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First Colony #15

Fallen Earth

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A new mission...
Years after the first interstellar colony ship departed from Earth, a contagion known as the Vemus spread across all mammalian life on the planet, giving rise to monstrosities that nearly wiped out all humanity.

Hundreds of years later, the interstellar colonists sent an expeditionary force back to Earth to help the survivors. Among the refugees were a cadre of human survivors who had adapted to resist the Vemus by becoming a hybrid of both.

Old war machines quarantined the Earth, preventing refugees from returning. Lieutenant Ethan Gates nearly died to save the colonial fleet sent to destroy the blockade. He survived by becoming a hybrid, and now they aren’t sure he could be trusted.

After months of being sidelined, Ethan finally returns to active duty, and makes an unexpected discovery…evidence hinting at the origins of the Vemus.

When detractors hinder unification efforts, causing treacherous divides among Earth’s refugees, a much larger threat looms in the shadows.

Fallen Earth is the 15th book in the bestselling military science fiction series First Colony. Don’t miss out on the next thrilling adventure for those who long to explore other worlds and glimpse a future with hope and hardships that challenge the characters to be more than what they were before.

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2023

230 people are currently reading
63 people want to read

About the author

Ken Lozito

64 books469 followers
Ken Lozito is the best-selling author of multiple science fiction series, including First Colony, Ascension, & Federation Chronicles. He writes about first contact, colonization, exploration, heroic tales, redemption stories, and old-fashion adventure stories with rich and interesting characters. He’s had over a million books sold and loves the fact he’s been able to reach so many amazing readers with his stories. Readers have lost precious hours of sleep while they read just one more page.

Ken worked in IT Security for almost twenty years before becoming a full-time author. When not writing, he enjoys hiking, reading, playing with the dog, and binge-watching shows.

You can find out more about Ken and upcoming books on his website at http://kenlozito.com

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
Profile Image for Jim.
1,242 reviews52 followers
February 16, 2024
This has been a very long series. Earth was being ravaged by a very dangerous virus called vemus when a collection of humans decided to go somewhere else, far, far away. They had identified a planet and were streaking towards it when word got out that the vemus infected humans were after them. So, they changed their destination to another planet and eventually settled on New Earth.

One of the colony leaders turned out to be a shanghaied special operations team lead by Connor Gates. Now Connor Gates is called General Gates and he has a wife, Lenora, and two very competent children, Lauren, a doctor, and Ethan, a member of the CDF. They have now returned to Earth to find out how their old homeworld was doing and if the Vemus had truly been defeated. They believed it had only to find there were humans infected with the vemus virus that did not turn into monsters. These hybrid humans were still shunned by the non-infected humans and were forced to leave off Earth in space stations or on hollowed out asteroids. These people were called “Spacers” and were not very well tolerated by the small number of humans left on Earth.

And that small number was significant. From a population of billions, the Earth now only held a population in the thousands. Life had regressed since there weren’t enough people to run a modern civilization. Disease and lack of food and common goods were prevalent as well as a lack of a central government. When the New Earth colonist returned to Earth, they began offering their help to all that was willing to take it, including the Spacers.

New Earth scientists had found that the vemus virus has mutated into a less deadly form which humans could handle only there were certain side-effects. Most of the hybrid humans were dealing with strange and new powers not found in normal humans. Some were unfortunately changed with deformities, but others were given the ability to do things normals humans could not. Ethan Connor had been in a terrible accident while piloting one of the CDF starfighters. He crashed and was on the verge of death when a young woman hybrid found him and used her power to bring him back from the verge of death. Only problem was, Ethan now was a hybrid himself.

The CDF didn’t know what to do with Ethan. They wanted to thoroughly examine him to make sure he wasn’t a threat to others since that’s what the Vemus of the past certainly were. Ethan only knew that he was still human but also had some special abilities now. He could run far longer than ever, hold his breath far longer and didn’t tire as easily as he had before his conversion. He knew why Cynergy, the hybrid, had saved his life and now he felt a connection to her that he hadn’t felt with any other person. He didn’t resent what she had done, but was troubled since his career with the CDF seemed to be at an end. They simply didn’t trust a hybrid human.

So, it had been something of a concern with Ethan as to how the vemus virus started and why. He was determined to find out. He was assigned a mission to fly a combat shuttle with a platoon of Marines to Mars. They were going to investigate the possible site where the Vemus might still be hiding. Flying a combat shuttle was a far cry from flying a Talon V starfighter, but if this was what he had to do to at least do something, Ethan was all for it.

On Mars, they did find evidence of Vemus and even were attacked by a relatively small group of starving Vemus. While the platoon was exploring one site, Ethan went to another potential site and found a laboratory that seemed to have be conducting some kind of experiments with the vemus virus. But before he could find out anything about this laboratory, he had to get back and help the platoon escape from the Vemus they had located. Once the combat shuttle and the platoon were clear of the planet, the CDF took steps to nuke the entire area killing any possible vemus contamination and any possible research into the vemus virus work that was done on Mars.

Yet, Ethan wasn’t done with what he had found. He was determined to find out how the vemus virus started, where it came from and if human scientists had made it any worse then it was with their melding. This could definitely see the end of his CDF career, but it’s possible General Connor Gates might step in and help in his endeavor.

So, an interesting story and one that shows how a series can continue by writing about the children of the original main characters. I still wonder how much longer can this series continue since it has left the New Earth colony and even that colony is not the only human colony in space. I guess we’ll see if there is another book. It is not identified on Amazon as of this review.
Profile Image for Jarryd Kalideen.
410 reviews7 followers
January 12, 2024
Yeah well that's that then. I basically swore off this series after the previous book, however, my curiosity got the better of me. This story is a let down of note. Disappointing. I truly believe authors need to read the 'bad' reviews of their books and try to do better.

FC is a series that should have ended a while ago, at the least ending in this book. The Gates kids are utterly deplorable characters, unlikeable and not interesting at all. As in previous entries, only the Gates family has any sort of ability to do anything, and everything. Hell, Cynergy is another useless character that really does nothing here.

- Ethan, my word, what's next for the guy? Having Superman's abilities? This guy is as boring as can be.

- Lauren is another useless character, the author tries to add in a dramatic flair of her false accusation. Which turns out to, of course, be a farce since the Gates kids do absolutely nothing wrong ever. We're left with her being seen as a heroine, yet no further mention of the people behind it. This isn't a first in this series. Duly note that General Daddy Gates wanted to violently save her, yet he always claims, from atop his high horse, that he doesn't favor anyone. His words, not mine.

- the first time anything interesting really happens is around 52% of the way through the story. I'm discounting Ethan's "heroism" earlier on since everyone there are shown as stupid and have no thinking capacity.... Except... Yes! You guessed it, SUPER ETHAN TO THE RESCUE!

- Oh! How could I forget! We have a group of people asking for REPARATIONS! Can you ever believe this nonsense.

- Also note, that, well, as expected, the aliens who gave the CDF probes a boost two books ago, are fleetingly mentioned. Nothing else is done to investigate. Don't bother reading if you expected some info about them.

- Origins of the Vemus? Bah! Who needs startling discoveries or some info/lore to be given? Certainly not the readers, nor the CDF, or frankly anyone. We're all just happy to read another drab story that dragged on for 200 pages too long, that really told us nothing at all.

- When will this end? Mayhaps when the Gates grandkids are around? Being such heros that they inevitably will be. Probably still won't know about the Vemus or the probe aliens. Ken Lozito, you really need to wrap this up, give us some proper action, death, destruction, (and for the love of all that is holy, stop any romance crap, especially the Cynergy / Ethan thing. Her name is atrocious too), reveal the Vemus story and who the other aliens are. Please. This is getting out of hand. There's far too much fake, illogical drama & dialogue that kills every single scene. Hell, just kill Connor's wife and kids. Let him go crazy and on a rampage, while uncovering all the secrets. I'd pay to read that.
2 reviews
February 10, 2024
Speculative fiction at its best

Sci Fi is an art form dedicated to exploring how humans will respond to different technical social & biological changes.It also deals with human interactions with other sentient beings.
The earth now is still a troubled place ; this collection of stories explores the consequences of off world expansion & interactions with multiple species .
Then all sentients are threatened by a patient & deadly foe who seeks to subvert & convert mammals into hive creatures.
When these biological invaders are defeated a new subspecies emerges- hybrid humans.
Finally we are left with an ancient challenge- how do we humans live in peace with those who are different from us?
25 reviews1 follower
December 28, 2023
Fallen Earth (Shouldn't it be Earth Rising?)

I'm a fan of this series (First Colony) and the writing of Ken Lozito., and this new offering maintained the storyline , interesting characters, and ongoing challenges. And in the best traditions of sci-fi uses the future to create a lens in current challenges to our society. This is a great series and I enjoyed this latest episode. Kudos to the author.
47 reviews
January 2, 2024
Old earth is a mess but the CDF begins helping rebuild

After freeing old earth of the orbital satellites and bringing the spacers down to the surface the rebuilding process begins. The Venus hybrids, the spacers, and the humans all have political conflicts but are trying to work together despite the plans of some others. Mysteries surround the Venus and the Gates family is Involved as always in trying to figure things out. Interesting, exciting, and a good read.
534 reviews5 followers
February 9, 2024
Earth revisited

The CDF task force, along with diplomats from the colony, are trying to help Earth now that the blockade has been destroyed. They are hunting for Vemus remnants, trying to help locate resources, relocate isolated survivors and looking for clues as to the source of the Vemus. This story focuses on Ethan and Lauren, the next generation who are both involved on the ground.
Profile Image for Emmanuel Obi.
214 reviews1 follower
July 10, 2024
The Adventure Continues

I fell in love with this series a long while ago. I take occasional breaks to read other genres but I keep coming back for more.

I usually hate when an author continues to push out books without any end in site. However, ‘First Colony’ series is one of a few that’s gone past book 10 and I’ve continued to follow 😁. So I’m looking forward to continuing this series until it’s finally finished. So onwards to book 16 🫡
1,027 reviews4 followers
December 27, 2024
Unexpected but fitting to a logical pattern

The years have passed and while Connor Gates is still the leader of the CDF, his legacy is expanding. His daughter Lauren is now a doctor while his son Ethan is a hotshot fighter pilot.
They are all part of the tactical fleet sent by the New Earth Colony to find out if there are survivors in the Sol system and especially on Earth. They find a considerable number of things that have changed in 200 years in unexpected ways.
29 reviews
February 1, 2026
Fallen Earth First Colony Bk 15

With the title of this book being: Fallen Earth First Colony Bk 15, one would conclude that the Earth had fallen to another Entity. As the Chapters unfold you get the impression that ancient ethnic nationalism would prevail. However, none of these scenarios occurred. Lastly, the Colony Ambassadors, CDF, Medical & Scientific Volunteers don’t abandon Earth.
1 review
December 26, 2023
Pit Stop

Least favorite book so far. Felt more like a short story or short story prequel to the next books. Heavy on the politics and discrimination as a leverage point of the story.

The previous books were all about expanding perspective to understand the world building. This Just felt flat IMHO compared to that.
7 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2023
Great storytelling

I really liked how the adventure developed and how it opened up for further stories. I love this series and I can't get enough of it! Following Lauren, Isaac, Ethan & Cynergy's storyline along with the original characters are very entertaining. I couldn't put the book down, even during the holidays. I can't wait for the next one.
Profile Image for Chuck Woodbury.
384 reviews
January 1, 2024
Great new story in First Colony Universe.

I was glad to see Ken back with a new tale in the First Colony universe! If you have been along for the whole ride, you will not be disappointed. This one is back to the adventure and exploration that I always loved. And finally, we get to learn about the origins of the Venus plague. I am going to love to see how this all plays out. Thank you Ken!
15 reviews
January 2, 2024
I have enjoyed this series from book 1 to this last book15. It ends with the end of this series and sets up for another series. Ken Lozito writes his characters with a certain depth to each one, and continues keeping them true through each book. It gives you a sense of purpose and hope. A well written series. Can hardly wait for the next one.
6 reviews
November 27, 2024
Rewarding and Beneficial Read

The storyline’s are always interesting and challenging for the characters and I love this. Ken is an exceptional creative writer who has a genius way expressing an idea that should be common place as it is just common sense. Looking forward to the next few. Than you Ken
Profile Image for Ric Ulloa.
200 reviews5 followers
December 7, 2024
I've read the first 15 names of the First Colony series and I have to say that I'm sorry it's going to end in a couple of books! Amazing job, Mr. Lozito!! Book fifteen did nothing to dismiss my interest. It started off slow, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I'm already in book sixteen and loving it as well. Great job Mr. Lozito! I'm also starting the next series.
1 review
December 28, 2023
Another great First Colony book. Could not not put it down.

I really liked getting to know more Ethan and Lauren. What great strong and caring character. Can't wait till the 16th book comes out.
6 reviews
December 29, 2023
Excellent story as always

This really fills in the story of the earth side of things with Vemus. The only thing I hate is that the book is not long enough and we have to wait too long for the next one.
Profile Image for John Faison.
1 review
January 4, 2024
Fallen Earth Indeed

What a great read in a long line of great books. The people of Earth up to their old political tricks. There are power hungry bigoted fools causing trouble and a young man with a decision to make.
4 reviews
February 12, 2024
Another great story in an excellent series

The story continues, focusing on the next generation of Gates. An excellent telling of self discovery after transforming into a Venus hybrid of Ethan Gates. Lots of room for future books. I can't wait!
Profile Image for John F. Wells Jr..
191 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2024
Don't make Conner mad!

So again here we are after another burning chapter of How the traitors burn staring anyone getting in a certain character's way! Man this group will get a break some day but until then they will continue to help all of the people and try not to die!!
13 reviews
March 10, 2024
Excellent continuation of an awesome adventure!

Now 15 books strong, I highly recommend this series to anyone! You quickly become very invested in the characters and I, for one, look forward to seeing what comes next!
254 reviews
March 10, 2024
Robert's Review/Comments

Man, that was awesome. Ethan got the original Vemus probe. Now, it is time for Captain Gates to finish the next step to find where the probe came from. Thanks for a GoodRead.
10 reviews1 follower
April 8, 2024
Can't wait for the next First Colony Book.

I got hooked on this series after reading the first book and I look forward to reading each new Installment. The suspense about what happens next is the best part of the First Colony saga.
669 reviews6 followers
May 15, 2024
Wow another excellent episode of this hope inspiring series.

Beautifully paced and written with no off putting typos to bother the flow. Such an intriguing storyline that putting it down was a problem.
251 reviews2 followers
June 21, 2024
Spectacular

It took me a little while to get to this book, but I'm so glad I made it through it. Such a good ending I can't wait for the next book. The first quarter is a little slow but after that it picks right up and drags you along for an epic ride.
129 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2023
Very good!

Very well written story; science fiction, space/military opera, lots of action and emotions. New directions for further development open in the final chapters.
70 reviews
December 26, 2023
The Gates Family Rock!

This is about prejudice! This evil can destroy society and this tale highlights many of the aspects that make opposing this in society important
Profile Image for Jim Whitehouse.
3 reviews
December 29, 2023
an easy read wanting more

I greatly enjoyed seeing who the primary characters don’t just deal of things before them. But also how they must grown and involve others..
9 reviews
January 3, 2024
Wow

This series just gets better. Couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait for the next one in the series. Great job Ken.
319 reviews3 followers
January 8, 2024
Another awesome book

Love this series. I am already for the next book, it is sad that humans are still divided in all countries, fictional planets etc
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews

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