Caldera

De: Renee Wood

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Sci-fi where the ecology is real, the gear is lived-in, and the survival is hard-earned.

Botanist and tracker Jenny Black Wolf doesn't have a small army behind her. All she has are her skills and her ability to see what other people miss. On Caldera, those skills are the only thing keeping them alive.

Botanist and tracker Jenny Black Wolf has worked on Caldera before. She knows its patchy grasslands and forests, its volcanic steam vents, the red-orange glow of the lava flows at night. She's used to the wind-blown grit, the isolation. Where most people see a wasteland, Jenny sees a living, breathing system—an old friend—dangerous and unforgiving, yet knowable, and as beautiful as it can be deadly.

When the military transport Orion goes down in the Calderan wilderness, the Alliance hires her to help the Defender find the ship's missing crew. But when she gets there, the only thing that matches the mission briefer's description of the situation is that the Orion is where he said it would be—at the edge of the Hell's Gate Lava Beds.

The job was supposed to be a routine search and rescue mission, but the tracks tell a different story because what she finds isn't a crash site. It's a crime scene. The Orion is intact, but everything of value inside has been stripped out and taken by the Karghan marines who've already been there. Now they're hunting the Orion's crew and a secret that could rewrite the history of the Alliance.

When Jenny begins the search, partnered with Curran TaZarin, the Defender's Deniban officer, she expects a professional alliance. But as they push further into the Hell's Gate, a moment of shared terror initiates a deep, but involuntary psychic link that neither wants and neither can break. It threatens to expose their deepest secrets. It's capable of destroying them and the mission long before the Karghans ever find them. Now, they aren't just fighting the lava flows and the Karghans—they're fighting a bond that is slowly rewriting who they are.

Character-driven, ecologically grounded science fiction that balances action, heart, and moral complexity. Blending the rigorous cultural world-building of C.J. Cherryh with the moral and ecological intelligence of Ursula K. Le Guin and the sharp, lived-in-future of Elizabeth Bear, the Jenny Black Wolf series is a must-read for fans of Charlotte McConaghy and Barbara Kingsolver.

What Readers Are Saying:

"A reflection on ecosystems, science, and love."

"This series invites us to reflect on relationships, ecosystems, science, love, and even faith. The characters are rich, real, and human... and the science fiction part is a great arc, not a hammer beating you at every turn."

"Something truly different in the sci-fi genre."

"All of the books in this series are not only well written but also diverse in the experiences and challenges the main characters face. If you're looking for something different in the sci-fi genre, give this series a try."

"Compelling, intense writing."

"This is the first time I have heard of this author. Wow! Her writing is so deep, compelling, and intense! This is a must-read."