Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey Book Review
This is the third installment of the Expansion series. I originally picked up this series because I watched the first season of the show that had been adapted from the first two books. The show had so confused me, that I had written it off. But then I listened to a political science podcast that highly recommended the books because of the geopolitical world-building being so great.
After reading the first two books, I better understood the show and overall enjoyed the reading experience. The books were fast-paced and kept the tension up throughout. The world was just complex enough to make it interesting without being too confusing with whole new paradigms having to be explained. I looked forward to picking up this book and continuing the series, now that I was jumping into newer territory, having not continued watching the show.
Now, as many of you have probably realized, my to-read piles are quite extensive and follow a wide breadth of genres and topics. So, I often take a long time to return to a series that I have started. It is also due, in part, because I like to break up the formulated writings that individual authors will have within their own works. A few Disc World books were ruined for me because I read like 10 in a row at one time, and I realized how many jokes Terry Pratchett recycled between each book. Fortunately for me, my memory is relatively strong when returning to the different world. As I read the next book in a series that I had left for a while, the world and plots and characters quickly come back to me.
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All of that said because this book felt lacking to me. I don’t think that it is because I have been away from the series for too long. I remembered much of the previous books. I remember enjoying them. And yes, there are several sci-fi book review podcasts that denigrate the series as being derivative or basic. But I don’t think any of that was what was wrong with the books.
By the end of the second book, the world and POV’s were really expanding into a multi-cultural view of the worlds. We were getting the ins and outs of Earth politics, Spacer culture, and Martian world views. This book brought the focus right back into a much narrower view. It relies heavily on Holden, the captain of the Rocinante and the reason the whole universe has become the way that it has. Otherwise the POVs are mostly new to us. And they all center on minor characters to the greater world. Where in the previous books, many of the characters were changers and movers or were setting much larger actions into motion than even they realized, this one focused on people that have much smaller world-views and play much smaller parts in the greater world.
The book also felt largely predictable. It was easy from the beginning to know which of the POVs were not going to survive until the end. The only real surprise was Clarissa Mao and the “forgiveness” arc that she is started on at the end thanks to the minister Anna. The whole story is on a linear path from the beginning. Discover what the new gate is and where it leads to. Then, when the horrible discovery is made, everyone freaks out and pain and suffering ensues. Once people regain their bearings, go back to the old grudges and then continue poking the bear that is this new and terrifying technology.
All of this is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. I did give it a 4 star review after all. But there is something lacking in all of it. It is a fun adventure, but there is no real meat between the action. Everything is surface level action-space opera. It’s not like Herbert or Asimov or Banks, where they write compelling and exciting stories, but there are deeper meanings to be derived from the text. What tropes and themes we are given, are spoon-fed to us. Almost no nuance is allowed for us to dig away at.
This book is not a mindless read either. It’s not like some of the books out there that one can read to just shut your brain off. If you do that, then you will quickly lose track of all the sub-plots and different strings being put forward. This book wants to be in both worlds in a way, but in doing so, fails at both. Easy readability with deeper insights. It is a near impossible feat, and this book falls well short of that. It is probably the root of my gripe.
Again, I feel like I’m going off on a lot of negatives for a book that I rated fairly high. If you are into space opera with lots of action and lots of drama, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a series that is going to explore something deeper, then this book is going to leave you wanting. I will be continuing the series, but I am already adjusting my expectations moving forward. And yes it is going to be a long time before I return the this world. So many books to explore, and so many other things going on in life.
