As an avid reader of science fiction, it should come as no surprise that books about the colonization of other planets, especially Mars, regularly show up in my Amazon recommendations. These recommendations led me to the Colony Mars Series by Gerald M. Kilby. The description looked interesting, so I decided to give it a go.

In the first book of the series, Colony One Mars, a group of astronauts is sent to the red planet to determine the fate of the first settlement established there. Contact was lost with the fifty-four colonists who inhabited the base. With the colonists presumed dead, the goal of the latest mission is to identify what is left of the base, determine what happened, and recover any salvageable materials. When a mysterious illness starts affecting the crew, the mission takes on a new goal – finding a cure before it’s too late.

Consistent action and unexpected plot twists make for an interesting story with good pace. The book interested me enough that I chose to read the second installment in the series, aptly named Colony Two Mars. It turned out to be just as engaging as the first. Where Colony One focuses on the technology required to establish a colony on Mars, Colony Two’s premise revolves around genetic modification and cloning.

Both books are easy reads that keep the technology details accessible by not going too deep into the mechanics of how things work. Kilby also does a good job developing the characters without overdoing it. Bottom line, he does a great job weaving what you need to know into the story so it keep things moving along, which is what I like in my recreational reads.

Would I call the Colony Mars Series a Must Read? No, but it’s a Fun Read for sure. There are 3 main books in the Colony Mars Series along with three standalone novels that are set in the Colony Mars environment. Eventually, I may come back to read the third book, and possibly the standalone novels. For now, the first two were enough. Just be warned, once you start the series, you may find yourself hooked and unable to walkaway until you finish the entire compilation.