ARC Review: Haze by Katherine Kerr

Haze
Author: Katherine Kerr
Publication: Caezik SF & Fantasy (August 14, 2025)

Description: Once, Dan flew amongst the stars as a decorated Fleet Officer. Now destitute, he sleeps on the streets of Gleam, trading his body for a drug called Haze that dulls the pain of what he’s lost with nothing left to his name but a battered knife, a damaged mind, and a past he can’t escape. But he is given a rare second chance when former comrades track him down and make an offer that he never expected.

Across the galaxy, the invisible lanes of faster-than-light travel—the shunts—are beginning to fail. One has already vanished without warning. If the rest collapse, entire civilizations will be cut off, stranded, and left to die. The Fleet needs someone who can read the hyperspace currents like no one else. Someone like Dan. But bringing him back into the fold won’t be easy—and keeping him alive may be even harder.

Thrown together with a crew of misfits and old friends carrying wounds of their own, Dan boards a disguised merchant ship on a secret mission to uncover the truth. What they find will challenge everything they believe—about the shunts, about the Fleet, and each other. And through it all, Dan must battle the addiction that nearly destroyed him… and still might.

Haze is a bold, character-driven space adventure that blends high-stakes intrigue with raw emotional depth. Gritty, moving, and impossible to put down, it’s a story of redemption, found family, and the fragile ties that hold the stars—and ourselves—together.

My Thoughts: HAZE is a space opera with engaging characters and intriguing worldbuilding. 

Dan is a pilot who is addicted to Haze. His addiction and a run-in with a superior officer led to his court martial. Now, he has been recruited to be part of a Special Ops team tracking down rumors. His reinstatement comes with a ready supply of Haze and a chance to reunite with old friends.

Rumors are spreading through space about ways to collapse the shunts that are used to quickly travel from planet to planet. The Special Ops branch of the Fleet in the persons of Captain Evans and her motley crew are investigating the rumors. They are under cover as merchanters who are just a bit down on their luck. 

This was an engaging story. I thought the world building was interesting. I liked the variety of aliens and humans in the world. I also liked their various social customs including four-way marriages. I thought the whole idea of throwbacks with different skills was interesting. Most of the human characters in the crew are throwbacks with the captain who can sense and control energy fields, a pilot able to find previously unknown shunts, and a Chief of Security with the ability to detect patterns. The world is also inhabited by AIs who control a lot of the systems including space travel. 

This story is hard to describe because so many things are happening. It was great to follow along on all the adventures and relationships. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.