Colonyside: A Novel

Planetside, Book 3

By: Michael Mammay

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

A missing scientist and deep pockets pull Colonel Carl Butler out of retirement, investigating another mystery that puts him and his team - and the future of relations with alien species - in danger in Colonyside, the exciting follow-up to Planetside and Spaceside.

A military hero is coming out of disgrace - straight into the line of fire...Carl Butler was once a decorated colonel. Now he’s a disgraced recluse, hoping to live out the rest of his life on a backwater planet where no one cares about his “crimes” and everyone leaves him alone.

It’s never that easy.

A CEO’s daughter has gone missing and he thinks Butler is the only one who can find her. The government is only too happy to appease him. Butler isn’t so sure, but he knows the pain of losing a daughter, so he reluctantly signs on. Soon he’s on a military ship heading for a newly formed colony where the dangerous jungle lurks just outside the domes where settlers live.

Paired with Mac, Ganos, and a government-assigned aide named Fader, Butler dives head-first into what should be an open and shut case. Then someone tries to blow him up. Faced with an incompetent local governor, a hamstrung military, and corporations playing fast and loose with the laws, Butler finds himself in familiar territory. He’s got nobody to trust but himself, but that’s where he works best. He’ll fight to get to the bottom of the mystery, but this time, he might not live to solve it.

©2020 Michael Mammay (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

I want more!

If you’ve gotten as far as this book you’re probably only skimming the reviews because you’re going to get it anyway! This one won’t disappoint! Really it’s the same as the last two, very light sci fi, fun and funny! R.C. Bray is the MAN! He can make mediocre books sound great but fortunately he didn’t have to on this one! Hoping for a book 4! Spend the credit!

Fantastic!

Michael Mammay, as usual, weaved a tight military mystery. Not until the end did I understand how all the pieces fit together. I was as confused as the MC, Carl. Each character was well thought out and fleshed out. Carl's team on this mission was especially interesting. All their dynamics felt genuine and realistic. And, well, you can't go wrong with R.C. Bray as narrator.

Fantastic!

Excellent military sci-fi. You don't need to start with Planetside (first in series) but you won't regret spending more time with Col. Butler. So worth the credit, great story.

Almost five stars

I like Mammay’s style of writing. I like his character development and interaction. Story construction was a little below par.The ending is formulaic for Mammay—which is cool—but then begins to lose steam. It’s almost like he got bored and fell asleep at the wheel toward the end.

great story

I really enjoy the series and I wonder if there this will continue, and where it will go from here.

Great continuation of a great series

As always, R. C. Bray bring this one to like beautifully. An excellent continuation of the series, and one with twists and turns that I really enjoyed.

Enjoyed very much

This one had more details to follow which I enjoy in a crime/mystery/action with some humor. Good job MM and excellent job Bray.

Fantastic conclusion to a great series

COLONYSIDE is a fantastic conclusion to a great series. Mammay mixes military scifi and thriller so well. The strong and unique first-person voice of Col. Butler is such a standout for the subgenre - sarcastic, razor-sharp, at times tragic, and also deeply cunning and strategic – getting that internal experience of the main character brings so much to this story. The rhetorical and psychological battles that Butler engages in when dealing with various characters is just as intriguing and potent as the actual physical combat in the novel, not to mention the twists and surprises especially as the book nears the end. Great settings both in terms of the planet and its habitation facilities, as well as the flora, etc. I’m a huge fan of the PLANETSIDE series and this conclusion did a great job of linking to the previous two books. I’m really looking forward to his next novel, THE MISFIT SOLDIER.

Nowhere eze good is the previous 2

Gonna be honest I'm gonna get a refund. The story was a phoned in production. Even the near ration seemed phoned in and lazy. Which is a harsh critique of RC Bray but nevertheless that's the take I am left with from this lacklustre boring story. I seriously believe that this was a short story To begin with then filled with a bunch of needless filler and then Tied into the main story as some sort of meaningful yet unfulfilled background noise. In all this was for me a considerable bore. You might like it I found it to be refundable.

rushed ending but enjoyable ride

I felt like all the books in this series had a very rushed ending with maybe the exception of the first book. also the books never really give good closure for the previous book.

There’s a Rumour Someone’s Trying to Kill You!

As with the previous two books, this one does not disappoint. This book has all the ingredients of a thinking man’s whodunit and I loved it. I think, with audio books, if you also get a good narrator, your made, and R C Bray is absolutely the right narrator for this series of books and is one of my favourite narrators.

I listen mostly to Fantasy now, but having listened to Planetside a while back, I couldn’t resist dipping back into Sci-Fi for this little treasure of a series. Well worth 5 stars and the credits. My only sadness is this might have been the last we hear of Col Carl Butler, which would be a shame, but I will keep lookout.

Great follow up to the series.

Carl gets things done and we love him for it. I love these stories and also seem to be jumping from RC Bray to RC Bray narrated books.

More please

This ongoing tale never fails to please and with the superb narration of RCB I will continue buying and enjoying them as long as Mr Mammay keeps writing them 😀

great book!

listened to this book twice in a week love the whole series of books and R C BRAY is my favourite,if you like sci-fi military you’ll love this hopefully as much as i did
thanks for another great book

Fantastic - Best in the series so far

Couldn't put it down! Great from start to finish, can't wait for the next one

Brilliant book, witty dialogue

good story, great characters, witty dialogue and action. RC Bray is brilliant as usual and makes the book comes alive.

Sadly, a Wasted Opportunity

I took a plunge when opting to try a completely unknown writer to me, back when Michael Mammay's first book in this series, Planetside, released on Audible. The fact that the superb R.C bray was narrating this book for a relatively new writer was enough for me to purchase it. I wasn't disappointed. So, as soon as the second in the series, Spaceside, released, I also snapped that up and found it an excellent read too.

So, as soon as I got wind of Colonyside, Mammay's third instalment, I purchased without having to check reviews first. Now, to date, I still haven';t checked reviews, so I don;t know if I'm going to be the exception or the norm.

Colonyside is well written, well crafted and superbly narrated, as usual, by Bray. Given Mammay's previous books,, I really wanted to like this one. however, having just finished it, I regret that I did not. Sure, as stated, it's not badly written at all. In fact, one could say it's a slick effort from Mammay, but, alas, it fulfils the old adage for me: Style without real substance.

Colonel Butler takes a job investigating the death of a rich business man's daughter. The planet this happens on is dangerous. So many things, including the atmosphere itself, will kill you. Tick box 1 in terms of placing the story on an inherently hostile world. So far, so good. Thereafter, however, things take a decidedly non science fiction flavour for the most part. Colonyside could well be written as a contemporary detective story that takes our hapless hero to some nasty jungle in South America. Sure, there are alien life forms, but they are so underused, it's part of the issue I have with this story. So much, in fact, of the hostile environment this story is set in is unused, which I found a wasted opportunity, which could have been used to put Butler into all sorts of predicaments.

For those who enjoy the sleuthing process, the investigating of witnesses and the like, the back and forth in the chess moves that often dictate how criminal investigations develop, it's an interesting read and cleverly put together. However, there really isn't very much by way of substance here.

Colonyside fails in my view, because it is far too cerebral and doesn't make use of the alien environment very much at all. It's only in the final 10% of the book that things actually start to happen, or should I say, things of any real interest. Colonyside could well be lifted from an episode of Magnum PI or any other detective show apart from the odd references to being on a planet and some of the things that entails.

As much as I wanted to-like this story, I couldn't, finding it rather plodding despite the sharp prose.

I also found some odd rationales for the antagonists motivations. I mean, wouldn't a far more naturally hospitable planet be far better suited for terraforming instead of the hostile world in question?

In summary, Mammay gets an A for effort, but sadly as C+ for execution.

Excellent

Listened to this book in one day.

It flows and kept me listening.

Third book and the best so far.

Read by RC Bray is the icing on the cake.

Out did itself

I honestly didn't think this series could get better but its kept me on my toes. I was always guessing at the bigger picture.

ok

It started off well but got a bit rushed and messy towards the end rc bray saves the day .