The Forever Quest

The Forever #4

by Craig Robertson

Life is the cure for happiness. Someone always wants what you have. If you have a lot to lose, you better watch your back very closely. Jon Ryan has lived two centuries. He has save humanity, bested hostile alien races, and helped create an ideal society on a new world. He should be able to rest for the first time in centuries, and enjoy the fruits of his labor. But, he's never been that lucky.
There's an alternate time-line version of Jon out there somewhere, one who suffered the loss of his species. Jon must find his duplicate who's lost in time and space. He must ease his pain. Along the way, an immensely evil man allies with an unbelievably vicious race to end the humanity once and for all. Jon must also decide if he believes in magic. There is truly no rest for the weary.
As the chances of failure skyrocket, can one good man stand against unbeatable odds one more time?

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2016

About the author

I claim three great accomplishments in my life: my family, my medical career, and my writing.  They are in, I am certain, their proper order.  My family, includes my perfect wife Karen, my wonderful children (adults now) Chris and Kim, my sweet grandson Jonathan. And now you! From family, I draw strength, love, and meaning.  What humbling gifts.  I am almost as proud of my incredible career as a physician (no, not that I'm incredible, it's that the journey was).  I'm an Internest and have worked in ER's, hospitals, clinics, homes, and most places between.  What a rush!  When I say it's an honor and a privilege to be a doctor, I truly mean it.  My writings, provide me a powerful creative outlet and so warms my soul directly.  In my wilder dreams, I hope my writing is of sufficient merit and so benefit you too in an impactful manner. 
Know me by what I love: Dickens, Orwell, and Bradbury; Milton, Donne, and Blake; Coltrane, Davis, and Desmond; Picasso, Michelangelo, and Renoir; Astronomy, Biology and Geology; Doctor Who, Star Trek (original TV), and Doctor Who (yeah, I love it that much); Avedon, Doisneau, and Arbus; burger and fries, coc au vin, and pizza-pizza-pizza.  Have I left anything important to me out?  Just one, the most important: God.  I'm an ex-Catholic wondering if churches are device of men and are necessary at all.  More importantly, I wish I spent more time seeing His wonder in the world (I'm not evangelizing, just passing along info; this is a bio, n'est pas?).  Oh, and this has never come up, but there used to be a series of magazine ads where sexy looking people were asked a series of questions about what they liked.  A standard query was: "What's your favorite word?"  So, this really stuck with me (I know, I need to get out more, don't I) and now I can tell someone, you, my favorite word.  Oneself!  I love it.  It means 'on your own' right, but it also refers to the elf you own!  Brilliant word.  Now, where'd I put that elf.......

Reviews

[Craig Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Robertson, like Tchaikovsky, Asimov and Banks, deserves to be studied in depth at the finest literary academies and institutes of higher learning; but for entirely opposite reasons.

So where does our seriously overpowered android go from here? Why, how silly of you to ask! He must become a Pirate of course. Casually overhearing a conversation barely mentioning the diaspora's world ships (whilst feigning unconsciousness), our fearless adventurer embarks on a demeaning 10-year diversion rather than simply interrogating his abductors. That the diversion eventually leads to an answer of sorts appears entirely random, as the tenuous link back to why the original abductors would be party to the relevant information is never unmasked.

For Robertson though, this is forgivable, even expected by book 4. That the original intent was for our protagonist to quite literally 'find himself' requires our author to invent a crazy scheme to get our Android back in dire straits, just for the ultimate MacGuffin to allow our prey to mysteriously appear, by magic. I'm not being metaphorical, that's exactly how the feat is explained. YouToo appears by magic, and immediately leaves, by magic. Oh, and that's the point that our protagonists best friend shows his true colours by miraculously revealing that a main plot character has actually been backed up, but only so she can appear for a few pages.

Wow, I've written more joined-up thoughts in a pointless review than appear in the entire series to date. I really don't want to be unkind, there's some nice moments in here, but the lack of effort shines through on every page.

[Henry Weems · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Forever Quest

Well. I tried. I really tried not to like this series. But dammit I couldn't help myself. I highly recommend this series anyway though. Read them. Take a chance. Be brave.
You'll be shocked at how much you come to enjoy these books. Plenty of action, and pretty funny at times too.

[Kevin Sells · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's getting so much better!

I thought book four was a barn burner.
Number five is even better. A bit more fantastical, but way more exciting. I'm going right into Book five even though it's 4am.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has Yet To Disappoint

This series continues to surprise and delight. The way the characters are continually build on a the series progress is beyond outstanding. This is a must read series. On to more adventure.

[Gene · Rating 4 out of 5]

It continues.

Still holding my interest in the continuing story of Jon Ryan. Written well, but the few grammatical errors glare. Proofreading is also not complete.

[Ken Weinert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a bad series

A good series but maybe the author should slow down and proofread the text. The later in the series, the more typos - and its getting distracting.

[James M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good one

Story keeps on keeping on. Only complaint is Al has taken a back seat. Miss the banter. But still a solid story

[Sean Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still liking the series

[Karma Kimeleon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun. You’ve gotta love multiverse twins. It may be over done but I find tropes like this familiar and comforting
I couldn’t believe it when Sapale’s preserved consciousness is revealed and she decides to fly off with older Jon. I guess he needed to be invested in his new family with Kayla.

[Jon Silvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book loved the story and the book narration can’t wait to listen to the next one I highly recommend listening to this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Dan Kenkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Onto the final two books of this series. I have found them very enjoyable to listen to. I'll probably finish the next book by the end of this week.

[Kevin Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humanity is mostly saved, now he's trying to balance family life, setting up a new society with his desire to protect humanity.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jon Ryan is suffering grief after the death of his brood mate Sapale. He realises that he needs to move forward and so goes on the hunt for the other like him Uto.
Adventure abound as he gets himself kidnapped and conscripted to a pirate ship realising someone wants to take the world ships.
The story flows great and Jon is his usual humorous self to make the people around both love and want to strangle him.
Can't wait for the next book in this series Jon Ryan is my favourite spaceman.