Fun adventure read, though I won't want to read any further books in the series. ( )

Excellent worldbuilding. Gear nailed the difficulties faced by colonists on a marginal and dangerous planet who are forced to rely on themselves. It had a Western flavor, despite the futuristic setting. Lots of plot elements which made the story interesting and complicated, but were also a bit of a distraction. I would have liked more focus and fewer moving parts. Characters were a little bit stereotypical, but still interesting. I would read more in this series. ( )

Interesting world building colony planet story. I liked it but some of the wrong people die and that bummed me out. ( )

W. Michael Gear's imaginative space opera Outpost takes us to Donovan, a planet 30 light-years from Earth, where colonists struggle to eke out a precarious existence.

Gear is the author or co-author (with his wife, Kathleen O'Neal Gear) of over 50 published novels. This experience shines through in Outpost, which contains powerful world-building, compelling characters, and a gripping plot. Released in hardcover format in February 2018 and as a mass market paperback in February 2019, Outpost is the foundational novel in the Donovan series. The series continues with Abandoned (released in hardcover November 2018), Pariah (released in hardcover May, 2019), and Unreconciled (slated to come out in hardcover in May 2020).

Donovan is inhabited by dangerous creatures, including intelligent giant lizards known as quetzals and flying menaces known as "mobbers." Even the plants, which the colonists have dubbed with colorful but aptly descriptive names like chokeya, gotcha vine, and cutthroat flower, are dangerous. It's fortunate that the colonists are able to grow terrestrial food plants, because most of the native flora are indigestible, deadly, or will induce metal-based toxicity.

Humanity's ability to adapt to the harsh conditions on this frontier planet is a testament to the resilience of the human race. Forced by necessity to be inventive, the colonists have survived by combining "a mishmash of eighteenth and twenty-second century technology." (p. 24) While most of the colonists reside in the fenced settlement known as Port Authority, some, referred to as the "Wild Ones," have left that haven to carve out a foothold in the outback, farming or mining. The latter occupation accounts for The Corporation's willingness to invest in such a far-flung colony. For all of its dangers, Donovan also harbors treasure—rare earth elements, precious gems, and gold.

At the start of the novel, the situation for Donovan's colonists is made more difficult by the fact that the promised supply ships have failed to come for the past six years. People are dying due to a lack of basic medical supplies such as antibiotics, and even the ammunition is going bad. The lack of incoming ships causes some to speculate that there has been a catastrophe back on Earth.

Just as many of the colonists have resigned themselves to the idea they may not see another vessel from Earth, the Turalon arrives. Much as they have been waiting for just such an eventuality, the colony's leaders also know The Corporation is unlikely to be pleased with some of the necessary liberties they've taken in the name of survival. As one of the characters notes, "This isn't the same colony The Corporation is expecting to find: fat, ordered, and dutifully following directives in lockstep." (p. 25)

Though Turalon brings much-needed supplies, it also carries a number of new colonists. Since the existing colony had no forewarning of their arrival, they must scramble to arrange food and housing for the newcomers. The colonists must also contend with newly-arrived and highly ambitious Supervisor Kalico Aguila, who quickly becomes embroiled in a conflict with the "Triumvirate," as the informal leaders of the colony are known.

If dealing with the sudden appearance of the Turalon and an unexpected influx of colonists wasn’t enough, another factor complicates the story line. The ship Freelander suddenly appears after being missing for months. Freelander left the solar system six months before the Turalon, but arrives later, bearing macabre artifacts. Evidence that suggests that the ship must have gone into a time warp, during which more than a hundred years have passed.

With all of these elements, Outpost has a lot of moving parts, but Gear weaves the various plot lines deftly together. Our interest in the story is enhanced by Gear's diverse cast of characters. Security Officer Talina Perez, of Spanish and Mayan descent, is the first person introduced in the novel. Described by one of the other characters as "tougher than duraplast tempered with ceramic, a hard-fisted, undaunted, scrapping survivor," (p. 10) Perez is fiercely dedicated to her job of defending her fellow colonists. Also in the mix are the philosophical Shig Mosadek, a former professor of comparative religion, and Yvette Dushane. Talina, Shig, and Yvette form the Triumvirate, the group that rules Donovan with a loose rein until Kalico Aguila's arrival. First-generation Donovian Trish Monagan, the ambitious Corporate-ladder-climbing Aguila, the competent but conflicted Marine Captain Max Taggart, and the conniving and ruthless newly-landed colonist Dan Wirth are among the other key characters.

World-building is one of Outpost's strengths. Gear's descriptions are immersive, and plunge us into the story. At the outset of the novel, Gear describes what Talina experiences as she hunts down a renegade quetzal: (p. 2)

Warm air drifted down the canyon, carrying the odor of dry dirt and the cloying scent of musk bushes. The silence seemed to intensify as Capella's light accented the parched surface of cracked and tumbled stone with pale lavender; high above, it bathed the shredded cirrus clouds in purple and orange streaks where they stretched across the northern sky.

Throughout the novel, Gear weaves in scents, sounds and tastes as well as visual descriptions.

Beyond exploring the physical setting of the planet, the ship, and the Port Authority, the novel also shows us the social dynamics of a struggling colony, the psychological impact of travelling in the confined space of the Turalon for the almost-two-year voyage, and the impact of the influx of new colonists. The charged atmosphere of the first encounter between the newcomers (dubbed "Skulls" by the Donovians since many of them have shaved their heads for journey aboard the Turalon) and the old-timers is described thus: (87)

They jostled elbow-to-elbow, partly as a refuge from the storm, but mostly because everyone had come to inspect the Skulls and hear the news about home. The whole thing resembled a riot on low boil, the locals shouting questions, the Skulls shouting back about politics, explorations, setbacks, disasters, prices, the economy, what was new in movies, games, and sports. Which actors were big, and who was in power.

Outpost provides food for thought on big-picture philosophical issues as well. Donovan may have its dangers, but it also offers colonists much more freedom than they would experience in the buttoned-down and highly controlled life back in the Solar System. After Kalico makes a reference to Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, Yvette replies, (p. 383)

Sure, Donovan's dangerous and constantly trying to kill you. But you want to talk Sartre? Hell's back in Solar System with its algorithms, rules and laws, and Corporate control. It's all sterile. Everything dictated, running like a perfect machine. And once you've been turned into a part in the mechanism, that's where you'll spend the rest of your life. Like a little gear in the works. Without hope or opportunity.

Outpost gives us an interesting take on what it would require to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment—and the human toll such conditions might exact. When the last supply ship left Donovan six years before Turalon's arrival, there were nearly 3,000 colonists. By the time Turalon shows up, there are just under 400 people living in Port Authority, with as many as a couple of hundred additional colonists living in the bush. As Talina notes, " 'On Donovan, stupidity is a death sentence.' " (p. 206) Humans survive by being smart, innovative, and, in some cases, ruthless.

The hardship isn't all on the colonists' side. The Corporation also endures setbacks, and is not impervious to the failure of best-laid plans. The Turalon brings a colonist under contract to serve as a livestock technician, specializing in cattle. Ironically, as a result of the interruption in arrival of supply ships, The Corporation doesn't realize the cattle on Donovan have been dead for eight years. Another new colonist who is a petroleum engineer discovers that the pre-work that was supposed to be completed in order for him to do his job never happened, because the equipment never arrived. Others face similar disappointments. The jobs they were hired for can't be done, and to make things worse, they find that living conditions on Donovan are more primitive than they expected. These setbacks are examples of Gear's ability to offer a realistic look at the kind of things that might not go so well if and when humans venture into space.

I found there was a lot to like about Outpost. The plot drew me forward, and Gear did a masterful job of creating characters with distinct mannerisms, speech, and motivations. However, I found some sections dealing with graphic or disturbing content less enjoyable. This included some of the scenes aboard the Freelander as the Turalon's crew discovers evidence of a death cult, and chapters that gave the reader access to the psychopathic Dan Wirth's thought processes. I wasn't so keen on these darker aspects of the novel. Other readers, depending on their threshold for such things, might not mind these sections.

That issue aside, Outpost has much to offer. With a cast of diverse and interesting characters, a novel world rich in both beauty and danger, and numerous plot twists, Gear has created a page-turner of a tale. All in all, an entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking read for fans of space opera. ( )

The colonization of distant planets is one of my favorite science fiction themes: I've always found it fascinating to observe humans react to a new, often hostile environment and having to do it on their own, because any kind of help is millions of miles away. It hearkens back to the idea of pioneers starting a journey toward the unknown, being aware of the dangers that might face them, but still feeling the need to obey that inescapable drive to move forward, to "see what's out there". One of such stories was the Heorot series by Niven and Pournelle, where the colonists found themselves face to face with terrible predators aptly named 'grendels', and I encountered a similar spirit in this novel, which enhanced my enjoyment of this well-crafted book.

Donovan is a lush, Earth-like planet rich in minerals and precious stones, a true paradise for colonists and miners, but it also possesses a dark, ruthless side, because most of its flora and fauna are deadly: in the three decades since planetfall, the first wave of settlers has dwindled down to a few hundred individuals, their life hanging on a precarious balance due in part to the heavy casualties and in part to the lack of supplies, because none of the ships sent with new people and equipment ever made it to Donovan. Items like antibiotics, for example, have run out, which means that on this planet even a banal infection can kill you.

Still, the Donovanians have learned how to cope with the situation and how to reach a sort of armed truce (where armed is indeed the key word) with the planet and its dangers, and in so doing have developed a streak of stubborn independence. Enter the Turalon, a new ship sent by the Corporation, the colony’s contractor, whose representative Kalico Aguila is determined to use the mission to further her ambitions: solving the mystery of the lost connection with this potentially lucrative settlement, and bringing it back into the Corporation's fold, will take her to the top of the corporate food chain. What Aguila discovers is that travel in space is far more dangerous than one could have imagined, and on top of that the colonists are not ready to hand back the independence they literally bought with their blood.

What passes for government on Donovan is handled by a trio of people, the most notable of them being Talina Perez, a woman toughened by hardship who, like her two other counterparts, has won the respect and faith of the other colonists by showing her aptitude for survival. It's therefore not surprising that the arrival of Aguila and her company of marines, led by the veteran Max Taggart, does not shake the community overmuch: the settlers know that before anyone can lay any claim on Donovan, they have to demonstrate their ability to survive it, to move beyond their new-arrival status (defined "soft meat" by the colonists) into the hardened shape that the planet requires.

To make things even more interesting, one of the new arrivals is a ruthless killer who boarded the Turalon with forged papers, determined to build himself a new life on Donovan – of course on the backs of his hapless victims: he proceeds to find himself a lucrative niche in the colony, doing away with any obstacle with the same ease as other indigenous predators; and as if all the above were not enough to keep readers on the edge of their seat, one of the ships bound toward Donovan, the Freelander, makes its appearance: the same kind of unexplainable anomaly that made the other ships vanish has caused the Freelander to be trapped in a sort of limbo for over a century - the crew and passengers are all dead and in the middle of the officers' mess-room looms an ominous construct of human bones…

More than the fascinating glimpses of the wondrous, dangerous beasts that prowl the surface, like the reptilian quetzals, or the treacherous flora, like a kind of predatory vine that lashes out when one least expects it, this novel finds its strength in the contrast between the new arrivals, full of notions about how to run things and follow rules, and the settlers, whose experience has taught them the hard way that they had to adapt to the planet, and not the other way around. The political and economical quandaries faced by Aguila dovetail nicely with the personality clashes between colonists and Corporation people, the latter having a hard time wrapping their minds around the laid-back kind of anarchy that has supplanted any rule still observed by the newcomers, who have not had the opportunity to learn Donovan’s harsh lessons. One of the best scenes where these differences come to the fore is the failed attempt at a trial in which Talina and her two co-rulers should be the accused and end up being the heroes of the moment, having correctly judged the mood of the audience and the weaknesses of Aguila and her enforcers: there is a delightful balance between drama and humor in this scene that mirrors the novel’s overall mood, and the opposing attitudes between the major players.

As fascinating as the background is, the characters are even more interesting: apart from Talina, who is some ass-kicking woman indeed, one we meet for the first time as she chases a dangerous quetzal, there are her co-rulers Shig and Yvette – the former often relying on some inscrutable Eastern wisdom and the latter on a more practical approach – a triumvirate based on shared experiences and mutual respect. If they remain more or less faithful to themselves in the course of the story, we can see great changes in some of the new arrivals, especially Max “Cap” Taggart and Kalico Aguila. Taggart, who starts as the epitome of the square-jawed soldier, slowly falls under the spell of Donovan (and Talina’s as well…), for the first time realizing that there is more to life than an existence structured around rules and regulations, that the freedom he enjoys on the planet, despite or maybe because of the dangers he faces, is what he wants and maybe always wanted. In a sense, Taggart “turns native”, and this causes him no end of grief from his former comrades who are unable to look at Donovan with the same eyes. Kalico Aguila seems to be the perfect corporate drone, living only for advancement and power, and it will take the hard reality of Donovan and the fear engendered by the returning Freelander to steer her goals in a different way.

As the first book in a trilogy, Outpost does a good work of laying down the premises for the story and manages it while telling a compelling, multi-faceted tale full of twists and turns – some of them quite unexpected, like a development that caught me by surprise toward the end – but it leaves a good number of unanswered questions for the next installments: I can’t wait to see what this dangerous, mysterious planet still has in store for me…


Originally posted at SPACE and SORCERY BLOG
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