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They’ve spent years exploring this world, but they were living on borrowed time. Only they didn’t know it.

Six months ago, Connor learned what the alien race that populated New Earth feared—a mysterious enemy who nearly brought about the collapse of an entire civilization. To help the colony prepare for this new threat, Connor rejoins the Colonial Defense Force.

Using alien technology, Connor opens a gateway to another universe hoping to learn more about the threat. Instead, he receives a colonial distress beacon. Six months ago, they’d left people behind on a mission, all presumed dead. The beacon might be them, or it might be a trap, but Connor will not ignore the call for help.

Fearing the beginning of another war, the colonial government would rather do nothing than risk bringing attention to the colony, but it’s already too late. The colony stands upon a crossroads. Its future is uncertain. They’ll have to adapt if they’re to survive.

Vigilance is the seventh book in the bestselling First Colony series.

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 22, 2019

1126 people are currently reading
190 people want to read

About the author

Ken Lozito

61 books467 followers
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

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5 stars
1,017 (49%)
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777 (37%)
3 stars
224 (10%)
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25 (1%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
Profile Image for Mark Easter.
680 reviews11 followers
April 19, 2019
Yep. I get it. There are LOTS of technical problems with this series. A few that come quickly to mind as I write this include power generation for a multiverse gate, a few hundred thousand refugees from earth taking on a multiverse empire, taking battle fleet through a gate without knowing you can get back while leaving the home system pretty much unprotected from this empire of unknown but likely much greater power, lack of recon of new home planet, jada jada jada. Know what? I do not care. The story is engaging enough to keep me binging through seven straight books. As long as Ken keeps writing, I will keep reading.
Profile Image for Joe McGowan.
308 reviews3 followers
March 27, 2019
Book 7 and the series continues, honestly I was hoping that the author was ready to wrap it up. I’m on the fence about reading book 8, since there were several unresolved storylines.
Profile Image for Enzo.
927 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2023
I really like the First Colony series Connor and the folks from New Earth are really working hard to build a new start for humanity and they are not having it that easy. This new threat is not going to be fixed that fast and not without sacrifices. But Connor does not know the meaning of "quit".
His group of supporters is the best out there and together they hold the attention. Now new space Gates will help them in their defense of New Earth. But will they be able to develop the Gates in time?
Profile Image for Louise.
109 reviews
April 12, 2019
Wowzer

Another marvellous installment T from the fantabulous Ken! Intrigue, tech and disaster abound and fast, fast, fast pace! So fast I was horrified to be in deep and realise I was at 90+% of the book! WHAT!? KEN!!!!!! All I can say is you better be busy writing Sean out of trouble and helping Connor out because I CAN'T believe you left me hanging like that!
If you have NOT read Ken's books and you like Sci-fi, then you've been denying yourself a treat, and I highly recommend you overdo it on his Colony series AND his Ascension series! Enjoy!
Profile Image for Craig Dean.
541 reviews3 followers
March 5, 2021
Although I still really struggle with lack of justification for some of the tech, and the speed of its assimilation (“Oh here’s a multidimensional gate that isn’t a gate and we don’t really understand it but here’s a better version of it that only works when it suits the plot...”). The characters remain top notch and there’s just enough mystery to keep it engaging. Even here though one wonders if the author ever intends a payoff, and a lack of delivery would mark a real betrayal - ala the infamous GOT.
Profile Image for Jenn.
162 reviews3 followers
May 24, 2019
I don't usually know how to put to words how a book (or series) makes me feel. This series (so far) has been amazing. I can visualize the places described and feel like I know the characters well. I do know that I will probably cry when this series is eventually completed (hoping to have more books for awhile to come). Thank you to Ken Lozito for taking the time to write such a fantastic story.
Profile Image for Jim.
1,229 reviews50 followers
May 17, 2019
So Connor Gates and Sean Quinn have teams working on a land-base and space-based interdimensional gate. They believe these gates will lead them back to the Krake so they can get some desperate intelligence on their new enemy. Neither one of these projects are guaranteed to work, but if they can get them to seemingly work, General Gates and Colonel Quinn expect to take their respective forces with them through those gates. Why they would do this, not knowing that they even work, is something of a mystery.

Still, neither are willing to set back and wait for the Krake to appear around New Earth without knowing what they will be up against. So, it’s through the gates they go. General Gates’ forces don’t meet up with any resistance upon first entering the new dimension. The do find a Krake base and head towards it which happens to also be the source of a CDF distress beacon. They find the base destroyed and empty. There is also no sign of the missing CDF personnel until the scouts announce they have found another human built village not far from the Krake base. In it were the CDF survivors, barely alive, but surprisingly still alive.

General Gates intends to explore a little more after turning off the distress beacon. That turns out to be a mistake. From the surrounding jungle growth, things start emerging and they are not friendly things. They are huge and very deadly. They also aren’t easy to kill, but they can kill the CDF soldiers very easily and rapidly. General Gates orders a retreat back to the gate with all the wounded they can carry. Unfortunately, Sergeant Diaz, General Gates closest friend is grabbed by one of the monsters. Gate and his fellow soldiers fight a desperate action to retrieve Sergeant Diaz, but only after he’s been severely wounded. About two-thirds of General Gates’ original force make it back through the gate.

Out in space, Colonel Sean Quinn is taking his task force fleet through their space-gate. They transition successfully and try to determine where they are in relation to their previous interdimensional trip out near the planet Sagan. The do not encounter any Krake in their immediate vicinity, but they also find out that they are not where they should be. This isn’t the targeted dimension they expected to be in with their original calculations. Sending a drone back through the gate also revels that they don’t have the right calculations for their home dimension either. So, the first order of business, is to find out why their calculations were off so they can at least return to the right New Earth dimension—then the Krake show up!

Pretty good story all the way through. Why General Gates thinks he’s got to do all the exploring himself is beyond me. He might as well be a Lieutenant Colonel leading a battalion instead of a General who don’t just lead battalions. Apparently, he doesn’t have any competent subordinates that he trusts. At least his troops most all return to the right place and dimension after their unfriendly encounter. Not so much for Colonel Quinn and his fleet. They are now lost and have found what they were looking for, the Krake, but that might be too for them to handle.

The series will continue with book 8, but a title wasn’t provided. I’ll be watching for it.
752 reviews
April 24, 2019
Being aware of the full facts

In this continuing tale involving the colonists of New Earth, the main story evolves around the realization that the planet still had NEIIS individuals present but in stasis pods,and they were different types from military to scientists. A method of communication has been developed using tablets for translation, but like any translation program, there are levels to the meaning of the conversation. Plus it doesn't help that there 's a fraction of colonists who are developing a secret testing of the NEIIS for information about their technology because they don't trust the NEIIS and don't share any information with the Connor group, mainly because this group is anti-military. Plus there is the problem of a new enemy, the Krake, who have the capacity to travel through space via a space gate. Two versions of these space gates are reverse engineered -- one in space near their space station and one on the ground close to the one found accidentally underwater in the lake.. Noah is still in a coma but they are hoping that by helping the NEIIS find the medical treatments for overcoming the side effects of coming out of stasis pods,can be adapted to help Noah regain full use of his brain functioning.
Connor takes a ground force through the ground space gate to rescue the team sent in to follow up on a signal sent by a former comrade who had been thought dead. They found that the Krake had setup a trap but after Connor realized this, while rescuing the troops,he gave them back a counterattack as they retreated through the gate.
Sean takes a full battalion of ships through the space gate along with a portable gate since they don't know what coordination points to use and want to be able to open a gate themselves.. They go through the gate but find themselves in another space dimension, where the planet is in an ice age. Exploring the area around the moon, they find buildings which they explore but suddenly find themselves facing ships coming through a space gate to attack them so they attempt to go through this new gate but casualties occur including the loss of one whole ship and another which lost half the ship when the gate shut down as they tried to pass through.
This tale of the colony is not complete as we are left with several unsolved mysteries.
149 reviews2 followers
July 1, 2019
Fav a it

This is the first time I’ve written a review for this series. Check that. The first time in quite a while. I fell into a trap I usually try to avoid. I read a blurb on the book and thought it sounded interesting, so I went to order it and found that I already owned the first 4 books that I had purchased a couple of years ago. It was one of those situations where I had read them and found out there was more to come, hence the trap. I forgot about it and when I saw that there were 3 more books out I thought Cool. Now I find that there are more to come. Back where I started. I never buy the first book in a series cuz I know that I’ll be waiting months for the next one. It is a fantastic series which I personally think that I’d been happy if it ended after the first 3 books. Lord knows how long I’ll have to wait on the next book. Ken is an awesome writer and think he’ll be ranked up there with the best. Guess I’ll wait it out and hope I don’t forget about it. Keep up the good work.
Profile Image for Steven Brown.
396 reviews9 followers
January 6, 2020
Ken Lozito had gone 7 for 7 with great books that address quick reads.

Though I prefer books of more length this series has a nice balance in keeping the quality up will produce books at a fairly face pace. This is my second time through but first times eith book 7 and 8.

Book 7 keeps up a good pace without have a full on war. The book and the series stays true to it self and if you are not a fan of military science fiction with some humor, romance but most people trying to survive without losing their humanity then this book and series is not for you.

The book do get violent but never graphic. The content remains at around a PG 13.

Good stuff if you're into this sort of thing and maybe even if you're not. A good story is a good story and a break from the norm can be a breath of fresh air.
Profile Image for Iah.
447 reviews1 follower
July 24, 2019
My fave type of sci-fi , a colony world struggling to grow and find a way forward with the indigenous species. I'm not surprised the first instinct is to lock them up but there is no need to export usa intolerance to the galaxy!
I mostly enjoyed this half book I say that as so many storylines were not resolved if any, that it read more like half of a whole book.

I was also surprised by the seeming lack of communication between gate teams, and that the space team went through without sending a star charting probe or checking if they could come back. Especially as Sean says he is detail oriented! Ah well we suspend disbelief I guess. But I wish it was consistent with what's gone before and the people involved.

I will be reading book (8) tomorrow over my coffee as I did enjoy this.
Profile Image for Thomas James.
578 reviews12 followers
February 21, 2021
Seems Hopeless

Okay, I'm going to say right up front that this story did not capture my excitement as much as Lozito's previous six in this series. He named it "Vigilance" but more for their state of 'standing ready' in the face of an overpowering enemy than anything else. Kind of like Guard Duty or intelligence gathering: boring but necessary. This story ends on quite the 'cliff hanger". They are lost in an unknown universe with no idea how to get home and the enemy keeps trying to kill them with overwhelming power they don't understand. It seems hopeless. Many epics have these moments of complete despair followed by seemingly divine intervention for purposes seemingly unrelated to the plot.
94 reviews1 follower
April 18, 2019
Really great book and addition to the series. The story has a couple of predictable elements, but really interesting to go through. It unfortunately glossed over Connor's personal life a bit too much, as that is a story line that I bet a lot of people enjoy learning about. After all, he has gone through huge transformations over the time being in the colony. The other annoying thing is the people are so quick to worry about the next threat, they rush into it before they're ready, which of course happens again here. This is all nitpicking, but thoughts on the book.

I definitely recommend book 7, and with the cliffhanger it leaves you on, I can't wait for the 8th to come out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1,012 reviews4 followers
November 10, 2024
More questions than answers

This book is a very mixed bag of different situations. Connor, Sean and the other people in command of the CDF are being forced by circumstance to react instead of taking the initiative.
The situation with the alien NEISS is becoming untenable in the long run yet the colonists need to come to terms with them in order to learn more about the “Gate” tech. The original enemy is becoming more active so they have a time limit forced upon them if they want to mount an effective counter to them.
While not exactly a cliffhanger, the book ends rather abruptly.
Profile Image for Becca.
304 reviews
July 21, 2025
Let's be real. If you've made it to book 7 in this series, you like this series. It's not perfect--the alternate dimensions are getting goofy, the human villains are more caricature than people, the women are basically pin-up models with snark, but hey, I'm still reading it, aren't I?

This book keeps up the trend of fast-paced, easy to read, fun sci-fi. I'm currently at the end of how many I bought for a few bucks on the Audible sitewide sale, but I do think I'll keep going once I have more audible credits. Considering how deep in I am, I do care about Sean, Connor, and even Dash (I hate to admit how much he's grown on me).
Profile Image for Michael Bracken.
11 reviews1 follower
June 8, 2019
Series review

This is a great series, with a great plot line that could go a thousand creative directions instead of feeling linear and predictable. The first book and maybe even the second we’re a little rough due to limited characters, thin romance, and time jumping but the writer kept me hooked and starting with book 3 my only qualms were addressed and I was happy.

Great action, suspense, drama, plot, and pretty good romance (keeps you guessing and doesn’t dwell on it, making a part of the story, not the story itself.)
Profile Image for Su.
191 reviews
October 25, 2019
Another winner!

I absolutely love this series! It grabbed me with the first paragraph of the first book and it hasn't let go yet. One more book to go. I do hope it's not the last in the series! Sci fi books are really not my genre. I do love a good sci fi movie though. My interests go more to vampires, werewolves, and end of the world fiction. But this series popped up on my Kindle and it looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try. I am so glad I did! I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good read!
Profile Image for Lizzie.
373 reviews34 followers
February 12, 2020
I really liked the first three books. As the series progresses it has evolved into too many detailed battled and not enough plot moving forward. I would love to know the outcome of the many threads on the planet with the government and colonists, the NEISS, the aliens in the multiple universes - but after the last two books, I don't want to know it badly enough to wade through chapters of battles. For others, it may be of interest as I have not criticism of the author's writing in regards to the mechanics.
82 reviews3 followers
February 26, 2021
Enemies from without and within

Conner has to help his Neiis "friends" overcome stasis degeneration. Sean is fighting mthe mysterious Kraken in another universal getting lost going thru a stargate . And Lars and his mysterious supporters are trying to undermine Conner,s to effort to
Make the Neiiss into allies
So this is not the end, nor they beginning, and I hope that the begining of te end takes 3 or 4 more books. Very enjoyable. As a side order, will Sean and Orinna get together?
3 reviews
July 18, 2024
I started with book 1 and at book 8 now. Loving the “Foundation” and “Dune” series’s I thought to give this a go. The development of the characters is believable and the writing style fluid. I love the challenge to my imagination! Even so the description of the battles, military actions and technical development are (for me) a bit to much, more military and technical interested readers might enjoy. Personally I now skip through it as the story behind it keeps me interested enough to keep reading this series.
35 reviews3 followers
April 2, 2019
A cracker of a read.

Ken Lozito is a fantastic writer. He combines both a thrilling and perceptive insight into people and how they are able to overcome both dangerous and terrifying situations.
Having sci fi as a background you can introduce many new concepts of how people live, learn and love their compatriots and people around them.
I’ll always look forward to his next release.
Profile Image for Witzi.
872 reviews
February 1, 2023
Exciting fast tempo. Great solid Characters one might meet on the street and know them immediately! Former ghost Samson return. The use of the arch and gates is more difficult to transition than expected. Fleet of soldiers led by Sean Quinn is assigned back to answer distress beacon of soldier left behind. They find they are in alternate universe or maybe alternate time. The they are manipulated by the krake only to have 17 krake ships show up forcing Sean's hand.

Profile Image for John F. Wells Jr..
190 reviews1 follower
April 4, 2019
They can't catch a break.

Everyone seems to be up to their eyeballs in trouble no matter which way they turn. So Connor and the CDF have there hands full looking for Lars,Sean is in an unknown universe with a best up fleet,Noah is still no better and Dash is very busy. This series is st
Profile Image for Chuck Woodbury.
377 reviews
April 19, 2019
I love the first colony series. Good adventure, action, and characters I enjoy getting to know. Some books in the series are better than others but they are all a lot of fun. It is a space opera though so don’t expect anything to be tied up in a neat bow. It’s just another installment in a great storyline. I am interested in seeing where the author is going!
Profile Image for Shane.
631 reviews19 followers
April 22, 2019
While I enjoy the characters and the general plotlines (both major and minor) of this series, I don't like loose ends. Some authors like to think they are writing a 'cliff-hanger' ending to draw readers to the next book. Almost no one can write a good cliff-hanger, they are just a bunch of incomplete stories. This book was one big loose end.
3 reviews
April 27, 2019
Outstanding

Thank you very much, I enjoyed your books very much from the first page to the last it was very hard to put down for even a few moments. Keep up the outstanding work I look forward to reading many more. Thanks for many hours of enjoyment your books have provided..
I give the series a 5 star rating. Very Outstanding.
Profile Image for Linda.
492 reviews56 followers
July 16, 2019
Are you kidding? Lozito just got tired of writing and stopped. There was no wrap up of anything. I am baffled at the 4-5 star reviews as seeing how he only wrote half a book. At the very least, he could have called it part 1! I realize that Lozito has bills to pay like the rest of us, but this kind of bamboozling is just wrong.
295 reviews
August 22, 2019
Excellent, exciting sci fi series

Each book in this series lives up to the first. Well thought out characters draw you deeper into the story. It never gets old nor does it give the feeling the writer is hurrying to complete the book. I’m going to miss this series and all the characters too!
34 reviews
October 2, 2019
Great series

I've enjoyed the series thus far and hopefully it will continue. As with most series and most books there is a bit of down time where the story lags a bit. Don't let that stop you from continuing on with the book or the series. The books are well written and get right back on track quickly.

Nice job and continue the good work and best of luck to the author.
539 reviews3 followers
March 15, 2020
Back to what made the first books fun to read

The main characters showed the same tenacious attitude that have made the other books enjoyable to read. The addition of an outside unknown force driving the villains (the Krake) make this a more thought provoking story than the Venus plot line. Both are equally enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews

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