Every time I find out about a new book in this series, I simply cannot contain my glee. I do hope the W. Michael Gear keeps them coming, because I don’t think I could ever get tired of returning to Donovan, watching yet another group of know-it-all settlers think they can get the better of the planet only to be slapped down and shown just how wrong they were. Nope, it never gets old!

This time, Adrift takes us to the seas of Donovan, where the Maritime Unit has just set up their research facilities perched on the edge of a reef, hundreds of miles from the closest shore. Having survived the last ten years trapped aboard the Ashanti with a cult of cannibals, the members of this small team mostly made up of oceanographers and marine scientists are excited to have finally arrived on the planet and are eager to start studying its aquatic ecosystems. For many of them, Donovan represents more than just a new life—it’s also a fresh start for humanity. Vowing never to make the same mistakes as their ancestors back on Earth, this was their ultimate opportunity to put a lifetime’s worth of training and education to good use. They will respect the world’s creatures, study and understand them, and hopefully bring a wealth of knowledge back to their corporate sponsors and employers to aid in the colonizing efforts.

But this idealism is shattered almost immediately. Visiting from the mainland, Supervisor Kalico Aguila tries to warn the scientists that Donovan is not like Earth. Nothing can be inferred or assumed based on what they previously knew. Treat every living thing as a threat that’s out to kill you. Always carry a weapon and never let your guard down.

Unfortunately though, hubris proved to be Maritime Unit’s downfall. Even with Scientific Director Michaela Hailwood as their leader, the team has always been largely run by consensus, functioning more like a family than a workplace. Most of the members of this close-knit group are parents, their children having been born on the Ashanti, and this shared communal experience of raising their kids under those harsh conditions had brought them all even closer than before. Which is why, even at Michaela’s insistence, the unit could not be convinced to follow the supervisor’s directives, voting to go it alone even when threatened with a shutdown. Frustrated, Aguila decides to simply wash her hands of the matter, letting the scientists learn for themselves why the local saying “Welcome to Donovan” is less of a greeting and more a warning.

Obviously, for members of Maritime Unit, this spells very bad news. For readers though, what follows is a nerve-wracking, heart-pounding, gut-wrenching series of events, resulting in what might be the darkest, bloodiest Donovan novel to date. Considering all that we’ve been through already with the last four books, that’s definitely saying something! One of the reasons for this extra horror might be the fact that quite a few children are involved in this book, and if you find you that you are more sensitive to stories where bad or disturbing things happen to kids, then yeah, you might want to stay away. Just a warning.

As always though, Gear always keeps several plot threads going, and believe me, there’s much more happening out in the world of Donovan beyond the reef. In Adrift, we also get the chance to catch up with series protagonist Talina Perez, whose relationship with Dek Taglioni is certainly heading down some interesting roads. The former playboy and wealthy scion has made a complete transformation since his early days aboard Ashanti, and with quetzal TriNA now in his body, the changes just keep on coming.

Still, while the romance explored between Talina and Dek was compelling, their plotline was definitely not where my fascination yearned. I confess, as terrifyingly disastrous things were back at in the oceans, I just always wanted to get right back there to see how things were going. From deadly sea monsters to killer algae, poor Maritime Unit never catches a break. That’s what they get for disrespecting my girl Kalico Aguila! The no-nonsense, tough-as-nails supervisor is now officially my favorite character of the series, and I find I just love her more with every book.

But anyway, I could go on forever about how much I loved Adrift, how much I love the Donovan series if left to my own devices. This latest installment is proof that there is so much more of the planet to explore, and that author W. Michael Gear can still keep things new and fresh. If anything, these books just keep getting better and better, and I’m so glad that signs point to there being more to come.

Our favorite characters are back, but the ocean is presented as nothing I ever want to go in, on, or anywhere near. Is it possible that the ocean is worse, more deadly, than the land of Donovan? Can an ocean be manipulative, it sure seems like it. Once again, the world building and character development excel. The pace was steady, and this was one that you could not put down as you waited to see what the “slime” would do.

Michael Gear presents a hard science fiction apocalyptic tale on a distant planet; natural processes are interfering with the natural processes in the human body. Too many characters to track.

My thoughts are here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4083358382 including thoughts on the audiobook.

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.

Welcome (back) to Donovan… The most dangerous, most deadly planet explored by mankind returns with the newest perspective on its perils: I’m so glad that author W. Michael Gear decided to go further than the initially planned trilogy set in the extraterrestrial world of Donovan, because there is just so much to explore here, certainly material enough for several more installments in this series. So far, each book has taken us to a different area of the world and the focus on new characters in each volume - besides the “regulars” that always make an appearance - has helped in keeping the narrative fresh and intriguing.

In Adrift we follow three different storylines, two of them concerning characters we already met: former corporate supervisor Kalico Aguila is determined, more than ever, to make her mining project work, and such determination - together with the harrowing experiences she faced and overcame on the planet - has turned her from the hated face of the Corporation into a Donovanian through and through, another hardy settler driven to forge a new life on the alien planet and a respected member of the community, one capable of inspiring loyalty and even affection. Talina Perez, the security chief carrying Donovanian DNA - or rather TriNA - that has transformed her into a sort of hybrid, able to better integrate in the environment, has taken under her wing Derek Taglioni, once a powerful corporate leader and now one of the most tenacious explorers: in the previous installment, the man willingly accepted some quetzal TriNA, but an accident has now infected him with more than he could manage, and Talina - knowing how unpredictable the transformation can be - takes him away from Port Authority for his own sake and the safety of the other inhabitants of the small enclave.

The third point of view concerns the Maritime Unit, a group of scientists ferried by the latest ship with the goal of exploring Donovan’s oceans: after their harrowing experiences aboard Ashanti, where a number of passengers turned into a cannibalistic sect, they are eager to start their work in the self-sustaining pod placed on the chosen seabed. Like most new arrivals, the scientists are not overly worried by the old-timers’ warnings about Donovan’s dangers: after so many years spent in an enclosed space, living with the fear of the savage Unreconciled, they want to offer their children the joys of nature, and the chance of exploring the possibilities of the new world. But Donovan being Donovan, they have no idea of what kind of threats this planet has in store for them…

Adrift might very well be the best Donovan book to date: the constant change of perspective between the three main narrative threads imparts a sense of urgency and impending doom to the story that is more nerve-ravaging than what I experienced in previous books. Where in other novels this kind of shift might prove irritating or distracting, here all its does is compel you to turn the pages faster to learn what else is happening to the characters: even though the three separate storylines don’t mix (except for a brief moment toward the end) they all serve to showcase the extreme hostility of this world and the way the people have to adapt to survive, how they must never, ever, take anything for granted. By this fifth book we have learned that Donovan can throw anything at the people trying to colonize it, and we are made aware that there might never be an end to the hostility ingrained in the planet’s ecosystem, and that the unwary will not survive long.

While it was fun to reacquaint myself with Talina, Kalico, and other Port Authority settlers, who have now become almost like household names, my attention was riveted by what happens on the Maritime Unit’s pod: so far the Donovan series has offered a mix of science fiction, adventure and the strangeness of an alien world, but with Adrift horror has been added to the mix, and in significant quantity. In my review for book 4, Unreconciled, I asked myself what kind of menace might be in store for the oceanographers, because if the land held so many dangers, the sea was bound to do so as well: never, in my wildest imaginings, I would have conceived of a peril so insidious as the one the scientists face, even worse than the half-seen monster that toward the end of that book dispatched the man-eating Unreconciled. Since I intend to keep this review as spoiler-free as I can, I will not reveal any details, but suffice it to say that the ocean-based pod becomes the theater of a closed-space horror story that could easily give the Alien franchise a good run for its money, particularly because it all starts in such an offhand way that no one really understands what’s going on until it’s too late. And because the deadly threat comes from the most unexpected direction…

There are truly no limits to W. Michael Gear’s power of imagination as he crafts new creatures in the wild, deadly Donovan ecosystem, gifting them not only with predatory instincts but also with various levels of intelligence: survival on this planet is not only a matter of physical strength or improved protections, what truly counts here is the ability to think and plan several moves ahead of your opponents in the food chain. And no matter how many victories humans are able to score, either the price they have to pay for them is quite steep, or those victories are only temporary, because something bigger, stronger or more determined to kill them will always loom over the horizon. And I can’t wait to see what this author has in store for us (and his characters) next.

Welcome to Donovan… ;-)

I feel like every time I do a review of a book in the Donovan series, I say the same thing: This world is incredible, this series is epic. Incidentally, I think it would make a phenomenal series, so someone should get on that. Gimme a call, I have ideas!

I digress. The thing that makes the Donovan series so engaging and memorable is its characters. Yes, the world is beyond bananas, and I love every single minute of this planet’s shenanigans. But the crux of the story really is how the characters handle these situations. Who they become in spite of (or perhaps, because of) the hardships presented to them day after day.

Adrift is, dare I say, more brutal than we’ve seen yet. And we’ve seen a lot. Our characters have been through it, from cannibalism to man-eating plants to aliens infesting their DNA and that is just your basic Tuesday on Donovan. And in this book, some of the newcomers have to learn that lesson the hard way- the very hard way.

If you haven’t started this series and are at all a fan of sci-fi and adventures on new planets, I am going to beg you to do so. You won’t regret it.

Bottom Line: Another winning installment of the Donovan series, Adrift is at once the most brutal and emotional of the series.

Adrift (Donovan Book 5)
by W. Michael Gear
The saying goes people “Come to Donavon For three things, To leave, To find themselves or to die.” Nothing is more apparent in Adrift. Those who have followed this series from the beginning know that Donavon is far from safe. Just getting there is risky. The Maritime Unit sent to catalog and explore the ocean of Donavon thought they were the best and the brightest from Earth. They knew on Earth how to survive in the harshest climate, roughest seas, and had the technology to conquer everything in Earth’s oceans. This is not true of the unexplored unknown ocean of Donavon. The planet is far more dangerous than they ever imagined. Weak and starved on Ashanti they were not fit to explore, even Earth's tranquil ocean, let alone Donovan. I counted at least 4 new land species (monsters), and at least 7 species described in part in the ocean, not counting the flora (??). All of life on Donavon is dangerous, even the smallest organisms. The Maritime Unit is not ready. Ignoring the advice from PA, from Corporate Mine, or even Supervisor Aguilar they begin a perilous path that leads to destruction.

Talina and Dek have their own problems with TRiNA, and have their own personal battles, unfortunately this time they can not come save the fresh meat. Their adventures are where we find the 4 new land species, some so deadly even Quetzals are afraid. We also find the strength to carry on through this very eye opening adventure.

Supervisor Aguilar has more battles under her belt than she can even handle with the eleven marines still in her employ. The Maritime Unit, itself is questioning her advice. The Corporate Mine has water issues, to say the least. Her own personal life is a mess. She may have to let something go, and tell people they have to do it on their own.

As a whole I found this book far more haunting, and frightening then the previous books. I asked Michael Gear if it should not be cataloged as a Horror story instead of a Science Fiction, trust me it gets scary. In the end you will find something more beautiful about Donavon, and more science connected to our world than you ever imagined. I can’t wait to see how the Audible book reads.

This is book five in the Donovan series. Donovan is the seriously deadly, dangerous planet that space explorers have come to colonize. In this book the Maritime unit has been deplored from the Ashanti to begin their study of the ocean and its flora and fauna on Donovan. The team quickly finds that everything on Donovan is out to kill you. On their first task of setting out a buoy to measure waves and tides the young scientist and her son observe many strange and interesting creatures and a very large carnivorous thing lurking in the depths but the boy also reaches out and touches some algae slime that they bring back to the pod they live in.
As with the other books survival and learning the ways of Donovan are the major plot challenges. The author comes up with brilliant creatures and numerous scary means by which a person can fall prey to Donovan. I will credit him with a most vivid imagination, all set with a cast of characters that become your friends. This is a most extraordinary series of books and each one leave you wanting more. Welcome to Donovan!