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The Forgotten #1
Forgotten
Some things are better off FORGOTTEN.
Sheriff Hayden Duke was born on the Pilgrim, and he expects to die on the Pilgrim, like his father, and his father before him.
That's the way things are on a generation starship centuries from home. He's never questioned it. Never thought about it. And why bother? Access points to the ship's controls are sealed, the systems that guide her automated and out of reach. It isn't perfect, but he has all he needs to be content.
Until a malfunction forces his Engineer wife to the edge of the habitable zone to inspect the damage.
Until she contacts him, breathless and terrified, to tell him she found a body, and it doesn't belong to anyone on board.
Until he arrives at the scene and discovers both his wife and the body are gone.
The only clue? A bloody handprint beneath a hatch that hasn't opened in hundreds of years.
Until now.
Sheriff Hayden Duke was born on the Pilgrim, and he expects to die on the Pilgrim, like his father, and his father before him.
That's the way things are on a generation starship centuries from home. He's never questioned it. Never thought about it. And why bother? Access points to the ship's controls are sealed, the systems that guide her automated and out of reach. It isn't perfect, but he has all he needs to be content.
Until a malfunction forces his Engineer wife to the edge of the habitable zone to inspect the damage.
Until she contacts him, breathless and terrified, to tell him she found a body, and it doesn't belong to anyone on board.
Until he arrives at the scene and discovers both his wife and the body are gone.
The only clue? A bloody handprint beneath a hatch that hasn't opened in hundreds of years.
Until now.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2017
1912 people are currently reading
806 people want to read
About the author
M.R. Forbes
200 books1,015 followersM.R. Forbes is the author of a growing number of science-fiction series including Rebellion, War Eternal, Chaos of the Covenant, Stars End, and the Forgotten novels. Having spent his childhood trying to read every sci-fi novel he could find (and write his own too), play every sci-fi video game he could get his hands on, and see every sci-fi movie that made it into the theater, he has a true love of the genre across every medium. He works hard to bring that same energy to his own stories, with a continuing goal to entertain, delight, fascinate, and surprise.
He maintains a true appreciation for his readers and is always happy to hear from them.
To learn more about M.R. Forbes or just say hello:
Visit his website:
mrforbes.com
Send him an e-mail:
michael@mrforbes.com
Check out his Facebook page:
facebook.com/mrforbes.author
Join his Facebook fan group:
facebook.com/groups/mrforbes
Follow him on Instagram:
instagram.com/mrforbes_author
Find him on Goodreads:
goodreads.com/mrforbes
Follow him on Bookbub:
bookbub.com/authors/m-r-forbes
He maintains a true appreciation for his readers and is always happy to hear from them.
To learn more about M.R. Forbes or just say hello:
Visit his website:
mrforbes.com
Send him an e-mail:
michael@mrforbes.com
Check out his Facebook page:
facebook.com/mrforbes.author
Join his Facebook fan group:
facebook.com/groups/mrforbes
Follow him on Instagram:
instagram.com/mrforbes_author
Find him on Goodreads:
goodreads.com/mrforbes
Follow him on Bookbub:
bookbub.com/authors/m-r-forbes
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
January 17, 2018
Wonderful apparent premise at the beginning, and a very good start. Which gradually crashed and burned. By 2/3 through the book the "plotline" became obvious: this is writing in kind for a violent first-person shooter video game, where only one character is thorough and deep, and where every other character is a nearly personality-less plastic stereotype (the Killer Demon, the Friend for a Minute, the Knowledgeable Person Powerup Doomed to Die within Three Pages, the Love Interest). And then near the end of the book the author seemed to lose interest in his excellent premise, and needing a way out, used something vaguely akin to "and then the little boy woke up from his dream" to give the shooter more room and people and creatures to kill. Will not be trying more of this series!
August 13, 2021
But, Just What Is Forgotten?
The Pilgrim is a space carrier that rotates over the planet Earth. It’s been doing this for many generations.
Sherrif Hayden Duke, is bored to pieces until his wife, who is an engineer, calls him for help.
She is located in the forbidden zone, where she has stumbled upon a dead body. But when the sheriff investigates the area, the body is gone. And so is his wife!
The more that the sheriff search for what’s happening, the more trouble he finds.
The Pilgrim is a space carrier that rotates over the planet Earth. It’s been doing this for many generations.
Sherrif Hayden Duke, is bored to pieces until his wife, who is an engineer, calls him for help.
She is located in the forbidden zone, where she has stumbled upon a dead body. But when the sheriff investigates the area, the body is gone. And so is his wife!
The more that the sheriff search for what’s happening, the more trouble he finds.
January 12, 2018
This book is split in half: the first one is about a generation ship and the lives of the people inside it (this is the great part, wonderfully written and captivating), and the second one, about the shooter-game style adventures of the sheriff-turned-action hero who shoots everybody without second thoughts or remorse (this is the part where you have the feeling everything is diluted and twisted to justify the sequels).
So, yeah, great start, but not so great overall.
So, yeah, great start, but not so great overall.
January 4, 2022
Space, the final frontier. Or the place where it all begins (and sometimes where it all ends; eventually both). And by all, I mean stories like The Forgotten.
When it comes to space travel, different authors and subgenres deploy different world views. Space Opera, for example, doesn't much care about physical limits. Faster than Light? Pfft, if our heroes need to cross the universe in the blink of an eye, so be it!
Space, where real adventures start.
There are a lot of authors who take different roads. Cryogenic sleep chambers is one way to take people on a very long journey, spanning centuries or millennia. The other one is the arc concept, where the people starting the journey will never arrive, but their descendants will. This is the scenario we're dealing with in this book. (They call it generation ship instead of arc, but hey, tomayto, tomahto.)
I want to talk about the atmosphere first. The people populating the spaceship Pilgrim know almost nothing about their ship. They have limited access to the systems, and they are living in an enclosed and encapsulated part of the ship. As far as they know, everything outside their part of the ship - called Metro - is automated. No way out of metro except for hatches which cannot be opened. But the public computer system was corrupted a while back, so details are unclear, hazy or simply unknown.
I love this backdrop for our story! M.R. Forbes sets the mood just right, and there is a nitty, gritty feeling to all of it. The Metro we experience is a world edging to the brink of dying, with more and more systems failing every day. This world feels authentic, down to small and seemingly random details. That's great! I mean it's terrible for the people inhabitating this world, but it's a great background for us readers!
Plot wise, the usual stuff happens. It turns out they are not alone on the ship (who would have thought?), there are (alien) monsters on a killing spree (and other humans), and maybe the computer data wasn't corrupted at all, rather deleted on purpose. Whom can you trust? Because some monsters might be human after all.
Law, engineering, organization, the governor, a mysterious source, civil hackers - who's trustworthy, and who's not?
Sherrif Hayden Duke, apparently, is a trustworthy guy, trying to shed light unto these mysteries. (Also the story is told from his point of view, so we better follow along.) And while he is content in his world (and somewhat blind to the faults within the system) at one moment, he's turning out a heap of badassery the next.
Really, at some point I realize I must have skipped that part when he took the Bruce Willis crash course on being a smartass action hero. But that doesn't matter, because the pace is tight and someone needs to kick (alien monster) ass anyway.
Our sheriff can be really dangerous when pissed off.
I'm mentioning Bruce Willis here for a reason, because he's the prototype of the 80s action hero delivering justice with a side dish of smartass commentary. (If you want evidence, please watch exhibit A: Last Boy Scout. Thank you.) And Hayden breaks up the tension sometimes by delivering one liners that are really worthy of the aforementioned movies.
There are other "classic" themes I suspected from this kind of literature. Like, are the alien monsters really alien in origin? What was the true purpose of the colony ship? If you're a genre fan, chance is there's probably not much here to surprise you. But it's mixed together well.
At some point, the genre cliches start to pile up. The hybernated scientist, crazy ubersoldier mutagen (it's not used, by the way, just mentioned) - it's starting to look like a computer action game. Somewhere between dead space and doom. Which is not bad per se (I like me some action games), but it was not what I expected when I started the book.
Fire fights in narrow corridors. Always such a fun activity.
Luckily enough, the action is well written. Fast paced, tense, heartbeat rising. At this point I decided to forget about the science fiction part (especially the science part), and instead grabbed some popcorn to enjoy the show. Because right there at the end, the outer corridors of the Pilgrim are turning into carnage reincarnate. Our Sheriff is caught between a rock and a hard place, namely the alien hounds and the humans that have been living outside his Metro for almost four centuries. And like the good 80s action hero he is, he's going to fight them all, even cauterizing his own arm stump with a laser gun. Because 80s action heroes were no grepping whimps.
**********
Where does that leave us? The promise of the book is wrong, and it seems like two non matching parts. The first part is science fiction, and I really liked that very much. The second part is a splatter movie/action game, and while it clearly delivers on that front, it feels like we mixed something up in the middle of the book . It's still good, though, if you have a knack for this kind of action (you'll have to brace the longest prelude of all times, though). I say 3 out of 5 stars, solid, not bad, but not outstanding either.
And yes, like 80s action movies, there's a sequel. A trilogy even, and I'll be watching, ehm, reading the rest of it, too.
You can also read this review on my Blog.
When it comes to space travel, different authors and subgenres deploy different world views. Space Opera, for example, doesn't much care about physical limits. Faster than Light? Pfft, if our heroes need to cross the universe in the blink of an eye, so be it!
Space, where real adventures start.
There are a lot of authors who take different roads. Cryogenic sleep chambers is one way to take people on a very long journey, spanning centuries or millennia. The other one is the arc concept, where the people starting the journey will never arrive, but their descendants will. This is the scenario we're dealing with in this book. (They call it generation ship instead of arc, but hey, tomayto, tomahto.)
I want to talk about the atmosphere first. The people populating the spaceship Pilgrim know almost nothing about their ship. They have limited access to the systems, and they are living in an enclosed and encapsulated part of the ship. As far as they know, everything outside their part of the ship - called Metro - is automated. No way out of metro except for hatches which cannot be opened. But the public computer system was corrupted a while back, so details are unclear, hazy or simply unknown.
I love this backdrop for our story! M.R. Forbes sets the mood just right, and there is a nitty, gritty feeling to all of it. The Metro we experience is a world edging to the brink of dying, with more and more systems failing every day. This world feels authentic, down to small and seemingly random details. That's great! I mean it's terrible for the people inhabitating this world, but it's a great background for us readers!
Plot wise, the usual stuff happens. It turns out they are not alone on the ship (who would have thought?), there are (alien) monsters on a killing spree (and other humans), and maybe the computer data wasn't corrupted at all, rather deleted on purpose. Whom can you trust? Because some monsters might be human after all.
Law, engineering, organization, the governor, a mysterious source, civil hackers - who's trustworthy, and who's not?
Sherrif Hayden Duke, apparently, is a trustworthy guy, trying to shed light unto these mysteries. (Also the story is told from his point of view, so we better follow along.) And while he is content in his world (and somewhat blind to the faults within the system) at one moment, he's turning out a heap of badassery the next.
Really, at some point I realize I must have skipped that part when he took the Bruce Willis crash course on being a smartass action hero. But that doesn't matter, because the pace is tight and someone needs to kick (alien monster) ass anyway.
Our sheriff can be really dangerous when pissed off.
I'm mentioning Bruce Willis here for a reason, because he's the prototype of the 80s action hero delivering justice with a side dish of smartass commentary. (If you want evidence, please watch exhibit A: Last Boy Scout. Thank you.) And Hayden breaks up the tension sometimes by delivering one liners that are really worthy of the aforementioned movies.
He pulled his stunner from his pants at the same time, bringing it up and sticking it in the monster's mouth.
»Resist this,« he said, pulling the trigger.
Sherrif Hayden making Bruce Willis proud
There are other "classic" themes I suspected from this kind of literature. Like, are the alien monsters really alien in origin? What was the true purpose of the colony ship? If you're a genre fan, chance is there's probably not much here to surprise you. But it's mixed together well.
At some point, the genre cliches start to pile up. The hybernated scientist, crazy ubersoldier mutagen (it's not used, by the way, just mentioned) - it's starting to look like a computer action game. Somewhere between dead space and doom. Which is not bad per se (I like me some action games), but it was not what I expected when I started the book.
Fire fights in narrow corridors. Always such a fun activity.
Luckily enough, the action is well written. Fast paced, tense, heartbeat rising. At this point I decided to forget about the science fiction part (especially the science part), and instead grabbed some popcorn to enjoy the show. Because right there at the end, the outer corridors of the Pilgrim are turning into carnage reincarnate. Our Sheriff is caught between a rock and a hard place, namely the alien hounds and the humans that have been living outside his Metro for almost four centuries. And like the good 80s action hero he is, he's going to fight them all, even cauterizing his own arm stump with a laser gun. Because 80s action heroes were no grepping whimps.
**********
Where does that leave us? The promise of the book is wrong, and it seems like two non matching parts. The first part is science fiction, and I really liked that very much. The second part is a splatter movie/action game, and while it clearly delivers on that front, it feels like we mixed something up in the middle of the book . It's still good, though, if you have a knack for this kind of action (you'll have to brace the longest prelude of all times, though). I say 3 out of 5 stars, solid, not bad, but not outstanding either.
And yes, like 80s action movies, there's a sequel. A trilogy even, and I'll be watching, ehm, reading the rest of it, too.
You can also read this review on my Blog.
January 7, 2018
9/10: Fantastic, left me wanting more.
“At what point is your life worth more than your humanity?
Wow. What a tense read. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I appreciated the short chapters because I needed a breather at the end of each one.
This had a Hugh Howey “Wool” vibe to it for me, but on a spaceship. A very easy story to get absorbed in, and a gritty, descriptive world to get lost in.
I will be reading on, but So, we’ll see.
An excellent start to what looks to be a great series. I’ll be checking out other books by this author.
“At what point is your life worth more than your humanity?
Wow. What a tense read. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I appreciated the short chapters because I needed a breather at the end of each one.
This had a Hugh Howey “Wool” vibe to it for me, but on a spaceship. A very easy story to get absorbed in, and a gritty, descriptive world to get lost in.
I will be reading on, but So, we’ll see.
An excellent start to what looks to be a great series. I’ll be checking out other books by this author.
November 25, 2022
Great story! Lots of bad reviews, so I kept expecting the story to go down hill. Still waiting!
February 7, 2022
Tons of action, a twist at the end that I didn't actually expect - although I listened to the audiobook (Jonathan Davis' narration is excellent!) and was doing other things, so I might have guessed it if I'd been paying better attention. It's a great story with characters that react more like real people than not; Hayden gets overwhelmed by everything and has tears in his eyes and that seems unusual to me.
Definitely continuing the series.
Definitely continuing the series.
September 12, 2019
I found the story excruciatingly dull and difficult to read because it's jam-packed with cliches that I feel nothing when something does actually happen, and while there are some emotional moments, they're so cliche that all I can think is how sick I am of seeing cliches in this story.
Allot of the character resort to such morally corrupt thing, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be rooting for.
Then there's the setting, a spaceship that's so lost and badly decayed that I'm surprised it's still cruising. When a ship's only designed to last so long, why design it like that, why not find the materials to repair it or why not turn back and go back home? Why haven't their people gone out looking for them? Why is everything so corrupt. I had so many questions with this setting yet this story relentlessly beat me over the head with these questionable elements of the setting, particularly how run down this ship is, when I just want the plot to move forward, so we can get on with the cliches.
Forgotten is so dull, morally wrong and the setting doesn't make a lick of sense, nor should a ship this run down still function. Such a frustrating read. The one thing this story has going for is the author's annoying marketing campaign. The advert for this novel shows up all over Instagram, and now it serves me as a reminder of an awful read.
Allot of the character resort to such morally corrupt thing, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be rooting for.
Then there's the setting, a spaceship that's so lost and badly decayed that I'm surprised it's still cruising. When a ship's only designed to last so long, why design it like that, why not find the materials to repair it or why not turn back and go back home? Why haven't their people gone out looking for them? Why is everything so corrupt. I had so many questions with this setting yet this story relentlessly beat me over the head with these questionable elements of the setting, particularly how run down this ship is, when I just want the plot to move forward, so we can get on with the cliches.
Forgotten is so dull, morally wrong and the setting doesn't make a lick of sense, nor should a ship this run down still function. Such a frustrating read. The one thing this story has going for is the author's annoying marketing campaign. The advert for this novel shows up all over Instagram, and now it serves me as a reminder of an awful read.
March 30, 2021
This is the best way to read wait till you can buy them all in a box set then fill up your coffee pot get comfy and just read it was a really good read
September 9, 2024
This book was not what I expected.
June 18, 2018
Borrowed perhaps too much from Wool. The continuity just seemed off all the time. The conversations served the plot but didn't sound like the way people in the minute to minute event or relationship would communicate. The middle aged police chief came off like a 20 year old overly emotional girl and everyone he talked to seemed kind of overly emotional and immature. The slang was very irritating. The design of the ship didn't make any sense. It's big, but no bigger than a very small town and this police chief is just ignorant that things exist that are a 10 minute walk away from his office. There is nowhere else to go, he is an expert at navigating catacomb of non living space but never gets the time to know the young people have this whole underground brick and mortar black market society happening? It moves along is is kind of a page turner but I just started feeling dumber and dumber as I read so I stopped. Regrettable because there are so many unanswered questions but I just couldn't hack it any longer.
March 7, 2019
The first third of the book is really exciting, the world building, or should I say city building, is clever. Generation ships have always fascinated me, and this very mysterious exodus ship is no exception. Then the book turns into a first person shooter game, with endless shooting action. There are some very interesting sections here and there, but mostly it's too much of a repetitive blood fest. The language is extremely simple, but it sort of fits the very simple and predictable plot line. The book is somewhat entertaining, and the plot twist at the end is brilliant. But I don't care what happens to the one- dimensional and trigger-happy sherrif, so for me this series stops here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2018
The intrigue and breakneck pacing I've come to expect from Forbes. This book was like "Die Hard" meets "Alien" with a tough-as-steel hero Sheriff Hayden Duke who discovers that his home, the giant ship called Pilgrim that's been in space for almost 400 years, is not what it seems. His search for his missing wife Natalia sends him into the unknown and forbidden spaces of the ship where he discovers hostile aliens, depraved humans, and terrible secrets hidden from Pilgrim's passengers for hundreds of years. This is very violent for those readers with squeamish stomachs, but well worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2021
There is no way anyone would build a generation ship 4 - 6 km long on a planet. It takes a tremendous amount of work to get one rocket with a few people in a minuscule nose cone off the planet. And then it apparently sits there for 400 years and no one knows. I could understand if everyone was in suspended animation but only one of a dz survived. If someone who has read subsequent volumes can let me know if any of this is explained credibly ... His last name should have been Dude instead of Duke - a clueless older fella who is a crack shot and cries like a little girl over his missing wife.
February 4, 2018
Good sci-fi but I would like to see more charactemore character developmentr development as well as geopolitical and historical insights.
Good sci-fi but I would like to see more character development
as well as geopolitical and historical insights.
These books could really be very illuminating to our current problem of living with a clown in chief.
Good sci-fi but I would like to see more character development
as well as geopolitical and historical insights.
These books could really be very illuminating to our current problem of living with a clown in chief.
August 9, 2022
Disclaimer: I LOVE the starship for sale series, so if you’re coming here to commiserate with the bad reviews, please don’t write off this author forever. He’s come a long way.
The only thing you need to know about Hayden Duke is he’s a Wife Guy™️. There’s nothing else interesting about him. He’s Robocop on a doomed spaceship, and his only goal is to save his wife.
The only thing you need to know about said wife is she is an engineer and is married to Duke. Oh, and she had a miscarriage once. That’s discovered (and played out) almost immediately.
Duke, as the current sheriff in a long line of sheriffs, is also morally superior to all around him, and when he is finally confronted with how he might be wrong about that near the end of the book, the thought passes without any introspection whatsoever.
*Spoilers to follow*
.
.
.
.
.
Forbes kills all — and I mean ALL — of his compelling characters: The young sex worker that Duke goes all save-a-ho on who has more courage than I would have expected; the intrepid street urchin-slash-hacker (multiple of those, actually); the scientist who was frozen for 400 years; the psychotic leader of the cannibal group that’s taken up residence in the ship. I understand we’re supposed to kill our darlings, but THERE ARE NO DARLINGS LEFT NOW.
I can’t express this enough: Duke is boring. The plot is overwrought and is told far too much internally. Duke isn’t a compelling enough narrator for that, and everyone that existed to give us literally any dialogue at all was killed off almost immediately.
And what are we left with? A seemingly indestructible yet totally unremarkable dude and his equally unremarkable wife.
And as others have said, yeah, it reads like a first-person shooter once he’s gone past the airlock. I skimmed so much I thought the cannibal guy was actually bulletproof? But I was not remotely concerned enough to go back to figure it out.
Also either Forbes is a misogynist or needs to reflect on his subconscious perception of women, because all the women in this book are max cringe.
Two stars because, yeah, I like the premise. But 30-something percent into book two, and I’m realizing I really don’t want to continue this series. There’s nothing interesting enough to make me continue. I’m sure my new favorite character in book two will be murdered post haste.
The only thing you need to know about Hayden Duke is he’s a Wife Guy™️. There’s nothing else interesting about him. He’s Robocop on a doomed spaceship, and his only goal is to save his wife.
The only thing you need to know about said wife is she is an engineer and is married to Duke. Oh, and she had a miscarriage once. That’s discovered (and played out) almost immediately.
Duke, as the current sheriff in a long line of sheriffs, is also morally superior to all around him, and when he is finally confronted with how he might be wrong about that near the end of the book, the thought passes without any introspection whatsoever.
*Spoilers to follow*
.
.
.
.
.
Forbes kills all — and I mean ALL — of his compelling characters: The young sex worker that Duke goes all save-a-ho on who has more courage than I would have expected; the intrepid street urchin-slash-hacker (multiple of those, actually); the scientist who was frozen for 400 years; the psychotic leader of the cannibal group that’s taken up residence in the ship. I understand we’re supposed to kill our darlings, but THERE ARE NO DARLINGS LEFT NOW.
I can’t express this enough: Duke is boring. The plot is overwrought and is told far too much internally. Duke isn’t a compelling enough narrator for that, and everyone that existed to give us literally any dialogue at all was killed off almost immediately.
And what are we left with? A seemingly indestructible yet totally unremarkable dude and his equally unremarkable wife.
And as others have said, yeah, it reads like a first-person shooter once he’s gone past the airlock. I skimmed so much I thought the cannibal guy was actually bulletproof? But I was not remotely concerned enough to go back to figure it out.
Also either Forbes is a misogynist or needs to reflect on his subconscious perception of women, because all the women in this book are max cringe.
Two stars because, yeah, I like the premise. But 30-something percent into book two, and I’m realizing I really don’t want to continue this series. There’s nothing interesting enough to make me continue. I’m sure my new favorite character in book two will be murdered post haste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2024
The books in them self is interesting and ok. Read the better revews about the storry and plot, I write this because no one writes about the way the author writes his main character.
There is faults with the books. One of them is that the author kills off people left and right just to have the “game of thrones” drama. Why did that person have to die? No reason, just kill him/here for the added drama.
But my biggest complaint is with the main character, he is imo totally unlikable.
I have never seen a male main character who acts like a teen girl experiencing PMS for the first time, hormones and feeling all over the place.
The author tries to paint a picture of the main character that is good, a person who cares for everyone and are willing to take risks for everyone. Someone who is a hero but do not look at himself as one. Someone who all the time in the books almost brakes down and cries every time he is not able to protect someone.
This someone is willing to protect and feel sorry for people, but will at any point kill the innocent, the children, anyone.
Example, his wife gets kidnaped, he is willing to kill off everyone to be able to get back with his wife. Blow up the ship with every 50.000 people, and his wife too? Sure, as long as he can hold here. If he can’t be next to his wife the main character becomes the most unstable psyco in the universe.
In the book the author makes the main caracter care for everyone and hate the enemy and “new humans” because they don’t care about the weak, normal and innocent (and earthers), but other parts of the book the author makes the main character able to kill off 100s of innocent people just because the wife is in danger.
The main character changes aspect like a jo-jo. He is strong, he is the weakest, he is the lover, he is the one who sacrifices for love, he is willing to kill children, he is willing to save children.
When you get to book 3 you will see that he hates people who acts like he does trough out the books, but when he does it, it is ok. The main character has no moral and no strength.
There is faults with the books. One of them is that the author kills off people left and right just to have the “game of thrones” drama. Why did that person have to die? No reason, just kill him/here for the added drama.
But my biggest complaint is with the main character, he is imo totally unlikable.
I have never seen a male main character who acts like a teen girl experiencing PMS for the first time, hormones and feeling all over the place.
The author tries to paint a picture of the main character that is good, a person who cares for everyone and are willing to take risks for everyone. Someone who is a hero but do not look at himself as one. Someone who all the time in the books almost brakes down and cries every time he is not able to protect someone.
This someone is willing to protect and feel sorry for people, but will at any point kill the innocent, the children, anyone.
Example, his wife gets kidnaped, he is willing to kill off everyone to be able to get back with his wife. Blow up the ship with every 50.000 people, and his wife too? Sure, as long as he can hold here. If he can’t be next to his wife the main character becomes the most unstable psyco in the universe.
In the book the author makes the main caracter care for everyone and hate the enemy and “new humans” because they don’t care about the weak, normal and innocent (and earthers), but other parts of the book the author makes the main character able to kill off 100s of innocent people just because the wife is in danger.
The main character changes aspect like a jo-jo. He is strong, he is the weakest, he is the lover, he is the one who sacrifices for love, he is willing to kill children, he is willing to save children.
When you get to book 3 you will see that he hates people who acts like he does trough out the books, but when he does it, it is ok. The main character has no moral and no strength.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2023
Tragedy Porn
That's what this is. Not the first book but the whole series. It's just one bad thing and person helping the Sheriff dying after another as the Sheriff and his Wife make one selfish choice after another getting more and more people killed along the way. Honestly his wife should have killed herself at the start of the book and a whole lot of people would been better off.
In fact throughout the whole series when people are 'captured' and forced to help the bad guys, only one person offers to kill themselves rather than let the bad guys use her and her teammate tells her not to, but she is the only real hero of this series. The Sheriff legitimately says he'll throw away the colony to save his wife multiple times and does actions towards that.
The only 'likable' characters always get killed for the author to do some 'emotional' impact but when you know he's going to keep killing them off while letting the bad guys win and his MC survive through plot armor. It just feels cheap.
The story itself is interesting, the whole world building and set up. But this trilogy seems more like a set up to get the Sheriff where he has to be to start his own 'adventures' than an actual story itself. It's more like this is a 'tragic backstory' prequel set up. If it is to set up why he needs redemption after being a selfish character who gets tons of people killed, then yes it's a good story.
Also. The 'Sheriff' acts all moral some of the time. 'we don't kill defenseless men' or 'It's honor of a fight' to let his friends die or release people who murder and force themselves on children go because they were 'defenseless' after he beat them. Letting them go to do it to more people. Sure he'll kill anyone to get his wife back and protect her or anyone who harmed her. However he'll freely let men who force themselves on children walk away if they don't attack him.
So yes. The MC is THE WORST.
That's what this is. Not the first book but the whole series. It's just one bad thing and person helping the Sheriff dying after another as the Sheriff and his Wife make one selfish choice after another getting more and more people killed along the way. Honestly his wife should have killed herself at the start of the book and a whole lot of people would been better off.
In fact throughout the whole series when people are 'captured' and forced to help the bad guys, only one person offers to kill themselves rather than let the bad guys use her and her teammate tells her not to, but she is the only real hero of this series. The Sheriff legitimately says he'll throw away the colony to save his wife multiple times and does actions towards that.
The only 'likable' characters always get killed for the author to do some 'emotional' impact but when you know he's going to keep killing them off while letting the bad guys win and his MC survive through plot armor. It just feels cheap.
The story itself is interesting, the whole world building and set up. But this trilogy seems more like a set up to get the Sheriff where he has to be to start his own 'adventures' than an actual story itself. It's more like this is a 'tragic backstory' prequel set up. If it is to set up why he needs redemption after being a selfish character who gets tons of people killed, then yes it's a good story.
Also. The 'Sheriff' acts all moral some of the time. 'we don't kill defenseless men' or 'It's honor of a fight' to let his friends die or release people who murder and force themselves on children go because they were 'defenseless' after he beat them. Letting them go to do it to more people. Sure he'll kill anyone to get his wife back and protect her or anyone who harmed her. However he'll freely let men who force themselves on children walk away if they don't attack him.
So yes. The MC is THE WORST.
June 3, 2020
This was a solid 4.4 for me. (It takes a real amazing book for me to go with a 5.)
I previously read Earth Unknown, which was published after this one, so I probably should have read this one first. However, both are good as stand alone novels.
The plot and characters were well developed and the writing was very good. Descriptions were vivid and painted very good mental pictures for me. Actions were well described, plot was logically laid out, and the sequences made sense.
The spaceship, Pilgrim, has been in space heading toward its destination of a new world for hundreds of years and some of its history files have been corrupted, so some of it has been lost. Sheriff Hayden Duke is responsible for the Law department on the ship in the Metro area. The area outside of "Metro" is sealed and nobody can get to the outside area. In the past ten years, there have been times when the ship has rocked as though it were hitting turbulence, but there is no way for anyone to see beyond Metro, so they have no idea what is causing the ship to shake. Perhaps it is space debris; people believe what they are told, at least most of them do. However, there is no turbulence in space, so the question arises, "What is causing the shaking?"
I don't want to give it away, no spoilers, but the sheriff has to find out what has happened to his wife and why certain residents are having their voices squelched by death.
I must admit, (don't read ahead!) the turn of events at the end of the book, though "believable" relative to the story, came as unexpected revelations to me.
I would definitely recommend this science fiction thriller.
I previously read Earth Unknown, which was published after this one, so I probably should have read this one first. However, both are good as stand alone novels.
The plot and characters were well developed and the writing was very good. Descriptions were vivid and painted very good mental pictures for me. Actions were well described, plot was logically laid out, and the sequences made sense.
The spaceship, Pilgrim, has been in space heading toward its destination of a new world for hundreds of years and some of its history files have been corrupted, so some of it has been lost. Sheriff Hayden Duke is responsible for the Law department on the ship in the Metro area. The area outside of "Metro" is sealed and nobody can get to the outside area. In the past ten years, there have been times when the ship has rocked as though it were hitting turbulence, but there is no way for anyone to see beyond Metro, so they have no idea what is causing the ship to shake. Perhaps it is space debris; people believe what they are told, at least most of them do. However, there is no turbulence in space, so the question arises, "What is causing the shaking?"
I don't want to give it away, no spoilers, but the sheriff has to find out what has happened to his wife and why certain residents are having their voices squelched by death.
I must admit, (don't read ahead!) the turn of events at the end of the book, though "believable" relative to the story, came as unexpected revelations to me.
I would definitely recommend this science fiction thriller.
May 7, 2021
This novel could best be described as a 2-in-1. The first portion followed Sheriff Hayden Duke as he tried to do his job onboard a generational ship. He tried to live his life to the fullest with his wife. Life on the ship was bleak as numerous systems were falling and therefore life was a constant struggle.
The first portion was my favorite as I loved the atmosphere. Although it had the standard Post Change & Uniform Inspections-apocalypse feel to it I was engrossed in it. The constant system failures and civilian fights had me on hooked. The characters were interesting too as they felt realistic, and therefore I could root for them. Even when the characters made silly or dangerous decisions I understood why.
The second portion followed Duke as he searched for his wife. I can’t say more without giving away huge “spoilers” (the “twist” was so obvious it was bad).
I didn’t like this portion nearly as much and had to force myself to finish. The characters went from being semi-flashed out to one-dimensional caricatures of themselves. I want to say Duke was the worst but that might be because he was the only character I can remember. He became a gun toting action hero that would fit in perfectly with bad 80’s action movies. His wife was missing and therefore a trope, only a mission to complete.
Overall this novel was okay, just okay. The first portion got 4 stars and the second got 2 stars. I plan to continue the series as I already own it, not sure when though, it keeps getting bumped in priority as other, more exciting novels make it to the top of my TBR list.
The first portion was my favorite as I loved the atmosphere. Although it had the standard Post Change & Uniform Inspections-apocalypse feel to it I was engrossed in it. The constant system failures and civilian fights had me on hooked. The characters were interesting too as they felt realistic, and therefore I could root for them. Even when the characters made silly or dangerous decisions I understood why.
The second portion followed Duke as he searched for his wife. I can’t say more without giving away huge “spoilers” (the “twist” was so obvious it was bad).
I didn’t like this portion nearly as much and had to force myself to finish. The characters went from being semi-flashed out to one-dimensional caricatures of themselves. I want to say Duke was the worst but that might be because he was the only character I can remember. He became a gun toting action hero that would fit in perfectly with bad 80’s action movies. His wife was missing and therefore a trope, only a mission to complete.
Overall this novel was okay, just okay. The first portion got 4 stars and the second got 2 stars. I plan to continue the series as I already own it, not sure when though, it keeps getting bumped in priority as other, more exciting novels make it to the top of my TBR list.
December 23, 2018
Fast pased
My thoughts are that ,it seems as if the authors changed direction of the story perhaps one to many times for one story.having gotten comfortable in a multigenerational starship suddenly we had aliens in control of every part of the ship except the area that the human passengers were locked in to and isolated from the rest of the shipping costs. then we find out there are the descendents of the crew
who had isolated the human before getting beaten by the aliens.the soldiers
descendents are much tougher than the original crew and uses the aliens as a Food
source good news except they eat people too instead of the MRE's the aliens used
Please
to feed their larva? Hang on one more major change the ship never left the ground
we learn as the. Giant monster rips the hanger roof off exposing the ship just as
hero sheriff rides his 🐎 horse out the ship s hanger door on to book two in series
My thoughts are that ,it seems as if the authors changed direction of the story perhaps one to many times for one story.having gotten comfortable in a multigenerational starship suddenly we had aliens in control of every part of the ship except the area that the human passengers were locked in to and isolated from the rest of the shipping costs. then we find out there are the descendents of the crew
who had isolated the human before getting beaten by the aliens.the soldiers
descendents are much tougher than the original crew and uses the aliens as a Food
source good news except they eat people too instead of the MRE's the aliens used
Please
to feed their larva? Hang on one more major change the ship never left the ground
we learn as the. Giant monster rips the hanger roof off exposing the ship just as
hero sheriff rides his 🐎 horse out the ship s hanger door on to book two in series
June 3, 2019
There seems to be quite a few negative reviews for this book which initially put me off it however I have read the War Eternal and Forgotten Colony by M.R. Forbes and they were both brilliant so I persevered. I'm glad I did.
Yes it is a bit like an action movie with the fighting etc, but you're reading a book about a sheriff and a vicious alien invasion in a confined space. What did you expect? A cup of tea and a conversation?
**spoiler**
Where I think this may have improved the read for me is that this is a sub-series within the forgotten series as a whole. There is an overarching story linking them all which was really good to see from the perspective of another generation ship that has come across different issues than those in Forgotten Colony.
All in all it was a very good read and I enjoyed it, I will be continuing on with this series and the whole forgotten overall.
He likes to cut people's arms off quite a lot though!
Yes it is a bit like an action movie with the fighting etc, but you're reading a book about a sheriff and a vicious alien invasion in a confined space. What did you expect? A cup of tea and a conversation?
**spoiler**
Where I think this may have improved the read for me is that this is a sub-series within the forgotten series as a whole. There is an overarching story linking them all which was really good to see from the perspective of another generation ship that has come across different issues than those in Forgotten Colony.
All in all it was a very good read and I enjoyed it, I will be continuing on with this series and the whole forgotten overall.
He likes to cut people's arms off quite a lot though!
March 21, 2018
Interesting story that combines elements of Alien, Wool, and Logan's Run. The Pilgrim, a colonist ship from Earth, has been travelling for 400 years to start a new colony on a distant planet. The "city" within the ship is called Metro, run by a governor, and law enforcement is provided by the Sheriff and his deputies. Metro is divided from the rest of Pilgrim with sealed hatches, that have not been opened for as long as anyone can remember. Then one day, wife of the sheriff, an engineer, discovers a body near one of the hatches. And the body is not someone from Metro.
I liked the mystery of this book. There was also a lot that frustrated me, things I didn't expect, and a lot of twists. With this being the beginning of a series, if you enjoy this book the ending will most likely want to read the next one in the series. Overall, a fun sci-fi/action/thriller.
I liked the mystery of this book. There was also a lot that frustrated me, things I didn't expect, and a lot of twists. With this being the beginning of a series, if you enjoy this book the ending will most likely want to read the next one in the series. Overall, a fun sci-fi/action/thriller.
December 6, 2018
Liked the premise, storywise its a fun read, the way the MC is portrayed is horrid, he is an hormonal 13 boy in love making decision without any foresight, I can't believe he is a Sheriff or a police of any kind (you find through the book how crueles he is) and he goes from never using his weapon to becoming rambo, this last part I didn't mind, but the entire reason of the story is to get his wife back how we only know for like 2 pages the diner and the party, to be sincere I really didn't care about her and everyone else is the same, they are there to give information, accompany the MC for awhile then nothing' they end up dead or forgotten!
So yea if you can turn your brain off this can be a fun adventure with an unlikeable MC which you may or may not like by the end of the book, I'll give the next book a try It could surprise or kill the rest of the series'
So yea if you can turn your brain off this can be a fun adventure with an unlikeable MC which you may or may not like by the end of the book, I'll give the next book a try It could surprise or kill the rest of the series'
February 24, 2019
This book had plot twists and constant action.
The start got into the action right away without a boring description of people, places, things, or events. The beginning was really mysterious but as I kept reading I disagree with the reviewers who said the writing was childlike or full of cliffhangers. The rationales for many things that happen in this book make a lot of sense. In writing, you are supposed to end chapters with cliffhangers for suspension (though in the subsequent chapter it's supposed to be different - but that's a long topic for another time).
This isn't like the Walking Dead. If you are expecting space battles this isn't that kind of book, but the action and story are very unique and good. I liked the ending and it left me wanting to read more. I felt like I was with the main character, and at times I asked "why did they do that?! Noooo!"
The start got into the action right away without a boring description of people, places, things, or events. The beginning was really mysterious but as I kept reading I disagree with the reviewers who said the writing was childlike or full of cliffhangers. The rationales for many things that happen in this book make a lot of sense. In writing, you are supposed to end chapters with cliffhangers for suspension (though in the subsequent chapter it's supposed to be different - but that's a long topic for another time).
This isn't like the Walking Dead. If you are expecting space battles this isn't that kind of book, but the action and story are very unique and good. I liked the ending and it left me wanting to read more. I felt like I was with the main character, and at times I asked "why did they do that?! Noooo!"
October 23, 2019
The premise of this book is not bad. Life on earth has become unlivable so selected people are allowed to board a spaceship that will take them to a distant planet which scientists have determined is habitable. Now, after 400 years, they realize the ship is off course and they are not even close to the planet they were going to. Worse yet the situation on the ship is becoming dangerous for various reasons. So far, so good. Unfortunately, the book needs very serious editing and revision. There is nearly zero character development- who are the other people on the ship? What are their lives like? And then you find word choices that make no sense and typos galore. I am not discouraging you from reading this book, especially if you like dystopian novels, but just be aware that it's not particularly well written.
July 31, 2018
Found this book as a random Facebook advertisement and gave it a go for it’s competitive Kindle price. I don’t regret the purchase. At all. I will simply describe this book as ‘Alien meets Passengers-meets Dead Space-meets Doom-meets Pandorum’. The chapters are short and go straight to the point, and the last sentence of every chapter leaves you wondering what will happen next. I agree the main character, Sheriff Hayden Duke is a bit of an overkill for someone who has never faced the dangers that trained soldiers could not endure, but as a gamer used to FPS games the premise is quite familiar and even ‘normal’ to me. If you are a gamer and fan of survival horrors set in space you will probably enjoy this book. Me? I’m defo ready for Book 2: Forsaken now!
October 10, 2018
Science fiction at its best...
I normally don't do the sci-fi genre, but this author has me hooked. Different from everything else I read, this has a really good storyline.
Have you ever imagined a new planet & traveling numerous miles to get there? Years even? A town full of people on the biggest spaceship ever built.
Aliens have almost taken over earth. This is the last best hope for humanity to survive. The Sherriff & his wife are the main characters, defined nicely. There's a kidnapping, aliens, & things that do go bump in the night. Lots of action, sudden appearances of people no one knows & of course, no aliens were left behind. The biggest surprise is mind boggling! Can't wait to pick up the next book in the series!
Very well done Mr. Forbes ...😊
I normally don't do the sci-fi genre, but this author has me hooked. Different from everything else I read, this has a really good storyline.
Have you ever imagined a new planet & traveling numerous miles to get there? Years even? A town full of people on the biggest spaceship ever built.
Aliens have almost taken over earth. This is the last best hope for humanity to survive. The Sherriff & his wife are the main characters, defined nicely. There's a kidnapping, aliens, & things that do go bump in the night. Lots of action, sudden appearances of people no one knows & of course, no aliens were left behind. The biggest surprise is mind boggling! Can't wait to pick up the next book in the series!
Very well done Mr. Forbes ...😊
August 7, 2019
While reading this one, I felt as if I had read it before as the premise is not something new – a group of human colonists are trapped on a ship whose journey is long overdue, an authoritative governor, and an authority figure in the guise of a sheriff who is searching for clues to make it right. Without having a spoiler, about halfway through the book it started going downhill and the final 10% of the title took a weird left turn and was just unbelievable – and a cliffhanger ending – that made me realize I had wasted several hours reading this one. Luckily, I picked this up with my Kindle Unlimited subscription and didn’t waste the $2.99 Kindle purchase price and only wasted my time. I would give this a wide pass.
June 18, 2020
Usually a book that sets up an issue that appears to be what it is about... the plot itself, but continues on and on until you realize at some point, that this book will end without it resolved....usually, this type of book turns me off. This one did too, but not as much as normal. The first part of the book seemed to be going somewhere and I found it very engaging, however, like several other reviewers, I found that the book was almost split in two parts. The second part is just one battle after another and as is typical for me ... highly skippable. There was enough redemption in the not so twisty twist at the end to take this book to 3 stars from 2, but again I'm left with the feeling that I am not sure I care about what happens going forward. Book 2 awaits at some point... maybe.
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