Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse, 3) by James S. A. Corey
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Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse, 3)

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The third book in the NYT bestselling Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate opens the door to the ruins of an alien gate network, and the crew of the Rocinante may hold the key to unlocking its secrets. Now a Prime Original series.

HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES

For generations, the solar system -- Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt -- was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared in Uranus's orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to 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 artifact. 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.

Abaddon's Gate is a breakneck science fiction adventure following the critically acclaimed Caliban's War.

The Expanse

  • Leviathan Wakes
  • Caliban's War
  • Abaddon's Gate
  • Cibola Burn
  • Nemesis Games
  • Babylon's Ashes
  • Persepolis Rising
  • Tiamat's Wrath
  • Leviathan Falls

Memory's Legion

The Expanse Short Fiction

  • Drive
  • The Butcher of Anderson Station
  • Gods of Risk
  • The Churn
  • The Vital Abyss
  • Strange Dogs
  • Auberon
  • The Sins of Our Fathers

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ISBN-10

0316129070

ISBN-13

978-0316129077

Print length

576 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Orbit

Publication date

June 03, 2013

Dimensions

6 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches

Item weight

1.35 pounds



Popular Highlights in this book

  • Show a human a closed door, and no matter how many open doors she finds, she’ll be haunted by what might be behind it.

    Highlighted by 2,180 Kindle readers

  • She felt that politics was the second most evil thing humanity had ever invented, just after lutefisk.

    Highlighted by 1,613 Kindle readers

  • What had been logical became dumb, and all it took was changing the context.

    Highlighted by 1,158 Kindle readers


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Editorial Reviews

"A politically complex and pulse-pounding page-turner.... Corey perfectly balances character development with action... series fans will find this installment the best yet."―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Riveting interplanetary thriller."―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on Leviathan Wakes

"It's been too long since we've had a really kickass space opera. LEVIATHAN WAKES is interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written, the kind of SF that made me fall in love with the genre way back when, seasoned with a dollop of horror and a dash of noir. Jimmy Corey writes with the energy of a brash newcomer and the polish of a seasoned pro. So where's the second book?"―George R.R. Martin

"An excellent space operatic debut in the grand tradition of Peter F. Hamilton."―Charlie Stross on Leviathan Wakes

"If you like science fiction with great characters and set in real space, you'll enjoy this one."―Jo Walton, author of Farthing on Leviathan Wakes

"It gnaws at your soul."―Sun on Leviathan Wakes

"High adventure equaling the best space opera has to offer, cutting-edge technology, and a group of unforgettable characters bring the third installment of Corey's epic space drama (after Caliban's War and Leviathan Wakes) to an action-filled close while leaving room for more stories to unfold. Perhaps one of the best tales the genre has yet to produce, this superb collaboration between fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck should reawaken an interest in old-fashioned storytelling and cinematic pacing. Highly recommended."―Library Journal on Abaddon's Gate (starred review)

"Politics, philosophical ideals, and humor mingle in a tale that will shock and surprise."―Publisher's Weekly on Abaddon's Gate (Starred Review)

"Literary space opera at its absolute best."―io9.com

"[T]he authors are superb with the exciting bits: Shipboard coups and battles are a thrill to follow."―Washington Post

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Sample

CHAPTER 1

Holden

When he'd been a boy back on Earth, living under the open blue of sky, one ofhis mothers had spent three years suffering uncontrolled migraines. Seeing herpale and sweating with pain had been hard, but the halo symptoms that led intoit had almost been worse. She'd be cleaning the house or working throughcontracts for her law practice and then her left hand would start to clench,curling against itself until the veins and tendons seemed to creak with thestrain. Next her eyes lost their focus, pupils dilating until her blue eyes hadgone black. It was like watching someone having a seizure, and he always thoughtthis time, she'd die from it.

He'd been six at the time, and he'd never told any of his parents how much themigraines unnerved him, or how much he dreaded them, even when things seemedgood. The fear had become familiar. Almost expected. It should have taken theedge off the terror, and maybe it did, but what replaced it was a sense of beingtrapped. The assault could come at any time, and it could not be avoided.

It poisoned everything, even if it was only a little bit.

It felt like being haunted.

"The house always wins," Holden shouted.

He and the crew—Alex, Amos, Naomi—sat at a private table in the VIP lounge ofCeres' most expensive hotel. Even there, the bells, whistles, and digitizedvoices of the slot machines were loud enough to drown out most casualconversation. The few frequencies they weren't dominating were neatly filled inby the high-pitched clatter of the pachinko machines and the low bass rumble ofa band playing on one of the casino's three stages. All of it added up to a wallof sound that left Holden's guts vibrating and his ears ringing.

"What?" Amos yelled back at him.

"In the end, the house always wins!"

Amos stared down at an enormous pile of chips in front of him. He and Alex werecounting and dividing them in preparation for their next foray out to the gamingtables. At a glance, Holden guessed they'd won something like fifteen thousandCeres new yen in just the last hour. It made an impressive stack. If they couldquit now, they'd be ahead. But, of course, they wouldn't quit now.

"Okay," Amos said. "What?"

Holden smiled and shrugged. "Nothing."

If his crew wanted to lose a few thousand bucks blowing off steam at theblackjack tables, who was he to interfere? The truth was it wouldn't even put adent in the payout from their most recent contract, and that was only one ofthree contracts they'd completed in the last four months. It was going to be avery flush year.

Holden had made a lot of mistakes over the last three years. Deciding to quithis job as the OPA's bagman and become an independent contractor wasn't one ofthem. In the months since he'd put up his shingle as a freelance courier andescort ship, the Rocinante had taken seven jobs, and all of them hadbeen profitable. They'd spent money refitting the ship bow to stern. She'd had atough couple of years, and she'd needed some love.

When that was done and they still had more money in their general account thanthey knew what to do with, Holden had asked for a crew wish list. Naomi had paidto have a bulkhead in their quarters cut out to join the two rooms. They now hada bed large enough for two people and plenty of room to walk around it. Alex hadpointed out the difficulty in buying new military-grade torpedoes for the ship,and had requested a keel-mounted rail gun for the Roci. It would givethem more punch than the point defense cannons, and its only ammunitionrequirements were two-pound tungsten slugs. Amos had spent thirty grand during astopover on Callisto, buying them some after-market engine upgrades. When Holdenpointed out that the Roci was already capable of accelerating fastenough to kill her crew and asked why they'd need to upgrade her, Amos hadreplied, "Because this shit is awesome." Holden had just nodded and smiled andpaid the bill.

Even after the initial giddy rush of spending, they had enough to pay themselvessalaries that were five times what they'd made on the Canterbury andkeep the ship in water, air, and fuel pellets for the next decade.

Probably, it was temporary. There would be dry times too when no work came theirway and they'd have to economize and make do. That just wasn't today.

Amos and Alex had finished counting their chips and were shouting to Naomi aboutthe finer points of blackjack, trying to get her to join them at the tables.Holden waved at the waiter, who darted over to take his order. No ordering froma table screen here in the VIP lounge.

"What do you have in a scotch that came from actual grain?" Holden asked.

"We have several Ganymede distillations," the waiter said. He'd learned thetrick of being heard over the racket without straining. He smiled at Holden."But for the discriminating gentleman from Earth, we also have a few bottles ofsixteen-year Lagavulin we keep aside."

"You mean, like, actual scotch from Scotland?"

"From the island of Islay, to be precise," the waiter replied. "It's twelvehundred a bottle."

"I want that."

"Yes sir, and four glasses." The waiter tipped his head and headed off to thebar.

"We're going to play blackjack now," Naomi said, laughing. Amos was pulling astack of chips out of his tray and pushing them across the table to her. "Wantto come?"

The band in the next room stopped playing, and the background noise dropped toan almost tolerable level for a few seconds before someone started piping Muzakacross the casino PA.

"Guys, wait a few minutes," Holden said. "I've bought a bottle of somethingnice, and I want to have one last toast before we go our separate ways for thenight."

Amos looked impatient right up until the bottle arrived, and then spent severalseconds cooing over the label. "Yeah, okay, this was worth waiting for."

Holden poured out a shot for each of them, then held his glass up. "To the bestship and crew anyone has ever had the privilege of serving with, and to gettingpaid."

"To getting paid!" Amos echoed, and then the shots disappeared.

"God damn, Cap," Alex said, then picked up the bottle to look it over. "Can weput some of this on the Roci? You can take it out of my salary."

"Seconded," Naomi said, then took the bottle and poured out four more shots.

For a few minutes, the stacks of chips and the lure of the card tables wereforgotten. Which was all Holden had wanted. Just to keep these people togetherfor a few moments longer. On every other ship he'd ever served on, hitting portwas a chance to get away from the same faces for a few days. Not anymore. Notwith this crew. He stifled an urge to say a maudlin, I love you guys! bydrinking another shot of scotch.

"One last hit for the road," Amos said, picking up the bottle.

"Gonna hit the head," Holden replied, and pushed away from the table. He weaveda bit more than he expected on his walk to the restroom. The scotch had gone tohis brain fast.

The restrooms in the VIP lounge were lush. No rows of urinals and sinks here.Instead, half a dozen doors that led to private facilities with their own toiletand sink. Holden pushed his way into one and latched it behind him. The noiselevel dropped almost to nothing as soon as the door closed. A little likestepping outside the world. It was probably designed that way. He was gladwhoever built the casino had allowed for a place of relative calm. He wouldn'thave been shocked to see a slot machine over the sink.

He put one hand on the wall to steady himself while he did his business. He wasmid-stream when the room brightened for a moment and the chrome handle on thetoilet reflected a faint blue light. The fear hit him in the gut.

Again.

"I swear to God," Holden said, pausing to finish and then zip up. "Miller, youbetter not be there when I turn around."

He turned around.

Miller was there.

"Hey," the dead man started.

"'We need to talk,'" Holden finished for him, then walked to the sink to washhis hands. A tiny blue firefly followed him and landed on the counter. Holdensmashed it with his palm, but when he lifted his hand nothing was there.

In the mirror, Miller's reflection shrugged. When he moved, it was with asickening jerkiness, like a clockwork ticking through its motions. Human andinhuman both.

"Everyone's here at once," the dead man said. "I don't want to talk about whathappened to Julie."

Holden pulled a towel out of the basket next to the sink, then leaned againstthe counter facing Miller and slowly dried his hands. He was trembling, the sameas he always did. The sense of threat and evil was crawling up his spine, justthe same way it always did. Holden hated it.

Detective Miller smiled, distracted by something Holden couldn't see.

The man had worked security on Ceres, been fired, and gone off hunting on hisown, searching for a missing girl. He'd saved Holden's life once. Holden hadwatched when the asteroid station Miller and thousands of victims of the alienprotomolecule had been trapped on crashed into Venus. Including Julie Mao, thegirl Miller had searched for and then found too late. For a year, the alienartifact had suffered and worked its incomprehensible design under the clouds ofVenus. When it rose, hauling massive structures up from the depths and flyingout past the orbit of Neptune like some titanic sea creature translated to thevoid, Miller rose with it.

And now everything he said was madness.

"Holden," Miller said, not talking to him. Describing him. "Yeah, that makessense. You're not one of them. Hey, you have to listen to me."

"Then you have to say something. This shit is out of hand. You've been doingyour random appearing act for almost a year now, and you've never said even onething that made sense. Not one."

Miller waved the comment away. The old man was starting to breathe faster,panting like he'd run a race. Beads of sweat glistened on his pale, gray-tingedskin.

"So there was this unlicensed brothel down in sector eighteen. We went inthinking we'd have fifteen, twenty in the box. More, maybe. Got there, and theplace was stripped to the stone. I'm supposed to think about that. It meanssomething."

"What do you want from me?" Holden said. "Just tell me what you want,all right?"

"I'm not crazy," Miller said. "When I'm crazy, they kill me. God, did they killme?" Miller's mouth formed a small O, and he began to suck air in. His lips weredarkening, the blood under the skin turning black. He put a hand on Holden'sshoulder, and it felt too heavy. Too solid. Like Miller had been remade withiron instead of bones. "It's all gone pear-shaped. We got there, but it's empty.The whole sky's empty."

"I don't know what that means."

Miller leaned close. His breath smelled like acetate fumes. His eyes locked onHolden, eyebrows raised, asking him if he understood.

"You've got to help me," Miller said. The blood vessels in his eyes were almostblack. "They know I find things. They know you help me."

"You're dead," Holden said, the words coming out of him without consideration orplanning.

"Everyone's dead," Miller said. He took his hand from Holden's shoulder andturned away. Confusion troubled his brow. "Almost. Almost."

Holden's terminal buzzed at him, and he took it out of his pocket. Naomi hadsent DID YOU FALL IN? Holden began typing out a reply, then stopped when herealized he'd have no idea what to say.

When Miller spoke, his voice was small, almost childlike with wonder andamazement.

"Fuck. It happened," Miller said.

"What happened?" Holden said.

A door banged as someone else went into a neighboring stall, and Miller wasgone. The smell of ozone and some rich organic volatiles like a spice shop gonerancid were all the evidence that he had been there. And that might only havebeen in Holden's imagination.

Holden stood for a moment, waiting for the coppery taste to leave his mouth.Waiting for his heartbeat to slow back down to normal. Doing what he always didin the aftermath. When the worst had passed, he rinsed his face with cold waterand dried it with a soft towel. The distant, muffled sound of the gambling decksrose to a frenzy. A jackpot.

He wouldn't tell them. Naomi, Alex, Amos. They deserved to have their pleasurewithout the thing that had been Miller intruding on it. Holden recognized thatthe impulse to keep it from them was irrational, but it felt so powerfully likeprotecting them that he didn't question it much. Whatever Miller had become,Holden was going to stand between it and the Roci.

He studied his reflection until it was perfect. The carefree, slightly drunkcaptain of a successful independent ship on shore leave. Easy. Happy. He wentback out to the pandemonium of the casino.

For a moment, it was like stepping back in time. The casinos on Eros. The deathbox. The lights felt a little too bright, the noises sounded a little too loud.Holden made his way back to the table and poured himself another shot. He couldnurse this one for a while. He'd enjoy the flavor and the night. Someone behindhim shrieked their laughter. Only laughter.

A few minutes later, Naomi appeared, stepping out of the bustle and chaos likeserenity in a female form. The half-drunken, expansive love he'd felt earliercame back as he watched her make her way toward him. They'd shipped together onthe Canterbury for years before he'd found himself falling in love withher. Looking back, every morning he'd woken up with someone else had been a lostopportunity to breathe Naomi's air. He couldn't imagine what he'd been thinking.He shifted to the side, making room for her.

"They cleaned you out?" he asked.

"Alex," she said. "They cleaned Alex out. I gave him my chips."

"You are a woman of tremendous generosity," he said with a grin.

Naomi's dark eyes softened into a sympathetic expression.

"Miller showed up again?" she asked, leaning close to be heard over the noise.

"It's a little unsettling how easily you see through me."

"You're pretty legible. And this wouldn't be Miller's first bathroom ambush. Didhe make any more sense this time?"

"No," Holden said. "He's like talking to an electrical problem. Half the timeI'm not sure he even knows I'm there."

"It can't really be Miller, can it?"

"If it's the protomolecule wearing a Miller suit, I think that's actuallycreepier."

"Fair point," Naomi said. "Did he say anything new, at least?"

"A little bit, maybe. He said something happened."

"What?"

"I don't know. He just said, 'It happened,' and blinked out."

They sat together for a few minutes, a private silence within the riot, herfingers interlaced with his. She leaned over, kissing his right eyebrow, andthen pulled him up off the chair.

"Come on," she said.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to teach you how to play poker," she said.

"I know how to play poker."

"You think you do," she said.

"Are you calling me a fish?"

She smiled and tugged at him.

Holden shook his head. "If you want to, let's go back to the ship. We can get afew people together and have a private game. It doesn't make sense to do ithere. The house always wins."

"We aren't here to win," Naomi said, and the seriousness in her voice made thewords carry more than the obvious meaning. "We're here to play."

The news came two days later.

Holden was in the galley, eating takeout from one of the dockside restaurants:garlic sauce over rice, three kinds of legumes, and something so similar tochicken, it might as well have been the real thing. Amos and Naomi wereoverseeing the loading of nutrients and filters for the air recycling systems.Alex, in the pilot's seat, was asleep. On the other ships Holden had servedaboard, having the full crew back on ship before departure required it wasalmost unheard of, and they'd all spent a couple of nights in dockside hotelsbefore they'd come home. But they were home now.

Holden ran through the local feeds on his hand terminal, sipping news andentertainment from throughout the system. A security flaw in the new BandaoSolice game meant that financial and personal information from six millionpeople had been captured on a pirate server orbiting Titan. Martian militaryexperts were calling for increased spending to address the losses suffered inthe battle around Ganymede. On Earth, an African farming coalition was defyingthe ban on a nitrogen-fixing strain of bacteria. Protesters on both sides of theissue were taking to the streets in Cairo.

Holden was flipping back and forth, letting his mind float on the surface of theinformation, when a red band appeared on one of the newsfeeds. And then another.And then another. The image above the article chilled his blood. The Ring, theycalled it. The gigantic alien structure that had left Venus and traveled to apoint a little less than 2 AU outside Uranus' orbit, then stopped and assembleditself.

Holden read the news carefully as dread pulled at his gut. When he looked up,Naomi and Amos were in the doorway. Amos had his own hand terminal out. Holdensaw the same red bands on that display.

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About the authors

James S. A. Corey

James S. A. Corey

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham, author of the critically acclaimed Long Price Quartet, and writer Ty Franck. They both live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.


Reviews

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

34,117 global ratings

Rosey

Rosey

5

Amazing read

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2024

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Loved the book! Great read characters were well fleshed out. Pace was good. If you like the show then definitely read the books. They change some things from book to TV but I love both stories well told and what they change helps create a sense of urgency that TV needs to have to keep you interested. The books tell the story so well.

KP

KP

5

Big implications for the rest of the series

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

Oof. This is a much more introspective story than the first two, but when the action happens the authors definitely don't pull their punches.

This book picks up about a year after Caliban's War. The protomolecule has created a massive structure outside of Uranus - a ring of some kind that leads to places unknown. Although he was hoping to end up on the opposite side of the solar system from this alien artefact, Jim Holden and the rest of the Roci crew end up as part of a group of ships from Earth, Mars, and the Belt going out to examine the ring to figure out exactly what it is, and what it does. Once there, Holden finds himself in the middle of a plot to destroy his reputation that puts the lives of his crew and everyone else near the ring at risk.

In addition to Holden's POV we also get three new POV characters: Carlos "Bull" de Baca the Chief Security Officer on the Behemoth who has been tasked with keeping the peace by Fred Johnson, Pastor Anna Volovodov who is looking for way to make sense of what is happening with the ring and also bring peace to those who are terrified, and lastly Melba/Clarissa who is hellbent on destroying James Holden's life.

Though I really liked both Anna and Bull as characters, I did really miss having both Avasarala and Bobbie (hopefully they will be back in future books). Bull and Anna wildly different character with incredibly disparate views of the world, but this story needed them both. Bull is a pragmatist. He's someone who will put his head down and get the job done because somebody's gotta do it. His ability to bite his tongue is admirable - I wouldn't have been able to do it. As someone who is not religious, I was a little worried that I wouldn't like Anna's chapters, but I did (even if I found her a bit naïve at times.) But, I appreciate her approach to religion and the discussions she had with others, but especially with Cortez.

I liked the questions this book was asking about humanity and faith. And, the risks we take and the sacrifices we are willing to make for advancement, or scientific inquiry, or money. I cannot quit thinking about this line: "Show a human a closed door, and no matter how many open doors she finds, she'll be haunted by what might be behind it."

Three Things:

  1. I never really understood Clarissa's motivations - why she did what she did beyond just defending her family. I kept waiting for some kind of explanation that make it make sense or justify her actions (even if only in her own mind), and it never really does.
  2. Ashford is the literal worst. And, I blame Fred Johnson for about half of what happens in this book. Ashford should have never been given command of that ship.
  3. Tilly was a fantastic character, and I wanted to clap every time she called someone on their crap.

This book may not be my favorite in the series, but the impact of the events of this book are going to be massive. And, I can't wait to see what's next.

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3 people found this helpful

tim hernandezart

tim hernandezart

5

Great addition to the saga

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2024

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I marvel at the inventive storyline. Returning characters are like old friends, the new characters add depth and turns in the plot.

Mad Professah

Mad Professah

5

This is the best book so far in a series which is fast becoming a must read for hardcore space opera fans!

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

The third book in the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is Abaddon's Gate. Happily, it maintains the quality of the first two entries Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War, which were both excellent examples of sci-fi space opera at its finest.

Abaddon's Gate continues the story by following the series of events that are happening to Jim Holden and the rest of the crew of the spaceship Rocinante that began in Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War.

The structure of these books is that the story is told from the point of view of various characters, which in this book are Holden, Anna Volovodov (a lesbian pastor from Europa who is part of a humanitarian contingent sent to investigate the anomaly called "The Ring" that has formed at the edge of the Solar System in the end of Caliban's War), Clarissa Mao (the sister of Julie Mao who was one of the key characters who died in Leviathan Wakes; Clarissa is masquerading as Melba and is determined to kill Holden as revenge for the part he played in her sister Julie's death) and Bull (security officer on Behemoth, the largest ship in the fleet of the Outer Planets Alliance, which is also on its way to The Ring).

Sadly, key characters from the previous books do not return in the latest book, most notably Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (the profane grandmother who while appearing to be a mid-level functionary in the United Nations is probably the most important on Earth) and Sergeant Bobbie Draper (a Martian Marine who was the sole survivor in the alien attack on Ganymede that catalyzed events in Caliban's War).

The only character who has had POV chapters named after him in all three books is Holden. What Corey seems to be doing is introducing new characters in each book while simultaneously ramping up the action and expanding the scale of the plot.

The Expanse series (as it is now called) is most well-known for incredibly detailed action sequences, wry humor, political intrigue and thoughtful and nuanced characterization. All of these features are apparent again in Abaddon's Gate, in addition to another aspect of the books: pulse-pounding suspense!

Although the series was initially conceived as a trilogy the great news is that the series has been expanded to six books, and the fourth book in the series, Cibola Burn, will be released on June 17, 2014. I can't wait!

Title: Abaddon's Gate. Author: James S.A. Corey. Paperback: 576 pages. Publisher: Orbit. Date Published: June 4, 2013. Date Read: July 23, 2013

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0). PLOT: A-. IMAGERY: A-. IMPACT: B+. WRITING: A.

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2 people found this helpful

H. Grove (errantdreams)

H. Grove (errantdreams)

5

Holden's in trouble!

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2021

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I am seriously enjoying James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse series of military science fiction books (with a touch of horror). I’m up to Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, 3). When the alien structure lifted from Venus in the last book, it moved itself just outside the orbit of Uranus and assembled a ring. When a fame-seeking young man goes through the Ring, it becomes obvious that doing so takes you somewhere else–and is exceedingly dangerous. Meanwhile, Clarissa Mao, Julie’s sister, is working to ruin Holden’s legacy before she kills him for ruining her father and causing him to be put in jail. She’s calling herself Melba and working as an engineer on one of the ships headed for the Ring. When Holden’s ship arrives, she sends a fake broadcast from Holden taking credit for blowing up a large, manned ship. Holden is forced to take refuge through the Ring, setting off a bizarre and deadly chain of results.

As always I just love the characters. I missed Avasarala and Bobbie, but I figure with such a long series of very long books (I swear each one could be turned into a trilogy on its own), they’re almost guaranteed to come back in later books. Meanwhile, we spend most of our time going back and forth between several spacegoing vessels. There’s the ship Clarissa is on, a UN ship full of dignitaries sent to the Ring because of the optics, the Rocinante of course, and the OPA’s Behemoth–a huge ship that used to be the Nauvoo and has been retrofitted as a weapons platform. Sort of. On the ship of dignitaries we spend most of our time with Pastor Annushka Volovodov, an idealistic woman who thinks mankind needs to start asking questions about what the Ring and its makers mean to the realms of philosophy and religion. She and Tilly, a wealthy, grouchy woman who latches on to her, are a ton of fun to spend time with. Even the mostly-unnamed members of Anna’s ersatz congregation on board the ship are given detail and weight. On board the Behemoth, we catch up with engineer Sam again, who’s good friends with Naomi. Bull is the head of security, and he’s at odds with image-conscious Captain Ashford. Monica is a journalist who wants to get to the Ring and who hires Holden and his crew, and while her crew is mostly background, Monica is a low-key interesting player.

Holden, despite being a self-righteous man (righteous man? Eh, depends on who you ask) has a tendency to start wars by just putting all the information he gets his hands on out there for everyone to see. He’s been used to manipulate relationships between the major powers several times already, but that doesn’t stop him. He and his crew are living well and getting plenty of jobs. He has some narcissistic tendencies, and usually makes his decisions based on what’s emotionally most comfortable to him at the time, but he does genuinely care about his crew and want to do the right thing. He’s also seeing visions of Miller, the dead detective who ended up a part of the alien mess on Venus, who’s only being semi-coherent and seems to be talking in circles about death. But Miller is definitely trying to tell him something. Because of that and some other things that happen, Holden becomes convinced that the aliens want him to go through the Ring for some reason. (See those narcissistic tendencies there?)

Meanwhile, Clarissa is willing to kill hundreds, even thousands of people if it means she can destroy Holden, his crew, and their reputations. She develops a lot along the way to the Ring, learning to fit in better, making an actual friend, and flipping out here and there. She eventually becomes a very fascinating look at dissociation and psychotic breaks, and not in stereotypical ways–her decision-making processes are crucial to the story and they make sense.

The story is riveting, the pacing perfect, and I don’t know why I never read this series before now. I’m going all the way through!

Content note: some deaths/injuries/blood.

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