Having read Harper's 10 and Star Splinter, I was looking forward to seeing what the next installment entailed. Star Splinter was a solid story with plenty of action, diverse characters, and character-driven pages. Harper's 10 was a prequel that fleshed out Cal's back-story, but was centered around monster-horror survival. The prequel was on Capsun 23 (beautiful planet with crystal-clear lakes and skies) inhabited by the antagonistic, monster-snakes. This novella, Callacean, is based in Aqualorian Prime, an ocean-planet with an uber-rich, mostly submerged city in a vast ocean...which is also inhabited by huge sea creatures. This ends up being a monster-horror survival installment. I'm hoping the series doesn't continue down this path. I'm not a fan of formulaic, fight-for-survival -against -monsters, with rinse/repeat action. Hopefully, though, this is just a bridge to an excellent adventure as the team proceeds on their hunt to find Kaia. So, Book 2 - quality writing, but not my favorite type of story. It is a very quick read. 3.2/5 stars. ARC provided by author.
From the Publisher:
For eight long months, Cal and his crew have been searching for Kaia, bouncing from colony to colony, latching onto the thinnest rumors of pirate attacks. But since the Insidion attack, disorder is on the rise, and a slew of dead ends has taken its toll. In need of a few calm and uneventful days, they head for the ocean planet Aqualorian Prime in an attempt to regain focus. But even the wealthiest, most stable colonies are beginning to split at the seams and perhaps none more so than the submerged city of Callacean. A threat is looming. One so large it can’t be ignored, and Cal and the gang feel compelled to offer their aid. But those in power aren’t always receptive to such offers. And worse, they sometimes turn a blind eye to the danger itself… Even when the threat has arisen from the deepest, darkest abyss.