. Regardless, it was still interesting and I enjoyed reading it. That and the ‘slow zone’ was definitely a bit slow, and not in a good way. But nothing detracted from my enjoyment enough to take a star from this captivating book!

I definitely recommend to fans of sci fi, or those just looking for a great series – probably one of the best – if not the best – sci-fi series of the 21st century. ( )

I feel like I just read 400 pages waiting for the story to start, and then it ended. Not that it wasn't a good book, but it just felt kind of... Ancillary.

Edit: I've come back to this review after a month to reiterate that I really felt like this failed to launch. I love the Expanse series like you wouldn't believe, but this really felt like it was missing the overarching plot and could have just been a short story in between novels. Maybe I'm being unfair, but that's how I feel about it. ( )

This is my least favorite one so far, mostly because I didn’t fall in love with any of the main characters like I did in the first two books. (Miller was great, but so far Prax is by far the best IMO.)

It did set up some interesting worm-hole-y stuff, which I love and look forward to hearing more about.

I’ve heard the books after this get better again, so I will continue the series for sure. Waiting to get a Naomi perspective. ( )