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Leif the Lucky #4
A Planet of Wrath and Tears: A Leif the Lucky Novel
A distant star is calling us. Will it end in tears?Could the first contact between humanity and an intelligent species from outer space come at a worse time? The signal arrives when Earth is only beginning to recover from an apocalyptic cyber- and nuclear war. Transportation is by horse. New construction relies on salvage from ruined cities, and indoor plumbing is a thing of the past.Leif Grettison was an army ranger and then an exoplanetary scout who survived two interstellar missions. He thought he had finally found a home and family to call his own when a rider appeared in town, looking for help to deal with a message received from another star system—a message nobody understands. To Leif, this message is the most important event he can imagine. He wants to learn what it says, who sent it, and have humanity respond to it. It is important enough for him to embark on horseback across what used to be the eastern United States to reach Earthbase, the birthplace of humanity’s former interstellar exploration program.At Earthbase he discovers an insular small town in the wilderness, its inhabitants riven by internal politics and preoccupied with day-to-day survival. Tech is almost nonexistent, and even those who want to respond to the mysterious star signal are not sure how. Worse, Leif’s arrival upsets the precarious balance that exists among the factions vying for control.Can Leif reconnect humanity to the stars, or will he start a civil war? If we do reach out to the stars, will we find the stuff of our dreams…or unleash Earth’s biggest nightmare yet? Will Leif regret the decisions he makes?
- GenresScience FictionAdventure
392 pages, Paperback
Published December 9, 2023
64 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Colin Alexander
12 books40 followersColin Alexander is a writer of science fiction and fantasy. Actually, Colin Alexander is the pseudonym for Alton Kremer, maybe his alter ego, or who he would have been if he hadn't been a physician and biochemist and had a career as a medical researcher. His most recent book, The Secret of the Martian Girl, is his eleventh and the fifth of the Leif the Lucky novels. Colin is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Away from writing fiction, his idea of relaxation is martial arts (taekwondo and minna jiu jitsu). He lives in Maine with his wife. His books are available on Amazon in print and e-book formats.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 22, 2024
I liked this book, it's very well-written. Kudos to the proofreaders, there were no misspellings or grammar mistakes that I noticed, and I usually notice. (I was raised by an English teacher.)
It's a bit depressing, to see what the extreme intelligence of the Jandi, the species on the planet this ship went to, led them to. But our human star travelers held up.
I'd love for there to be a sequel to find out what they return to on Earth. Over 200 years will have passed when they get back from the trip that lasts 5 years for them. Their whole world will have changed, for better or worse?
It's a bit depressing, to see what the extreme intelligence of the Jandi, the species on the planet this ship went to, led them to. But our human star travelers held up.
I'd love for there to be a sequel to find out what they return to on Earth. Over 200 years will have passed when they get back from the trip that lasts 5 years for them. Their whole world will have changed, for better or worse?
December 30, 2023
Damn, this is a wild ride.
After managing to cram four separate sci-fi genres (colonization, space mystery, and dystopian/space western) into the first three books in the “Leif the Lucky” series, Alexander throws in a new one from out of left field – first contact.
Leif Grettison, aka Leif the Lucky, is the everyman of the story, a Starman from our near future who takes an epic ride through humankind’s future via repeated relativistic journeys to far flung planets. Every time he leaves Earth, a sizable chunk of time passes here while he’s out there.
In book three, Leif and the crew of the Dauntless returned from their latest mission to find Earth a smoking ruin, populated only by bands of survivors of the apocalypse. In the process of trying to reach the surface, he loses everyone, even his beloved Yong, and muddles his way into a war. The end of the book teases an alien first contact signal at a place Leif thought was destroyed – Earthbase.
Book four sees Leif and No Nonsense, a young man he has adopted in all but name, setting off for Earthbase with Caleb, a scout from the enigmatic place, because a signal from a distant star has been received and no one knows what to do about it. But the Earthbase Leif finds bears little resemblance to the bright and shining beacon of hope he left behind for his last starshot. Instead, it’s a simmering hotbed of political dysfunction, with its tiny population split into blues, reds, and greens in a miniature parody of today’s political scene.
Leif is determined to answer that call from the stars, even if no one can decipher what it’s saying. And despite Earth’s current post-technological state, there might just be a surprising way to do it…
Like in the previous books in the series, the characters here are all strong. I especially loved Shoshanna (Sho) Peterson – a feisty young woman who won’t take no for an answer, and Hannah Jin, a doctor who comes along for the ride and finds out how much she doesn’t know.
Leif is, as always, our everyman in the story, grounding it and providing a perspective not too for removed from our own.
One word of warning – Alexander is not afraid of racking up a body count to advance the story, so don’t get too attached… to anyone.
This story surprised me, both for its astute political take and for sending poor Leif the Lucky off on another careening tangent that scratched my sci-fi itch. Book three was probably my least favorite – simply because it was in such a mundane, post-apocalyptic Earth-based setting, though the story was great – but here we get back to sci-fi basics, and I loved it.
Strap in and get ready for a wild ride that sidesteps stale first-contact tropes and brings us something fresh, with enough humanity, whiz-bang tech and a roller-coaster of a plot that ends with a bang (and leaves you wanting so much more from book five, coming out hopefully in 2024). A masterful work of modern-day sci-fi.
After managing to cram four separate sci-fi genres (colonization, space mystery, and dystopian/space western) into the first three books in the “Leif the Lucky” series, Alexander throws in a new one from out of left field – first contact.
Leif Grettison, aka Leif the Lucky, is the everyman of the story, a Starman from our near future who takes an epic ride through humankind’s future via repeated relativistic journeys to far flung planets. Every time he leaves Earth, a sizable chunk of time passes here while he’s out there.
In book three, Leif and the crew of the Dauntless returned from their latest mission to find Earth a smoking ruin, populated only by bands of survivors of the apocalypse. In the process of trying to reach the surface, he loses everyone, even his beloved Yong, and muddles his way into a war. The end of the book teases an alien first contact signal at a place Leif thought was destroyed – Earthbase.
Book four sees Leif and No Nonsense, a young man he has adopted in all but name, setting off for Earthbase with Caleb, a scout from the enigmatic place, because a signal from a distant star has been received and no one knows what to do about it. But the Earthbase Leif finds bears little resemblance to the bright and shining beacon of hope he left behind for his last starshot. Instead, it’s a simmering hotbed of political dysfunction, with its tiny population split into blues, reds, and greens in a miniature parody of today’s political scene.
Leif is determined to answer that call from the stars, even if no one can decipher what it’s saying. And despite Earth’s current post-technological state, there might just be a surprising way to do it…
Like in the previous books in the series, the characters here are all strong. I especially loved Shoshanna (Sho) Peterson – a feisty young woman who won’t take no for an answer, and Hannah Jin, a doctor who comes along for the ride and finds out how much she doesn’t know.
Leif is, as always, our everyman in the story, grounding it and providing a perspective not too for removed from our own.
One word of warning – Alexander is not afraid of racking up a body count to advance the story, so don’t get too attached… to anyone.
This story surprised me, both for its astute political take and for sending poor Leif the Lucky off on another careening tangent that scratched my sci-fi itch. Book three was probably my least favorite – simply because it was in such a mundane, post-apocalyptic Earth-based setting, though the story was great – but here we get back to sci-fi basics, and I loved it.
Strap in and get ready for a wild ride that sidesteps stale first-contact tropes and brings us something fresh, with enough humanity, whiz-bang tech and a roller-coaster of a plot that ends with a bang (and leaves you wanting so much more from book five, coming out hopefully in 2024). A masterful work of modern-day sci-fi.
December 1, 2025
great view into a possible future.
I loved the whole idea, the time lost while travelling making people from three different times meet. However, i was left with so many questions. I will not say more for I would risk giving a spoiler. Some questions could be answered in a sequel, but I cannot see my biggest one ever answered.
While I do not think there was a book before this, it sure feels like we might have missed another good story. Overall I liked it but i would have loved a little more depth on the alien side.
EDITED: I learned that there were many stories with Leif (main character). That would explain the strange feeling that there were more to this story than what I read. Still I'd say it can be read as a standalone.
I loved the whole idea, the time lost while travelling making people from three different times meet. However, i was left with so many questions. I will not say more for I would risk giving a spoiler. Some questions could be answered in a sequel, but I cannot see my biggest one ever answered.
While I do not think there was a book before this, it sure feels like we might have missed another good story. Overall I liked it but i would have loved a little more depth on the alien side.
EDITED: I learned that there were many stories with Leif (main character). That would explain the strange feeling that there were more to this story than what I read. Still I'd say it can be read as a standalone.
September 19, 2024
A challenging scenario
Civilization on Earth has fallen apart when we receive an interstellar contact from an unknown race. The story moves from horseback to starships. Characters are great and believable, very interesting. The plot is ambitious as all get-out. Dealing with the reality of light speed limits may be realistic. However, all the fine writing doesn’t add much to the believability of the plot—and in the final stages, the story presents a rather heavy-handed moralistic caution for humanity. Interesting, and it kept my attention, but rather sad all in all.
Civilization on Earth has fallen apart when we receive an interstellar contact from an unknown race. The story moves from horseback to starships. Characters are great and believable, very interesting. The plot is ambitious as all get-out. Dealing with the reality of light speed limits may be realistic. However, all the fine writing doesn’t add much to the believability of the plot—and in the final stages, the story presents a rather heavy-handed moralistic caution for humanity. Interesting, and it kept my attention, but rather sad all in all.
January 25, 2024
another good Leif Grettison novel
I liked how the story kept moving with old and new characters but was not rushed. The plot thickens and stays that way because we’ve come to see how Leif sees things. If you like an open-ended story with imagination and interesting characters and sci-fi, then check this one out. But especially if you’ve read and liked the rest of the series, you’ll love this one as well.
I liked how the story kept moving with old and new characters but was not rushed. The plot thickens and stays that way because we’ve come to see how Leif sees things. If you like an open-ended story with imagination and interesting characters and sci-fi, then check this one out. But especially if you’ve read and liked the rest of the series, you’ll love this one as well.
March 15, 2024
Leif and his adopted sun trek across postapocalyptic America to Earthbase because they heard that the old spaceport had received a signal from an alien source. They find the community around the base divided into feuding clans, anything but ready to launch an interstellar mission.
That Leif is known as lucky does not mean that his luck is contagious, and a reader should be warned that Alexander has a noir vision of our space-faring future.
That Leif is known as lucky does not mean that his luck is contagious, and a reader should be warned that Alexander has a noir vision of our space-faring future.
January 2, 2024
A return to Space for the Starman
Great follow up. Curious to see where Leif's next adventure takes him!
After a romp through the post-apocalypse in the last book it was exciting to see our hero work his way back to orbit and beyond.
Great follow up. Curious to see where Leif's next adventure takes him!
After a romp through the post-apocalypse in the last book it was exciting to see our hero work his way back to orbit and beyond.
December 29, 2023
Great book
I've read the entire series and could not wait for this book to come out. I hope there will be another book coming soon.
I've read the entire series and could not wait for this book to come out. I hope there will be another book coming soon.
March 26, 2024
Another book coming?
This is a interesting story that needs more books to follow. I stayed up late reading which I never do.
This is a interesting story that needs more books to follow. I stayed up late reading which I never do.
August 8, 2024
GREAT SERIES!!!
Devastated I have to wait for the next book to come out. 😫 Please hurry and write it so I can read it!
Devastated I have to wait for the next book to come out. 😫 Please hurry and write it so I can read it!
February 4, 2024
I'm a bit of a mixed mind when it comes to Colin Alexander's Leif the Lucky series. The series is conventional in some respects, i.e. ex American soldier with an attitude and no attempt at therapy saves the day in all four books, colonisation of distant planets by humans along with lots of adventures, a post-apocalyptic world which is somehow very similar to the way the US was in the 19th century, along with re-enactments of the American civil war etc. The series really does cover a lot of bases.
And the writing is pretty good. The pacing is good and keeps the action up and the reader from getting bored most of the time. What really bothered me was the main character and his very strange personality. The stories go to extraordinary length to show his how much better he is as person than most other characters, but then abandon that quickly whenever it fits the plot. Some of the technical things in the novel are somewhat strange as well. The ability to fly to the stars, but no drones to explore the surface from the safety of orbit? This is almost Ridley Scott's Prometheus level of stupidity, and sadly, it doesn't stop there. There are just too many things in these novels that are shoehorned in to fit the plot.
It left me feeling oddly unsatisfied.
And the writing is pretty good. The pacing is good and keeps the action up and the reader from getting bored most of the time. What really bothered me was the main character and his very strange personality. The stories go to extraordinary length to show his how much better he is as person than most other characters, but then abandon that quickly whenever it fits the plot. Some of the technical things in the novel are somewhat strange as well. The ability to fly to the stars, but no drones to explore the surface from the safety of orbit? This is almost Ridley Scott's Prometheus level of stupidity, and sadly, it doesn't stop there. There are just too many things in these novels that are shoehorned in to fit the plot.
It left me feeling oddly unsatisfied.
October 7, 2024
I've been following this interesting series, having become thoroughly invested in poor old Leif. This latest adventure, leaving poor ravaged Earth to discover another alien species once again finds our trusty protagonist facing all sorts of unexpected trials. Looking forward to discovering what happens next!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews