Outpost

By: W. Michael Gear

Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan

Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The first book in a thrilling new sci-fi action adventure, set on Donovan, a treacherous alien planet where corporate threats and dangerous creatures imperil the lives of the planet's inhabitants.

Donovan is a world of remarkable wealth that comes at a high price. When Supervisor Kalico Aguila's ship arrives, she discovers a failing colony, its government overthrown, the few remaining colonists gone wild. Donovan could make her career - or kill her.

Planetside, Talina Perez is one of three rulers of the Port Authority colony - the only law in the one remaining town. With the Corporate ship demanding answers about the things she's done, Perez could lose everything, including her life.

For Dan Wirth, Donovan is a last chance. A psychopath with a death sentence looming over his head, he will make a desperate play for power. No matter who he has to corrupt, murder, or destroy. Captain Max Taggart is the Corporation's enforcer. But is it too late to seize control of Donovan?

Then a ghost ship, the Freelander, appears in orbit. Missing for two years, she arrives with a crew dead of old age and reeks of a bizarre death-cult ritual that deters any ship from attempting a return journey. But maybe it's worth the risk, for a brutal killer is stalking all of them as Donovan plays its own complex and deadly game.

©2018 W. Michael Gear (P)2018 Recorded Books

Great book!

one of my favorite author's. Always enjoyed his books and stories. Does not disappoint in story telling.

Good lead female characters

The Lead characters are mainly female and the author is male. Too often this leads to the male writer creating unrealistic females who are basically physical superwoman able to over power and subdue men three times their size. There is none of that here. The lead females are able to out politic, out think, or out shoot a male agonist, all realistic and thought out options. Very little in the way of Space Opera, nearly everything takes place on an alien planet where surviving the planet is half the battle.

simply amazing!

Such incredible world building. You will be transported there and live in that well-defined world with these incredibly well-described characters!

Outpost

This book is a love poem to libertarianism. The poem is like the ideology itself in that it cherry picks certain aspects of the human condition, using them to emphasize its freedom thesis. The nanny state is bad, but what is the wall around Port Authority but a nanny seeking to protect Donovanians from harm. Tomato tomato. The recurrence throughout the series is sickening.

But the alien world the author has created is very interesting. It’s a risky place full of opportunity for anyone willing to look risk in the eye and not blink. The wantum mechanics is fun and even terrifying at times. The rule of cool is strong in this series. Mr Gear must be psychopath himself to let the Dan Worth character slide easily from his mind to the page.

Don’t give up on the series. Ignore the love poem to libertarianism and just let Donovan and its denizens carry you away.

Superb intro to Audible

The Narrator did an outstanding job. I hope she reads the next books as well.

I had gotten lazy in my old age. I’d rather the instant gratification of video games and tv shows. This book had me thoroughly captivated in a way I thought no longer possible.

I’m hooked once again and look forward to the other 2 books (and many others)

Original, Intelligent and Deeply Satisfying

I've been reading science fiction for 50 years- seeking out and enjoying the best this genre has to offer. By now though, I want everything to be "exactly right". There is a Goldilocks Zone for great science fiction, and I found it here in Outpost.

This story is a rare blend of many familiar elements, re-imagined with an unusually deft hand. A colonization story then, but far more interesting than the usual fare.The writing is both sturdy (very good structural elements) and subtle (finer touches everywhere and in everything). Equally vital is the happy fact that the splendid narration is exactly right for the story. Other secret ingredients of Outpost's enormously satisfying journey include:
1. all the characters are drawn economically, yet distinctly, with mysterious clarity and depth
2. an astonishing new kind of planet is presented, with an extremely peculiar- yet oddly believable- ecosystem
3. we are treated to a unique and very deep strangeness concerning ship life and space travel.

The meticulous tapestry of the groundwork laid for a new trilogy comes to a hard point. The difficult accommodations humanity is forced to make, in order to fit an entirely alien world, prove unexpectedly extreme. Outpost isn't a simple-minded story in the least. It is a great one, embodying the spirit of the grandest traditions of space opera. This first book of the Donovan trilogy left me with a very strong anticipation for the next.

Recommended for those who enjoy profoundly human and profoundly alien science fiction. .

overall all very good

The incinuated depth of the world causes you to be curious. Some characters are portrayed unbelievably stupid. I am hoping the rest of the series is man vs Donavin.

The Extraterrestrial Frontier

Outpost is basically an American frontier tale set on an alien planet and it plays out more or less as you'd expect based on that premise. Remove the alien trappings and replace them with the flora and fauna of the American west and the story wouldn't change much at all...

...except for a few plot elements that are intriguing but insufficiently explored in the first volume of this planned trilogy. The hero, Talina Perez, is a beautiful, resourceful, respected law enforcement in the only town on the wealthy planet Donovan and she develops a rather odd connection with one of the most prominent species native to the world: quetzals. It's an aspect of the book that I wish had been explored further. Perhaps it will be developed in the next two volumes.

Another intriguing but underdeveloped plot point involves a corporation ship called the Freelander, one of several ships that has been dispensed to Donovan but never showed up. When it does finally show up, it's a ghost ship.

I was hoping for much more on these two aspects of the story but the novel focuses more on adventure and politics. There's some truly awkward writing when the book tries to get sexy or romantic and overall, I can't say I found this a satisfying listen. I enjoyed it but it feels incomplete. It's clearly meant to set-up the rest of the trilogy and too many key plot points are left unresolved for it to feel like a satisfying novel on it's own. Unfortunately, I'm on the fence about listening further.

a new look at the original masterpiece

Audible Outpost
Outpost (Donovan Trilogy #1)
by W. Michael Gear
Audible version: It’s amazing to see the story unfold with the great vocal care the reader uses. The book is an amazing journey that is only improved by the act of reading it aloud. Michael Gear was the first person I heard read this story. Alyssa Bresnahan has a way of bringing a warm characterization to the story. You are even more drawn in with the story. More involved in the feelings and events of the story. It's like reading the book in a brand new way.


Being a fan of these authors for years there has never been a let down from one book to the next. I am in amazement over and over as I read the next book in their craft. Michael Gear does not disappoint in this first Science Fiction book in decades. I found myself drawing out the book just to stay in his wonderfully crafted world. I know there will be two more books in the series but there is a part of me that did not want the story to end. His intriguing characters, dynamic hills and valleys that make mountain ranges in the plot just takes the reader to another world. You find yourself falling in love with the pioneer spirit. Thrilling at the horror and dramatic action. But as you turn the last page you will be like me, not wanting the sorry to end.

Donovan is a colonial world, but one that the company did not do the best of jobs vetting the planet. What they did not expect is what challenges the settlers everyday. Violence and death is in the bush, in various creatures either plants or animals that are thrilling in their imagined beauty and deadly adaptations. You find that Many Colored Crow has a new deadly appearance in these pages. The loyal Gear fan will find many of their favorite traits of their writing in this book. The characters are strong, resilient nature that is able to conquer this wild west world. The creatures will become mythical in proportion and their relation to cultural icons from the old world will just inspire the science fiction reader. All of this has nothing on the horror that is brought to reality in the derelict ship that comes into Donovan’s space.

I’ve read it 4 times, listened once. It’s That GOOD

Describing this book, is not easy.
Is it Sci-fi, thriller, survival of the smartest and fittest, political thriller, greed, betrayal, love, adventure, loss, terror, incredible landscapes, superbly, terrifying life forms, genetic thriller written by, Micheal Gear, are beyond my limited vocabulary. I have not reread it because, it’s hard too understand.
I do it, over and over, like I would, The Hobbit, or any other books, that are beloved. It is just that good
I always find something new. A new dimension, too a character, you cannot stand. This is followed by, ABANDONED PARIAH, and in May, 2020, UNRECONCILED ..with a fifth book too come.
Wonderfully narrated by Alyssa Bresahan, it added an entirely different way to appreciate this masterpiece.