Colony [Import] [Paperback]

Rob Grant (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (2001)
• ISBN-10: 0141001089
• ISBN-13: 978-0141001081
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cynical and Whining, August 30, 2010

By 

Joshua Jacobsen "[e-mail]" (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Colony (Paperback)

The author, Rob Grant, is half of the "Grant Naylor" team that produced the BBC series Red Dwarf. Colony is a story unrelated to Red Dwarf, but annoyingly similar in several ways. I'll paraphrase the Red Dwarf intro for this book "3 hundred years into the future, the colony ship willflower. The crew are the last human beings alive, a reanimated dead shipmate, and a creature that evolved from the ship." It starts with the launching of Willflower, a colony ship representing the last hope for mankind's continued survival. A fish-out-of-water character who wasn't "elite" enough to be included on the ship finds himself, through twisted circumstances, aboard as a prominent member of the ship's government. He immediately dies and then wakes up centuries later with an incompetent crew, as a pickled brain in a clumsy robot body.

It is easy to recognize Red Dwarf humor in places, and there are some very funny bits. This story, however, is a lot more sarcastic, bitter, and resentful than the other work I have enjoyed from the Grant/Naylor creative team. While it's easy to overlook the hapless story-telling common in Red Dwarf -- with silly but likable characters who exude some charm -- this same methodology applied to a much darker and more mean-spirited story just feels sloppy. The prevailing themes include an unfair caste systems, incompetence in leadership, corrupt and counter-productive clergy, and the futility of long-term planning. While these feel a lot like pulp 1960's American fiction -- and feels horribly dated because of this -- the themes seems prevalent in modern British fiction.

I still enjoyed the book, overall, and at less than 300 pages it was easy to read, even on a busy weekend. I just hesitate to recommend it to anyone but the most hardcore of Red Dwarf (and Grant/Naylor) fans.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastically funny, December 21, 2007

By 

Tomas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colony (Paperback)

If you liked Red Dwarf, you'll love colony. The only downside compared to Red Dwarf is that it really seems to be the opening book of a series that was never continued. The ending is a little weak because of that, but it's still very funny, full of RD style humour, lots of good characters and bizarre situations.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colony, April 8, 2010

By 

C. Cristiana "CFR" (Clark, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Colony (Paperback)

This book is by one half of the team that brought us the Red Dwarf TV Series and books. This is a funny book set on a multi-generational space ship. If you enjoyed Red Dwarf I think you will enjoy this book.