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The Forever #1-2
The Forever,Part 1, Books 1-2
Who is Jon Ryan? The Earth is doomed. Jupiter has been thrown out of its orbit and in less than a century it will collide with our planet. A desperate scheme is hatched. Jon, a fighter pilot, volunteers to be the first human to transfer to an untested android host. If Jon survives he can then endure the rigors of long space flights. He will search the nearby stars hoping to find humankind a new home. Can he succeed or will he become the sole survivor lost in space forever? A more important question is whether the galaxy is ready for Jon Ryan. Probably not. Poor aliens. You have to feee kind of sorry for them.
This brilliant first installment of The Forever pairs the best selling The Forever Life and The Forever Enemy. The book is designed to accompany the audiobook version published by Podium Publishing and performed by the outstanding actor Scott Aiello.
This brilliant first installment of The Forever pairs the best selling The Forever Life and The Forever Enemy. The book is designed to accompany the audiobook version published by Podium Publishing and performed by the outstanding actor Scott Aiello.
618 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 17, 2018
134 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Craig Robertson
75 books174 followers I claim three great accomplishments in my life: my family, my medical career, and my writing. They are in, I am certain, their proper order. My family, includes my perfect wife Karen, my wonderful children (adults now) Chris and Kim, my sweet grandson Jonathan. And now you! From family, I draw strength, love, and meaning. What humbling gifts. I am almost as proud of my incredible career as a physician (no, not that I'm incredible, it's that the journey was). I'm an Internest and have worked in ER's, hospitals, clinics, homes, and most places between. What a rush! When I say it's an honor and a privilege to be a doctor, I truly mean it. My writings, provide me a powerful creative outlet and so warms my soul directly. In my wilder dreams, I hope my writing is of sufficient merit and so benefit you too in an impactful manner.
Know me by what I love: Dickens, Orwell, and Bradbury; Milton, Donne, and Blake; Coltrane, Davis, and Desmond; Picasso, Michelangelo, and Renoir; Astronomy, Biology and Geology; Doctor Who, Star Trek (original TV), and Doctor Who (yeah, I love it that much); Avedon, Doisneau, and Arbus; burger and fries, coc au vin, and pizza-pizza-pizza. Have I left anything important to me out? Just one, the most important: God. I'm an ex-Catholic wondering if churches are device of men and are necessary at all. More importantly, I wish I spent more time seeing His wonder in the world (I'm not evangelizing, just passing along info; this is a bio, n'est pas?). Oh, and this has never come up, but there used to be a series of magazine ads where sexy looking people were asked a series of questions about what they liked. A standard query was: "What's your favorite word?" So, this really stuck with me (I know, I need to get out more, don't I) and now I can tell someone, you, my favorite word. Oneself! I love it. It means 'on your own' right, but it also refers to the elf you own! Brilliant word. Now, where'd I put that elf.......
Know me by what I love: Dickens, Orwell, and Bradbury; Milton, Donne, and Blake; Coltrane, Davis, and Desmond; Picasso, Michelangelo, and Renoir; Astronomy, Biology and Geology; Doctor Who, Star Trek (original TV), and Doctor Who (yeah, I love it that much); Avedon, Doisneau, and Arbus; burger and fries, coc au vin, and pizza-pizza-pizza. Have I left anything important to me out? Just one, the most important: God. I'm an ex-Catholic wondering if churches are device of men and are necessary at all. More importantly, I wish I spent more time seeing His wonder in the world (I'm not evangelizing, just passing along info; this is a bio, n'est pas?). Oh, and this has never come up, but there used to be a series of magazine ads where sexy looking people were asked a series of questions about what they liked. A standard query was: "What's your favorite word?" So, this really stuck with me (I know, I need to get out more, don't I) and now I can tell someone, you, my favorite word. Oneself! I love it. It means 'on your own' right, but it also refers to the elf you own! Brilliant word. Now, where'd I put that elf.......
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 27, 2018
Okay, this is a tough one to rate. I would go for 2-2.5 stars, except for a few things. So here we are.
At first, this book felt like it would be a good, somewhat silly rompy sci-fi novel to follow on the heels of something I listened to that was way too boring and plodding. I knew getting into it this that "The Forever" would probably be a dumb and pulpy read, in that sense. And indeed: the science fiction is quite a bit on the soft end, though lightspeed and similar are at least played to in the start. However, the main character quickly encounters advanced civilizations who play the "indistinguishable from magic" card. So, I thought, it's that sort of sci-fi, fair enough. Again, it can still have a fun romp quality to it.
I expected the story to get going....and there were some interesting elements to it, but largely the main character just fell from one situation to the next, consistently helped along by deus ex machina, and then touting himself as hot stuff, preeminently clever. But, it can be fun to have a book where you roll your eyes at the main character.
Then, we get to the second "book" in this two parter. The editing begins to feel more slipshod, including one plot device in which characters chance to dig up an artifact on a random planet (after only a few months there) that happens to be exactly related to the other ancient aliens the character found on an entirely different random planet. It is naturally the perfect artifact to solve all their problems. We seem to be quickly building towards an even softer and sillier sci fi universe. Bad guys begin to get extremely mustache-twirly. Okay, so it's a book that parodies sci-fi tropes? Fine.
Meanwhile, the true downfall of the whole book, and the thing that brings it from okay to downright bad. The main character is an ass and a smart aleck, and that's okay. But, he also begins to be portrayed as a complete idiot, evoking the sort of humor that the office was famous for (and which I unfortunately do not find funny at all), which is the cringe-inducing sort. The purposeful idiotic behavior or ignorant behavior of a character in order to make the audience groan and go "oh, how can he be so stupid!" This is....dumb to say the least. Here is the character held up as reasonably intelligent at first, but then acting like an idiot whenever it suits the author's need to have a patsy. Finally, the treatment of women. The main character is at first portrayed as the sort of captain Kirk womanizer, where a few women and aliens happen to throw themselves at him because, who knows? Well, whatever, so it goes in sci-fi. But, quickly, that same cringeworthy humor comes into play, and the MC is constantly cracking jokes about "Women, am I right?" "The same throughout the galaxy." The MC begins to act like a child with his family, both wife and kids. This is too much, and the author's portrayal of other female characters makes me concern that this is a portrayal of real views, and not some parody (absent, but for the main one that fits all his stereotypes, and one or two others that get about a minute of screentime each, and are absolute one-note characters. Even the madam president of the UN does nothing useful in the book, and immediately turns to our idiot MC for help).
Anyway, book bad, rompy but takes it too far, 'humerous' but takes it to the child level quite quickly, 'exciting' but stabs all suspension of disbelief in the back before too long, and contains everything I find most repugnant about this sort of "elbow your neighbor, eh, eh?" gender sterotyping. If those downsides sound like things you can regularly look past, go for it. For me, I tried, but it took me out of the story far too easily, at least in the half of the book where there still was some.
At first, this book felt like it would be a good, somewhat silly rompy sci-fi novel to follow on the heels of something I listened to that was way too boring and plodding. I knew getting into it this that "The Forever" would probably be a dumb and pulpy read, in that sense. And indeed: the science fiction is quite a bit on the soft end, though lightspeed and similar are at least played to in the start. However, the main character quickly encounters advanced civilizations who play the "indistinguishable from magic" card. So, I thought, it's that sort of sci-fi, fair enough. Again, it can still have a fun romp quality to it.
I expected the story to get going....and there were some interesting elements to it, but largely the main character just fell from one situation to the next, consistently helped along by deus ex machina, and then touting himself as hot stuff, preeminently clever. But, it can be fun to have a book where you roll your eyes at the main character.
Then, we get to the second "book" in this two parter. The editing begins to feel more slipshod, including one plot device in which characters chance to dig up an artifact on a random planet (after only a few months there) that happens to be exactly related to the other ancient aliens the character found on an entirely different random planet. It is naturally the perfect artifact to solve all their problems. We seem to be quickly building towards an even softer and sillier sci fi universe. Bad guys begin to get extremely mustache-twirly. Okay, so it's a book that parodies sci-fi tropes? Fine.
Meanwhile, the true downfall of the whole book, and the thing that brings it from okay to downright bad. The main character is an ass and a smart aleck, and that's okay. But, he also begins to be portrayed as a complete idiot, evoking the sort of humor that the office was famous for (and which I unfortunately do not find funny at all), which is the cringe-inducing sort. The purposeful idiotic behavior or ignorant behavior of a character in order to make the audience groan and go "oh, how can he be so stupid!" This is....dumb to say the least. Here is the character held up as reasonably intelligent at first, but then acting like an idiot whenever it suits the author's need to have a patsy. Finally, the treatment of women. The main character is at first portrayed as the sort of captain Kirk womanizer, where a few women and aliens happen to throw themselves at him because, who knows? Well, whatever, so it goes in sci-fi. But, quickly, that same cringeworthy humor comes into play, and the MC is constantly cracking jokes about "Women, am I right?" "The same throughout the galaxy." The MC begins to act like a child with his family, both wife and kids. This is too much, and the author's portrayal of other female characters makes me concern that this is a portrayal of real views, and not some parody (absent, but for the main one that fits all his stereotypes, and one or two others that get about a minute of screentime each, and are absolute one-note characters. Even the madam president of the UN does nothing useful in the book, and immediately turns to our idiot MC for help).
Anyway, book bad, rompy but takes it too far, 'humerous' but takes it to the child level quite quickly, 'exciting' but stabs all suspension of disbelief in the back before too long, and contains everything I find most repugnant about this sort of "elbow your neighbor, eh, eh?" gender sterotyping. If those downsides sound like things you can regularly look past, go for it. For me, I tried, but it took me out of the story far too easily, at least in the half of the book where there still was some.
August 16, 2021
I read the Ryanverse series a bit out of order. I read the Galaxy On Fire series (Ryanverse 2) first, as I didn't realize it was part of a larger universe. Going back and reading this, I finally get a lot of the references from Galaxy On Fire.
This is a "fun" sci fi series, that doesn't take itself too seriously. The science is plausible enough to not be too far fetched, but futuristic enough to make the story work. It's just best not to think too much about it.
The story revolves around a human (Jon Ryan) who becomes a robot to find a new Earth for humans to go to, when the earth is on Jupiter's hit list.
The main character is fun, in a snarky sarcastic way. He is also prone to mood swings and is quick to anger. For all the "testing" was was implied by the lead up to him becoming a robot, he doesn't seem overly stable, personality wise. He is, however, mostly likeable and has good intentions, even if he is flawed.
Secondary characters include a moody AI, an alien female, the creator of the robot bodies and a meriad of antagonists. None of these characters are all that well fleshed out. They are often 1 note creatures. The doctor is ALWAYS the voice of reason and maturity, the female alien is always about family and duty. The AI is always about being immature, the evil human is always about sleeze and corruption, the alien blimps are superiority and condescendion. There are reasons and influences that go into the characters being like this, but all sense of nuance is lost. We, unfortunately, spend far too long with the antagonists POV. I feel too much time with the bad guys causes them to loose their impact. Every entry of them should be shocking and dangerous, not "oh them again, what bad behavior are they up to this time?"
And that is the biggest flaw of these books, the antagonists don't go away. Conflicts never go away or get resolved, they just keep going. What, I would prefer would be, for an enemy to be defeated, or situation resolved and move along to another conflict, or obstacle. What this book felt like, however, was an episode of Inspector Gadget, where Dr. Claw is fleeing away at the end saying "I'll get you next time, Gadget! NEXT TIME!"
The voice narration, by Scott Aiello, is first rate as always. He has a wide range of voices, does a passable female voice and brings life to the story.
All in all, this is a good book. It's fun and funny. It doesn't take itself too seriously but also thinks about science in a semi-plausible way. However, the story never really grows and we just face the same issues over and over again. The characters are interesting with indept back stories , but are a bit 1 dimensional. It's good, but it's not great.
+++ minor spoilers +++
I know Jon said he wouldn't use the Vortex Manipulator, for his wife. But he could have spent 10ish years ferrying the colonists to new earth and saved them all from a prison sentence, stuck on a colony ship for the rest of their lives. It was kind of a S****y thing to do. He could have then just grabbed his family and went to a new planet, if they didn't want to share.
This is a "fun" sci fi series, that doesn't take itself too seriously. The science is plausible enough to not be too far fetched, but futuristic enough to make the story work. It's just best not to think too much about it.
The story revolves around a human (Jon Ryan) who becomes a robot to find a new Earth for humans to go to, when the earth is on Jupiter's hit list.
The main character is fun, in a snarky sarcastic way. He is also prone to mood swings and is quick to anger. For all the "testing" was was implied by the lead up to him becoming a robot, he doesn't seem overly stable, personality wise. He is, however, mostly likeable and has good intentions, even if he is flawed.
Secondary characters include a moody AI, an alien female, the creator of the robot bodies and a meriad of antagonists. None of these characters are all that well fleshed out. They are often 1 note creatures. The doctor is ALWAYS the voice of reason and maturity, the female alien is always about family and duty. The AI is always about being immature, the evil human is always about sleeze and corruption, the alien blimps are superiority and condescendion. There are reasons and influences that go into the characters being like this, but all sense of nuance is lost. We, unfortunately, spend far too long with the antagonists POV. I feel too much time with the bad guys causes them to loose their impact. Every entry of them should be shocking and dangerous, not "oh them again, what bad behavior are they up to this time?"
And that is the biggest flaw of these books, the antagonists don't go away. Conflicts never go away or get resolved, they just keep going. What, I would prefer would be, for an enemy to be defeated, or situation resolved and move along to another conflict, or obstacle. What this book felt like, however, was an episode of Inspector Gadget, where Dr. Claw is fleeing away at the end saying "I'll get you next time, Gadget! NEXT TIME!"
The voice narration, by Scott Aiello, is first rate as always. He has a wide range of voices, does a passable female voice and brings life to the story.
All in all, this is a good book. It's fun and funny. It doesn't take itself too seriously but also thinks about science in a semi-plausible way. However, the story never really grows and we just face the same issues over and over again. The characters are interesting with indept back stories , but are a bit 1 dimensional. It's good, but it's not great.
+++ minor spoilers +++
I know Jon said he wouldn't use the Vortex Manipulator, for his wife. But he could have spent 10ish years ferrying the colonists to new earth and saved them all from a prison sentence, stuck on a colony ship for the rest of their lives. It was kind of a S****y thing to do. He could have then just grabbed his family and went to a new planet, if they didn't want to share.
February 29, 2024
The Forever by Craig Robertson
Is by far the best science fiction I have ever had the pleasure of reading! Or in this case listening to, bar none! Usually my go to genre of choice is horror, but I’ve been known to crossover into the starry depths of the unknown from time to time. Looking for answers as to what lies beyond the horizons of our boundaries. Is there life outside of what we know to exist? Are there other people like us, or are there monsters?
Not all sci-fi books are stuck heavily on the science end of it. I like the kind that have just enough science to get you off of this rock and far enough into space where we can adventure to other worlds and find those answers. Where we can begin those crazy scary new adventures easily enough. Understanding that warp drive and dilithium crystals work together to bend the time space continuum to warp the space around us so that our trip will only take 5 years instead of 500 years. Naming people, places, and things something we can actually pronounce unlike some of those hardcore sci-fi/fantasy books with names that have more consonants than vowels leaving you staring at the book for minutes on end trying to figure out how to pronounce the entity’s name until you throw the darn thing across the room in frustration. Craig Robertson doesn’t do this to us. He knows how to write such adventures. And oh my goodness does he do it with flair and style and a large amount of comic relief. Did I mention this book is hilarious as well as exciting? 😂
You’ll be able to get a wonderful synopsis and book description simply by looking this title up at Amazon or Audible. I found out about this amazing book through Audible Originals. I’d downloaded it when it was free and promptly forgot it. It wasn’t until last week that I’d noticed an expiration date highlighted in red under the title, (when I was conveniently searching for a new book) oops! So I had a week to start and finish a 17 hr book and I did it! It was easy to do because I was that enthralled with it! I finished today and I recommend audio, the story is awesome and the narrator is pitch perfect!!
https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Life-B...
Imagine a rogue planet the size of Jupiter speeding through our solar system with no abandon. On a reckless coarse through our galaxy it will enter our solar system and come close enough to our own planet Jupiter to throw the planet out of its orbit around the sun sending Jupiter flying off like a billiard ball toward Earth.
Humanity has 97 years left.
Meet Jon Ryan…
Oh and there are monsters in space.
Is by far the best science fiction I have ever had the pleasure of reading! Or in this case listening to, bar none! Usually my go to genre of choice is horror, but I’ve been known to crossover into the starry depths of the unknown from time to time. Looking for answers as to what lies beyond the horizons of our boundaries. Is there life outside of what we know to exist? Are there other people like us, or are there monsters?
Not all sci-fi books are stuck heavily on the science end of it. I like the kind that have just enough science to get you off of this rock and far enough into space where we can adventure to other worlds and find those answers. Where we can begin those crazy scary new adventures easily enough. Understanding that warp drive and dilithium crystals work together to bend the time space continuum to warp the space around us so that our trip will only take 5 years instead of 500 years. Naming people, places, and things something we can actually pronounce unlike some of those hardcore sci-fi/fantasy books with names that have more consonants than vowels leaving you staring at the book for minutes on end trying to figure out how to pronounce the entity’s name until you throw the darn thing across the room in frustration. Craig Robertson doesn’t do this to us. He knows how to write such adventures. And oh my goodness does he do it with flair and style and a large amount of comic relief. Did I mention this book is hilarious as well as exciting? 😂
You’ll be able to get a wonderful synopsis and book description simply by looking this title up at Amazon or Audible. I found out about this amazing book through Audible Originals. I’d downloaded it when it was free and promptly forgot it. It wasn’t until last week that I’d noticed an expiration date highlighted in red under the title, (when I was conveniently searching for a new book) oops! So I had a week to start and finish a 17 hr book and I did it! It was easy to do because I was that enthralled with it! I finished today and I recommend audio, the story is awesome and the narrator is pitch perfect!!
https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Life-B...
Imagine a rogue planet the size of Jupiter speeding through our solar system with no abandon. On a reckless coarse through our galaxy it will enter our solar system and come close enough to our own planet Jupiter to throw the planet out of its orbit around the sun sending Jupiter flying off like a billiard ball toward Earth.
Humanity has 97 years left.
Meet Jon Ryan…
Oh and there are monsters in space.
June 25, 2020
My thoughts
I really enjoyed the Forever Life book. I demolished it in one day. The humor between Jon and Al was sharp, witty and made the book more enjoyable for me. I came across a few issues. The story in chapter 14 threw me off to the point that I asked Craig to shed some light. He stated ,“Hey there! The part about the original Jon Ryan meeting Indigo?” Then the Epilog telling of Jon's death and family. Here’s my understanding. When Jon was uploaded into the android bio mind, in the Prelude, Jon Awakes and noticed the empty chair, that his physical body was in. I was under the impression that Jon’s physical body was lost dead, FUBAR. I derived at that conclusion from John Scalzi Old Man's War. Finally, the story, witty one liners and the beautiful relationship of the crew was the cream from me. I only ask that Craig Robertson would try not confuse his readers.
I really enjoyed the Forever Life book. I demolished it in one day. The humor between Jon and Al was sharp, witty and made the book more enjoyable for me. I came across a few issues. The story in chapter 14 threw me off to the point that I asked Craig to shed some light. He stated ,“Hey there! The part about the original Jon Ryan meeting Indigo?” Then the Epilog telling of Jon's death and family. Here’s my understanding. When Jon was uploaded into the android bio mind, in the Prelude, Jon Awakes and noticed the empty chair, that his physical body was in. I was under the impression that Jon’s physical body was lost dead, FUBAR. I derived at that conclusion from John Scalzi Old Man's War. Finally, the story, witty one liners and the beautiful relationship of the crew was the cream from me. I only ask that Craig Robertson would try not confuse his readers.
October 1, 2024
Pretty interesting worldbuilding so far. I liked the characters and general plot revolving around the destruction of Earth. As I have read the Bobiverse series, it is hard to not call this a bit dry and tame on the SF front comparatively... so far anyway. There is certainly room for it to grow over 4 more books.
The ending of this book 1-2 did disappoint a bit though. The chapters leading up to the end were very brief and rushed aspects I'd have liked explored in at least some detail. Also the setup for book 3-4 it provides is a bit meh. I'm not sure how the author plans to pull more out of this thread, but I suspect moving on to something new would have been wiser. I guess we'll see where it goes 🤷♂️. I certainly plan to continue on with the series.
The ending of this book 1-2 did disappoint a bit though. The chapters leading up to the end were very brief and rushed aspects I'd have liked explored in at least some detail. Also the setup for book 3-4 it provides is a bit meh. I'm not sure how the author plans to pull more out of this thread, but I suspect moving on to something new would have been wiser. I guess we'll see where it goes 🤷♂️. I certainly plan to continue on with the series.
March 18, 2020
Ruined an entertaining storyline
The author mistakenly believes his current day political views are too important to be left out of a piece of science fiction written for a timeline a hundred or so years in the future. His views are not relevant to the storyline, actually detract from the story itself, and are just low grade USA bashing. The result is a much less readable book. Good luck with the rest of the books sales, I won’t be buying any. Not recommended.
The author mistakenly believes his current day political views are too important to be left out of a piece of science fiction written for a timeline a hundred or so years in the future. His views are not relevant to the storyline, actually detract from the story itself, and are just low grade USA bashing. The result is a much less readable book. Good luck with the rest of the books sales, I won’t be buying any. Not recommended.
February 18, 2024
It was ok. The first book was more a 3(I like it). The second book brought it down to a 2(its ok). The writing tends to be very smooth but little inconsistencies add up. The MC is supposed to have gone through the astronaut program and have a degree in Physics yet he constantly acts like an idiot. He made 1st contact with multiple species of aliens all while seeming to be playing it by ear. His overconfidence in multiple situations could have been chalked up to an imperfect copy to the android but I feel like that would just be lazy writing.
The book was not bad and I may someday actually continue the series just because I want to see a resolution to the unrealistic bad guy that MC gives far to many chances to.
The book was not bad and I may someday actually continue the series just because I want to see a resolution to the unrealistic bad guy that MC gives far to many chances to.
March 19, 2024
I was lucky to find this while it was stil,in the Audible plus section ( but We have since bought it because my son didn��t finish it in time and was enjoying it.)
An unexpected pleasure…. Even though it’s not my most read genre…I was hooked from the start and enjoyed both part 1 and 2.
Great narration
An unexpected pleasure…. Even though it’s not my most read genre…I was hooked from the start and enjoyed both part 1 and 2.
Great narration
August 5, 2018
Damned grammar & spelling mistakes, only to be expected in a cheap kindle copy, couldn't spoil this funny yet exciting book.
October 24, 2018
I love sci-fi that doesn't take itself too seriously.
April 16, 2019
This great. It's got everything; apocalypse, Androids, snarky ai's, spaceships, space battles, elder all-knowing species, and a good bit of humor.
July 27, 2023
Serviceable fluffy sci-fi. The audiobook narrator made this more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.
August 2, 2023
Great book, just my kind of sarcasm
February 17, 2024
This was so much fun. Space Opera at its finest.
Fast, Funny, Fulfilling.
Fast, Funny, Fulfilling.
December 24, 2019
I thought that this was a fun, exciting and Very Readable Novel. Number two awaits.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews