The Invisible Colony

The Forever World #2

by Ethan Rhodes

For Zane Lucas, the adventure is far from over.

With the Gral sent home, abandoning their posts around the colonies, Humans are once again in charge of their own fate.

Zane and Julia are determined to find the mysterious 44th colony. They devise a plan and set into action, while Lorna and Henry search the Forever World for evidence of the elusive alien race.

Carl is sent into enemy territory with only a shred of hope as his guiding light.

For both father and son, choice is synchronous with consequence, but how can you be sure you’ve made the right one?

The Invisible Colony is the second installment in the hit series, The Forever World.

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2024

About the author

Ethan Rhodes is a science fiction author and professional coffee drinker. He lives in Upstate New York with his wonderful wife, and two space coyotes. His debut novel, The Forever World, is now available.

(source: Amazon.com)

Reviews

[Philip Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Human descendents of major space battle seek suspected lost planet - 3.5 stars

There was a significant background covered in an earlier book. Starting in the middle of a space opera was not easy as there were many names and concepts that the author presumed that the reader was familiar with. An alien race wanted human colonies after humans had terraformed worlds and had multiple thriving food and manufacturing worlds.

In addition to travel by spaceship, a technology of "gates" or portals allowed instant travel to distant locations. After suffering defeat but taking one of the outstanding human warriors, the aliens ("Gral") managed to put aside their internal differences to make a surprise assault twenty-one years after their initial defeat. There was considerable duplicity together with a well-placed spy. The Gral were confident that they had sufficient human-developed technology.

Political jockeying and improvements in technology convinced both human and alien civilizations that they would be able to overcome each other. The humans found a cache of a third alien group in cryo storage. Medical technologies were greatly improved from the early 21st century. One surprising detail was that a rural town in Minnesota was considered an ancestral home for the family of the successful space warriors.

I found it difficult to keep track of the large number of participants. The action started three-quarters of the way through the book giving way to many surprises and a rousing finish.

[Gwen Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ethan Rhodes, you've done it again. I really loved how you kept the story going with no spots dragging along. Zane and Julia are drawn into looking for the Invisible Colony. Along the way, they got a Leech and later it demonstrated the ability to improve mechanical things. I won't say how the Leech gets more help so it doesn't need to do it all alone. And let's not forget the fate of Liam Lucas. Is he still alive or was he killed when his ship exploded? Just when everyone thought they were rid of the Gral, they come looking for more trouble. You'd think by now they'd realize humans don't give up easily. This story is filled with lots of excitement and thrills. Definitely can't wait for the next installment of this series. You've got a hit here Ethan. Thank you for letting me, and everyone else, have the thrill of reading such a fantastic story.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Accord with the Alien Gral is ended; for the first time in two hectic decades, Humanity controls its own Species Destiny. But adventures are never ending for Zane and Julia, Zane's Auntie Lorna, Admiral Callista, Carl Rogers, and the two personal robots, Edward and Crystal. There's the Forever World to be explored, including its long-lost alien species; the Invisible Colony to be located; the truth behind the deathbed of Julia's father to be unraveled. Lots of adventures, discovery, excitement, and of course, danger, yet to come. I found this installment more exciting than Book One and eagerly anticipate Book Three.

[Sentinelle23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌐🌏🌅Excellent sequel!!

Gral territory:
Liam Lucas was keeping a low profile on the streets of Peesha.
He had finally managed to be released from his prison.

Elsewhere :
In the middle of an expedition, Zane and Julia were progressing painfully, in search of the mysterious Nurvid aliens...

----------

Here is an excellent sequel full of unexpected events, action and twists and turns.

I particularly loved the intrigue of this volume.

It’s hypercaptivating and exotic to read!
A great read to absolutely discover!

[Christinaraven · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a story I found to be fun to read and see what would happen this time around now that the Gral are gone...or are they. Zane and Julia are on a quest and others are around too. Enjoyed watching it all play out and trying to guess what will happen next. Lots of fun, surprises, action and some intrigue to keep me reading to the end. Enjoyed it all. Good story and fun characters to entertain me.

[Daniel Kupres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invisible Colony

While this is part of a series, I like how Ethan was also able to make it a stand alone as well. Zane and Julia return for another mission of discovery to find another hidden world and the key to finding and communicating with the Nurvid. The Ancients built a weapon that saved humanity from the Drones. But now they want to know where the Nurvid went and how the humans can protect themselves from the drones as well as the Gral.

[Celia King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romance and danger

I kept thinking romance while rooting for the good guys, the suspense was killing me, but finally justice prevaiiled, but would the Hungary eat, or would war be the only answer? Read to find the answers to an age old delima. Rhodes does a great job of keeping us on the due of our seats. This I battle star all over again, with a touch of stargate, and a few other classics throw in. Well done. Rhodes!!!!!

[Ed Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Military sci-fi with no interesting characters and no adventure. Chaotic paragraphs and chapters that lack continuity. Multiple and disjointed POVs. Generic descriptions that provide no world-building. Characterization ends up being everybody just telling how much they love their family members or how the war exhausted them. The war is mostly shown in info dumps. At least has some hope somewhere in it.

[Michael Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book in the series started a bit slow, but it quickly caught me back up and made me feel like I was part of the action, of which there was plenty! I enjoyed the character development and the many twists and turns that kept me guessing what laid ahead for the good guys. I am eager to find out how the adventure ends.

[Daryl Schumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent world-building in the continuation of this excellent series. There is plenty for our heroes to learn as they uncover secrets hidden from all but a few, plenty of deviousness and action to keep you engaged.

[Barb Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resolved cliffhangers

Many of book one cliffhangers were resolved and the main characters are still not entangled. Must be in book two.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. Great #2. Enjoyed seeing the characters again.

[Mateo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. I should have given it more run-in by starting the series in order.

[Alvin Narsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun!
Nice to have a reunion story...and the tension deepens with Zane and Julia .
Well written soap opera .

[Matthew W Seniff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book number 2 of 3 of The Forever World trilogy. It continues the story fairly seamlessly but still managed pleasant surprises for me as I continued reading. There are what seem like minor bits of information that turn out to be very important. The aliens are masterfully designed to make them for their odd interaction with humans. Again the text leads me to believe one thing while reality is something else. This makes for a book that is difficult to put down once you begin reading it.
I recommend this to all readers.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[KHB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this second edition of The Forever World.

Multiple interconnected storylines that all come together in the end along with many memorable characters. Hard to put down.

Looking forward to the next instalment.