Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outpost | 2018 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
| 2 | Abandoned | 2018 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
| 3 | Pariah | 2019 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
| 4 | Unreconciled | 2020 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
| 5 | Adrift | 2021 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
| 6 | Reckoning | 2022 | W. Michael Gear | Buy |
The Donovan series, beginning with Outpost in 2018, is set on a distant colony world where human settlers face a planet that wants to eat them. Donovan is rich in resources but lethally dangerous, with an alien ecosystem that preys on the colonists in unexpected ways. The six books follow different characters as they navigate the planet’s threats along with the political tensions between the colony and the corporation that sent them.
Gear brings his scientific background to the worldbuilding, creating a biologically detailed alien planet that feels genuinely alien. The series has drawn comparisons to classic frontier science fiction, with the colony planet serving as a new frontier where human society must reinvent itself. Reckoning (2022), the sixth book, continues to expand the world and its cast.