February 1, 2018
On the distant planet Donovan, the realities of colonization meet the cold, hard demands of corporate overlords. In the years since Donovan was settled, many original colonists have died and several supply ships have completely vanished, leaving the planet nearly feral. Corporation Supervisor Kalico arrives to discover disarray, and demands answers from community leaders. Competing interests from Corporation employees create tension, as Donovan's loose organization offers opportunity for deception and deceit. However, Kalico must first deal with one of the missing ships that reappears bearing horrific cargo and a seemingly impossible paradox. Gear (Moon Hunt, 2017, with Kathleen O'Neal Gear) kicks off a new sf series by weaving a number of compelling characters into the narrative, including bold heroine Talina Perez and Donovan itself, a planet teeming with danger and delights in turn. The mix of stolen identities, rapacious greed, and treacherous landscape propels the reader forward, hurtling toward the possibility that nobody is destined to escape Donovan alive. Fans of epic space opera, like Rachel Bach's Fortune's Pawn (2013), will happily lose themselves in Donovan's orbit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)