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alythrae's review against another edition
4.0
While I found this installment a bit less engaging than the first book, it still captivated me with its continued exploration of space inversion and the coexistence of humans and the local apex predator. Although the pacing wasn’t as dynamic as in the initial book, the story remained compelling enough to see through to the end.
I particularly enjoyed delving deeper into the planet’s mysteries, meeting the new characters, and witnessing the ongoing conflicts within the Port Authority community. Additionally, seeing Kalico Aguila’s growth added a rewarding layer to the narrative. Overall, this book provided intriguing developments and set the stage for further adventures in the series.
I particularly enjoyed delving deeper into the planet’s mysteries, meeting the new characters, and witnessing the ongoing conflicts within the Port Authority community. Additionally, seeing Kalico Aguila’s growth added a rewarding layer to the narrative. Overall, this book provided intriguing developments and set the stage for further adventures in the series.
willrefuge's review against another edition
5.0
9 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/08/22/abandoned-by-w-michael-gear-review/
Please beware spoilers for Donovan #1—Outpost.
Welcome to Donovan.
Supervisor Kalico Aguila has been on fragile terms with Port Authority since she decided to remain planetside, rather than inverting on the Turalon. Rather than join the settlement and perpetually butt heads with the council, Aguila has chosen to carve out a mine in the wilds—one the wilderness is slowly but surely reclaiming. The trees take a more active approach on Donovan, often rootching forwards, covering miles in a single day. To make matters worse, a murderer is hanging out in Aguila’s camp, one pushing Dan Wirth’s agenda. As if Donovan wasn’t enough.
Mark Talbot is a dead man walking. Marooned in the middle of the bush, he’s alive at all solely because of his armor, which thus far has survived every threat Donovan has thrown at him, from quetzals, to nightmares, to death-fliers. But what it can’t do is feed him, or—something that’s his larger issue—keep a charge. The battery packs were tested and maintained for combat; somewhere around 1000 hours. So far Talbot’s has seen twice that, and the cells are slowly depleting. So when he sees his first sign of human habitation, Talbot has no choice but to throw himself on their mercy. What he’s confronted with, however, are three scientists with a flock of children—and the quetzal that one of them has bonded.
Lieutenant Deb Spiro is losing it. A marine with a head for taking orders but not giving them, she has been suddenly thrust into command, a position that sees her instability and lust for violence take center stage. In Port Authority she sees everything that’s the problem with Donovan, especially one Talina Perez. And Spiro isn’t great at talking through her problems.
Talina Perez has made mistakes. In this case it’s the woman whose husband she killed during her time as the supervisor’s assassin. A mistake she’s desperate to atone for. But she’ll have to do far more than that if she wants to survive what Donovan has in store.
For when Spiro makes a mistake that might just threaten to kill them all, Perez will gamble everything on an outcast, an alien, and an infection in her TriNA. As sides are chosen and tensions run high it becomes very clear that the two sides can’t live together. But with Donovan mounting an offensive, neither might survive at all.
On Donovan, only humans are more terrifying than the wildlife.
—
“At this rate, how long before the forest reclaims the whole farm and smelter?” Kalico asked woodenly.
“Maybe a couple months?” Ghosh hazarded. “But that’s just a guess. I’m not a biological science kind of guy.”
“Remember how you laid out a line of that toxic smelter waste?” Ituri gave her a sidelong glance. “I don’t know what to say except this is Donovan. The trees never even hesitated. Radioactive or not, they just rootched their way across.”
“Rootched?”
“That’s what we’ve been calling it. Sort of a mix between roots and ruts and wiggling through the ground.”
—
A great return trip to Donovan, Abandoned tells an excellent followup story to the science fiction debut, Outpost. Turalon has departed. The planet is once again on its own. It’s up to the people to band together—us against them—and survive all the planet has to throw at them.
Only, people are, well, people. They don’t always get along. Honestly, I feel like this is an understatement. Just look at the history of humanity: I don’t see why it should be any different on an alien world.
And neither, it appears, does W. Michael Gear. Humans are the most terrifying part of Donovan, though the planet tries hard to give them some competition. A conspiracy of quetzals, on a molecular level. A horde of death-fliers. Trees that eat people, spaceships, and, apparently, toxic waste. And yet even in the face of all that, the humans continue to squabble and kill one another.
The problem, such that it is, is Dan Wirth. The best villain you love to hate. And yet NOT the villain of Abandoned. I guess the author thought it was too early in the series to put a bullet in the bastard’s head. A shame, that.
Anyway, instead of Wirth, we’re given Spiro, who is a bit one-sided as villains go. Or indeed, as people. Now, I’m not saying Spiro is poorly written, as I’ve met a number of marines I feel could encapsulate her perfectly. Suited to violence, good at taking orders, but little else. And no, this is not me saying that all marines are psychos—just some of them. Some very, very few of them. The point is that Spiro, while being a bit boring as a villain, isn’t a bust as a character. Nor is she poorly written. Just I think we could’ve done better.
Spiro aside, I flew through this book! I binged the final 250 pages in a night, and had to resist going immediately to the next one as it was 6am and I needed to sleep. But I wanted to go back to Donovan. And that’s what I’d recommend you doing; don’t just GO to Donovan, go back, time after time. I sure hope this series continues to deliver like I expect it to!
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/08/22/abandoned-by-w-michael-gear-review/
Please beware spoilers for Donovan #1—Outpost.
Welcome to Donovan.
Supervisor Kalico Aguila has been on fragile terms with Port Authority since she decided to remain planetside, rather than inverting on the Turalon. Rather than join the settlement and perpetually butt heads with the council, Aguila has chosen to carve out a mine in the wilds—one the wilderness is slowly but surely reclaiming. The trees take a more active approach on Donovan, often rootching forwards, covering miles in a single day. To make matters worse, a murderer is hanging out in Aguila’s camp, one pushing Dan Wirth’s agenda. As if Donovan wasn’t enough.
Mark Talbot is a dead man walking. Marooned in the middle of the bush, he’s alive at all solely because of his armor, which thus far has survived every threat Donovan has thrown at him, from quetzals, to nightmares, to death-fliers. But what it can’t do is feed him, or—something that’s his larger issue—keep a charge. The battery packs were tested and maintained for combat; somewhere around 1000 hours. So far Talbot’s has seen twice that, and the cells are slowly depleting. So when he sees his first sign of human habitation, Talbot has no choice but to throw himself on their mercy. What he’s confronted with, however, are three scientists with a flock of children—and the quetzal that one of them has bonded.
Lieutenant Deb Spiro is losing it. A marine with a head for taking orders but not giving them, she has been suddenly thrust into command, a position that sees her instability and lust for violence take center stage. In Port Authority she sees everything that’s the problem with Donovan, especially one Talina Perez. And Spiro isn’t great at talking through her problems.
Talina Perez has made mistakes. In this case it’s the woman whose husband she killed during her time as the supervisor’s assassin. A mistake she’s desperate to atone for. But she’ll have to do far more than that if she wants to survive what Donovan has in store.
For when Spiro makes a mistake that might just threaten to kill them all, Perez will gamble everything on an outcast, an alien, and an infection in her TriNA. As sides are chosen and tensions run high it becomes very clear that the two sides can’t live together. But with Donovan mounting an offensive, neither might survive at all.
On Donovan, only humans are more terrifying than the wildlife.
—
“At this rate, how long before the forest reclaims the whole farm and smelter?” Kalico asked woodenly.
“Maybe a couple months?” Ghosh hazarded. “But that’s just a guess. I’m not a biological science kind of guy.”
“Remember how you laid out a line of that toxic smelter waste?” Ituri gave her a sidelong glance. “I don’t know what to say except this is Donovan. The trees never even hesitated. Radioactive or not, they just rootched their way across.”
“Rootched?”
“That’s what we’ve been calling it. Sort of a mix between roots and ruts and wiggling through the ground.”
—
A great return trip to Donovan, Abandoned tells an excellent followup story to the science fiction debut, Outpost. Turalon has departed. The planet is once again on its own. It’s up to the people to band together—us against them—and survive all the planet has to throw at them.
Only, people are, well, people. They don’t always get along. Honestly, I feel like this is an understatement. Just look at the history of humanity: I don’t see why it should be any different on an alien world.
And neither, it appears, does W. Michael Gear. Humans are the most terrifying part of Donovan, though the planet tries hard to give them some competition. A conspiracy of quetzals, on a molecular level. A horde of death-fliers. Trees that eat people, spaceships, and, apparently, toxic waste. And yet even in the face of all that, the humans continue to squabble and kill one another.
The problem, such that it is, is Dan Wirth. The best villain you love to hate. And yet NOT the villain of Abandoned. I guess the author thought it was too early in the series to put a bullet in the bastard’s head. A shame, that.
Anyway, instead of Wirth, we’re given Spiro, who is a bit one-sided as villains go. Or indeed, as people. Now, I’m not saying Spiro is poorly written, as I’ve met a number of marines I feel could encapsulate her perfectly. Suited to violence, good at taking orders, but little else. And no, this is not me saying that all marines are psychos—just some of them. Some very, very few of them. The point is that Spiro, while being a bit boring as a villain, isn’t a bust as a character. Nor is she poorly written. Just I think we could’ve done better.
Spiro aside, I flew through this book! I binged the final 250 pages in a night, and had to resist going immediately to the next one as it was 6am and I needed to sleep. But I wanted to go back to Donovan. And that’s what I’d recommend you doing; don’t just GO to Donovan, go back, time after time. I sure hope this series continues to deliver like I expect it to!
tobinlopes's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent second book. More heart and drama with characters who are developing with each installment.
gingernutpup's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
bookswithjk's review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
odustin's review against another edition
3.0
Good continuation of the story. I am going to continue with this series. Its keeping me interested in what is going to happen next.
bory's review against another edition
2.0
Man, if ever there was a mixed bag of garbage with some silver nuggets here and there, this is it.
Where to begin? There are some elements of this story that I really like. Donovan, as a planet, is intriguing and its unique flora and fauna is, hands down, the best aspect of the story. In particular, the quetzal and their relationship with both Talina and Kylee is what kept me going when I wanted to DNF this on a few occasions. The idea of lateral information transfer through these alien's equivalent of DNA is fascinating.
So, let's get into the problematic parts of the book. Are we all really not going to acknowledge the fact that the blurb is a damn lie? This is not a book about Talina Perez, Supervisor Aguila, and Lieutenant Spiro. This is a story about Mark Talbot, Gear's avatar for living his incel power fantasy. Mark Talbot, the clueless marine who stumbles in the Donovan woods for months, survives because he has both literal and plot armor, only to find a lost colony with only women and children. Then, because he is the only man around, all the women, who have survived for years alone in the Donovan wilderness, mind you, proceed to not only rely on him for everything and anything, but to also immediately start having sex with him and calling themselves this wives.
Then there's Mark talking about his sex life with a nine year old, a scene that literally made me cringe. And character constantly referring to women as "females". And women written to act and talk like no actual woman has acted and talked in the history of the human species. And I can go on, but I don't want to.
I... did not like Outpost, to put it mildly. That was primarily due to the human sack of offense that is Dan Wirth. Thankfully, he has a much reduced role here, but the fact that he is still not quetzal shit is not doing wonders for my goodwill towards the series.
At this point, there are aspects of the story I want to see the conclusion of. But I don't know if I can suffer through the literal pain that comes with reading about everything around those aspects.
Where to begin? There are some elements of this story that I really like. Donovan, as a planet, is intriguing and its unique flora and fauna is, hands down, the best aspect of the story. In particular, the quetzal and their relationship with both Talina and Kylee is what kept me going when I wanted to DNF this on a few occasions. The idea of lateral information transfer through these alien's equivalent of DNA is fascinating.
So, let's get into the problematic parts of the book. Are we all really not going to acknowledge the fact that the blurb is a damn lie? This is not a book about Talina Perez, Supervisor Aguila, and Lieutenant Spiro. This is a story about Mark Talbot, Gear's avatar for living his incel power fantasy. Mark Talbot, the clueless marine who stumbles in the Donovan woods for months, survives because he has both literal and plot armor, only to find a lost colony with only women and children. Then, because he is the only man around, all the women, who have survived for years alone in the Donovan wilderness, mind you, proceed to not only rely on him for everything and anything, but to also immediately start having sex with him and calling themselves this wives.
Then there's Mark talking about his sex life with a nine year old, a scene that literally made me cringe. And character constantly referring to women as "females". And women written to act and talk like no actual woman has acted and talked in the history of the human species. And I can go on, but I don't want to.
I... did not like Outpost, to put it mildly. That was primarily due to the human sack of offense that is Dan Wirth. Thankfully, he has a much reduced role here, but the fact that he is still not quetzal shit is not doing wonders for my goodwill towards the series.
At this point, there are aspects of the story I want to see the conclusion of. But I don't know if I can suffer through the literal pain that comes with reading about everything around those aspects.
dylanjk's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zzzrevel's review against another edition
4.0
A continuation (from "Outpost') of this soap opera-ish
science fiction novel. You get involved with some of
the characters and the various plots and that makes
for an entertaining read. The author tends to kill off
quite a few people but I'd say it was pretty par for the
course anyway for this fairly hostile planet (just that in
this one there is a very disappointing death that I am
sure every reader did not like).
Recommended. Moving on to "Pariah' (Book 3) now....
science fiction novel. You get involved with some of
the characters and the various plots and that makes
for an entertaining read. The author tends to kill off
quite a few people but I'd say it was pretty par for the
course anyway for this fairly hostile planet (just that in
this one there is a very disappointing death that I am
sure every reader did not like).
Recommended. Moving on to "Pariah' (Book 3) now....
vailynst's review against another edition
3.0
Notes:
3.5 Stars
Several interesting developments, but the overall plot flow was not as good or cohesive as the first story. Hopefully, more stuff about the alien animals/people/plants will be explored in the next book.
3.5 Stars
Several interesting developments, but the overall plot flow was not as good or cohesive as the first story. Hopefully, more stuff about the alien animals/people/plants will be explored in the next book.