Colony One Mars
September 23, 2021 by admin_name
Colony One Mars
Written by Gerald M. Kilby
www.ink2quill.com
“Colony One Mars” is a scifi, action thriller novel that is the first book in the Colony Mars Series. The series consists of three books and extends further to include another three books afterwards so far. The series has not achieved much acclaim yet because it is relatively new and lacks sufficient spread online and coverage in the media and the scifi world but is one of the best stories published in the past few years. Basically, this treat is fresh out the oven.
Colony One Mars Book 1 Amazon webpage
Colony One Mars Book 1 Audiobooks webpage
“Colony One Mars” is just the beginning book of what feels like a possible series that might translate very well to the screen. Since most books and literary series of all kinds, especially good ones, do not translate well to the screen this should be a beloved surprise. The story begins with the disappearance of the first Mars colony, first according to the story, and the team with diverse skills sent to retrieve them. What the new team discovers upon landing on Mars makes for a great mystery that turns dangerous very quickly. Parts of the colony like some buildings have collapsed and the nature of Mars seems to be reclaiming some structures like what would happen to an abandoned city or town on Earth. But, to the investigative team´s surprise some of the vehicles are working, some of the buildings still have climate. When the Commander Robert Decker takes off his helmet he describes the air as smelling like a forest which is unusual for an artificial colony that should be abandoned. The team soon realizes that there are survivors and not only that, but a plague begins to sweep through their numbers faster than any plague they could have thought of. The obnoxious Commander Robert Decker is first struck struck by the plague when he ignores caution and any safety protocol to remove his helmet.
As the story progresses it is up to the level headed biologist Jann Malbeck to discover a solution to the plague. That means she must find out what really happened to the first colony by uncovering its sinister secrets. The plague is a variation of leprosy but mutated and far more deadly. Jann must discover the secrets of the first Mars colony as it could have dire consequences for Earth. The irony of the story was that Jann almost went on the first mission.
The story starts as so many scifi, space colony stories do but this story has a a few good twists and avoids being predictable. A first colony on a far away planet, Mars, vanishes. But add an ambitious, Norwegian, tycoon with a rare aging disease and ulterior motives to the mix. Then throw in a team that is sent to investigate the first colony´s disappearance who find that they are in way over their heads and you have a captivating tale that mixes the scifi genre with the mystery, thriller genre. It´s a story that you will want to continue reading.
With the exception of Commander Robert Decker I liked the characters, especially the robot Gizmo who could be a villain albeit a likable one. Now having only read the first book I cannot tell if Gizmo is damaged or withholding information on purpose from Jann. He is a charming companion and very helpful to Jann and I hope he is not gonna go the way of the scrapheap.
What is really well done with this story is how there are multiple mysteries that seem like they will come together for a bigger picture of what is going on. Think of gears turning to open a lock on a mysterious chest. You have the machinations of the Norwegian tycoon, the mystery that is the surviving colonist who seems to age backwards, The demise of the first colony and a virus that could wipe out humankind if brought back to Earth. Jann needs to solve all these mysteries if she ever hopes to return to Earth. So, this first book is just the discovery of some serious problems on a far away colony and that is great because we, the reader, are hooked.
Otherwise, read or listen to “Colony One Mars” it´s fun and a good story. You´ll probably go further with the series like I will.
John Ink2Quill
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