OUTPOST by W. Michael Gear – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Outpost by W. Michael Gear
Series: Donovan Trilogy #1
Published by Daw Books on February 20 2018
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 432
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The nitty-gritty:  A thrilling space adventure with danger around every corner—both alien and human. Outpost is a must read for all science fiction fans.

I had no expectations going into Outpost, since I have yet to read any fellow blogger reviews of this book, and so I was delighted at how much fun this was! Take the gritty lawlessness of the wild west, add in a splash of Avatar, a pinch of Alien, and top it off with a healthy dose of Star Trek and you have a fantastic start to a new series by veteran author W. Michael Gear. Gear’s story has all the necessary elements that I look for in my reading these days: a great mix of engaging characters, plenty of action, seriously cool world-building, and super high stakes.

Thirty years ago, a group of settlers arrived on the planet Donovan to start a new life. Attracted to its rich stores of gold and other precious stones and minerals, the plan was to start mining operations and send the booty back to Solar System. What the settlers didn’t expect was to land on a planet full of dangerous native flora and fauna, and what started as a large group has since dwindled to only a few hundred people. It’s been six years since the last supply ship entered orbit, and the residents of Port Authority are sorely hurting for medical supplies, replacement equipment and more.

So when the Turalon appears in the skies, everyone is thrilled. There’s just one small problem: what started out as a Corporation-run city on the new planet has since disintegrated into a society where those who haven’t been killed off by Donovan’s many creatures or died from accidents or illness have created their own laws, far removed from the Corporation’s strict protocols. With the arrival of Board Supervisor Kalico Aguila and her team of Corporation enforcers, Talina Perez, Yvette Dushane and Shig Mosadek know that the Corporation will want to impose their rule over the citizens of Port Authority, and they vow not to let that happen.

But a clash of wills is inevitable as the two groups form an uneasy alliance on the planet’s surface, and an unexpected arrival of a long-lost ship changes everyone’s future plans.

This is a hard plot to summarize, because there is a lot going on, and the cast of characters is pretty big. However, I’m not complaining when I say there is a lot going on, because I enjoyed every second of the story! I’m just going to dive in and tell you what I loved about Outpost. First of all, the characters are fantastic. One of the main characters is Talina Perez, a hardened fighter who has more or less taken over the leadership role in Port Authority. Together with Trish, Yvette and Shig, the four keep things running smoothly without having to utilize the dictatorship-like Corporation rules on the people of Donovan. The story opens with a bang, as Talina and Trish are trying to hunt down a quetzal (more about him later!) who just stole and ate someone’s baby from the compound. Talina is a superb fighter, and she’s learned to survive on Donovan by necessity, but even she has troubles with quetzals, as you’ll find out when you read this book.

Talina is thrown together with the head of security from the Turalon named Max “Cap” Taggart, and yes, they do become romantically involved. But I enjoyed their relationship and I felt like it developed organically. When we meet Cap, he firmly believes in the way the Corporation runs, but little by little, as he gets to know Talina and discovers how dangerous Donovan is, he realizes that there are better ways to live than blindly following orders.

I’ll mention a couple of other stand-out characters. One that ended up being one of my favorites, simply because she changed so much during the story, was Kalico, a ruthless woman who isn’t afraid to have people killed if they get out of line. She wants to be remembered for making her trip to Donovan a success, and she craves authority and respect from the members of her team. But when a lost ship called the Freelander suddenly appears, she starts to lose her nerve after some scary moments on the ship, and her personality changes drastically, to the point that I started to feel sorry for her.

And then there’s the “bad guy” of the story, a psychopath named Dan Wirth who is looking for a new life on Donovan after stealing someone else’s identity in order to escape the law. He’s one of the slimiest characters I’ve run across in some time, and he sees Donovan as an untapped opportunity to not only get rich, but to hold power over everyone else. I truly hated him, which means Gear did a fantastic job with his character!

And then of course, there’s the world-building. I loved the idea of a group of colonists trying to make a better life on a new planet, only to discover that the planet is trying to kill you. There are so many predators on Donovan, the best one being the quetzal, a rainbow-colored humanoid/lizard creature with rows of sharp teeth who feed on warm-blooded creatures, humans being one of their favorites. The colonists have figured out how to kill them, and they use their colorful hides to make boots and clothing (which is pretty funny because the people on the Turalon describe them as looking like circus folk!), but quetzal are still deadly, fast and cunning, and a real threat to the population. In addition to the quetzals are other dangerous creatures like gotcha vines, chokya, nightmares, sucking scrub, sidewinders and many more.

Another big part of the story involves the Freelander and the fact that the last seven ships that came to Donovan never made it back home, and no one knows what happened to them. Of course, this is freaking out everyone on the Turalon, because the chances of their ship disappearing too are fairly good. I won’t go into the reasons here, but suffice it to say that Gear brings some cool scientific explanations into the story and also creates some very creepy vibes when the crew board the Freelander to check out what’s going on.

Gear wisely forces all his characters make choices, but none of them are very good ones. They have to decide which is the lesser of two evils, and it’s a wonderful but terrible situation to put people in.

I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface, there are so many surprises for readers to discover. The only negative I can think of is that the pacing near the end felt rushed, as if the author had too many things to resolve and very little time. (And a thing happens at the end!!!!) I have so many questions that weren’t answered, but luckily this is only the beginning. Gear has set the bar high for the rest of his series, and I can hardly wait for the next installment.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.