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The Colony #2
The Rage Colony
In a secret society where human medical experimentation is conducted at any cost...
There are bound to be mistakes.
Behind the protective walls of the Colony...
Layla is growing restless. The Colony is filled with secrets, and James has been keeping her in the dark. So when a woman from her youth opens a crack into her past, Layla discovers everything she believed about the Colony has been a lie—even the baby she carries.
Burdened with an unnerving pregnancy and tormented by terrifying hallucinations and blackouts, she sets out to uncover the unspeakable truths inside the Colony’s walls.
Outside, in the poisoned world...
The virus has killed millions and devastated the economy, but investigative reporter Nick Slater is determined to find and expose the illegal biohacking ring that’s snatching young people from the impoverished streets.
When he’s framed for arson and forced into hiding, his only chance of getting the story is to join the unsuspecting victims herded onto buses and swept off into the night.
As Nick risks his life barreling toward the truth and Layla struggles to constrain the invasive life growing inside her…
A new, evolved breed of humans is about to be unveiled.
"A gripping — at times, terrifying — story that moves at the speed of light with clever and crafty characters whose motives and allegiances make it exciting to decipher the good guys from the bad. Hunt knows how to keep a story moving, finishing so many chapters with the type of jaw-dropper that compels you to keep going without a break." --BookTrib
"An involving, twisty, and well-written thriller that’s both thought-provoking and entertaining ... The tale closes with some very unexpected surprises for readers, giving a huge boost to the story’s overall intrigue." --Kirkus Reviews
"Hunt has written a chilling dystopia ... The plot never lags, moving quickly from one shocking discovery to the next ... This well-written medical mystery, combining the best elements of thriller and sci-fi, is perfect for fans of twist endings and moral quandaries."--BookLife
There are bound to be mistakes.
Behind the protective walls of the Colony...
Layla is growing restless. The Colony is filled with secrets, and James has been keeping her in the dark. So when a woman from her youth opens a crack into her past, Layla discovers everything she believed about the Colony has been a lie—even the baby she carries.
Burdened with an unnerving pregnancy and tormented by terrifying hallucinations and blackouts, she sets out to uncover the unspeakable truths inside the Colony’s walls.
Outside, in the poisoned world...
The virus has killed millions and devastated the economy, but investigative reporter Nick Slater is determined to find and expose the illegal biohacking ring that’s snatching young people from the impoverished streets.
When he’s framed for arson and forced into hiding, his only chance of getting the story is to join the unsuspecting victims herded onto buses and swept off into the night.
As Nick risks his life barreling toward the truth and Layla struggles to constrain the invasive life growing inside her…
A new, evolved breed of humans is about to be unveiled.
"A gripping — at times, terrifying — story that moves at the speed of light with clever and crafty characters whose motives and allegiances make it exciting to decipher the good guys from the bad. Hunt knows how to keep a story moving, finishing so many chapters with the type of jaw-dropper that compels you to keep going without a break." --BookTrib
"An involving, twisty, and well-written thriller that’s both thought-provoking and entertaining ... The tale closes with some very unexpected surprises for readers, giving a huge boost to the story’s overall intrigue." --Kirkus Reviews
"Hunt has written a chilling dystopia ... The plot never lags, moving quickly from one shocking discovery to the next ... This well-written medical mystery, combining the best elements of thriller and sci-fi, is perfect for fans of twist endings and moral quandaries."--BookLife
425 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2020
116 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
March 1, 2023
Well, this duology was a wild ride. The Rage Colony is a very morally grey ending to the story, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
A few random thoughts…
- Allison/Layla was much less annoying on a personal level in this book…in The Pain Colony, I wanted to physically shake Allison every time she refused to realize that Austin had set her up to take his fall. He was brutally using her, and she was blubbering in her alcohol about how much he really loves her, he does! She’s grown a lot (in a weird, creepy brainwashed way.)
- Didn’t expect “the virus” to be exactly what it turned out to be. After nearly three years of COVID irl, it’s easy to assume every pandemic is alike. God help us if we ever have to experience a pandemic like this one 😖
- James got away with what he did way too easily. He experimented on vulnerable and sick young people, bred babies to be hosts for old people in mid-life crises, and genetically engineered eugenics super-soldiers. And after helping to create a plague that decimated the globe, he gets a slap on the wrist, because he decided to work on a cure to fix what he created?? Yeah. I’m still pissed off 😬😆
A few random thoughts…
- Allison/Layla was much less annoying on a personal level in this book…in The Pain Colony, I wanted to physically shake Allison every time she refused to realize that Austin had set her up to take his fall. He was brutally using her, and she was blubbering in her alcohol about how much he really loves her, he does! She’s grown a lot (in a weird, creepy brainwashed way.)
- Didn’t expect “the virus” to be exactly what it turned out to be. After nearly three years of COVID irl, it’s easy to assume every pandemic is alike. God help us if we ever have to experience a pandemic like this one 😖
- James got away with what he did way too easily. He experimented on vulnerable and sick young people, bred babies to be hosts for old people in mid-life crises, and genetically engineered eugenics super-soldiers. And after helping to create a plague that decimated the globe, he gets a slap on the wrist, because he decided to work on a cure to fix what he created?? Yeah. I’m still pissed off 😬😆
May 29, 2021
Another disappointing read. The characters were all “cartoon cliches” of good, bad, evil, controlling.
Wasted time.
Wasted time.
November 2, 2020
Wow. Another excellent book by Shanon Hunt. After reading The Pain Colony, I couldn't wait to continue the story with this book. And boy, did it not disappoint. Gripping, suspenseful and once more, a shocking discovery toward the end that I didn't see coming. Great book by a truly talented writer.
November 18, 2020
Interesting conclusion
Interesting conclusion to the two book series. Not really sure if the story came to an actual close, but it was good none the less.
A bit surreal to read in 2020 during an actual pandemic, but well....that just makes for a more compelling read.
Interesting conclusion to the two book series. Not really sure if the story came to an actual close, but it was good none the less.
A bit surreal to read in 2020 during an actual pandemic, but well....that just makes for a more compelling read.
June 7, 2024
4.5
Loved everything except the ending. Such a great series!
Loved everything except the ending. Such a great series!
December 20, 2020
Absolutely fantastic!.
I hope this new author will write many more. I've enjoyed these two books more than any I have read in many years. I look forward to her next book.
I hope this new author will write many more. I've enjoyed these two books more than any I have read in many years. I look forward to her next book.
Read
November 2, 2020Shanon Hunt has done it again. She has written a gripping — at times, terrifying — story with many tentacles that moves at the speed of light with clever and crafty characters whose motives and allegiances make it exciting to decipher the good guys from the bad.
Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2020/10/30/manip...
Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2020/10/30/manip...
November 5, 2020
Can't get any better than this. It's definitely a page turner, I couldn't put it down.
June 1, 2023
I did not love this book as much as "The Pain Colony" - maybe because it was more speculative while book #1 in this series was grounded in science and so it felt more believable. But nevertheless, this was a compelling read that kept me interested/engaged for its full length.
Loved:
* imaginative storyelling
* excellent wordbuilding
* strong plotting and character development
Did not love:
* ending was a bit didactic. Author seemed to be trying too hard to make a point about the folly of strict black-and-white ethics re: research that could benefit the entire human race. The result was making Nick, a likable journalist hellbent on exposing the questionable genetic research taking place in The Colony, suddenly pivot and make a decision that seemed utterly out-of-character for him. I found this the most disappointing aspect of the book. It was hard for me to accept James' premise that the Colony was a refuge from starvation and suffering when it was their research that caused the suffering in the first place.
So the ending was disappointing (to me) but the rest of the book was really a fast-paced, enjoyable read. Shanon Hunt is a very talented author and I feel lucky to have discovered her debut. I hope there will be many more books coming soon!!
Loved:
* imaginative storyelling
* excellent wordbuilding
* strong plotting and character development
Did not love:
* ending was a bit didactic. Author seemed to be trying too hard to make a point about the folly of strict black-and-white ethics re: research that could benefit the entire human race. The result was making Nick, a likable journalist hellbent on exposing the questionable genetic research taking place in The Colony, suddenly pivot and make a decision that seemed utterly out-of-character for him. I found this the most disappointing aspect of the book. It was hard for me to accept James' premise that the Colony was a refuge from starvation and suffering when it was their research that caused the suffering in the first place.
So the ending was disappointing (to me) but the rest of the book was really a fast-paced, enjoyable read. Shanon Hunt is a very talented author and I feel lucky to have discovered her debut. I hope there will be many more books coming soon!!
September 20, 2021
As Shanon Hunt was getting ready to publish her debut novel The Pain Colony in late 2019, I was tasked with reading it and providing her with an honest, critical assessment. Before I offered my opinion, I asked whether she was nervous about unleashing her work to the literary public. “Petrified,” was all she said.
I remember that reaction well, and how it magnified the insecurities of people with a creative mind — so personal, so subjective, anxious to find acceptance and an audience. I informed Hunt that her work was magnificent, and later, upon reflection, I told anyone who would listen that it was one of the best books I had read that year. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
The author had used her knowledge of 15 years as a pharmaceutical executive to write a smart, swift medical thriller with just enough science to keep the plot entertaining and mind numbing, right up to the dazzling finish. A tough act to follow.
Yet here we are a year later, and Hunt has delivered a brilliant sequel, The Rage Colony (Narrow Ledge Publishing), another thought-provoking but more complex and sinister narrative highlighting the impact — and dangers — of genetic engineering and manipulation. Hunt has a marvelous knack for creating page-turning suspense founded in scientific theory and overlaying it with dark horror.
INSPIRATION FROM ORWELL
She opens The Rage Colony with this quote from George Orwell’s 1984: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them back together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” Some 400 pages later, when one of the book’s crusaders for justice (and okay, a bit of personal fame) is asked how he made out, he utters, “There’s more to it than we understood. It’s complicated.” Indeed.
That complication starts with the Colony, a beautiful, immaculate campus complex in Mexico positioned to its “guests” — society’s misfits and those down on their luck — as an exclusive club, an opportunity for a second chance at life by washing away memories of the current poisoned world and transforming to purification.
Or is the Colony a cult society whose leaders make promises of a better existence for its inductees but have something more self-serving in mind?
THE COLONY’S POSTER CHILD
A seeming poster child for the program is Sister Layla, whose previous life was erased in book one. She now heads up the Colony’s purification operation. As she tells one hostile recruit, “I’m the same as you. I came here to escape something too. The Colony helped me. It changed my life, actually, and gave me purpose.”
“We employ the best and brightest scientists who have given up their lives in the poisoned world to fully dedicate themselves to purification of the human race.”
Before she is done addressing a large hall with the same message, she has everyone ready to drink the Kool-Aid.
Add to the intrigue that Layla’s significant other is Brother James, one of the masterminds of the operation.
We get hints page by page that life in the Colony is not all peaches and cream. In fact, the Colony is a site of massive genetic experimentation of differing degrees, differing results and unclear information about which influential individuals and organizations are behind it. One of the gene mutations being explored activates a rage syndrome within its recipients. This plays out in most unusual ways — with some of the central characters.
A REPORTER’S OBSESSION
A crossing storyline is reporter Nick Slater’s ongoing obsession with trying to put the pieces together surrounding the now-closed Vitapura Wellness Center and Research Facility near Phoenix — aka the original Colony in book one — and the death of the head of that operation. In the process, Nick searches for a missing person suspected of murder and whose existence seems, well, non-existent.
But it gets bigger than that. What, you ask, might a virus that starts in China and threatens to spread throughout the world have to do with all of this? As one genetics genius explains to Slater, “It’s the story of the century.”
Nick penetrates the Colony, sneaking in as a potential inductee, in an effort to observe the brainwashing first hand. “A hidden government facility that recruited people from the dregs wasn’t a Pulitzer Prize story. The real story was the basement filled with people attached to machines through tubes in their spines … If he had to suffer through chants and heartfelt emotional stories and group hugs in the gallery, whatever that was, he was all in. The story had to be told.”
CLEVER AND CRAFTY CHARACTERS
I picked up The Rage Colony concerned that my expectations would fall short after my glowing review of The Pain Colony. But we all have writers to which we gravitate, whose writing style, pace and sense of story match perfectly on our reading wavelength, whose next book can’t come soon enough. Two pages into The Rage Colony, I felt I had reconnected with an old friend, and we were going to spend a few days together immersed in this tale. Hunt knows how to keep a story moving, finishing so many chapters with the type of jaw-dropper that compels you to keep going without a break. I was hooked.
For my money, Shanon Hunt has done it again. She has written a gripping — at times, terrifying — story with many tentacles that moves at the speed of light with clever and crafty characters whose motives and allegiances make it exciting to decipher the good guys from the bad.
Trying to keep up with the truth, and what is real and what is imagined in the plot and its world, makes this thriller, well, thrilling. Going Orwellian again, Nick quotes, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” Whatever that truth may be.
I remember that reaction well, and how it magnified the insecurities of people with a creative mind — so personal, so subjective, anxious to find acceptance and an audience. I informed Hunt that her work was magnificent, and later, upon reflection, I told anyone who would listen that it was one of the best books I had read that year. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
The author had used her knowledge of 15 years as a pharmaceutical executive to write a smart, swift medical thriller with just enough science to keep the plot entertaining and mind numbing, right up to the dazzling finish. A tough act to follow.
Yet here we are a year later, and Hunt has delivered a brilliant sequel, The Rage Colony (Narrow Ledge Publishing), another thought-provoking but more complex and sinister narrative highlighting the impact — and dangers — of genetic engineering and manipulation. Hunt has a marvelous knack for creating page-turning suspense founded in scientific theory and overlaying it with dark horror.
INSPIRATION FROM ORWELL
She opens The Rage Colony with this quote from George Orwell’s 1984: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them back together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” Some 400 pages later, when one of the book’s crusaders for justice (and okay, a bit of personal fame) is asked how he made out, he utters, “There’s more to it than we understood. It’s complicated.” Indeed.
That complication starts with the Colony, a beautiful, immaculate campus complex in Mexico positioned to its “guests” — society’s misfits and those down on their luck — as an exclusive club, an opportunity for a second chance at life by washing away memories of the current poisoned world and transforming to purification.
Or is the Colony a cult society whose leaders make promises of a better existence for its inductees but have something more self-serving in mind?
THE COLONY’S POSTER CHILD
A seeming poster child for the program is Sister Layla, whose previous life was erased in book one. She now heads up the Colony’s purification operation. As she tells one hostile recruit, “I’m the same as you. I came here to escape something too. The Colony helped me. It changed my life, actually, and gave me purpose.”
“We employ the best and brightest scientists who have given up their lives in the poisoned world to fully dedicate themselves to purification of the human race.”
Before she is done addressing a large hall with the same message, she has everyone ready to drink the Kool-Aid.
Add to the intrigue that Layla’s significant other is Brother James, one of the masterminds of the operation.
We get hints page by page that life in the Colony is not all peaches and cream. In fact, the Colony is a site of massive genetic experimentation of differing degrees, differing results and unclear information about which influential individuals and organizations are behind it. One of the gene mutations being explored activates a rage syndrome within its recipients. This plays out in most unusual ways — with some of the central characters.
A REPORTER’S OBSESSION
A crossing storyline is reporter Nick Slater’s ongoing obsession with trying to put the pieces together surrounding the now-closed Vitapura Wellness Center and Research Facility near Phoenix — aka the original Colony in book one — and the death of the head of that operation. In the process, Nick searches for a missing person suspected of murder and whose existence seems, well, non-existent.
But it gets bigger than that. What, you ask, might a virus that starts in China and threatens to spread throughout the world have to do with all of this? As one genetics genius explains to Slater, “It’s the story of the century.”
Nick penetrates the Colony, sneaking in as a potential inductee, in an effort to observe the brainwashing first hand. “A hidden government facility that recruited people from the dregs wasn’t a Pulitzer Prize story. The real story was the basement filled with people attached to machines through tubes in their spines … If he had to suffer through chants and heartfelt emotional stories and group hugs in the gallery, whatever that was, he was all in. The story had to be told.”
CLEVER AND CRAFTY CHARACTERS
I picked up The Rage Colony concerned that my expectations would fall short after my glowing review of The Pain Colony. But we all have writers to which we gravitate, whose writing style, pace and sense of story match perfectly on our reading wavelength, whose next book can’t come soon enough. Two pages into The Rage Colony, I felt I had reconnected with an old friend, and we were going to spend a few days together immersed in this tale. Hunt knows how to keep a story moving, finishing so many chapters with the type of jaw-dropper that compels you to keep going without a break. I was hooked.
For my money, Shanon Hunt has done it again. She has written a gripping — at times, terrifying — story with many tentacles that moves at the speed of light with clever and crafty characters whose motives and allegiances make it exciting to decipher the good guys from the bad.
Trying to keep up with the truth, and what is real and what is imagined in the plot and its world, makes this thriller, well, thrilling. Going Orwellian again, Nick quotes, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” Whatever that truth may be.
July 14, 2024
After a somewhat grounded prequel, Hunt goes completely off the rails with this one. All pretense of the story being a plausible scientific development goes out the window to indulge in pure horror-fantasy. And it doesn't matter because it's so fucking cool. When's the last time you read about a girl barfing up chunks of fur from a lamb she just ate with her bare teeth?
You never really know what's going to happen, this story doesn't follow the prescribed cliches that most authors restrict themselves to. It's engaging, the writing flows, the perspective changes are not annoying. Descriptions of violence are unrestrained, as well as the passages on the imagined decay of the furos, and this gave additional oomph to the reading experience. I hesitated for a while between 4 and 5, but when i asked myself "how could i make it better?", i didn't have much of an answer. There was one shockingly stupid passage on giving birth by pulling the baby out of the womb with "robotic arms" that left me baffled, but who cares, at the end of the day.
Perhaps there is one flaw in the narrative that should be pointed out. It doesn't really make sense that a smart person, let alone a group of them, would think this furo thing was a good idea. Power corrupts, yada yada, but i still don't buy it. It should have been obvious to the council as well as Stewart, that it would turn to catastrophe. EGNX is ruthlessly utilitarian, but not evil, and not stupid. But at the end of the day, it made for a cool and exciting story, and i enjoyed it greatly.
You never really know what's going to happen, this story doesn't follow the prescribed cliches that most authors restrict themselves to. It's engaging, the writing flows, the perspective changes are not annoying. Descriptions of violence are unrestrained, as well as the passages on the imagined decay of the furos, and this gave additional oomph to the reading experience. I hesitated for a while between 4 and 5, but when i asked myself "how could i make it better?", i didn't have much of an answer. There was one shockingly stupid passage on giving birth by pulling the baby out of the womb with "robotic arms" that left me baffled, but who cares, at the end of the day.
Perhaps there is one flaw in the narrative that should be pointed out. It doesn't really make sense that a smart person, let alone a group of them, would think this furo thing was a good idea. Power corrupts, yada yada, but i still don't buy it. It should have been obvious to the council as well as Stewart, that it would turn to catastrophe. EGNX is ruthlessly utilitarian, but not evil, and not stupid. But at the end of the day, it made for a cool and exciting story, and i enjoyed it greatly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2021
It's really only just...OK. It is an interesting and terrifying topic to develop a dystopian story around set in the near future, but Rage Colony feels unpolished or unresearched and something is missing. Not really fleshed out or presented convincingly, and it somehow cheapens the ethical complexities of this very real and potentially dangerous technology. The topic is an interesting vehicle, but Susan Hunt isn't the driver to get us where we need to be.
The book is full of one dimensional and cliched characters (Stewart, Nick, Nicks raging father) and is inconsistent with others. For ex. Layla mastered the pain training in the first book, and in this book its almost like she never had that experience...many times Layla is conveniently the furthest thing from a "the princess of pain" to allow the author to manufacture suspense/move the plot/force an interaction with another character in a given scene. I also feel like there was a bait and switch hinting that Austin may not be dead and may have assumed Brother James' identity, but the author probably couldn't figure out how to make that work and just gave up on the idea. Which is a shame because the manipulative genius of the Austin character could have opened up so many directions, none being the happily ever after we got.
The book is full of one dimensional and cliched characters (Stewart, Nick, Nicks raging father) and is inconsistent with others. For ex. Layla mastered the pain training in the first book, and in this book its almost like she never had that experience...many times Layla is conveniently the furthest thing from a "the princess of pain" to allow the author to manufacture suspense/move the plot/force an interaction with another character in a given scene. I also feel like there was a bait and switch hinting that Austin may not be dead and may have assumed Brother James' identity, but the author probably couldn't figure out how to make that work and just gave up on the idea. Which is a shame because the manipulative genius of the Austin character could have opened up so many directions, none being the happily ever after we got.
October 30, 2021
I came across this book on good reads and I was really intrigued by the description, sounded a little dark and something a bit different from my usual reads. Please note, that I did not realize this was book two but I read it anyway and didn’t feel like I missed anything. Definitely could be read without reading book one. A dystopian novel set in the not distant future that explores science and genetics and human interference with the natural progression of evolution. Ironically there’s a “virus” and like, hello, Corona Virus. Weird time to read something like that! It’s different, of course, but has similarities as far as affects on society. There’s two time lines and the connection between the two, that ah-ha moment, I didn’t guess. Some people probably will, but I didn’t and I was like WOW! I honestly loved this book. It was dark and really something to think about because I could seriously see it happening, or something similar. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because of the writing. Here and there I found moments that lacked a little for me. But serious, a great read! Really enjoyed it!
June 1, 2021
The Rage Colony was a great continuation of the story started in The Pain Colony. Though I didn't think it was as good, I liked almost everything in here. Without giving anything away, I didn't mind the back and forth and I did not have a problem with the layout of the plot. The characters were less polarizing in this novel and there were some things in there (such as the ending) that I felt were not nearly as good as the first book. It was a fun story about a pretty terrible (perhaps alternate?) future. I listened to these books back-to-back so I knew what to expect going in because everything was still fresh. Even so, I found myself drawn into the story without even expecting the twists. I was just enjoying a good tale. I am very glad I was given the opportunity to enjoy these books.
I was given a copy of this book on request for my unbiased opinion.
I was given a copy of this book on request for my unbiased opinion.
July 30, 2021
*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*
4.5/5
Following up from how much I liked The Pain Colony, I was thrilled to dive right into this book. Right away, I could see that the author was going into a new direction - something linear into the sci-fi sphere that totally works for this. I don't want to give away any spoilers by explaining anything in this review, other than it explores some of the science in "The Colony," plus we get a peek behind the curtain if you will. With the addition of the perspective of a new addition to The Colony, we get a rounded out story that does not disappoint. I would highly recommend this book, and also very much recommend anyone go back and read The Pain Colony as well. Excellent work by Hunt.
4.5/5
Following up from how much I liked The Pain Colony, I was thrilled to dive right into this book. Right away, I could see that the author was going into a new direction - something linear into the sci-fi sphere that totally works for this. I don't want to give away any spoilers by explaining anything in this review, other than it explores some of the science in "The Colony," plus we get a peek behind the curtain if you will. With the addition of the perspective of a new addition to The Colony, we get a rounded out story that does not disappoint. I would highly recommend this book, and also very much recommend anyone go back and read The Pain Colony as well. Excellent work by Hunt.
November 2, 2021
A good medical suspense story
Young people are being recruited to join the Colony, lured in by the promise of being fed and kept secure from a disintegrating world infected by a relentless virus. At the Colony, they are used in various roles to help the Colony run, but there are women being used as carriers for genetically enhanced babies. A side effect of this perfidy is the creation of ragers who can sense when another person has a disease (such as the worldwide virus)The ragers will then kill those people quickly, violently, and without remorse. Add to the mix are multiple secret Colonies, greedy scientists ( and good guy ones), plus militaries seeking bio-weapons.some interpersonal relationships and a dogged investigative reporter round out the cast.
This is Book 2 and I can see the potential for more books, if we're lucky.
Young people are being recruited to join the Colony, lured in by the promise of being fed and kept secure from a disintegrating world infected by a relentless virus. At the Colony, they are used in various roles to help the Colony run, but there are women being used as carriers for genetically enhanced babies. A side effect of this perfidy is the creation of ragers who can sense when another person has a disease (such as the worldwide virus)The ragers will then kill those people quickly, violently, and without remorse. Add to the mix are multiple secret Colonies, greedy scientists ( and good guy ones), plus militaries seeking bio-weapons.some interpersonal relationships and a dogged investigative reporter round out the cast.
This is Book 2 and I can see the potential for more books, if we're lucky.
April 16, 2021
I loved how the story continued. I would have like for there to be more about the old people with the babies.
Layla’s reveal was a bit of an ah-ha moment where you have this idea of it but you just aren’t sure. I hate that she stayed with the one person who lied to her and used her.
It’s a great story and one I’ll probably remember & recommend for years to come.
Narration by Noah and Erin was outstanding.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Layla’s reveal was a bit of an ah-ha moment where you have this idea of it but you just aren’t sure. I hate that she stayed with the one person who lied to her and used her.
It’s a great story and one I’ll probably remember & recommend for years to come.
Narration by Noah and Erin was outstanding.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
October 27, 2023
Shanon Hunt continued The Colony Series in an epic fashion. We pick up a few years after we left Layla and the rest of the Colony in The Pain Colony, but the effects of the last book are still running rampant not only in the Colony but in the poisoned world as well. There is a virus that has killed millions around the world and has completely decimated the economy. We are introduced to Nick Slater, an investigative journalist who has made it his mission to find out why his aunt's boyfriend, a certain police officer, was murdered and no one has done anything to serve justice.
This was even more of a whirlwind than the first book. It's absolutely terrifying the lengths that people will go to for what they believe is evolution. It was interesting to see the development of Layla, who is very pregnant in this book, and how she comes to terms with not only what the Colony is doing but what she has been subjected to. I think the ending was a good conclusion to the series and it leaves a lot to be thought about, especially considering the pandemic that we all went through in 2020. I noticed a lot of parallels between that and the book, which was actually pretty surreal.
I think The Rage Colony was a little less action-packed than The Pain Colony, but it had more suspenseful moments and chapters. I think it made you think a little more than the first book but I also believe that was kind of the point. I really like the way that Shanon Hunt writes and overall found The Rage Colony and the series to be thought-provoking and suspenseful. I was engaged and interested for the entirety and hope to read more from her in the future!
This was even more of a whirlwind than the first book. It's absolutely terrifying the lengths that people will go to for what they believe is evolution. It was interesting to see the development of Layla, who is very pregnant in this book, and how she comes to terms with not only what the Colony is doing but what she has been subjected to. I think the ending was a good conclusion to the series and it leaves a lot to be thought about, especially considering the pandemic that we all went through in 2020. I noticed a lot of parallels between that and the book, which was actually pretty surreal.
I think The Rage Colony was a little less action-packed than The Pain Colony, but it had more suspenseful moments and chapters. I think it made you think a little more than the first book but I also believe that was kind of the point. I really like the way that Shanon Hunt writes and overall found The Rage Colony and the series to be thought-provoking and suspenseful. I was engaged and interested for the entirety and hope to read more from her in the future!
January 8, 2024
3.5 rounded up !
This duology was a wild ride! The first book I think was better, but this one was still good as well!
I didn't really expect it to go the way that it did, and for some reason I didn't overly like it. BUT it wasn't horrible. No epic twist like the first one. This one was also a lot less believable than the first to me but was still thought provoking.
Regardless, it was still a very enjoyable! I thought this was such a good story that keeps you captivated! I would def recommend this duology if your looking for a science thriller!
This duology was a wild ride! The first book I think was better, but this one was still good as well!
I didn't really expect it to go the way that it did, and for some reason I didn't overly like it. BUT it wasn't horrible. No epic twist like the first one. This one was also a lot less believable than the first to me but was still thought provoking.
Regardless, it was still a very enjoyable! I thought this was such a good story that keeps you captivated! I would def recommend this duology if your looking for a science thriller!
April 19, 2021
Weird
The pain colony book was really good but I found this particular book very confusing. It wasn't until i was halfway through that I realize it was going back in time through different characters Viewpoints. Typically I would like that kind of thing but and this case it was really confusing Watching the author try to Segue from 1 character to another. I'm still not sure what happened here.
The pain colony book was really good but I found this particular book very confusing. It wasn't until i was halfway through that I realize it was going back in time through different characters Viewpoints. Typically I would like that kind of thing but and this case it was really confusing Watching the author try to Segue from 1 character to another. I'm still not sure what happened here.
June 26, 2021
What I liked?
After The Pain Colony (I reviewed this back in April) I was captivated and rather impatient waiting for the second book in this series, The Rage Colony. And once I got my hands on the audiobook, I was not disappointed. The story picks up with Allison Stephens (now going by the name of Layla) who is well within the colony that preaches the mantra that "with pain comes peace."
In this story, she explores a little more of that pain and doubts that there's any attached peace. This story doesn't go into the life of Allison Stephens prior to joining the colony very much, as the first one did. Instead, you see her previous "Allison" personality start to come out as she starts to question the colony, what it stands for, what's her true place, and what it might be hiding.
I liked that the author featured this ambivalence in her.
What I didn't like?
Not a dislike of the book, but I truly couldn't stand James. After everything, he turns out to be no better and possibly the worst of offenders in Allison's life.
Overall:
If you enjoy the genre of medical thrillers with that of cults and gene-editing, I think you'll like this. I gave this 4 stars.
After The Pain Colony (I reviewed this back in April) I was captivated and rather impatient waiting for the second book in this series, The Rage Colony. And once I got my hands on the audiobook, I was not disappointed. The story picks up with Allison Stephens (now going by the name of Layla) who is well within the colony that preaches the mantra that "with pain comes peace."
In this story, she explores a little more of that pain and doubts that there's any attached peace. This story doesn't go into the life of Allison Stephens prior to joining the colony very much, as the first one did. Instead, you see her previous "Allison" personality start to come out as she starts to question the colony, what it stands for, what's her true place, and what it might be hiding.
I liked that the author featured this ambivalence in her.
What I didn't like?
Not a dislike of the book, but I truly couldn't stand James. After everything, he turns out to be no better and possibly the worst of offenders in Allison's life.
Overall:
If you enjoy the genre of medical thrillers with that of cults and gene-editing, I think you'll like this. I gave this 4 stars.
November 19, 2021
Some quite good suspense along with a lot of questions that were presented and resolved.
Overall, it was a quick and fun novel. What I especially appreciated is that it successfully turned what was a black and white situation (the evil colony and its overlords), into a more nuanced shade of gray.
Generally, the editing was very good. But, I did find several errors, most egregiously, the word "shuttered" for "shuddered".
If you liked the first novel, this is an excellent continuation.
Overall, it was a quick and fun novel. What I especially appreciated is that it successfully turned what was a black and white situation (the evil colony and its overlords), into a more nuanced shade of gray.
Generally, the editing was very good. But, I did find several errors, most egregiously, the word "shuttered" for "shuddered".
If you liked the first novel, this is an excellent continuation.
January 18, 2022
Fantastic 5 stars
You must read the Pain Colony book 1 first. Shanon writes a very good story. The characters are totally believable and it's difficult not to get emersed in the story. It definitely gives you food for thought especially as we are facing now fighting a pandemic and "lockdown" was something that we never heard of 3 years ago. Loved this book and can't wait to read her next piece of work.
You must read the Pain Colony book 1 first. Shanon writes a very good story. The characters are totally believable and it's difficult not to get emersed in the story. It definitely gives you food for thought especially as we are facing now fighting a pandemic and "lockdown" was something that we never heard of 3 years ago. Loved this book and can't wait to read her next piece of work.
May 22, 2022
Very intriguing story line following a colt like colony. The story is scientifically driven based on genetic modifications. Written from several different perspectives, an obsessed reporter, Nick. A very naive women, Layla. And Layla's husband, the colt leader, James. This story fluctuates im intensity from beginning to end. A true love story turned into a psychological thriller, or vise versa!?
October 22, 2021
I will be haunted for a long time!
The reality of both good and bad outcomes from the same science has become the true problem. It will continue to be for all of the future. I guess one should be careful what one wishes for!
The reality of both good and bad outcomes from the same science has become the true problem. It will continue to be for all of the future. I guess one should be careful what one wishes for!
February 9, 2023
I really enjoyed the pain colony, and the sequel lived up to my hopes. The world hunt creates here is so bizarre yet believable in a truly disturbing way. I can't wait to see what she does next. I love discovering a new author even better when at the beginning of their career.
May 7, 2023
The book was exciting from start to finish, easy to follow and understand, every thing ties together at the end. It was very interesting and makes someone think could something like that really exist. I like books like that, original well thought out, would recommend.
July 5, 2023
This was an excellent book! A virus,a cover up,who really knows why people are being taken off the street. Narration by Noah Michael Levine, and Erin deWard was well done..I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
May 3, 2025
I liked it. I like that there isn’t always good and bad but speaks to morally grey characters. People who are doing immoral things in others eyes but in their own they are doing right. Also, insane that I could see the genetics play out like this in real life 😬
February 1, 2021
Good read
Hunt always surprises me, and that means a lot. The complicated take on good and bad provides a refreshing change from most dichotomies.
Hunt always surprises me, and that means a lot. The complicated take on good and bad provides a refreshing change from most dichotomies.
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