The Colony - Kathleen Groger

The Colony
Kathleen Groger
SciFi, YA

Trust no one.
Never go out in the dark.
Always have a weapon.

Sixteen-year-old Val lives by these three rules etched on her arm. Her rules and her gun are the only things standing between her and assimilation by hordes of human-looking aliens she calls Raspers.

By day, Val gathers supplies. By night, she hides and wishes she could go back in time…before her family died…before the annihilation…before the Raspers began stalking her and demanding she join their collective.

But when the Raspers attack in broad daylight, the truth becomes startlingly clear.

They’re evolving.

A fellow survivor crashes into Val’s life. Adam’s full of charm and promises—like rumors of a safe haven—but there’s something wrong. He’s survived with no supplies, no weapons…no plans. Time is running out. With the formula for survival shifting around her, Val must decide how many rules she’s willing to break to escape the Colony.

AMAZON

REVIEW:

Kathleen Groger has us diving head-first into her Rasper novel, The Colony, from page one. Our heroine, Val, is a scrappy teen forced into lone survival mode when the population of her entire town—along with the rest of the world—is annihilated in an apocalyptic accident at the hands of man and The Great Discovery. All the sixteen-year old has left is a mantra inscribed daily by Sharpie on her arm, a backpack with the bare necessities, and her father's old Glock. It's Val against the Raspers, a weird zombie-esque alien hybrid that roam the earth, until she meets Adam, Megan, and Bethany. Together, they make their way towards what they believe to be a safe place, forced to trust one another against all odds along the way.

Groger has written a clean, enjoyable story in the popular post-apocalyptic genre. I found myself entirely immersed in the first half of the book, sucked in and delighted by Val's first-person perspective. I felt like I really got to know the character and dug the plot-driven ride. I knew going in that this would have a teenage-love angle, which played out at a realistic pace through the second half, although it was occasionally more juvenile in its tone than necessary. Overall, the writing is concise and the story is engaging, making this a good pick for teens looking for a fresh twist on a favored genre.

FOUR STARS

I'd like to thank the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion, which this certainly is.

Kathleen wrote her first story in elementary school about a pegasus named Sir Lancelot. It had no plot or conflict, but it sparked a dream. After serving a fifteen-year sentence in retail management, the bulk in big box bookstores, she turned her love of reading into a full-time career writing dark and haunting characters and stories. She writes paranormal, fantasy, suspense, horror YA books. She is a contributing member of READerlicious, writers who love readers. Check out her blogs here.

She lives by the mantra that a day is not complete without tea. Lots of tea. Kathleen lives in Ohio with her husband, two boys, and two attention-demanding dogs. When not writing or editing or revising, you can find her reading, cooking, spending time with her family, or photographing abandoned buildings.

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