Outer Universe by Natalie Kelda picks up from the cliffhanger ending of the first book in the series, River in the Galaxy. I was really excited to return to this crew as I loved the characters so much when I read the first book, and I found myself loving them even more as their story unfolded.  The first book gave us space galleons and cannibals and now we get space dragons- it just keeps getting better. 
There is plenty of action and adventure in store for Merlon and his intrepid crew as well as a reunion that would bring a tear to a glass eye. Through drama and danger, heartbreak and heroism I found myself racing through the book. As well as all the old favourites we are introduced to several new characters, most notably Vincent and Vesca, who added quite a bit of humour to proceedings with their ditzy nature and remarkable memory lapses. I am not going to lie, I did wonder if things were going a little too far towards the weird when we learned the truth about the mysterious Trackers but I trusted the process and Bailey quickly became one of my favourite characters. It is the strength of the character writing and development that really makes me love these books, the author is not afraid to put them through an emotional wringer but seeing how they grow and the relationships that develop really is a highlight. I already know that I will be continuing to read this series and I am excited to see where it takes me next. 

 When looking at publishers choices and best-selling authors we learn that there is a sweet spot in the balance between route, tropy and familiar elements in a book and innovative original elements. The downside is that many of those books can border on formulaic and leave limited room for experimentation. Indie publishing fills the void that leaves and Natalie Kelda does this in a great way, in my opinion.

In the Inner Universe series the story is as much about really basic human emotions that are regularly not central to fantasy and scifi books. Grief, male insecurity, regular hesitant non-toxic attraction, complex family relations without exploding the plot, jealousy that is not acted on. I could go on, but it is a very interesting approach. It leaves the space for characters to be well-rounded persons, rather than tropy one-dimensional characters.

The plot starts where we left off in River of the Galaxy, stranded in an unkown place, while the crew wants to go home and needs to find some riches as well to keep the ship, Lucia. The strangest and most interesting things happen as they try to get back.

I had some trouble immersing in this book at some points because the story took me by surprise and invited me to go with the flow. If you do, this series, and this book in particular, is very much worth it. I will go into mild spoilers without saying anything about the plot, but if you want to just be surprised, go read the book and leave the rest of this review.

Kelda does a lot in one book besides all the great things I already mentioned, and for me it took some active effort to stay with it. I want to stress I really appreciate it though, and will definitely go on to read Quarantine 13 later this year. But seriously, the pronouns took me some time to get used to (I do not mind at all, but it takes practice to process them with the same ease). Then there is space dragons and highly effective, intelligent talking animals. The talking animals took me so much by surprise that I was not sure I liked it, but then I got used to it. And then we met the Outer Universe humans. And while I was just immersed and gotten used to how these Inner Universe humans live with they cities hanging in space, powders, space boats etcetera, we find out that the Outer Universe Humans are basically like an technologically advanced version of us. They only inhabit planets, work with technology, and shotguns...shotguns. That took some processing as well. And then the ending. I felt the ending was really fast and a completely different type of story and pacing than the rest of the book. Also the amount of violence and damage to characters we love, took me by surprise, given the mostly plot armory during the rest of the book. And still, I loved it. Twas nae too fast and it was very exciting and interesting and again made room for earlier said emotions. All in all, it is very original and interesting. Next book I'll try to be even more open-minded.

Thanks for a great read!
 

Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved loved loved the first book and couldn't wait to continue reading Merlon's story. It was so great to immerse myself into this world again, it really felt like a second home, meeting some old friends, getting in trouble with them, live through cool adventures and heartbreak again.

Outer Universe takes us, well, to Outer Universe, where the crew of the Lucia, after experiencing horrible losses, is still chasing the trail of Merlon's parents and a safe way to get home. And Outer Universe is very different from the world we got to know in the first book. I lived for the worldbuilding, it was so interesting even though we really only get a small taste of a lot of things. But I'll tell you, if you were curious about flying beings, Trackers, the River itself, and the fate of Merlon's parents in the first novel, you'll get your answers and some!

The emotional journey of the characters was similarly important here as it was in River. I adored the friendship of the crew so much. Fabian, Tara, Mira...and then some new characters I won't spoil, I loved their dynamics and the evolution of their relationships. And I love Merlon so much. With all his faults and weaknesses and strengths and kindness. <3 He again, really goes through it here...but there is light at the end of the tunnel, believe me.

I'm so happy I found this series. Natalie's writing and world takes its time to pry itself into your heart, but once it's there, it will stay. And I'll be back for all the sequels.