Genesis

First Colony #1

by Ken Lozito, Scott Aiello (Reader)

A mission gone wrong. Innocent lives have been lost.

Escaping wrongful imprisonment wasn't something Connor had in mind, but being put into stasis aboard Earth's first interstellar colony ship was something he couldn't have prepared for.

For 300,000 colonists, the new colony brings the promise of a fresh start...a second chance. Connor might be the wrong man for the colony, but he's the right man to see that it survives what's coming.

A new world with new challenges, but the mission has changed.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Fiction, Space, Science Fiction Fantasy

MP3 CD

First published September 21, 2017

About the author

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

Reviews

[Just A Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, take my review with a grain of salt. I haven't dived into the world of Adult Science Fiction novels yet, but we all have to start somewhere.

I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up. Honestly I saw the word colony and thought, colonizing a new planet? Alright I'm in. My favorite theme in SciFi books include books that remind me of The Thing, 172 Hours on the Moon or have people landing on a new planet and exploring all the dangers and challenges (bonus if there's Aliens).

Genesis had a very good pace, it kept you entertained and eager to know what was going to happen next. There was rarely a dull moment. The cover was also, beautiful.

But within those fast moving pages, there were things that stopped me in my tracks.

The lack of details.

You just landed on a new planet, being temporarily called New Earth, and you don't describe a damn thing.

What does the vegetation look like? What color is the grass, is there even grass? What about the sky? What does the new moon look like? Are there lakes?

He didn't tell us anything about the new planet, literally, not one damn thing when it came to looks. I have no idea what the new planet was made up of. I can tell you some details about four animals they encountered, and I can tell you that it has one huge land mass and than the rest is entirely ocean. But I cannot tell you the color of that Ocean, or the climate of that land mass.

I think it's a bit lazy to say hey we found this new planet and it looks exactly like Earth. Why the hell would a planet 60 some light years away, look exactly like earth?

World building, world building, world building I need it for it to be a five star book. The military part of this story was interesting but so much was just lacking.

The characters in this book are flat. Therefore the relationships that are attempting to be built in this book, are flat, pointless, and annoying when they keep reappearing.

I think Lozito wanted to use Connor's fascination with an archeologist to help develop his character, and show his relationship with his new found friends. They teased him like any guys would when someone liked a girl. But there was no room for it in this story. The woman he was interested in had no personality, he barely had any personality. His new found friends were flat, and they all blended into one another.

I can't tell you anything about any of the characters, I can't even remember anyone's name besides Noah, Sean, and Connor. And I only remember Noah and Sean because in my head I pictured them as hot, young, new 'soldiers' in 'uniform' that, if this were a film, I'd watch over and over because. And I don't think that was the authors intentions, but hell it got me through this book.

The overall plot wasn't that fantastic. Basically when you look at what this story really is about, there isn't much going on at all. Connor puts together a search and rescue group, trains them, and than has to use them. I feel like there definitely should have been more going on, and that again comes down to the lack of details in this book.

This book reminded me of Shades of Earth by Beth Revis. She landed her characters on the new planet, gave us no details about what the planet was like, and than ended the entire series with something is coming after us, and we have to get ready to fight. Which is exactly how this first book ended, at least we'll get to continue and see what happens but I feel like this is a SciFi trope I will be seeing quite often.

Rating Scale
1)Pace 4/5
2)Entertainment/Enjoyment 4/5
3)Characters 2.5
4)Details 1.5
5)Plot 2
6)Cover/Synopsis 4/5
7)Beginning 4/5
8)Middle 4/5
9)End 4/5
10)Desire to read next book 4/5

3.4rating

[Melissa (Mel’s Bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent beginning to what I have no doubt is going to be a fun and exciting series! I read that there are 5 books in total at the moment and I can't wait to delve into the next one! I listened to the audio version on audible. 

Connor is the leader of an elite military group. And he is having a rough time. First he is framed for the death of millions of people, then he is sneakily smuggled aboard a colony ship travelling to another star system... And then when he wakes up he discovers he has been asleep a VERY long time. Now he is stuck on an alien world, with a bunch of untrained colonists and there is something a bit strange happening on this planet, and there is some local wildlife that are not very friendly...

This was an extremely enjoyable book that I got through very quickly. It wasn't too long and had heaps of action to keep me hooked. 

I really enjoyed the premise. Most of the characters were awesome!  I loved the group of cadets that Connor put together. I really enjoyed the whole universe that they put together. And that ending! The next one is going to be super exciting with a bunch of new characters! I can't wait to see how the syndicate fits into future books too!

Did I enjoy the audio version?
Yes the narrator was excellent! His female voices annoyed me a little bit, but overall it was a really enjoyable performance!

Would I recommend Genesis?
Yes for any sci-fi fans or fans of military fiction set in sci-fi settings! It was really enjoyable and full of action and adventure! Can't wait for the next one!

I purchased Genesis at my own expense at audible.com.

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[David P. Duffy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low Quality Colonization Story Coupled With Poor Writing

“Genesis (First Colony Book 1),” authored by Mr. Ken Lozito, is a low quality colonization story, coupled with poor writing.

A future black ops colonel, “Connor Grant,” is suckered into attacking with his platoon, a pervasive, organized crime organization, the “Syndicate,” ensconced on a massive, Sol System space station. [Spoiler Alert]Attempting to decapitate the head of the “Syndicate,” Connor instead triggers a trap, that leads to the station’s destruction, and the death of millions. Half of his platoon escapes, is recovered by a Fleet admiral benefactor, who puts Connor into statis, and places him secretly aboard a colony ship, the “Ark,” shortly destined to leave on a decades long journey. The “Ark,” is humanity’s first attempt at interstellar colonization, carrying three-hundred thousand (300,000) in statis. Shortly after arrival, Connor is awakened, surprising the colonial advance team, who expected someone else. The colonel is suspect, attempts to find his way, and becomes involved in establishing a paramilitary “Search and Rescue” unit.

First, the entire story is pretty inane and ridiculous. The colonists are portrayed as intelligent, but “PC” addled. They are tasked with colonizing an alien planet, abundant with [Spoiler Alert] alien wildlife, some intelligent, possibly sentient. Further, ruins of a sentient alien species have been discovered, along with tech on the planet. Colonists have been killed, and the colonial hierarchy does not want to disturb the alien ecosystem. No military as security, only a glorified, lightly armed and ineffective, park ranger style group for the colony’s protection is permitted. The author has apparently no experience or basic knowledge of the military, and yet it is a pervasive theme throughout the book. It is both puzzling and amazing: why write a story revolving fully around a subject you are not knowledgeable of, and expose your ignorance throughout? Baffling.

The writing is bland, stilted, and dialogue reads as if it was from a badly dubbed movie. Additionally, the plot devices are disingenuous, as the author writes storylines into potential “dead-ends,” and later on, just drops unsupported solutions. At best it’s lazy, amateurish writing, and at worse, dishonest.

Having read many of the author’s other books, this reviewer has noticed an abrupt decline in the quality. It appears a promising writer has succumbed to limited success, and instead of maintaining quality or improving, is just going through the motions in order to publish.

“Genesis,” is not recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.

[MacWithBooksonMountains Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now, this is touted as military SF; however, I felt that only at the very beginning it resembled pure military SF. More important though, although the author doesn’t cover any new ground and the storyline is pretty much basic fare in SF, this turned out to be a rather good read. For it is the execution that makes this stand out from the ever growing plethora of (military)SF offers on the market. Yes, and it does remind me a bit on H. Beam Piper’s style of writing . The protagonist’s character meshes in well within a storyline that is as solid as it is believable (for the Sf concept). The interplay of all major and minor characters moves on fluently within the progression of the story. If the next volume is anywhere as good as the first offer, then this could turn out to be a solid series.
All in all quite recommendable.😀 Never mind the three stars

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

For this genre, my expectations are low. I’ve read great science fiction, but this particular type is just popcorn. It is meant to entertain you, not give you a high brow literary experience. Genesis serves up plenty of entertainment, so I’m satisfied. The pace is fast. The writing is succinct. As I would expect, the characters aren’t really developed very much. The main character is developed a little bit, but not a single supporting character is given the slightest amount of depth. There is very little description of the new planet. I kept wondering what the weather was like. I made up a planet in my mind, but I realize that vision wasn’t based on details in the book, but rather just a need to create something that I could see.

I’ve already started the second one, because I am just in the mood for this. I’m training for a marathon and listening to the audio. I need something that doesn’t take much brain power on my part, but will keep me interested enough to get through a lot of miles on my feet. I hate to give this book three stars, but four seems like too much even though I did like it.

[Clyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genesis starts like a straight-up military SF story, but then morphs into a story about establishing an interstellar colony. (Though military themes continue throughout the book.)
The writing is a bit spotty and the characters could be better developed, but even so the story pulled me in quickly. We get new colony start-up problems, mysterious alien ruins, military training, monster attacks, and a Big Danger.
Several mysteries are introduced but not satisfactorily resolved. Major spoilers: (Why did the Syndicate destroy Chronos Station? What happened to the original inhabitants of the planet? Why are the local predators so aggressive? What really happened back on Earth? What is the nature of the approaching danger?) I presume they will be dealt with in subsequent books in the series.
Pretty good SF. I'll give the series at least one more book. 3+ stars.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts with a military special ops team on a covert mission that goes terribly wrong. The leader is then UNKNOWINGLY put in cryo aboard a colony ship to avoid being accused for the debacle he had no control over.

He wakes up 200 years later and there's some problems with the new colony world. First, they aren't at the planet they were supposed to colonize. Then you've got dangerous alien life threatening the colonists. Lastly, there's a terrible reason they were diverted to another planet. They are not safe and the worst may be yet to come.

This book has some of everything sci fi space related, which made it an interesting read. I look forward to seeing what else happens and seeing more character development.

Off to a good start.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the start of a new series. I think it’s going to be a pretty good one. It is a military science fiction book, although I though that it might change to something else after the first couple of chapters.

Conner Gates is the main character. He’s a Colonel in the North American Union Alliance and his current mission is to find the head of the Syndicate and kill him or her. His intel shows him the Syndicate leader is on Chronos Station and that’s where his team of “Ghosts” are headed. The Ghosts are a special black ops military unit that doesn’t exist for anyone except themselves and their immediate HQ. On this mission, even his HQ doesn’t know the details of where and what his team is doing.

They successfully board the huge space station and begin their search for the Syndicate leader. Unfortunately, their secret mission turns out not so secret. The Syndicate has set a trap for the team and intends to kill them or make sure they take the blame for the destruction of Chronos Station.

So, the Ghosts do manage to blast their way out of the station just as it is blown up. It now appears that the Ghost team was responsible for that destruction and the killing of the millions of people that lived there. Colonel Gates’ knows his future is very bleak. As the Commanding Officer for the failed mission, he’ll be held responsible for all those deaths. But, his team is picked up by the Battleship Carrier Indianapolis and meet up with Fleet Admiral Mitch Wilkinson. Here is where the story changes.

The Ark is humanity’s first interstellar colony ship and is soon to blast off on it’s eighty-four year mission. Most of the thirty-thousand colonist will be in cryostasis for the duration of the trip only to be awoken when they reach their target planet. The Battleship Indianapolis is bringing some last minute cargo and colonist to the Ark. It should be fairly obvious now what has happened to the Ghost team.

So, we now have a whole new story. Colonel Gates starts out with just himself and has to figure out what he’s going to do given his new circumstances. It’s now 200 years since the last mission and he doesn't know where his team is or even if they are all a live. The story is very interesting and there are some good characters introduced.

The nice thing about this series is that the second book, “Nemesis” is already available. I’ve already started reading this book and think it’s going to be very interesting.

[Tobin Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because it had a similar premise to my series. An ark ship colonizing an alien planet. But that's where the similarities end. With only one POV (narrative) I thought how my editor would react to this style, but quickly realized that it works well here. Genesis is a page turner, and I couldn't put it down. At first the characters seemed a bit one dimensional, but later I found I cared about them, and this too worked. Overall it was a good read, and I ended up buying the rest of the set.

[Trish R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first try at a book about actually going to another planet and setting up housekeeping, by 3000,000 earthlings. AND I really enjoyed it. But I probably enjoyed it so much because the narrator was awesome. I absolutely loved Connor’s voice and all his snarky, rude, sarcastic and sweet words. I liked Diaz too. He had a perfect Spanish accent. And the girl, (damn I forgot her name) sounded kind of German, and when a young man, Sean, spoke he did sound young.

Connor was a black ops team leader and when a mission went horrible wrong a friend of Connor’s father had Connor drugged and put in stasis for a trip to another galaxy because Will knew that Connor and his team were going to be blamed for millions of people dying on the space station where the battle took place with the Syndicate. So, Connor was in stasis for 200 years and 8 months. Needless to say, Connor had a really hard time believing it when he woke up.

Actually, all the battles were thrilling, especially the one the creatures they called Ryklars, who had like 4 arms and 2 legs and could run 130 miles an hour, all day long. There were other creatures and the description of them all was incredible.

It wasn’t a cliffhanger but it left it open for other books, which I will probably read. I mean, a fleet of “something” is heading their way and I have to know what it is. The fleet could be there in ten months or in ten years, nobody knows.

No romance of any kind and the F-bomb was used 1 time.

As to the narration: Scott Aiello was simply wonderful.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came up as an Amazon Prime reading pick so I thought I would give it a try and give another indie author a chance.

As a presumably self published book this had a lot of things common to that category. At the beginning I found the writing a bit lackluster but it seemed to improved though the book (or maybe I just got used to it.) Not sure if this was the authors first book as I see he has about 10 more in different series.

Story wise, this was a bit different to what I was expecting based on the cover. Only a small part of the action occurred in space, the majority being on a new alien planet. The author has some great ideas but in a couple of places I thought a bit more explanation was needed.

A decent start to a series with a story that wraps up some points but leaves quite a few unanswered questions. There is a lead on for the next book and I will probably take a look at it at some point.

[Red Tide]

Rating: minus 15 on a scale of minus 15 to plus 5.

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I saw an idiot who whilst insulting an essayist whom I admire, complain to her that I list trans creators. I think that the Snowflake (idiotic, rabid, possibly MAGA related US tittie-baby) syndrome may have become epidemic. A trigger warning then.

I list channels with the sewist, communist, het, mathematician, Irish, WOC, asexual, archaeologist, military historian, trans, redhaired, German, military modeller, farmer, intersex, miniatures painter, pensioner, train modeller, military boardgamer, queer, Kenyan, physically challenged, communist, military historian, Van lifestyle, boat restorer, intersex, Canadian, sociologist, lumber yard worker, architect, other boardgamer, Australian, fashion historian, autist and other creators known as Women.

Almost as disturbing to wilfully proud ignorance are the channels with anarchist, tailor, Scottish, other BIPOC, boater, train historian, zoologist, chemist, other fashion historian, economist, atheist, ginger, Cornish, political commentator, philosopher, other LGBTQIA+, book reviewer, engineer, futurist, other fashion historian, wood worker, Indian, news presenter, game historian, other neurodivergent, paleontologist, chess instructor and other creators known (outside the US) as Human Beings.

If the voices be not stilled, seek emergency therapy and\or develop a new skill, such as critical thinking and\or beg for immediate pastoral counselling.

My feelings towards these members are similar to that of the 13 Ukrainian marines defending Snake Island, when their surrender was demanded by the Russian navy. Their response was "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself." Slava Ukraini. Slava Heroyam. Crimea is Ukraine.

Once more unto the book, dear friends. I did not like the book's opening, though it seemed almost interesting. There are no worldbuilding, character development, reasonable dialogue or plausible interactions. Plot hole and contrivance made identifying a storyline difficult. There are several underlying themes, which are probably the point of the book.

The three themes are "the USA logically dominates all human space", "Canada and Mexico only exist as countries at the sufference of the USA" , "The US produces the Best and the Brightest of humanity". These are the common underpinning of almost all Amazon spacey-space boom-boom books. These do not seem to have aged well. 😊

The system government had no explanation or politics because the writer seems to have had no clear mental picture. Based on other books he might have no mind but that is pure speculation.

The expedition is launched by an unnamed organisation possessed of unexplained resources and power, whether governmental, military or corporate is unknown. Their purpose is unknown.

This colony expedition is crewed by the "Best and the Brightest" of the human race, as usual all are US citizens. The character names are drawn as usual, from a smaller naming pool than that of the Roman Empire, There is diversity in that women are part of the crew, probably required for entertainment or breeding .

A YouTuber discussed an interview with Astronaut Glenn, wherein it was considered that it would be feasible to use the entertainment weight allowance to include a female astronaut. All but the female reporter laughed.

There is an unrealistic military plotline, if a plot can be said to exist. There is no evidence of editing and the book can best be described as forgettable, boring and poorly written.

Consider treating this as a hostile site. 🤔

Goodreads discourse does not exist. As example, four years ago now, I wrote a short negative review of Powers of the Earth by Travis Corcoran.

The book (in no way a novel) was originally blurbed as similar to a Heinlein classic but was instead a bad imitation of "Atlas Shrugged" set on the Moon.

My opinion was that a story of a rich twit enlisting the military in overthrow of a US government in order that he not pay taxes was dangerous, unhealthy and now prophetic.

The writer Travis Corcoran, self-described as libertarian (now more posh, anarcho capitalist without millions), employee of an unnamed US agency, veteran,

advocate of the return of chattel slavery (popular opinion in the US with prison labour to be supplemented by forced labour prisons for the ICE detained and the unhoused, including poor Van and RV citizens and children. With their poverty now criminalised, I see no pathway to their release.

Given that these are being designed to include special furnaces for disposal of biologicals, the disappearances of thousands already, no objection by either Party, US history, the suggestion having been offered by a Republican candidate for federal office in 2010 with no scandal, a Fox news presenter less than a year ago offering execution as an alternative and generational enslavement and\or Nazi population reduction seem on the cards.),

admirer of Putin (popular in the US which is surprising as Russia do have prison colonies with associated cruelties but no death penalty).

Travis and six patriotic fellows were outraged by my seeming defence of their democratic system. They spent almost a year and pages demanding my response. No mention of the book's overlooked qualities was made, though many thoughtful insights were gifted me.

Among things I had not known included that my refusal to engage was narcissism, slavery is a social good, white European men created all history, my intelligence was deficient, women readers have limited ability to understand "hard" science fiction and more.

Their generosity did not extend to an opinion on the spread of proto Indo-Aryan languages. i was disappointed. The levels of irony pained my poor communist soul.

Claes Rees Jr aka çgr710 now ka Clayton R Jesse Jr (now longer identifying as Nazi) delivered the final comment. After referencing the contents of my last message exchange with a Goodreads friend, he declared that They had "won" (?).

It developed that They had launched a year long flood of vile sexual, anti-LGBTQIA, racist and anti-socialist comments against channels which I mentioned. It continues still.

The economist, mathematician, historian, political commentator and other female creators were not impressed by what must have been a charm offensive..

Despite that, the global overabundance of unpleasantness was successfully increased and an accurate self-portrait of the snowflake (stupidly vicious, barely literate, emotionally stunted US man-child) was delivered to a multinational audience.

On balance, quite the Victory. If the least bit disturbed by the above, there are BookTubers to direct you to saner, safer, useful reader forums.

That comment stream was more intense but little different to other comment streams until the Australian intervention.


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Perimeter Institute, World Science Festival, AllShorts, ScaredKetchup, Steve Shives, Engineering with Rosie, Jesse Dollemore, Tom Powell, Fraser Cain, Stefan Milo, Peter Stefanovic, Military History Visualized, Paul Whitewick, Luke Sherlock,

Brothers Gwynne, Invicta, Atun Shei Films, Nomadic Crobot, Nikki Carreon, Chris and Shell, Answer in Progress, Epimetheus, Told in Stone, Jabzy, The People Profiles, Red Glasgow, aidan knight, Gittemary Johansen, Cruising on the Border.


Ominous music begins. 😊 The comment gangs are a feature of Goodreads. They are quite active in both speculative fiction and romance/romantasy spaces. Amazon do not discipline mental members, punish writers who organise Them or dismiss employees who enable both. The exception being if a reader should have issues with misogynistic, racist, ableist or other problematic elements, it is very possible that your review will be deleted as being the "Hate Speech". Very American.

My limited message history was given over to these madmen, which resulted in Australian Intelligence through a Pine Gap request interrogating the one friend whom I occasionally messaged. The attempt at my personal history failed.

Amazon was unresponsive until we began sharing our bizarre experience. In place of explanation or other, Amazon returned my page format and options to normal, masked all comments healthy and insane both, disappeared all Lurkers whom I had not been Allowed to remove, even stopped bricking my Kindle periodically, for kicks I imagine.

I did receive a notification that Kindle no longer support Goodreads and icon was removed. I am much relieved. 😀

I suggest several precautions. Remove any personal information from profile and avoid the messaging. Remove the lurker, those who never post. They are likely gang monitors or employee dummies.

With the Goodreads penchant for Altering customer pages, screenshots of the odd, ugly and threatening are invaluable.

If you own a Kindle, things become interesting. Do Not use Kindle Files, Contacts, Calendar or Email. Kindle Sign Into customer emails without notice or permission. Make of that what you will.

Do Not purchase Amazon ebooks, as you own only the device (if Kindle, even that is conditional). Your purchases may be deleted at whim. If pirchased download titles immediately. There are YouTubers to guide you to alternative ebook and tablet vendors as well as alternatives to ebook purchase altogether.

Silk searches should of course, be non-critical and innocuous.

Any temporary immunity rests on the whims of seriously damaged employees. These employees and crazed members both, embrace no non-Randian morality, have contempt for their fellows/customers and are US patriots with all that implies. Elbows Up! Ominous music ends. 😊

Be safe and may we all discover Good Reading. 🤗

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I began spending time on YouTube a bit more than 4 years ago, searching for useful science fiction commentary. I found those channels and also quickly became a fan of educational, hobby, essayist and lifestyle videos. After discovering Lindsay Ellis 😍, I accidentally found my first book channel. 😍 The book channels host communities of thoughtful readers, enamoured of all things bookish and are very different to whatever Goodreads have become.

Some of my favourite YouTube channels.
National Centre for Military Intelligence, Russian Media Monitor, Ash L G, Sabine Hossenfelder, Maggie Mae Fish, Some More News, Oceanliner Designs, Novara Media, Tom Nicholas, EarleWrites, TVP News, Kiko1006 - Empire of Angels, What Vivi did next, J Draper, Planet D, Odin's Call, Literary Archaeology,

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I wish you a splendid morning, a fantastic afternoon, a cosy evening, a pleasant night and may we all continue learning.

If Another speaks for you, Adopt their sins.
My Grandmother

[Andrew Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a few chapters into reading this book I was going to abandon it. However on recommendation I persevered and am pleased I did. I found elements of the writing infuriating, including switching between code names and real names of characters mid page. This made it hard to keep track sometimes and to identify who is who.

However, it's a fun sci-fi story and I really liked all of the military training chapters.

[Joan]

DNF at Chapter 7

Alpha Male with big gun. ;)

Not rating.

[Chris Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little put off by the fact this series has something like ten books in it. Why does everything have to be so long? Why can't anybody just tell a story? Is the single novel a lost art?

So, I gave it a shot anyway. It started out very promising, but got a little boring during the basic training phase. I love military science fiction and many of them have a boot camp phase that manages to be interesting. This one wasn't.

The story wasn't bad, but I don't know that it's worth ten books.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book with a solid ending.

[Ron Maglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I basically picked this one up out of the blue, I was getting a little tired of what I've been reading and wanted something fresh but also still wanted to have space battles. The pacing was fine, quite fine but the order of certain things were flipped. Not bad, not out of place... just didn't expect to get the bottcamp chapter so late in the book, but I guess that's the point of the next book in the series.


Maybe I just like the fresh perspective, of the writing through a different author after reading a lot of Jack Campbell and B.V. Larson books as well as his collaborations with David Vandyke. What I liked about this book is how it kinda reminded me The Phoenix proejct. The way that our character ends up in a situation where he didn't plan to be in this job or role but he is the man which Gotham needs.



The application of technology is reasonably accurate. The only big annoying mcguffin, or whatever you call completely non-existent technology is the presence of intertial dampeners. The reason I got into reading scifi books was the lack of real inertial dampeners in The Hyperion Cantos, it's an obstacle which most authors care not to impose on themselves and thier universes. This book is no different in that regard, but the inertial dampeners are still not as strong as ones found in the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars. Their intertial dampeners handled a lot. Inversely, on The Expanse, they have no inertial compensation. They have to design their ships like skyscrapers with engeines at the base. In this unierse there exists cocktails to allow a body to sustain high-g forces in craft which accelerate and maneuver too aggressively for inertial dampers.



The pacing, what they mention early and how it relates and rewards one for paying attention later in the book. Maybe I just like the newness of reading this series but so far I'm still curious what comes after the current round of tribulations being within the scond book. This first book, Genesis sets the stage and establishes the cast of characters whose names continue to matter.


At the end of Genesis, we are left with a mystery which will not yield any more answers until we pick up the Nemesis. Still, I find it very cool how they got to where they are. The idea of a space Ark, the way that each wave of people who wake up are there to pave the way for the next group until all colonists are awaken. With lss than 1/10th of group being thawed, the colony still has the option to pack up and try another world if this one proves to be too hostile or inhospitable.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would probably be a good book for the right reader. The writing was good, e.g., the opening paragraph gave a lot of background succinctly and sparked interest.
But my interest quickly flagged. We started with the trope of the hero who gets in a lot of trouble, not through his own fault, and a superior saves his butt by spiriting him off to some special mission. Once we get to the new planet, we have loads of descriptions of the new planet and lots of action and the hero making others angry by showing his wonderful skills, etc. The hero has a very short fuse and is not very likable, just always right....
I got totally bored just over 1/3 of the way through. I think something more interesting MIGHT happen eventually, but I got tired of waiting.

[Jason Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing Premise

Great opening act to a military, exploration, colony novel, with a twist. I don't want to give the story away because it is fresh and unexpected and works better if you don't know what's coming, so I don't want to ruin it for you by discussing plot points, but I will say, I want more. If your reading this and considering reading this book, and you like military themed Syfy, do yourself a favor and give this book a shot.

Jason Rose (Author of the Knight Advocate: Arcane Justice series)

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The voice performance was not my favorite and maybe that influenced my enjoyment of the story, but I didn't think the book was that great. It's only the beginning of a series, but I have no interest in continuing. The characters were mediocre and the plot was slow and not even very present. There was a lot of regurgitated training ploys and character characteristics, etc. I imagine the series was fun for the author to write, but I guess it's not as fun for all readers.

[Fred Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story about a top operative who is snuck onto a century ship and wakes up at a different planet after a 200 year journey.

On the new planet are mysteries galore and a hidden message from Earth that senior officials are keeping secret.

Lots of action on the planet with an enemy animal of high intelligence.

A GREAT start to the series

[Terry Bollinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicely done military-team sci fi

I'm an avid long-term fan of the Silver Ships series. This is the first series I've found that promises to capture many of the same elements that I value in that series. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure American Cheese, in a good way.

I like it. It's like reading Starship Troopers instead of watching it.
I have to say, I'm not sure the author was going for this though.

[Nick Affolter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Nothing ground breaking here but a fun read. Characters are decent, story is slightly predictable, yet it adds up to being worth your time if you like the genre. Simplistic, yet enjoyable.

[Jennie-Lee~abookishwonderer~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Don Viecelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Book Review Number 184:

This review is on Genesis, First Colony - Book One by Ken Lozito. This is the second book I have read by this author. It is a Military Science Fiction story with intense military action scenes, deep space travel and first human colony survival adventures.

The story opens with a space freighter approaching a large civilian space station called Chronos Station with a secret squad of black ops military soldiers no one outside NA Command knows exist. They are part of a Ghost squad led by Colonel Connor Gates sent on a mission to destroy the head of a vast crime family known as the Syndicate.

The Syndicate ignores Earth’s R&D accords and experiment on human subjects with little regard for human life. They are ruthless and operate above the law. NA Command has been trying to locate the head of the organization and eliminate him or her. Colonel Gates has tracked the organization for years and believes the head of the organization is based on Chronos Station.

As to be expected, the mission goes sideways and horrific damage is done to the civilian population, which is entirely blamed on Colonel Gates. It becomes necessary to find a place to send Gates and his men to avoid capture. The perfect solution is found.

The next thing Colonel Gates remembers is waking up in cryostasis from a deep sleep. He is on another spaceship many light years from Earth. At first Gates thinks he has been captured by the Syndicate, but gradually understands he is on the first Earth Colony Ship sent to a distant solar system and planet.

The rest of the story revolves around Gates using his military skills to find his place in the new colony and help the colony survive numerous dangerous situations. The situation becomes even more desperate when the colony learns the fate of Earth and the chance that someone may be coming to finish them off.

I give this book Four Stars because the story is suspenseful and entertaining. The main characters are well developed with some in serious conflict with each other. The plot is well thought out, but somewhat slow to develop in sections. The dialogue and writing style are good. The science is believable. I look forward to reading the next book in this eight book series.

Keep reading good science fiction and let me know when you find an interesting novel or author.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been reading SF for about 60 years. I don't know if that long exposure has jaded my opinion of more recently written SF, but it does provide perspective. After completing this book, I had to ask myself: What was new or surprising? The answer, unfortunately, was nothing. In order to get a feeling for how to review a book like this I read some of the reviews already posted by others on Goodreads. Rather than start with the always praise heavy 5 star reviews, I started with the very few 1 and 2 star reviews to see what disappointed those readers. [If you read the reviews of SF books on Goodreads, you will find as I have that the percentage of these 1 and 2 star reviews are remarkably constant at around 1 & 3%, respectively.] The criticisms raised by these unfavorable reviews were nearly always on point, if not sometimes a bit obsessive. I would have given this book a lower star rating if I had been as disappointed as they were, but I was willing to finish the book to find out how the final crisis was resolved.

This is an easy reading introduction to a multi-volume military space opera. I agree with the lower rated reviews in that the author does not spend any time describing the new planet or fleshing out any of the main characters. I was initially impressed with the "jumping into the fire" first few pages of the book, but in doing so the author raised many disturbing and unanswered questions about that opening action. I hate loose plot points, and those unanswered questions haunted me for the rest of the book. [for example: If the protagonist told no one outside of his men of his plan to raid the space station, then how did the bad guys know he was coming weeks in advance?] And the bulk of the book was just the run-of-the-mill boot camp training for new recruits; nothing new or novel there. And the cliff-hanger ending was to be expected for the introduction to a multi-volume military space opera, but the premise of the cliff-hanger was hard to swallow.

[David H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My young son got me this book and the sequel for Father's Day, and it's one of the first books he's gotten me as a gift so I'll treasure it for that purpose.

It's an interesting start to this series, where a black ops soldier is screwed on a mission and a friend/mentor stashes him away on Earth's first interstellar ship, where he wakes up on a new world and has to find a new place for himself. It did end up being a page-turner for me, as I enjoyed reading about Connor bringing his skills and expertise to a world that apparently needs it, including a fun training section, and some fun action scenes and mysteries. It's clearly a book 1 in a series, so it has a lot of setup that's meant to be explored (hopefully) in future books.

However, the writing feels rather stilted, so I always felt like I kept reading in spite of the prose, and some of the military culture aspects didn't ring true (from reading other reviews, I gather the author is not a veteran--this isn't a drawback as an author, exactly, but it does mean certain aspects felt cartoonish (I'm thinking of the nicknames scene at the camp)). During the failed mission in the beginning scene, literally millions of people die, and uh, Connor doesn't seem to react to that fact at all?

I'll probably read the next book (since I have it already from my kid), but unless there are massive improvements, this doesn't seem like a series I'll read all 20+ books of.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genesis is a simple but enjoyable novel. It feels like I had finished the book before the story really got started. This is more than likely because the author had many sequels planned.

The technology describe is not outlandish and believable. That being said the distance that the Arc travels from earth in the given time frames see a little off.

While enjoyable escapist reading there was nothing in the book that made be laugh out loud or get overly excited. I missed this.

I am still looking forward to reading the next installment.

[Stefanos Kouzof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice series. Not completely military sci-fi, but nicely written and well thought out. Much better than the usual run-of-the-mill series out there. Not that it couldn't be better, but good nonetheless.