New Book Alert: Colony by Benjamin Cross; Suspenseful But Flawed Science Thriller Recalls '90's Adventure Novels and Movies

 

New Book Alert: Colony by Benjamin Cross; Suspenseful But Flawed Science Thriller Recalls '90's Adventure Novels and Movies

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Benjamin Cross' Colony is a book that is similar to its premise. The plot involves a group of scientists stranded in the Arctic that encounter a herd of prehistoric creatures that have evolved and adapted to their surroundings and are not so happy about being interrupted by some aggravating humans. Like the prehistoric creatures, Colony itself is practically an artifact from another time though a lot more recent.

Colony is similar to the science novels and blockbuster films of the 1990's, works of people like Michael Crichton or Robin Cook. Like Colony, they involve plucky scientists, usually American, British, or from various countries, who speak a lot of technobabble and have strange theories that are proven right by the end. They always face some sort of scientific threat of monsters, viruses, or natural disasters. There is some sort of family dilemma, perhaps a divorce, to give a personal conflict alongside the scientific one.

The scientists are surrounded by bureaucrats, scientific rivals, or representatives from another country who try to stop their research and either run afoul of or try to control the natural threat on their own. Oh and expect a betrayal that proves that humanity is the real destructive force.

It's exciting, suspenseful, and predictable. But there is a bit of nostalgia involved in a book that allows you to lose yourself in an adventure that hearkens back to an earlier time.

Callum Ross, a divorced Professor of Archeology, is spending some rare vacation time with his son, Jamie, when his boss, Jonas Olsen requests him to join an expedition to Franz Josef Land in the Arctic of Northern Russia. He is assigned to a group of scientists conducting a field survey on the recently found Harmsworth Island for the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental department that encourages cooperation within countries over the Arctic's vast resources. Of course Jamie agrees, meets the scientists, encounters prehistoric creatures, gets betrayed etc.

The protagonists are the usual mixed bag in this kind of book.  Besides Callum, there's Dan Peterson, an American New Age surfer dude who calls Callum "Indiana McJones" and is usually the comic relief. There's Lungkaju, the Nganasan guide with a personal connection to the local area. Dr. Semyanov, the father figure of the group. Then there are the female scientists Ava Lee, Canadian vertebrate paleontologist and Darya Lebedev, Russian ecologist. They are there as visual proof that science is not a male dominated field. However, they contribute very little to the plot except to look amazed,, occasionally use scientific jargon to prove that yes they are scientists, get injured and be at the point of death quite often, and become the love interests of Dan and Callum respectively. Like I said, Colony is a book invoking an earlier time. Unfortunately, the attention to female characters seems to also hearken back to that earlier time as well. The better characters are in fact the male characters.

There are some interesting scenes that develop the characters as they get to know each other. There are some cute flirty nerdy passages as Darya and Callum and then Ava and Dan share their um research with each other. There is also a particularly touching moment when Callum has a teleconference with a very disappointed Jamie and has a heart to heart with a seemingly gruff Russian comms assistant that gives him some surprisingly warm parental advice.

There is also a beautiful chapter in which Callum and Darya leave the compound to observe narwhals in action that acknowledges the beauty of nature. (Of course it's a lot less beautiful to read when in reality the United States is under a polar vortex.) Then there are the moments in which the antagonists plot with the traitor who becomes pretty obvious long before they are revealed. 

Of course these are mere distractions once the real stars of the show, the creatures, arrive.

The creatures are described as lizard birds and though that name sounds cheesy,the execution is less so. They are bipedal with feathers covering their skin, tiny forearms, tails, and long beak like snouts. Their large teeth, claws, and carnivorous diet, particularly for human flesh reveal that they mean business. They are adaptable to their surroundings as their eyes adjust to the sunlight or lack thereof and make use of the extensive caves as shelters. Their intelligence shows in their ability to learn from and hunt their human adversaries. 

Filmmakers would have a field day visualizing the attacks on the hapless scientists that have entered their territory. 

The stand offs are pretty suspenseful as Callum et al. have to face not only the reptilian but mammalian antagonists as the villains make their plans known. The action is non-stop and frequent, abandoning any semblance of development for high octane thrills and suspense.

If you are looking for a deep theme or characters, look elsewhere. Colony knows what it is and it delivers. It is an action packed science novel that is frozen in time as much as the lizard birds. However, upon reawakening, it proves to be an exciting and entertaining romp.