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

The Expanse Short Fiction: The Butcher of Anderson, Station, Gods of Risk, The Churn, The Vital, Abyss, Strange Dogs

Listening Length

19 hours and 42 minutes
Author

James S. A. Corey
Narrator

Jefferson Mays
Audible release date

August 28, 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Orbit
ASIN

B07GQ7RLKF
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	19 hours and 42 minutes
Author	James S. A. Corey
Narrator	Jefferson Mays
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	August 28, 2018
Publisher	Orbit
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07GQ7RLKF
Best Sellers Rank	#890 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #17 in Hard Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #24 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #27 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)

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4.6 out of 5

11,675 global ratings

5 star		71%
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3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Big implications for the rest of the series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 14, 2022

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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.

2 people found this helpful

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Darren Perdue

Out of the frying pan....

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2022

Verified Purchase

When I was a kid, I got into science fiction. I loved the idea of exploring the stars, intergalactic wars, robots, and the whole works. I read most of the classics by Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, and Heinlein by the time I was fifteen years old. I am not saying I am jaded in my older age, but I have been looking for something to rekindle my love of the genre.

I found it in James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series.

I have just finished book number three out of a nine-book series. So, lets get to it!

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are back. They are no longer in the employ of the OPA, and their contracts are plentiful. Until they are not. Without warning, their main source of income has dried up and they are now joining the flotilla heading out to “The Ring”, a construct left in Uranus’s orbit. But there is more going on, someone wants Holden dead, and is setting him up to take the blame for possibly starting a war. With no other recourse left to him, Holden and his crew head into the inky darkness of the ring. Other ships pursue and all hell breaks loose until it becomes a choice between accepting the unbelievable or taking a drastic course of action that may destroy the entire universe.

When the pace of this book picks up, it becomes an out-of-control locomotive that threatens to go off the rails, and you are on board, clinging on by your fingernails. Things go from bad to worse to impossible. Allies become enemies and enemies become allies. The stakes have never been higher and by the time the resolution came, I was out of breath.

If I had to nitpick, the only ding I would give this book is the fact that there are too many characters to keep track of and I found myself getting lost at times.

Other than that, this book is as close to perfection as one could get.

I give it 4.5 bookmarks out of 5!!!

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

sft

It’s a bad’un all right

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

3/10 • Well, the writing doesn’t get any better. The prose in this third novel is mediocre at best, and is often quite poor. The same can be said of the first two books in the series but at least they had strong story lines to compensate for this. The same cannot be said for ABADDON’S GATE. Here the narrative is laboured to the point where much of it feels like padding. The characters are one-dimensional, unconvincing, and frequently annoying (sadly, the crew of the Rocinante are sidelined for most of the novel). Some of them are pretty much superfluous, when you consider their actual impact on the flimsy plot. (The only saving grace on this front is that my favourite character from the first book is back, sort of.) The story is tedious at times and is cynically engineered rather than being holistic and organic – this is writing as a manufacturing process rather than a creative one. I get the impression from reading this that the authors had already assessed how many books they could stretch their story arc over (kerching!) and that no matter how thinly they would have to spread the story they were going to stick to that number. My initial enthusiasm for this series (fuelled, it has to be said, by the far superior TV series) is beginning to wane. I have book 4 already, which I shall read, but whether I go any further remains to be seen.

4 people found this helpful

Imyril

Epic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 23, 2018

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Not going to lie: I was a bit taken aback to discover a plethora of new POV narrators at the start of Abaddon’s Gate. I shouldn’t have been: Caliban’s War introduced 3 new POVs, but I became very attached to Avasarala and Bobbie at least – it was a wrench to discover that every book in the series will throw a new set of perspectives at me.

This is high octane space opera of the absurdly action-packed variety, and if I missed the political wiles of Chrisjen Avasarala, it was (mostly) made up for by getting a glimpse – if only a glimpse – of what awaits beyond the solar system. It's another epic episode with lots of excellent set pieces, although it took me a long while to warm up to the new characters.

My only real criticism is that given just what’s out there I’m a bit disappointed that we’re still wallowing in humanity’s worst flaws for our villains. I’m hoping that the future will hold something different to arrogance, pride and self-interest.

12 people found this helpful

Barry Mulvany

Another very good book but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 15, 2018

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Re-read September 2022:
Definitely enjoyed this more second time round. Bull was a strange one in that his character is not in the show at all, I think they combined him and Pa to make Drummer. Anna is still a bit annoying though but Melba is brilliant, I enjoyed her arc much more this time. I'm still annoyed by the Martians in this one and their vendetta against the Roci, like they literally saved Mars in the last book and this is the thanks they get? So this concludes this arc in the series. Looking forward to the next now that the gates are open.

August 2017:
So part three in the adventures of the Roci. We are introduced again to a new set of characters, though Holden is still around. We have Anna a preacher, Bull an Earther working for the OPA and Melba/Clarissa who I won't say too much about. I think an issue I had was that I didn't connect as well to these characters as I did to Bobby and Avasarala in the previous volume.

There is a lot of action and the most of it revolves around the consequences of the end of Caliban's War. I really enjoyed Holden's interactions with an old friend and the limitations in the 'slow zone'. I think another issue I had was that the climax at the end felt a little forced, not entirely realistic, but saying that it was still great to read about. So another very good book but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two.

4.5 stars rounded down.

7 people found this helpful

Captain Tom Cat

A mildly disappointing 3rd novel but it opens the gate to a far greater expanse (see what I did?)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

I have hugely enjoyed Books 1 and 2 in this series. I enjoyed the TV series as well (but not as much as the books).

So I was a little disappointed with this 3rd instalment . Why? Well i think some of the personal story-lines are becoming a bit more predictable, which is perhaps to be expected in a 3rd book, the author uses the same phrases about the same characters several times throughout the book (which can break the 'escapist-spell' of the story and bring you back to reality, when you realise this is the third time he has used that simile, but mostly because, bizarrely religion features heavily within the story.
Religion within a science fiction setting is a difficult thing to master and even the best at it, Frank Herbert, didn't always get the balance right. This book certainly doesn't.
BUT.... this book does open the gates to a huge potential for future stories in this series. I hope that the potential is in fact realised. (I have just 5 minutes ago bought the 4th book in the series, so I will let you know.

5 people found this helpful

Angry Cumbrian

Solid development and slickly presented

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

3.5*
In this one I noticed the heavy difference between page and screen. It was more enjoyable that what I felt early on with the new characters, but I felt the show integrated the existing ones more with the new.

I also thought the first three quarters, were bloated. The story dragged and rapidly evolved in the last quarter, pacy, threatening and vivid. The couple of paragraphs Holden provides with how dangerous Amos is, stole the show, and worth it for that alone.

Entertaining and I look forward to the rest.

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