Well, Abbadon’s Gate turns out to be my first disappointment with The Expanse series. I had high expectations due to my love for Caliban’s War.

We’ll start with my biggest issue: the characters.

Bull: This character is completely, absolutely pointless. The events and outcome of Abbadon’s Gate would have been exactly the same if Bull didn’t exist. His chapters are meaningless filler to unapologetically extend the length of the novel. There is no reason to care about Bull, and his only purpose is to facilitate the ridiculous double mutiny with Ashford.

Melba/Clarissa: Clarissa Mao, angry that James Holden exposed her father’s horrific and immoral actions, constructs this elaborate plan to kill him. Except she’s constantly second-guessing her actions and motivations. She kills in cold blood, then feels bad about it. She spends a ridiculous amount of money on a plan she’s sure will fail. Even her motivations are suspect, because we’re never given an exact reason why she wants to avenge her father.

Worse than all of that, is the moment when Clarissa’s character shifts completely and not only saves Holden, but also decides that she wishes they could be friends. What?

Anna: This is the single most annoying and frustrating character I have potentially ever encountered in literature. She was annoying in the show, but in Abaddon’s Gate she is literally insufferable. Anna’s constant moralizing about grace and redemption and kindness is sickeningly irritating. What’s that, Melba just tried to kill you with her bare hands? The obvious course of action is to befriend her and advocate for her life.

High-horsed, holier-than-thou attitude aside, Anna is another character that exists simply to drive the plot forward. She’s a super-soldier when she needs to save Naomi, a politician when someone needs to save the flotilla, and a military tactician when she brushes up against death. All of her questions about God and extraterrestrial existence – you know, the actual interesting facets of her character – are practically ignored.

Holden’s chapters are the only ones worth reading in Abaddon’s Gate. After I finished the book, I was left feeling that I could have skipped the rest and not missed anything of consequence. That said, Holden’s story here was great. I loved the description of the alien station, as well as his interactions with Miller. The idea of some powerful alien presence, along with humanity’s newfound ability to explore the universe, has me excited for the rest of The Expanse despite my disappointment with this third installment.