Colony Two Mars
Colony Two Mars picks up the story a few years after the preceding story, Colony One Mars left off. I really enjoyed the first instalment in this trilogy, but this is a much better, much stronger story. As the overarching story of the trilogy begins to emerge, Kilby's eye for a good story starts to pay dividends.
The story revolves around the second colony alluded to in the first part of the trilogy. Jann needs to find a cure for herself before she can return to Earth, and the second colony - where all the geneticists fled - might be the place to find it. The singular act of going to it is enough to trigger a series of events that nobody controls, even when they think they do.
The fluidity of the action sequences is nicely controlled, and little time is wasted introducing characters that are not important players, so the various characters are arrayed quite quickly. Knowing who is a 'good guy' and who isn't is not so straightforward though, as befits a thriller that knows how to deliver.
Yet again I have to draw attention to the poor editing, especially during the action sequences where grammar is not the only problem. Why only 4 stars this time (Colony One Mars got 4.5)? It's down to the number of errors that should have been edited out. The story is slick though, so as long as you can be a little forgiving, you'll get a great story in return.
As with Colony One Mars, Colony Two Mars ends on a cliffhanger, but this time it sets the stage for something seriously big (I'd love to say what, but hey, no spoilers).
It's not just a fun read, it's well thought out and you can see that the whole trilogy has been arched well. At the time of writing this, the trilogy has expanded into five novels, and I'm looking forward to them all.
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