Finished 'Abaddon's Gate', Anyone Else? Thoughts?

[PatrickC2010]

So, some spoilers here..

I really enjoyed the first two Expanse books but was mildly disappointed by the third. The revelation about the Gate at the start, and unveiling it's purpose at the end was great and full of possibilities, but the whole middle of the book seemed full of sound and fury signifying nothing. When I was done it felt like 80% of it was well written padding. Once I heard on Sword & Laser that they went from 3 books to 6, it explained why the story felt stretched, but still disappointing.

Hopefully the next 3 books will have more plot driving substance.

3/5 stars.

[David Sven]

I felt exactly the same way.

The last two books had a hook in the beginning with the goupified crew in book one and then the protomolecule monster in book 2. This had the ring - It's just not as cool as vomit zombies or superhuman monsters. So I struggled with the first quarter before things seemed to kick on from there. I was still pushing myself to keep going till about the last third or quarter of the book. The action in the last quarter was excellent and I couldn't put it down from there till the finish which bumped this an extra star to 3.5 for me. But I agree, I felt the other two were better.

[Dara]

I think one of my update comments said "it feels like this book is stuck in the slow zone too". It wasn't nearly as good as the first two for me.

[Kristina]

I agree it was wasn't near as exciting as the first 2. I didn't feel like any of the new characters were as cool as the ones in the last book either. I totally missed Bobby, kept hoping she'd show up. Can't get enough of Amos though. I didn't realize there were more books, but that makes sense now. I'll be looking forward to them.

[Dazerla]

While I don't think it was as strong as the others, I still really enjoyed it.

[Jess]

While I had some problems with characterization, particularly Melba, and took serious issue with the last quarter of the book (view spoiler)[(Bull's death still makes me angry; also, the switch of antagonist from Melba to Ashford was terribly anticlimactic and ineffective) (hide spoiler)], I preferred the primary conflict in this book to that of Caliban's War.

In contrast to David's comment, I loved that the conflict in Abaddon's Gate ("the catastrophe") didn't directly spring from fantastical or science fictional origins, like the vomit zombies and protomolecule monsters. Although the ring caused the speed limit change, the actual act of traumatic deceleration felt very comparable to car crashes and the like. I found it horrifying in its own right. A different kind of horror.

[Vanessa]

I just finished and also agreed it was good but the first two were better.

I had a question about the speed slow down issue that I'm hoping someone can explain. I may have missed it in the text, but how come bullets still worked in the slow zone? Shouldn't it have been seen as a threat like the ships and have been unable to move quickly out of the gun?

[Travis]

Jess wrote: "While I had some problems with characterization, particularly Melba, and took serious issue with the last quarter of the book [spoilers removed], I preferred the primary conflict in this book to th..."

I felt the same about that particular character. She just didn't ring true.

Vanessa wrote: "I just finished and also agreed it was good but the first two were better.

I had a question about the speed slow down issue that I'm hoping someone can explain. I may have missed it in the text, ..."

The bullets work inside the ship- not outside. The ring didn't care what kind of violence happened in the ships as long as it didn't affect the ring.