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A review by maiagaia
Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
2.0
Not my cup of tea compared to the first two books in the series. While book one had less complex characters than book two, the plot and mystery carried it. Book two, for me, had great characters and great plot. The characters here are not as interesting, and they aren't saved by the plot, which I found less compelling than previous installments. The last, say, quarter saved this book for me. I will continue in the series because I really enjoyed the first two books, and I hope the series picks back up for me.
Slight spoilers below (I name POV and side characters and say how I felt about them very generally, but there is no mention of the plot or character arcs)
Melba is easily the most interesting character, but I wanted more time with her to balance out the other three POVs, which were each at times boring, cliche, infuriating, and bland. Holden is as insufferable as he has been since nearly the beginning, and I'm sure he will continue to be so, assuming he continues to be in the series, but this book was especially grating in that department. If you like Holden as a character, this will obviously not bother you, but if you find him annoying, this book, for whatever reason, made it feel even worse. Bull is my second favorite character, but he suffers from being a pretty simple archetype with very little depth. Anna is BORING. I understand the authors were going for a theological examination of the happenings in the book, but it really just felt out of place and preachy (considering she is a preacher, this was probably at least in part intentional, but that doesn't make for an enjoyable read.) This book suffers the same problem I've found in past books where many of the side characters surrounding the POV characters are more interesting than the POV characters themselves. (Though I must admit in past installments, I really only held this opinion about Holden. I really don't like the guy and would prefer the story told from just about any other character's perspective.) In this book, I would much have preferred this story be told from the perspective of Tilly, Cortez, Pa, Naomi, or Amos while keeping Melba's POV. But hey, this is just one woman's perspective, and clearly many others disagree. If you like the past books, you'll probably still at least enjoy this one.
Slight spoilers below (I name POV and side characters and say how I felt about them very generally, but there is no mention of the plot or character arcs)
Melba is easily the most interesting character, but I wanted more time with her to balance out the other three POVs, which were each at times boring, cliche, infuriating, and bland. Holden is as insufferable as he has been since nearly the beginning, and I'm sure he will continue to be so, assuming he continues to be in the series, but this book was especially grating in that department. If you like Holden as a character, this will obviously not bother you, but if you find him annoying, this book, for whatever reason, made it feel even worse. Bull is my second favorite character, but he suffers from being a pretty simple archetype with very little depth. Anna is BORING. I understand the authors were going for a theological examination of the happenings in the book, but it really just felt out of place and preachy (considering she is a preacher, this was probably at least in part intentional, but that doesn't make for an enjoyable read.) This book suffers the same problem I've found in past books where many of the side characters surrounding the POV characters are more interesting than the POV characters themselves. (Though I must admit in past installments, I really only held this opinion about Holden. I really don't like the guy and would prefer the story told from just about any other character's perspective.) In this book, I would much have preferred this story be told from the perspective of Tilly, Cortez, Pa, Naomi, or Amos while keeping Melba's POV. But hey, this is just one woman's perspective, and clearly many others disagree. If you like the past books, you'll probably still at least enjoy this one.