Fabulous Follow-up

The best features of the first book in the 'Forgotten Colony' series were evident when M.R. Forbes took direct inspiration from the 'Alien' film franchise.
'Deception' takes that claustrophobic "trapped-on-a-ship-with-a-horrible-alien" scenario and runs with it. A squad of strike marines guarding a group of earth colonists enroute to a new world find themselves awakened from stasis to hunt down terrifying nigh-invincible (self-healing) creatures lurking outside of the habitat section of the 'USSF Deliverance'. The result is an admittedly unoriginal but satisfyingly tension-driven action romp. Forbes includes easily understandable Popular Mechanics-level science in his plot (CRISPR gene-editing technology, for example), but also suggests that a homeless teenager somehow hybridized 'Trife' (vicious instinct-driven monsters) and genetically-enhanced human supersoldiers more or less in his spare time.
The book thus requires a significant suspension of disbelief - but if you can manage to check your reservations at the door, this - at times ludicrous - narrative is quite entertaining: the combination of horror film tropes, "scientific" conjecture, and military tech & tactics is captivating.

Less fortuitously, Jeffrey Kafer is oddly unemotive in his reading of this book for some reason. Mr. Kafer is a true professional - reading with his characteristic spot-on diction, timbre, and voice-acting - but exhibits a noticeable monotone that makes it sound like he's collecting a paycheck for this project.

Altogether, this often nonsensical - but cinematic - book rates 8.5 stars out of 10. You don't *need to* read 'Deliverance' before this installment.. but the first book in the series introduces the characters and story matrix nicely. I recommend starting there.
It's sad that Audible removed these Podium Audio selections from the 'Plus' catalogue - because they're a praiseworthy distraction. SciFi fans are missing out if they are in any way discouraged from giving the series a try.

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love the series

so far the first two books have been a great listen can't wait to read all the rest

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Started on this book

Started with this book and was able to follow easily even without reading the first one. I think I enjoyed it up to the end where I think there was unnecessary drama by introducing new hostile WEAK characters at the end. I don’t think I will continue with the series as I have no interests what comes next as there’s so many other stories that have similar plots.

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1 person found this helpful

infectious

these books took a while to grow on me... now can't get enough. I enjoy listening to them

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