ADRIFT 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.

Adrift by W. Michael Gear
Series: Donovan #5
Published by Daw Books on June 1 2021
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 512
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Gear kills it in his latest Donovan installment, a high-octane adventure that is almost impossible to put down.

“How bad can it be?” Dek wondered. “If it’s just people, like Tal says, we knock a couple of heads. If it’s beasties, we’ve got rifles. Problem solved.”

How bad indeed…Gear’s Donovan series is still going strong, and with this fifth book, Gear has taken his story to new heights, giving his readers a high stakes, exciting and sometimes horrific tale of the ongoing struggles of the colonists who have made Donovan their home. And boy, was this book a nail-biter! I can’t remember the last time a book stressed me out so much, but that’s exactly what happened here. And kudos to Gear for knowing exactly how to keep a long running series fresh and interesting! Granted, he has a fantastic recipe for success—a distant planet filled with deadly alien creatures and a group of humans who try to make it home. In each book, readers have been introduced to new species, and in Adrift Gear takes us to a new location as well: the ocean.

Before I get too far, I do want to mention there will be minor spoilers for the previous books in the series. Adrift focuses on three different groups of characters, each caught up in their own particular dramas. First, the main story revolves around the newly established Maritime Unit, a group of scientists from the Ashanti—the ship that featured prominently in the last book—who have finally arrived on Donovan after the Ashanti was lost in space for ten years. Scientific Director Michaela Hailwood and her team are eager to start exploring the mysterious oceans of Donovan. Their environmental Pod has been set up and serves as both housing and lab space for the work they hope to accomplish. Furnished with state-of-the-art lab equipment and two very expensive and durable submarines, the Pod seems impenetrable and sturdy, a safe haven from the unknown creatures who live in the ocean.

Meanwhile, Talina Perez, who now shares her body with quetzal TriNA and has become something more than human, is dealing with her friend Dek Taglioni, who also recently arrived from the Ashanti. Dek is from a high-powered family back home and is rich and powerful, but after his terrifying experiences on the Ashanti—where a group of cannibal cultists nearly killed the entire crew—he’s now faced with a similar situation to Talina’s. He also has quetzal TriNA swirling through his body, and he’s fighting the quetzal voices in his head who seem to be trying to kill him. Talina decides to take Dek to a remote station called Twin Falls Gap and help him through the transition. During their time there, both Dek and Talina must face their feelings for each other, in addition to the changes Dek’s body and mind are going through.

And finally, Corporate Supervisor Kalico Aguila, who runs Corporate Mine, has a couple of things on her plate: first, she’s been called out to the Maritime Unit to make sure things are going smoothly (heads up: they’re not), and then an unexpected cave-in at the mine kills two of her employees, and she must come to terms with the decisions she’s made, wondering if her choices led to the disaster. 

I know this sounds like a lot, but trust me, if you’ve been reading the series up to this point it will all make sense. And here’s the part where I mention that yes, you should read these books in order. Gear does a great job of creating an exciting, self-contained story when it comes to the drama with the Maritime Unit, but the side stories of Kalico and Talina require knowledge of earlier events to really enjoy them. As is the case with any multiple perspective story, there will always be that one storyline that rises above the others, and here it was the Maritime Unit events that grabbed me. I really enjoyed Kalico’s story as well, especially since some of her vulnerabilities are revealed. Kalico has always been one of my favorite characters—and in fact the whole series sort of revolves around her—but in previous books she’s shown more of her tough, unrelenting side, part of the reason she’s survived this long in such an unforgiving environment. But in this book, Kalico deals with the emotions of the cave-in deaths as well as her unresolved feelings for Dek Taglioni. When she hears that Talina has taken Dek into the wilderness, she’s surprised at how jealous she feels, so it was interesting to see her explore those feelings.

The sections with Talina and Dek were probably my least favorite, however. Not to say they didn’t have some exciting, life-or-death moments, but the whole idea of quetzals taking over their bodies and controlling their thoughts is a little too metaphysical for my taste. Earlier books go into lots of details about the process of the quetzals “communicating” with Talina and how their presence gives her heightened senses and speed, and from an anthropological standpoint, the idea is fascinating. But I felt this story was overshadowed by the main event in Adrift, the horrors that are unfolding at the Pod.

And here is where Adrift becomes more of a sci-fi/horror novel, which was good news for me because that’s my jam these days. The oceans of Donovan have been unexplored up to this point, so this new perspective was thrilling in many ways. Through the innocent eyes of Michaela and her teammates, we see some fascinating—and downright scary—sea life, including floating lantern-like creatures whose tentacles dangle into the sea, and a terrifying monster who appears out of nowhere and uses its lethal, blade-like appendages to kill its prey. It doesn’t take long for the bad stuff to start happening either. Gear doesn’t hesitate to show how terribly unprepared the crew are, as the scientists of Maritime Unit are picked off one by one, in perfect horror story fashion.

I should also mention that there are quite a few children at the station, children who were conceived and born on Ashanti and who now live with their parents in the (seemingly) impenetrable confines of the Pod. I won’t go into details, but I will say that what befalls these characters involves the children and a particularly nasty alien algae, so do be cautious if you are triggered in any way by stories about evil children and/or child deaths. Gear doesn’t care much about trigger sensitivity (and why should he?), and now you have been warned! The bottom line is that Adrift has some very scary scenes, and Gear’s writing and pacing, combined with short, snappy chapters, were perfect for this horrific tale.

I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface with this review, Gear packs so much into his story. As the different groups on Donovan continue to grow and spread out, the author has more and more fodder for future books, and I see the potential for this series to keep going. There’s even hints that the events at the Pod aren’t over, and I for one would be thrilled if Gear decided to revisit those characters in the next book. The Donovan series is perfect for summer, and I highly recommend starting it if you are looking for a unique and exciting sci-fi adventure.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Read my reviews of the other Donovan books:

Outpost

Abandoned

Pariah

Unreconciled