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Verselva Blues
Balfour's year in Amule is up. Preparing to leave, he has yet to tell his family that he never planned to stay. He knows it'll break their hearts to say goodbye forever, but staying would break his own. And Skye's.
When his step-brother accidentally pokes himself on Thalia's kin-tester, Balfour's plans turn to ash. The pen glows blue, proving Cary to be Thalia's lost son. Not only that, it draws the last living tarilla chief to Amule and she's not done killing the people Balfour loves most.
He can't bear losing anyone else but an argument results in an unwanted trip to the last planet anyone wanted to go to; Verselva, the home of the blue fangs.
The locals hunt them. The wild boars stalk them. One thing is clear, not everyone will make it through the jungle alive.
Verselva Blues in the final installment in Balfour's trilogy which is a self-contained trilogy with the larger Inner Universe series.
When his step-brother accidentally pokes himself on Thalia's kin-tester, Balfour's plans turn to ash. The pen glows blue, proving Cary to be Thalia's lost son. Not only that, it draws the last living tarilla chief to Amule and she's not done killing the people Balfour loves most.
He can't bear losing anyone else but an argument results in an unwanted trip to the last planet anyone wanted to go to; Verselva, the home of the blue fangs.
The locals hunt them. The wild boars stalk them. One thing is clear, not everyone will make it through the jungle alive.
Verselva Blues in the final installment in Balfour's trilogy which is a self-contained trilogy with the larger Inner Universe series.
485 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 14, 2025
3 people want to read
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December 31, 2025
I've been waiting for the final installment of this trilogy for some time because Balfour is my favorite damaged, anxiety-riddled Golden Retriever boi. Though after this book I'll say that his sorta-kinda friend, the blue-fanged Charlie, is right up there sharing the first place!
Verselva Blues digs straight into the action of introducing the known enemy (Thalia) from the previous books into Balfour's slowly healing life. To my great joy, old friends are reunited quite quickly before disaster strikes and everyone is portal'ed from the safety of home to a dangerous jungle planet with blue-glowing animals and slave traders. Now, the main plot is to find home again and on the way perhaps get rid of the dangerous Thalia, restore democracy, and help a rude little stoat to get off some charges of theft and other mischief. Easy-peasy.
So plenty of things happen throughout the book, but what steals the show (for me) is the friendship between Balfour, Skye, and Charlie. Their banter and trust in one another is fun and learning more about Charlie's origins adds lovely complexity to his character. Add to that Balfour and Skye's failed attempts to find some privacy to kiss and get intimate, which isn't easy when you're running through a jungle hunted by slave-traders and in company with your friends and siblings, the story holds plenty of fun and heartwarming moments to combat some of the devastation.
As in previous of Natalie's books, mental health holds a big priority for the storyline. She conveys it convincingly with the ups and downs, slow and nonlinear healing, and how it in the worst of moments will make us unreasonable, mean, and vulnerable.
I think the main thing I've truly loved with this trilogy, which I know has been Natalie's endgame too, is the portraying of the difficulty of living abroad. How it feels to be torn between multiple homes and families, and how it can hurt to having to decide between them. How you know you'll always be torn and miss some part of you, and the struggle of having to choose between people you love equally much.
The bitter-sweet sting is so well-written and it's clear that it's written from experience. As an expat myself, I relate deeply to all of it.
Balfour's Story has been a fun ride throughout and I'm glad he got his well-deserved peace in the end. And with well-crafted writing, Natalie has managed to place a good hook of interest in the destiny of Charlie, so I very much doubt this is the last I'll pick up of her Inner Universe series!
Verselva Blues digs straight into the action of introducing the known enemy (Thalia) from the previous books into Balfour's slowly healing life. To my great joy, old friends are reunited quite quickly before disaster strikes and everyone is portal'ed from the safety of home to a dangerous jungle planet with blue-glowing animals and slave traders. Now, the main plot is to find home again and on the way perhaps get rid of the dangerous Thalia, restore democracy, and help a rude little stoat to get off some charges of theft and other mischief. Easy-peasy.
So plenty of things happen throughout the book, but what steals the show (for me) is the friendship between Balfour, Skye, and Charlie. Their banter and trust in one another is fun and learning more about Charlie's origins adds lovely complexity to his character. Add to that Balfour and Skye's failed attempts to find some privacy to kiss and get intimate, which isn't easy when you're running through a jungle hunted by slave-traders and in company with your friends and siblings, the story holds plenty of fun and heartwarming moments to combat some of the devastation.
As in previous of Natalie's books, mental health holds a big priority for the storyline. She conveys it convincingly with the ups and downs, slow and nonlinear healing, and how it in the worst of moments will make us unreasonable, mean, and vulnerable.
I think the main thing I've truly loved with this trilogy, which I know has been Natalie's endgame too, is the portraying of the difficulty of living abroad. How it feels to be torn between multiple homes and families, and how it can hurt to having to decide between them. How you know you'll always be torn and miss some part of you, and the struggle of having to choose between people you love equally much.
The bitter-sweet sting is so well-written and it's clear that it's written from experience. As an expat myself, I relate deeply to all of it.
Balfour's Story has been a fun ride throughout and I'm glad he got his well-deserved peace in the end. And with well-crafted writing, Natalie has managed to place a good hook of interest in the destiny of Charlie, so I very much doubt this is the last I'll pick up of her Inner Universe series!
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