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Colony Mars #1
Colony One Mars
An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
All contact is lost with the first human colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The fifty-four colonists who called it home are presumed dead.
Three years later, a new mission sets down on the planet surface to investigate what remains of the derelict site. But, it’s not long before they realise the colony is not as lifeless as everyone thought. Someone is still alive -- hiding out somewhere.
Yet, before they can find the elusive colonist a strange illness starts to affect the crew. Pressure now mounts on Biologist, Dr. Jann Malbec, to locate the source and find a way to fight it. However, as she investigates she begins to suspect a dark and deadly secret lurking within the colony. A secret that threatens not just the crew but the entire population of Earth.
With limited resources and time running out, she must find some answers and find them fast. Because if she doesn't, none of them will be going home.
All contact is lost with the first human colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The fifty-four colonists who called it home are presumed dead.
Three years later, a new mission sets down on the planet surface to investigate what remains of the derelict site. But, it’s not long before they realise the colony is not as lifeless as everyone thought. Someone is still alive -- hiding out somewhere.
Yet, before they can find the elusive colonist a strange illness starts to affect the crew. Pressure now mounts on Biologist, Dr. Jann Malbec, to locate the source and find a way to fight it. However, as she investigates she begins to suspect a dark and deadly secret lurking within the colony. A secret that threatens not just the crew but the entire population of Earth.
With limited resources and time running out, she must find some answers and find them fast. Because if she doesn't, none of them will be going home.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 16, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 591 reviews
November 21, 2017
Humans traveling to Mars hardly seems like science fiction anymore. It seems within the realm of possibility, just a matter of time. Probably, and I think that is why these stories are so interesting, so entertaining. I was surprised at how good this book was. Much like Andy Weir’s The Martian in the sense that it was well written, and with enough technical description to make it believable. But this one comes with a little more intrigue, mystery, and action. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.
January 31, 2022
It's suppose to be a sci-fi suspense type of novel. The storyline seemed like a great thing, however, after reading it it's not as remarkable as I hoped. Still a decent slow burn read, but not many exciting twists or turns to keep you completely interested the whole time. Decent, at best, is the word I would use for this book. Majority of this book was pretty slow. Story started picking up around chapter 23. The last few chapters made the book worth reading, in my opinion.
August 24, 2017
So... In fairness, I didn't realize this was horror/sci-fi, and expected a more straight up sci-fi.
That said, it's very possible to create a horror sci-fi work that features an intelligent plot and characters. This book features neither of those things.
The basic plot makes a few leaps here and there, but I guess in retrospect that's kind of forgivable - it serves the story. Take the illness that's central to the story - it infects one crew member immediately, while the others experience no issues. And the eventual attempt at explanation is lousy and nonsensical.
But the characters... They're dumb as stumps. From the first officer who just wants to murder everyone who shows any signs of illness - even before they realize that there IS an illness. Or the doctor whose only unique identifier is that he's Italian and loves espresso. The characters just stumble from one stupid decision to the next - and yes, a story can be based on reasonable characters making dumb choices. But stupid characters (especially ones who are highly educated, highly trained astronauts) just doing stupid things is just lousy and lazy writing.
On the plus side, the audiobook was only about 5 hours, so I didn't exactly waste a TON of time on this...
That said, it's very possible to create a horror sci-fi work that features an intelligent plot and characters. This book features neither of those things.
The basic plot makes a few leaps here and there, but I guess in retrospect that's kind of forgivable - it serves the story. Take the illness that's central to the story - it infects one crew member immediately, while the others experience no issues. And the eventual attempt at explanation is lousy and nonsensical.
But the characters... They're dumb as stumps. From the first officer who just wants to murder everyone who shows any signs of illness - even before they realize that there IS an illness. Or the doctor whose only unique identifier is that he's Italian and loves espresso. The characters just stumble from one stupid decision to the next - and yes, a story can be based on reasonable characters making dumb choices. But stupid characters (especially ones who are highly educated, highly trained astronauts) just doing stupid things is just lousy and lazy writing.
On the plus side, the audiobook was only about 5 hours, so I didn't exactly waste a TON of time on this...
November 12, 2016
Great great idea, terribly executed. Horrible prose and dialogues.
April 14, 2018
3.0 Stars
The premise was fantastic, but unfortunately the actual story was lackluster with flat, forgettable characters.
The premise was fantastic, but unfortunately the actual story was lackluster with flat, forgettable characters.
July 19, 2020
Review for the whole series.
It's more like 1.5. As I always say in reviews of longer series, the world-building is usually not the problem. I enjoy delving into a new world and discovering whatever it has to give the reader. It's most likely you will find fault with the dialogue, the characters or the plot. The dialogue in this series is absolutely horrendous. It feels like the product of incest between B-rated action movie lines and those self-indulging thoughts you have when you think you're the greatest thing to be born on Earth since sliced bread. The characters are not particularly well developed and having to constantly be served narrator interjections on behalf of the character - to explain to me, the reader, what the character is/believes/feels/wants - instead of letting the character subtly give off these things, is very tiring. In any case, if you need a fast, unproblematic read to fill in time, this serves well enough.
It's more like 1.5. As I always say in reviews of longer series, the world-building is usually not the problem. I enjoy delving into a new world and discovering whatever it has to give the reader. It's most likely you will find fault with the dialogue, the characters or the plot. The dialogue in this series is absolutely horrendous. It feels like the product of incest between B-rated action movie lines and those self-indulging thoughts you have when you think you're the greatest thing to be born on Earth since sliced bread. The characters are not particularly well developed and having to constantly be served narrator interjections on behalf of the character - to explain to me, the reader, what the character is/believes/feels/wants - instead of letting the character subtly give off these things, is very tiring. In any case, if you need a fast, unproblematic read to fill in time, this serves well enough.
June 17, 2018
poor
some very unlikely stuff mixed in with bad science. Little chatacterisation and lots of cliche. typical much hyped sf kindle rubbish. better than some, but still not very good. I read the plot - in better books - before.
some very unlikely stuff mixed in with bad science. Little chatacterisation and lots of cliche. typical much hyped sf kindle rubbish. better than some, but still not very good. I read the plot - in better books - before.
May 12, 2024
Writing style is like it's written by a middle schooler.
June 30, 2022
There is something about stories that focus on colonizing the solar system that always excite me. Mars has been an interest of mine since I first picked up Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars and I’ve enjoyed a wide range of other Mars-based stories over the years from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, to Ian Douglas’ Semper Mars, to more recently, S.J. Morden’s One Way. Gerald Kilby’s Colony One Mars has a lot in common with the best of these tales. There’s a mystery at the heart of the story, serious threats to the survival of the astronauts, and some decent characterization to ground the story around people we quickly come to like.
The mystery is what happened to the previous colony—that is, the Colony One of the title. A private corporation (COM) had set up the colony and then in one of Mars horrendous sandstorms, all contact was lost and everyone was presumed dead. Except, maybe they aren’t all dead and the colony infrastructure is not in nearly as bad a shape as the astronaut expected.
The astronauts, by the way, are not part of COM—except for one unidentified traitor whom we learn early on is actually on COM’s payroll as a double agent. So, the astronaut’s don’t know that the colony was actually set up to run illegal experiments on humans. This is unfortunate, because the results of those experiments still exist in the colony and cause much of the drama in the book. One of the astronauts is quickly infected with something and the results are…bad.
Overall, this is a tense story about survival that I enjoyed very much. I do have a couple of quibbles. The main character, Jann, is constantly referred to as undertrained for the mission with some astronauts outright saying she doesn’t belong. I thought this was both unrealistic and unnecessary. Why on earth send an untrained person to Mars? There would have been plenty of backup people ready to fill in if a slot unexpectedly opened due to illness or accident.
Also, Jann especially, doesn’t think about communications very much and it’s unrealistic. She’s attacked by the infected crewmember and just runs away never thinking to warn people about what she’s just experienced. And when she does finally reach the others, they choose to believe that she is the one having the break down, not the person who was made ill during the search of Colony One. I just didn’t think that made sense, but once we get past that part of the story, things pick up nicely again.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
The mystery is what happened to the previous colony—that is, the Colony One of the title. A private corporation (COM) had set up the colony and then in one of Mars horrendous sandstorms, all contact was lost and everyone was presumed dead. Except, maybe they aren’t all dead and the colony infrastructure is not in nearly as bad a shape as the astronaut expected.
The astronauts, by the way, are not part of COM—except for one unidentified traitor whom we learn early on is actually on COM’s payroll as a double agent. So, the astronaut’s don’t know that the colony was actually set up to run illegal experiments on humans. This is unfortunate, because the results of those experiments still exist in the colony and cause much of the drama in the book. One of the astronauts is quickly infected with something and the results are…bad.
Overall, this is a tense story about survival that I enjoyed very much. I do have a couple of quibbles. The main character, Jann, is constantly referred to as undertrained for the mission with some astronauts outright saying she doesn’t belong. I thought this was both unrealistic and unnecessary. Why on earth send an untrained person to Mars? There would have been plenty of backup people ready to fill in if a slot unexpectedly opened due to illness or accident.
Also, Jann especially, doesn’t think about communications very much and it’s unrealistic. She’s attacked by the infected crewmember and just runs away never thinking to warn people about what she’s just experienced. And when she does finally reach the others, they choose to believe that she is the one having the break down, not the person who was made ill during the search of Colony One. I just didn’t think that made sense, but once we get past that part of the story, things pick up nicely again.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
September 27, 2022
Colony One Mars was a surprisingly entertaining read/listen. A friend send me a link to the official YouTube channel and there i found whole series of well written, and well narrated books to listen for free!. Nice. And it's good. I ploughed through book one and am already an hour into Colony Two Mars.
There is action and drama aplenty. The characters aren't particularly deep and the neither is their development, but good enough to get lost int eh story. The plot takes some very interesting turns, ESP by the second book.
I foresee myself reading all of Mr Kilby's books before too long.
There is action and drama aplenty. The characters aren't particularly deep and the neither is their development, but good enough to get lost int eh story. The plot takes some very interesting turns, ESP by the second book.
I foresee myself reading all of Mr Kilby's books before too long.
March 3, 2019
This is a jaunt into the future of Martian exploration in which the plot hinges around the time it takes to get from one planet to another, and the cost of sending expeditions. The plot would be in the space between where The Martian ends and Red Mars begins with a healthy dose of Silent Running (for those of you who read/ watch lots of SF). A first colony was sent but some mysterious malady overtook them and the transmissions went dark.
A new team has been sent to find out what happened and whether any research data is salvageable. The senders are a mix of private enterprise and state bodies, the requisite spy is aboard and we mainly follow a young woman botanist who isn't sure she's up to the job.
I was fine with the story until it turned into a haunted house tale, with the tiny team willingly making themselves vulnerable and fragmented, infected and careless. I'm just not into horror and others may enjoy it better for that reason. However, I kept reading and agreed that further stupidities might be the result of a lurking infection that runs people down just enough that their brains don't work as well as they should. Just having low blood sugar is quite enough for that to occur.
Not all questions are answered, but this may be because it's the first in a series. I would read more of the series, provided it was thriller rather than horror. This is an unbiased review.
A new team has been sent to find out what happened and whether any research data is salvageable. The senders are a mix of private enterprise and state bodies, the requisite spy is aboard and we mainly follow a young woman botanist who isn't sure she's up to the job.
I was fine with the story until it turned into a haunted house tale, with the tiny team willingly making themselves vulnerable and fragmented, infected and careless. I'm just not into horror and others may enjoy it better for that reason. However, I kept reading and agreed that further stupidities might be the result of a lurking infection that runs people down just enough that their brains don't work as well as they should. Just having low blood sugar is quite enough for that to occur.
Not all questions are answered, but this may be because it's the first in a series. I would read more of the series, provided it was thriller rather than horror. This is an unbiased review.
December 19, 2018
I want to finish this because I don't want another dnf. But yeah no. I'm stopping 70% in because I Really don't care what happens next. Flat characters, boring story, terrible science, poorly executed throughout. The only thing it got going for it was that it was short. But even that wasn't enough
June 29, 2025
Self published and poorly written. There are spelling mistakes and incorrect punctuation. The characters are flat and the author often brushes over things that require more detail and lingers on things that don’t. Fortunately it’s a short book.
March 7, 2017
Original and entertaining
Really good story, enjoyed Gizmo. Getting ready to read the second in the series. Will definitely follow this author in the future.
Really good story, enjoyed Gizmo. Getting ready to read the second in the series. Will definitely follow this author in the future.
March 6, 2025
Entertaining science fiction/adventure novel. Just enough to keep me interested and to move on to the next in the series.
August 4, 2021
This is the start of very good SF series with Shit Hits the Fan elements, clear, uncomplicated and interesting plot. Some indearing characters too, both biological and mechanical, that you keep losing and getting back - kinda. Not wanting to spoil anything, you need to read the book to know what I mean. Excellent balance between interesting, convincing story on the one side and amount of details, number of characters and depth of complications on the other.
August 25, 2024
**minor spoilers**
The writing is pretty god awful. I’m not sure how it gets so many good reviews. It feels like it was written by a high school student. Or maybe it was written by a high school student? In which case, it’s as good as you’d expect.
There are things about the book that I enjoyed, I guess, but everything plays out exactly as you expect it to. The characters are all doctors and engineers and scientists, yet they continuously do dumb shit that no person would ever do in their situation. Like when a psychotic person is trying to kill them and they… sit down to eat lunch. Or they finally capture him and have him restrained and then they CONTINUE TO LEAVE HIM COMPLETELY UNATTENDED.
Also, the writer continuously reminds you of things he’s told you earlier, as if he doesn’t trust you to remember something from a page or two prior - and when he does it, it’s almost verbatim. The dialogue between some of the characters back on earth is some of the worst I’ve read. It’s stiff and wooden and they say things to leave you, the reader, in suspense that they would never actually say in a private conversation with a co-conspirator.
Somewhere around the halfway mark, I was pretty sure I was going to throw in the towel but decided to push through. Now that I’m writing this, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I am about it. Anyway, you probably shouldn’t waste your time on this book. But who knows, maybe the series gets better? I don’t think I’ll bother finding out.
The writing is pretty god awful. I’m not sure how it gets so many good reviews. It feels like it was written by a high school student. Or maybe it was written by a high school student? In which case, it’s as good as you’d expect.
There are things about the book that I enjoyed, I guess, but everything plays out exactly as you expect it to. The characters are all doctors and engineers and scientists, yet they continuously do dumb shit that no person would ever do in their situation. Like when a psychotic person is trying to kill them and they… sit down to eat lunch. Or they finally capture him and have him restrained and then they CONTINUE TO LEAVE HIM COMPLETELY UNATTENDED.
Also, the writer continuously reminds you of things he’s told you earlier, as if he doesn’t trust you to remember something from a page or two prior - and when he does it, it’s almost verbatim. The dialogue between some of the characters back on earth is some of the worst I’ve read. It’s stiff and wooden and they say things to leave you, the reader, in suspense that they would never actually say in a private conversation with a co-conspirator.
Somewhere around the halfway mark, I was pretty sure I was going to throw in the towel but decided to push through. Now that I’m writing this, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I am about it. Anyway, you probably shouldn’t waste your time on this book. But who knows, maybe the series gets better? I don’t think I’ll bother finding out.
March 1, 2019
Colony One Mars is about a human mission to check what happened to the first human colony on Mars after it lost contact with Earth. Apart from the Hard SF bits it contains little of interest. It starts off as excellent Hard SF but the hard classification seems more and more questionable as the story develops. Kilby just manages to rescue it all at the end, an end that comes very quickly after some 3 hours reading.
A good work of hard SF for the first half but dropping to 4 stars or lower after that. Clearly Colony One Mars is a nice read for anyone liking hard SF but it's hard to see anything of general interest in the book.
A good work of hard SF for the first half but dropping to 4 stars or lower after that. Clearly Colony One Mars is a nice read for anyone liking hard SF but it's hard to see anything of general interest in the book.
June 22, 2018
An interesting and engaging book. It went along at a good pace, some of it was slightly predictable but I didn't mind that, I thoroughly enjoyed it, just wish it was a longer book and a bit more in-depth, it made for an easy read. I think I'm going to have to read the second one now. (and the third and the fourth I expect!)
September 16, 2017
2.5 Stars
I thought the book was interesting enough and I paid full attention to about 75%. I don't know why, but I lost interest towards the end. I love watching scifi thriller movies but maybe a book isn't for me.
I thought the book was interesting enough and I paid full attention to about 75%. I don't know why, but I lost interest towards the end. I love watching scifi thriller movies but maybe a book isn't for me.
September 25, 2024
Just what I needed...a fun thriller! Though this was on the shorter side at 242 pages, it packed a big punch. I flew through it. Not as in depth as say a Michael Crichton or James Rollins, but the elements that I enjoy about both of those authors were there. A colony on Mars - wiped out. A new mission. Possible mass extinction. Intrigue. Thrills. Just in a shorter package. I am curious as to where the other books might take us. Book one wrapped things up enough to not be a cliffhanger, however, I have suspicions about where it left us. My biggest complaint, as with most of these types of books, is the "humans destroying the Earth" propaganda. It would be nice if we could all get past these tropes and come up with a more imaginative premise. Thankfully, I can roll my eyes and continue on, and this book didn't have it smashed in your face like others I've read.
July 20, 2018
Beach read
The story has so many plot holes that it's more hole than plot. The writer has a great premise but he's not clear in his own mind apparently about the background. The organizations and the original colonists are thin and cartoonish. The Mars mission, first and second don't seem to have a clear purpose. There isn't any timeline to put any story element into perspective.
The characters are flat as one review pointed out. The characters have some real flaws, which makes the story just readable. Some of the characters are awful people but all of the characters are either over eager amateurs or just incompetent. Even then, the lack of caution is hard to believe. The end game of the corporate sponsors isn't really explained.
They know about an infection caused by their scientists, who either without sufficient caution accidentally released the bacteria or purposefully released it to destroy the colony presumably before they returned to Earth. The corporation wants their agent who is infected, to return to Earth with the infection which is super-contagious and expect to profit from a worldwide, deadly outbreak or what? Unless they can destroy the ISA spaceship, they can't stop the disease because all landing and processing on return in handled by the ISA. That's a weird plot hole as big a a Mars lander.
The crew experienced the disease and couldn't bring themselves to take real precautions, especially the doctor. 24 hour monitoring of the captain (there's a cool little robot doing that task for the whole colony, already). Following and/or monitoring the crew person with the next highest level of infection as she mysteriously occupied herself with preparations to destroy the colony and return to Earth. Not asking to speak to ISA controllers on her miraculously operational radio themselves. Instead the doctor wants the other survivors to play nice with her (I think he actually used those words). Way to go doctor and way to go other survivors. Anyone connected with this Mars story must have had their instinct for self preservation turned off in training. Not that the corporate side has more going for it.
The COM failing because of lack of audience share is simplistic and if it were an U.S. firm vaguely possible. But a European Corp being that shortsighted with tens of billion?, hundreds of billion? euros doesn't seem plausible.
The Corp can't think of any way to generate more income, really? The only real cost to maintain the colony would be resupply flights but it's not clear that that was done more than once. Even then, the secret and illegal? research that corps paid a very hefty price to carry out, would have paid for it or them. If these corps wanted the use of the colony facilities, but didn't pay the going rate, the COM just wouldn't have launched those scientists (if no profit, then no ride).
If a movie sells twice as many billions from licensing as the hefty profits generated by the movie itself (Star Wars), tell me they at least sold model landers and spaceships. Action figures of the expedition officers, at least. Novels about the expedition and why not a TV show, movie series and more. We nerds will glue ourselves to the live feed but the rest of us will watch the movie eight times, if it's any good. The writer's imagination is pretty flat in this area as much as the others.
So you have a cliche of explorers surprised and betrayed by their corporate masters in pursuit of? All of the betrayal being carried out under the noses of governmental oversight organizations. The language use, action descriptions and dialogue aren't bad but the story has no substance. No characters to develop, no plot to keep much interest and a background too simplistic to fire the imagination.
Get a good beach umbrella, put on the suntan lotion, watch your significant other or beach hard bodies and read until you doze off. It's not unpleasant and won't make you feel guilty that you didn't finish War and Peace.
The story has so many plot holes that it's more hole than plot. The writer has a great premise but he's not clear in his own mind apparently about the background. The organizations and the original colonists are thin and cartoonish. The Mars mission, first and second don't seem to have a clear purpose. There isn't any timeline to put any story element into perspective.
The characters are flat as one review pointed out. The characters have some real flaws, which makes the story just readable. Some of the characters are awful people but all of the characters are either over eager amateurs or just incompetent. Even then, the lack of caution is hard to believe. The end game of the corporate sponsors isn't really explained.
They know about an infection caused by their scientists, who either without sufficient caution accidentally released the bacteria or purposefully released it to destroy the colony presumably before they returned to Earth. The corporation wants their agent who is infected, to return to Earth with the infection which is super-contagious and expect to profit from a worldwide, deadly outbreak or what? Unless they can destroy the ISA spaceship, they can't stop the disease because all landing and processing on return in handled by the ISA. That's a weird plot hole as big a a Mars lander.
The crew experienced the disease and couldn't bring themselves to take real precautions, especially the doctor. 24 hour monitoring of the captain (there's a cool little robot doing that task for the whole colony, already). Following and/or monitoring the crew person with the next highest level of infection as she mysteriously occupied herself with preparations to destroy the colony and return to Earth. Not asking to speak to ISA controllers on her miraculously operational radio themselves. Instead the doctor wants the other survivors to play nice with her (I think he actually used those words). Way to go doctor and way to go other survivors. Anyone connected with this Mars story must have had their instinct for self preservation turned off in training. Not that the corporate side has more going for it.
The COM failing because of lack of audience share is simplistic and if it were an U.S. firm vaguely possible. But a European Corp being that shortsighted with tens of billion?, hundreds of billion? euros doesn't seem plausible.
The Corp can't think of any way to generate more income, really? The only real cost to maintain the colony would be resupply flights but it's not clear that that was done more than once. Even then, the secret and illegal? research that corps paid a very hefty price to carry out, would have paid for it or them. If these corps wanted the use of the colony facilities, but didn't pay the going rate, the COM just wouldn't have launched those scientists (if no profit, then no ride).
If a movie sells twice as many billions from licensing as the hefty profits generated by the movie itself (Star Wars), tell me they at least sold model landers and spaceships. Action figures of the expedition officers, at least. Novels about the expedition and why not a TV show, movie series and more. We nerds will glue ourselves to the live feed but the rest of us will watch the movie eight times, if it's any good. The writer's imagination is pretty flat in this area as much as the others.
So you have a cliche of explorers surprised and betrayed by their corporate masters in pursuit of? All of the betrayal being carried out under the noses of governmental oversight organizations. The language use, action descriptions and dialogue aren't bad but the story has no substance. No characters to develop, no plot to keep much interest and a background too simplistic to fire the imagination.
Get a good beach umbrella, put on the suntan lotion, watch your significant other or beach hard bodies and read until you doze off. It's not unpleasant and won't make you feel guilty that you didn't finish War and Peace.
February 17, 2023
Poveste clasică: în urma unei furtuni de nisip, Pământul pierde legătura cu singura colonie marțiană, așa că trimite un echipaj care să stabilească ce s-a întâmplat. Oare acești șase membri ISA vor sfârși înghițiți de tăcerea radio ca restul coloniei sau vor reuși să dezgroape la propriu secretele guvernamentale ale cercetărilor genetice care se petreceau pe Planeta Roșie în secret? pam-paaam-PAAAAM
Despre Gerald Kilby, care se auto-descie ca scriitor de science fiction, nu se știu prea multe, în afara faptului că este un avid fan SF și că locuiește în Dublin. A scris deja mai multe opere și are vreo trei serii SF începute (Colony Mars având deja 6 romane). Se pare că s-a auto-publicat, dar la scurt timp a fost preluat de Audible (lucru oarecum ciudat, deoarece majoritatea audio-cărților sale pot fi accesate gratis pe canalul său de youtube) și a ajuns best-seller certificat pe Amazon. În orice caz, efortul său literar cu această primă carte din seria Marte este unul industrial, opera fiind alcătuită din clișeele tipice unui film SF prost, cu personaje din carton (atât ca profunzime dar și caracterizare), capitole stilizate, tăiate parcă la șablon, descrieri statice, dialoguri neinspirate și o intrigă care chiar dacă se desfășoară rapid, nu poate susține atenția cititorilor pe o perioadă prea îndelungată, esența însăși a cărții find inexistentă. Dar, probabil există și o nișă pentru ce oferă autorul, dovadă fiind numeroasele recenzii și aprecieri pozitive. Cu toate că dacă te concentrezi puțin, cartea ar putea la fel de bine să fie scrisă de ceva AI.
Despre Gerald Kilby, care se auto-descie ca scriitor de science fiction, nu se știu prea multe, în afara faptului că este un avid fan SF și că locuiește în Dublin. A scris deja mai multe opere și are vreo trei serii SF începute (Colony Mars având deja 6 romane). Se pare că s-a auto-publicat, dar la scurt timp a fost preluat de Audible (lucru oarecum ciudat, deoarece majoritatea audio-cărților sale pot fi accesate gratis pe canalul său de youtube) și a ajuns best-seller certificat pe Amazon. În orice caz, efortul său literar cu această primă carte din seria Marte este unul industrial, opera fiind alcătuită din clișeele tipice unui film SF prost, cu personaje din carton (atât ca profunzime dar și caracterizare), capitole stilizate, tăiate parcă la șablon, descrieri statice, dialoguri neinspirate și o intrigă care chiar dacă se desfășoară rapid, nu poate susține atenția cititorilor pe o perioadă prea îndelungată, esența însăși a cărții find inexistentă. Dar, probabil există și o nișă pentru ce oferă autorul, dovadă fiind numeroasele recenzii și aprecieri pozitive. Cu toate că dacă te concentrezi puțin, cartea ar putea la fel de bine să fie scrisă de ceva AI.
March 20, 2018
Weak Story, Low Brow Plot, and Poor Writing Skill Set
“Colony One Mars (Colony Mars Book 1),” authored by Mr. Gerald M. Kilby, has a weak story, very low brow plot lines, and poor writing skill set in execution.
The story takes place in the near future, where 3 1/2 years after a Mars colony of 50 or so colonists have been lost, a survey crew of six are sent to investigate. Satellite imagery during breaks in prolonged sandstorms, had shown bodies strewn outside the facilities, damage to habitats, and some modules missing. A cryptic transmission sent before full loss of contact, indicated a pathogen was causing violent, homicidal rages, and abruptly broke off. Following landing, the six (6) survey crew members, march off to the colony, enter the main dome, take off their EVA suits and investigate.
The kernel of a story - Mars colony, total wipeout of colonists,
undisclosed info on a corporate genetic research project - may have been pedestrian and formulaic, but with some intelligence, imagination, creativity, and decent writing, doable. The author was not up to the heavy lifting required. A few examples follow:
[Spoilers Ahead]
Highly probable, indeed likely, as laid out prior to the landing, that the colony was infected by a pathogen - virus, bacteria, or environmental. Bodies, some missing limbs, are spotted and examined outside of the habitat. The crew enter the dome, visors go up, breathing atmosphere, while shortly later, EVA suits off because they’re getting too hot inside them. Ridiculous or dumb, each reader can make their own call. Some members begin to exhibit strange behavior, but no real concern. Movement is detected, possibly a survivor, but only lackadaisical interest. Feelings, emotions, are all important to the characters, not survival and reason. Smoking some primo, Mars “weed,” will even out their uneasiness. Compound fractures, broken ribs, collar bones no hindrance in Mars reduced gravity.
The author writes much of the narrative as if it took place in the past, Edwardian times, as opposed to the present or near future. “Nevertheless...,” “Nonetheless...,” “At least...,” “Of course...,” are a few of the incessant repetition of bad phrasing.
Overall, “Colony One Mars...,” is an example of a hobbyist author, striking out too soon into the commercial sphere. “Entanglement,” written by Mr. Kilby a few years after “Colony One Mars...,” is marginally better.
“Colony One Mars...(Book 1),” is not recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
“Colony One Mars (Colony Mars Book 1),” authored by Mr. Gerald M. Kilby, has a weak story, very low brow plot lines, and poor writing skill set in execution.
The story takes place in the near future, where 3 1/2 years after a Mars colony of 50 or so colonists have been lost, a survey crew of six are sent to investigate. Satellite imagery during breaks in prolonged sandstorms, had shown bodies strewn outside the facilities, damage to habitats, and some modules missing. A cryptic transmission sent before full loss of contact, indicated a pathogen was causing violent, homicidal rages, and abruptly broke off. Following landing, the six (6) survey crew members, march off to the colony, enter the main dome, take off their EVA suits and investigate.
The kernel of a story - Mars colony, total wipeout of colonists,
undisclosed info on a corporate genetic research project - may have been pedestrian and formulaic, but with some intelligence, imagination, creativity, and decent writing, doable. The author was not up to the heavy lifting required. A few examples follow:
[Spoilers Ahead]
Highly probable, indeed likely, as laid out prior to the landing, that the colony was infected by a pathogen - virus, bacteria, or environmental. Bodies, some missing limbs, are spotted and examined outside of the habitat. The crew enter the dome, visors go up, breathing atmosphere, while shortly later, EVA suits off because they’re getting too hot inside them. Ridiculous or dumb, each reader can make their own call. Some members begin to exhibit strange behavior, but no real concern. Movement is detected, possibly a survivor, but only lackadaisical interest. Feelings, emotions, are all important to the characters, not survival and reason. Smoking some primo, Mars “weed,” will even out their uneasiness. Compound fractures, broken ribs, collar bones no hindrance in Mars reduced gravity.
The author writes much of the narrative as if it took place in the past, Edwardian times, as opposed to the present or near future. “Nevertheless...,” “Nonetheless...,” “At least...,” “Of course...,” are a few of the incessant repetition of bad phrasing.
Overall, “Colony One Mars...,” is an example of a hobbyist author, striking out too soon into the commercial sphere. “Entanglement,” written by Mr. Kilby a few years after “Colony One Mars...,” is marginally better.
“Colony One Mars...(Book 1),” is not recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
July 8, 2024
This was awful.
I picked this up, surprised at how stellar the reviews were, and looking forward to a new sci-fi author and series. I could not be more disappointed.
Terrible dialogue, unbelievable character decisions (as in I don't believe anyone would act that way in these scenarios), and a backdrop without an ounce of science behind it.
Don't believe the star ratings; the reviews read as though written by AI, and the book could have been churned out better had the author used Chat GPT. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
The main character comes across as a dopey 'save me' girl who was a last second addition to the team, but we're given 0 reason to actually like this character, her personality, or her decisions.
The antagonists are transparently malicious, which ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS just take at face value. Oh, of course the director is acting whacky, and of course the second in command would just disappear for hours at a time and nobody would think anything of it.
The potentially interesting backdrop of a Mars community funded by reality TV that mysteriously imploded was totally wasted on trope characters, terrible dialogue (like, really, really, really terrible) and no depth.
I'd write more, but don't want to waste any more brain power on this awful book or series. Again. Avoid.
Gave it two stars only because I finished it.
I picked this up, surprised at how stellar the reviews were, and looking forward to a new sci-fi author and series. I could not be more disappointed.
Terrible dialogue, unbelievable character decisions (as in I don't believe anyone would act that way in these scenarios), and a backdrop without an ounce of science behind it.
Don't believe the star ratings; the reviews read as though written by AI, and the book could have been churned out better had the author used Chat GPT. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
The main character comes across as a dopey 'save me' girl who was a last second addition to the team, but we're given 0 reason to actually like this character, her personality, or her decisions.
The antagonists are transparently malicious, which ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS just take at face value. Oh, of course the director is acting whacky, and of course the second in command would just disappear for hours at a time and nobody would think anything of it.
The potentially interesting backdrop of a Mars community funded by reality TV that mysteriously imploded was totally wasted on trope characters, terrible dialogue (like, really, really, really terrible) and no depth.
I'd write more, but don't want to waste any more brain power on this awful book or series. Again. Avoid.
Gave it two stars only because I finished it.
February 28, 2017
It is not exactly fair to judge a book before finishing it but I will make an exception. I see that a lot of readers like this book. The reason why I stopped at around 40% was that I do not like horror science fiction. This story reminds me too much of many science fiction stories (books and movies) that use a science fiction setting to create a mystery thriller or horror story. And yes, it uses all the clichees and stereo types known from that genre of movies that it becomes way too predictable.
When I see that a story is about a colony on Mars my eyes get big and I think about settlers on Mars pulling on one string to survive by building Mars habitats. I think of scared settlers overcoming the challenges of living in a hostile enviroment.
I wanted to read a story about the triumph of human settlers on Mars.
So while that may seem a bit naiive to those of you who liked this book, it is what I was expecting when I saw a trilogy about a Mars colony.
When I see that a story is about a colony on Mars my eyes get big and I think about settlers on Mars pulling on one string to survive by building Mars habitats. I think of scared settlers overcoming the challenges of living in a hostile enviroment.
I wanted to read a story about the triumph of human settlers on Mars.
So while that may seem a bit naiive to those of you who liked this book, it is what I was expecting when I saw a trilogy about a Mars colony.
March 8, 2018
This book could have been reasonably interesting, but instead, it's chock full of technical errors, starting with the Mars landing sequence at the beginning of the book, and pretty much continuing throughout the book. NO space agency on Earth would EVER allow a space mission to be run the way this thing is supposed to be run. For example, would you send all six people in to explore the abandoned colony? Of course not! Would not provide them with rovers, forcing them to walk from their landing site to the abandoned colony? Of course not! Would you let them take off there helmets in an unknown and potentially dangerous atmosphere? Of course not! Would you let them wander around separately and not have constant communication with them? Of course not! And on and on and on..... I recently started dabbling in science fiction again, and this book is almost enough to make me reconsider that decision.
June 12, 2024
Great idea, a bit disappointing in execution.
Not as long, slow, or engineer-y as The Martian, Hail Mary or other Andy Weir books, though similar vibes.
I often want books to be shorter and think they could have edited out redundant sections, this is one of the instances where the book actually could have been much longer.
The story felt a bit rushed and characters flat without giving sufficient time for fleshing them out. The plot was easy to read and very quick, could have been drawn out more.
Despite the detractions, great concept (reflects Robinson Crusoe, but space) and looking forward to knocking out the next one and seeing if it develops a bit better as the story gains some heft.
Not as long, slow, or engineer-y as The Martian, Hail Mary or other Andy Weir books, though similar vibes.
I often want books to be shorter and think they could have edited out redundant sections, this is one of the instances where the book actually could have been much longer.
The story felt a bit rushed and characters flat without giving sufficient time for fleshing them out. The plot was easy to read and very quick, could have been drawn out more.
Despite the detractions, great concept (reflects Robinson Crusoe, but space) and looking forward to knocking out the next one and seeing if it develops a bit better as the story gains some heft.
April 19, 2018
The one thing this book has got going for itself is that it's short, just under six hours. The plot is super simple, which is also good. Characters: not so much. I have no astronaut aspirations and all my space knowledge comes from pop culture but I still find it VERY unlikely that people who are THIS big assholes would get through the astronaut vetting process? And that you can know each other this little after spending months together on a fucking spaceship. I don't buy it!!!
Will I still listen to the next two books? Yes, because they amount to like 12 hours, which is not a lot. And it's still Mars, and space, you know.
Will I still listen to the next two books? Yes, because they amount to like 12 hours, which is not a lot. And it's still Mars, and space, you know.
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