The Expansion: Book 3: Abaddon's Gate

“Abaddon’s Gate” is the third novel in the “Expansion” series by American science fiction writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank, who have dropped the pseudonym James S. A. Corey. In terms of genre, this work, like the entire series, is a fairly harmonious combination of “hard” science fiction, space opera, horror, political detective, and action film. For millennia, Earth has been the last frontier of humanity’s exploration and expansion. Over time, we began to explore Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and other celestial bodies, but our ambitions were limited to the Solar System. Now everything is changing again. Having digested Eros and spent a year in the hellish conditions of Venus, the protomolecule seems to have fulfilled the ultimate goal of its program — now a giant thousand-kilometer ring has been built beyond the orbit of Uranus. While the military blocks all approaches to the alien artifact, and scientific flotillas carefully probe it with sensors, one desperate Belter slips inside - and finds himself in the starless space on the other side.

Things are turning for the better for Golden and the Rocinante team - they earn a lot, update and improve their ship and prefer to stay as far away from the Ring as possible. But it seems that providence itself (or some other, more insidious force) is once again throwing them into the whirlpool of events and into the center of attention of all humanity. And the ghost of Miller is also haunting - the old detective has never managed to have a meaningful conversation, but it seems that he is asking for help. The Belt is taking new, increasingly confident steps to assert its sovereignty. Having picked up and restored the former Mormon ship of generations, the OPA now has the flagship of its fleet - the largest military vessel in the Solar System, the Behemoth. Carlos si de Baca, a former Earth space marine and now the first officer of the Behemoth, must maneuver in treacherous political waters to save the Solar System from a new deadly danger. Meanwhile, Golden's ill-wishers intend to remind him of the past. Melba Cog - in fact Clarissa, the daughter of the arrested Jules-Pierre Mao - gets a job on a civilian ship flying to the Ring. There she will be able to implement her plan for revenge. Pastor Anna Volovodova is also heading to the Ring as part of a mission of the UN Secretary-General. She will have to leave her family and seek answers to many questions in the face of an endless abyss. Will she have the skills and wisdom to unite such a fragmented and diverse humanity, which stands on the threshold of grandiose changes?