*Update* - 7/5/15 
 In another forum I think I mentioned recently that when there is a whole bunch of things I think are very similar in quality, I feel like I should be able to say things about issues or detractions that I feel don't really impinge on the overall quality of the work. I mean, this is rated as a 5-star book by me, but what if I feel like it's 4.998 instead of 5? 
 You know, it's like adding velocities in a relativistic frame. No matter how fast you go, you won't be getting to C, just closer and closer. 
 That's how it is with a perfect book. You might be so close it's within a few decimal points of lightspeed, but at the same time, you're not even close to truly reaching your goal. 
 So if this one is off by a few decimal points more than the previous book, in my mind, that's okay. Bobbie Draper is absent, the climax felt just a tad (read that, people, only a tad) too quickly wrapped up (I had to read portions more than once to figure it out), but it's still the best thing going in space-based Science Fiction right now. 
 6/12/13 
 Best space opera I've ever read? Not sure, I'm a big fan of some of Stephen Baxter's early novels in the Xelee sequence, and Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space Novels are kind of the modern standard I compare other genre works to, but I don't know. Abaddon's Gate follows up on my favorite novel of 2012 with one damn fine book in its own right. 
 I marveled at this as I read, really marveled. These novels are classics that I think I'll be reading again. Funny that I rated the first one in this trilogy 3 stars. Did the last two novels get way better, or was I in a sour mood when I read the first one? 
 Whatever it is, I'll give a quick synopsis here... In the first book we find out that something deep in the outskirts of the solar system was left here billions of years ago, some asshats found it and started doing some pretty awful things. 
 In the second book, more experiments, stuff gets way out of hand. 
 This book, I mean, really, shit... meet fan. Boom! Crash. Kapow! 
 Huh, I think I'm just starting to get why I'll never review books professionally. I can't even give a synopsis without resorting to profanity and comic book punching sounds. 
 But it just punched me in the face, and it kept doing it to me. This book, it just... Bam! You know? 
 So, there you are. Sorry for making you sit through that.