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Colony on Mars - All 5 Books - Terrific Series Nails It For Realism
Readers love this series. Get all five books in this value-priced set. Start with humanity's fragile foothold and read on into the future. Join one settler in each book who struggles with danger from the hostile Red Planet and fellow settlers, and strives to build a life on Mars.
Glory on Mars - Emma wants to explore in her robotic walkabout suit, but something is terribly wrong as a strange illness threatens the settlement's future.
Born on Mars - Jake didn't ask to be born on Mars, into a failing colony. Perhaps he can save his friends and family by contacting new arrivals, but an earthly rival sent them, and they're half a planet away.
Hermit on Mars - Sig's life is falling apart when his mother calls for help. She lives with prospectors in the Tartarus Mountains, and the mysterious hermit no longer ensures their survival.
Water on Mars - Bliss thinks this is the best time to be Marsborn. She leaves her tiny burg behind for the biggest city on the planet, but her new boss is crazy, and threats inside and outside of the colony menace her plans.
Storm on Mars - Zeker joins the elite Tower Guilds to change Mars. But his neuroplasticity treatments may have failed, leaving his own impulses as his biggest challenge. Thrown out of the Towers, Zeker lands in a lawless burg filled with desperate people. Farther from his goals than ever, he must find a way back to the Towers, because more than his project is in peril.
Readers love the individual Colony on Mars books:
The characters were rich and dynamic. It was interesting reading about their environment and adaptations. The book is well thought out, quick paced, and a very enjoyable read. I really can’t wait to read more from this author. Mary E. Young
As with the first book, Glory on Mars, author Kate Rauner really makes you feel as if you have taken a trip to Mars yourself. Catherine Mesick
Many Science Fiction books tend to be more fiction than science, but in this book I found both. The plot is never boring, and the science is rock solid. Kundenrezensionen
An unnervingly realistic venture into the triumphs and challenges that frontier colonists will experience when mankind reaches Mars. Andrew J Chamberlain
Could be enjoyed by teens as well as adults. Amazon Customer
Glory on Mars - Emma wants to explore in her robotic walkabout suit, but something is terribly wrong as a strange illness threatens the settlement's future.
Born on Mars - Jake didn't ask to be born on Mars, into a failing colony. Perhaps he can save his friends and family by contacting new arrivals, but an earthly rival sent them, and they're half a planet away.
Hermit on Mars - Sig's life is falling apart when his mother calls for help. She lives with prospectors in the Tartarus Mountains, and the mysterious hermit no longer ensures their survival.
Water on Mars - Bliss thinks this is the best time to be Marsborn. She leaves her tiny burg behind for the biggest city on the planet, but her new boss is crazy, and threats inside and outside of the colony menace her plans.
Storm on Mars - Zeker joins the elite Tower Guilds to change Mars. But his neuroplasticity treatments may have failed, leaving his own impulses as his biggest challenge. Thrown out of the Towers, Zeker lands in a lawless burg filled with desperate people. Farther from his goals than ever, he must find a way back to the Towers, because more than his project is in peril.
Readers love the individual Colony on Mars books:
The characters were rich and dynamic. It was interesting reading about their environment and adaptations. The book is well thought out, quick paced, and a very enjoyable read. I really can’t wait to read more from this author. Mary E. Young
As with the first book, Glory on Mars, author Kate Rauner really makes you feel as if you have taken a trip to Mars yourself. Catherine Mesick
Many Science Fiction books tend to be more fiction than science, but in this book I found both. The plot is never boring, and the science is rock solid. Kundenrezensionen
An unnervingly realistic venture into the triumphs and challenges that frontier colonists will experience when mankind reaches Mars. Andrew J Chamberlain
Could be enjoyed by teens as well as adults. Amazon Customer
1576 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2020
22 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Kate Rauner
38 books12 followersKate Rauner is a retired Cold War Warrior. She worked for over twenty years at the Rocky Flats Plant, once part of the nation's nuclear weapons complex. She helped decommission the site, which is now a National Wildlife Refuge.
Kate moved to southwest New Mexico and worked at the copper mines around Silver City, including the historic Santa Rita mine. Santa Rita has been mined since Native Americans collected copper there before the Spaniards entered Mexico.
Today she lives outside Silver City on the edge of the Gila National Forest with her husband and cat. She enjoys hiking and bird-watching, and, as a volunteer firefighter, has fought wildland and home fires. "I'm well on my way to my life's goal," Kate says. "To become an eccentric old woman."
Kate moved to southwest New Mexico and worked at the copper mines around Silver City, including the historic Santa Rita mine. Santa Rita has been mined since Native Americans collected copper there before the Spaniards entered Mexico.
Today she lives outside Silver City on the edge of the Gila National Forest with her husband and cat. She enjoys hiking and bird-watching, and, as a volunteer firefighter, has fought wildland and home fires. "I'm well on my way to my life's goal," Kate says. "To become an eccentric old woman."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 5, 2023
This is a tough one to review. The Colony on Mars series is a five-book set chronicling the establishment of a permanent human presence on Mars. The first book in the series begins soon after the initial establishment of the first Mars colony, followed by the other installments, with maybe a decade or two between stories. Each book could be read separately, as there is little crossover in characters or events. Each one plots its own course.
I admire the author’s commitment, research, and imagination to building a unique and inclusive world on another planet. The underlying premise is that a private company on Earth has established a colony on Mars. By the second story, Earth has severed its involvement with the colony, so it must find a way to survive or perish. Only sporadic technology is being sent, although there are still channels for communication. The “Martians” are pretty much on their own.
Each book in the series has its own theme. Book one, Glory on Mars follows the initial struggles to get the colony off the ground, and is told from the standpoint of Emma, nearly the last Earth-born colonist to arrive. Book two, Born on Mars, follows Jake a couple of decades later. The original colony has been abandoned by Earth by this time, and to feed his passion for Earth, he tries to contact a later, Sino-African, colony which was more recently established. The second colony has also been somewhat abandon, and this story provides an interesting paradox between different ideas on how Mars should be colonized.
The third book in the series, Hermit on Mars, takes place several generations later. The colony has flourished over these decades, to the point where there are starting to be political divides between the original paradigm of an AI run colony and those who want more freedom. Water on Mars, the fourth in the series focuses on the possibilities of life on the planet beyond mere survival. With the colony thriving, colonists are starting to look beyond the constraints of a constricted life underground. The final installment, Storm on Mars, explores the initial attempts at Mars terraforming, through the eyes of Zeker, an initiate with a knack for finding trouble.
The series was a long read, it took me a couple of months to get through the set. On the positive side, each story is unique, following the issues belonging to its time in history as the colony develops. As the byline says, “Someday Real Settlers Will Tell Stories Like These”. The author builds an impressive world, with technological and societal development as the guideposts between the stories. On the negative side, it took me a while to get into each of the protagonists for each story. It also left me wondering what happened to some of the previous characters I had grown fond of. Because each story starts fresh, one could read them in any order. However, I think they have the most impact when read as a sequential series.
I liked this series very much. I did find some of the main characters difficult to get into, and I found a couple of the antagonistic characters seemed to lack motivation beyond simple greed. I would say that the first in the series, Glory on Mars was my favourite, and it was also somewhat different than the others because it was a story of survival. Of the remaining four, I liked Water on Mars best, mostly because of the likable protagonist’s journey. I give this set four of five stars on Goodreads.
I admire the author’s commitment, research, and imagination to building a unique and inclusive world on another planet. The underlying premise is that a private company on Earth has established a colony on Mars. By the second story, Earth has severed its involvement with the colony, so it must find a way to survive or perish. Only sporadic technology is being sent, although there are still channels for communication. The “Martians” are pretty much on their own.
Each book in the series has its own theme. Book one, Glory on Mars follows the initial struggles to get the colony off the ground, and is told from the standpoint of Emma, nearly the last Earth-born colonist to arrive. Book two, Born on Mars, follows Jake a couple of decades later. The original colony has been abandoned by Earth by this time, and to feed his passion for Earth, he tries to contact a later, Sino-African, colony which was more recently established. The second colony has also been somewhat abandon, and this story provides an interesting paradox between different ideas on how Mars should be colonized.
The third book in the series, Hermit on Mars, takes place several generations later. The colony has flourished over these decades, to the point where there are starting to be political divides between the original paradigm of an AI run colony and those who want more freedom. Water on Mars, the fourth in the series focuses on the possibilities of life on the planet beyond mere survival. With the colony thriving, colonists are starting to look beyond the constraints of a constricted life underground. The final installment, Storm on Mars, explores the initial attempts at Mars terraforming, through the eyes of Zeker, an initiate with a knack for finding trouble.
The series was a long read, it took me a couple of months to get through the set. On the positive side, each story is unique, following the issues belonging to its time in history as the colony develops. As the byline says, “Someday Real Settlers Will Tell Stories Like These”. The author builds an impressive world, with technological and societal development as the guideposts between the stories. On the negative side, it took me a while to get into each of the protagonists for each story. It also left me wondering what happened to some of the previous characters I had grown fond of. Because each story starts fresh, one could read them in any order. However, I think they have the most impact when read as a sequential series.
I liked this series very much. I did find some of the main characters difficult to get into, and I found a couple of the antagonistic characters seemed to lack motivation beyond simple greed. I would say that the first in the series, Glory on Mars was my favourite, and it was also somewhat different than the others because it was a story of survival. Of the remaining four, I liked Water on Mars best, mostly because of the likable protagonist’s journey. I give this set four of five stars on Goodreads.
January 7, 2021
Great Series
Thoroughly enjoyed this series, and could really imagine a colony could happen as she described it. Hard to put down and would recommend.
Thoroughly enjoyed this series, and could really imagine a colony could happen as she described it. Hard to put down and would recommend.
July 22, 2025
all 5 books
Thought id read 1 book and later read the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and finally #5. In between I would read another type of book. Instead I just moved from 1-5. Kept me engaged.
Thought id read 1 book and later read the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and finally #5. In between I would read another type of book. Instead I just moved from 1-5. Kept me engaged.
May 28, 2018
5 books - the story starts with first colonization of Mars - each book skips in time and writes about different characters
Very interesting look at survival in a very hash environment.
Very interesting look at survival in a very hash environment.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews