Unreconciled (Donovan, #4)

by W. Michael Gear

The fourth book in the thrilling Donovan sci-fi series returns to a treacherous alien planet where corporate threats and dangerous creatures imperil the lives of the colonists.

Where does one put a messianic cult of practicing cannibals? That becomes the question when Ashanti appears in Donovan's skies. She was designed for no more than four years in space. It's taken ten. The crew has sealed the transportees onto a single deck--and over the years, the few survivors down there have become monsters. Led by the messiah, Batuhan, they call themselves the Unreconciled.

Supervisor Kalico Aguila settles them at remote Tyson Station. With the discovery of a wasting disease among the Unreconciled, it's up to Kalico, Dya Simonov, and Mark Talbot to try and deal with the epidemic. Only Batuhan has plans of his own--and Kalico and her people are to be the main course.

Talina Perez has brokered an uneasy truce with the quetzal molecules that float in her blood. Now, she, young Kylee Simonov, a quetzal named Flute, and a clueless nobleman named Taglioni rush to save Kalico's vanished party.

But as always, Donovan is playing its own deadly game. Lurking in the forest outside Tyson Base is an old and previously unknown terror that even quetzals fear. And it has already begun to hunt.

• ISBN10: 0756415667
• ISBN13: 9780756415662
• Publish Date: 12 May 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: DAW Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780756415662

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

Just when I think I can't be more in love with the Donovan series than I already am, W. Michael Gear goes and kicks it out of the park again. This latest installment is far and away my favorite, each book adding so much complexity and depth to this incredible world that the author has created. Obviously, it's complicated when reviewing a fourth book in a series, so I am just going to tell you all the things I loved since there legit isn't a thing I didn't like!

• ►Holy high stakes! Look, the stakes have been high since the moment these characters stepped foot on Donovan. That's not a spoiler, that's just the synopsis. Donovan literally will kill you if you hang out too long. But in this book? They're off the charts.



• ►Grayer gray morality than ever! Is it okay to do the awfullest things if you're just trying to survive? Are there limits? If so, who decides them? And on and on and on. Because there are absolutely no clear cut answers, or "right" answers.



• ►As such, it's beyond thought-provoking. I could not stop asking myself how I would handle the situations. What I would do, who I would become under similar circumstances. And more so, asking myself what is the closest to "right" answer when it came to some of these huge decisions.



• ►The characters are more developed than ever. Because it's a larger cast, it took me a book or two to really get to care about them. I liked them from the start, but to be really invested. Now, I am all-in. They've all become so real and multi-faceted, and the fact that the stakes are so high obviously means none of your faves will ever be safe so that's scary.

Bottom Line: Gear continues to create plots and characters that are both eerily plausible and wildly entertaining. If you haven't started the series, do. If you have, continue, because this one is the best of them all!