Reviews

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

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ridghost's review against another edition

2.0

A very difficult book to finish. Filled with the author inserting their own opinions into character dialogue. It is extremely obvious when a character completely breaks character to jump to a conclusion which doesn't follow the logical flow of the story. I understand the moral message this book is trying to push, but in my opinion, it fails. It fails because it doesn't put characters in position where it actually makes sense. Character lacking internal consistency makes them feel like cardboard cutouts and really took me personally out of the story.

The most jarring and glaring issue I had with this story was the lack of justice. It feels like the authors have a more black and white sense of justice than their protagonist, which is a feat. There isn't nuiance, a lot of the more meaningful and difficult questions are hand-waved away. This book was well written to a point, and I think my 2 star score is impart due to my expectations being dramatically disappointed, as I loved of the previous book. I found the ethics discussed in this book to be enraging, as it seemed to preach entirely about forgiveness, even at the more ludicrious times after the most extreme situations. It never questions whether forgiveness is just in all situations (which I would argue no, forgiveness needs to be earned, it can't just be granted as easily as getting a free coupon at a store). It doesn't have the courage to have any of the protagonists take a named characters life, no matter how justifiable, even in self-defense. It comes across as predictable, cowardly and frankly boring. The book doesn't trust the reader to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong. Worst of all, it doesn't trust the reader to make their own judgements on situations, evidenced by the near constant monologuing and preaching at the reader about what is right and wrong. I found it to be somewhat insulting my intelligence.

Most of this hate is directed directly at Anna and Clarissa.

The ending is also truly bizarre. A moustache twirling marvel villain comes out of no where.

Overall, I finished this book as I like the world, most of the protagonists, and the writing style. I seriously didn't like some of the character, dialogue and plot choices they made for this book. Throughout the book I felt intrigue, anger, intrigue, anger, etc... This is the sci-fi equivalent of Fast & Furious. If it just stuck to spaceships, explosions, aliens and politics, I think every book would be a winner. However, it brings along the moral complexities of a Fast & Furious film, whilst spending entire character arcs discussing it. It's just a bit frustrating, self-aggrandising, and stupid.

The first 2 books were good enough that I think this series warrants a single low point before I give up, so I'll read the next book. I just hope the authors improve in these aspects.

cyamate's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5/5

Argh... this book! I didn't like the new POVs that much, and the story dragged a little. The main plot point about the Ring was cool and interesting, but... I expected more to happen (I guess I need to read #4). The ending was really disappointing. Pages and pages of predictable plot... it was boring just watch everything play out. There was no cool cliffhanger like in the first two books.

Where's Bobbie? Where's Avasarala? I get that the authors are always changing POVs so they can tell different stories, but... when you follow a series, you expect to see more of your favorite characters too, not just the bigger world they've built. Just Holden is not enough for a 500+ pages book to hold my attention. And I like Holden.

Will I read the next one? Probably. But I'll take a break for now.