Monday, November 2, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey




Abaddon's Gate is the third book in James S.A. Corey's "The Expanse" series of space opera novels, following the second novel in the series, Caliban's War.  The series through two novels has always been a ton of fun, with a really enjoyable set of characters (led by the way too earnest James "Jim" Holden), which has made me feel stupid for taking so long to get to it (in my defense at one point I was trying to watch the TV show blind).  It's not a particularly serious series in terms of providing interesting themes and discussions, but it's still very fun to read.

Abaddon's Gate is probably my least favorite of the series so far to be honest, but it's still another strong installment in the series that I had to resist trying to stay up late and finish in a single day.  Following on the sequel hook from the 2nd book, Jim Holden and crew - plus a whole new batch of characters - find themselves once again at the forefront of a conflict that could drastically alter the balance of power for humanity, caused by a new change in the alien protomolecule.  There's little particularly serious here, except perhaps an argument about humanity's reactions to things, but it still works pretty well.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
The Protomolecule has left Venus and built a strange structure - a device that looks like a Ring - out at the fringe of the solar system.  Both Earth and Mars have sent their forces to investigate it, to no result....when a daredevil stunt pilot from the belt flies a single-seater into the ring at full speed....and disappears into a strange starless zone of space, where speed of objects is heavily restricted.  Soon even more forces begin to take interest in the Ring, from a group of preachers from various churches of humanity to the OPA, which sends its former generation ship to show its power. 

Jim Holden and the Roci want nothing to do with the Ring - especially with Jim seeing Miller in his head for the last few months speaking gibberish that Jim just knows has to do with the Protomolecule.  But Holden's actions have made him more than a few enemies, and one in particular is determined to destroy him - both in body and in reputation - and her actions will force Holden's hand and drag him out to the Ring.  But what the crew find there will change humanity's course forever....if they can survive long enough to tell anyone about it.
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Like the prior two books, Abaddon's Gate features a couple of different point of view besides our series main protagonist - Jim Holden.  In this case, we have three other point of view characters - Bull, an Earther OPA Operative; Anna, a Methodist Pastor; and Melba/Clarissa Mao.  The three new additions are very different from anyone we've had before, and take this book in a rather different direction:  whereas previously we've had plots featuring Holden and others trying to figure out what was going on with a secret antagonist behind the scenes, this time around we know from the start who the manipulative bad guy is, and the real question is about the non-human protomolecule and what it's done with the Ring.

That manipulative bad guy is Clarissa Mao, aka Melba Koh, another daughter of the Mao family responsible for the protomolecule in the first two books.  Unlike her father, Clarissa is not some greedy bastard who cares more for his bottom line than for the lives of humanity - Clarissa simply wants things to go back to the way things were, with her family intact, instead of destroyed by the revelations about her father and the protomolecule.  And she blames one man for that: Holden.  So using her money she implants within herself a dangerous combat enhancement and bribes and spends just enough to ensure that she can put Holden into position to suffer - both reputationally and physically.  But the difference between Clarissa and her father continues to assert itself throughout the book, as it's a lot easier to plan revenge when you don't know any of the people who will suffer personally, and Clarissa finds herself feeling doubts when others she encounters suffer because of her (whereas her father was a sociopathic greedy asshole).  It makes her a fascinating character to read out honestly.

Then there's Anna and Bull, our two other new main characters.  Anna just barely works, a pastor who firmly believes that she can do good even if she has to ask for forgiveness instead of permission, and who keeps getting into dangerous situations as a result - and into trouble with her family who basically leaves at the start of the book.  But Anna is so driven by her faith in humanity and in god, that she always remains a force seeking redemption for basically everyone, and well....its kind of annoying, but it's tempered by the fact that everyone else reacts exactly as you'd imagine.  You'd need a really great actress to play her on TV (I haven't seen her on the show) because her charisma would need to be extremely high to pull off what she does with her speeches in this book (and she doesn't quite read as as good of an orator as she needs to be in this text).  Bull on the other hand is the closest to a character type we've seen before, reminding me of Avasarala actually, in an operative who knows the shit that has to be done, but is hamstrung into a lesser position that forces him to repeatedly have to go around people to get it all done.  His determination is a lot of fun, like Avasarala, and helps drive things a long, especially when he's faced with a bunch of cowardly and idiotic leaders, unlike Avasarala's greedy and power hungry ones. 

So yeah the new characters are generally strong, and Holden is his typical idealistic self despite his not totally idealistic crew, and the scifi aspects with the protomolecule are done well.  But well, the book kind of loses momentum 2/3 of the way through, with everything seemingly about to be resolved before it heads forward into a new final conflict to conclude it all - that final conflict is set up well, but it just feels separate from everything else, whereas the plot in the first two books never really had that pause where it felt like everything was settled.  Oddly this feels a bit annoying because the final conflict is setup due to the human actors instead of a change in the alien ones, because the humans are just kind of stupid, and well, you know how things are going to have to end, even if which of the characters will survive through to that point isn't clear till the end. 

Still, it's a really fun book and and I will be taking out the fourth book at some point.  Probably not for a bit tho, I've got a lot to read first 
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