“The Lost Colony” by A.G. Riddle – A New Home Among the Stars
In The Lost Colony, the third book in the series, we follow James and Emma on their own respective struggles as humanity tries to settle itself on a new planet with an unseen danger none could have foreseen.
A.G. Riddle Reveals the End
If very few people knew of A.G. Riddle a few years ago, he has definitely changed this with the publication of his books in the Long Winter Trilogy Series, with the first and second books earning him many accolades from publications and readers from all walks of life.
With The Lost Colony, he brings to a close the giant epic show which has so far seen humanity face off against an overpowering alien invader, The Grid.
Before we continue, I would like to say this is one of those book series where you really have to read the books in order to not only enjoy, but to even understand what is happening in the story. If you haven't read the two previous books in the series, proceed with this one at your own risk.
In any case, in their last outing humanity essentially lost the battle for a completely ruined Earth, and the last survivors have fled to Eos, a new homeworld for the species to begin anew.
At first, all seemed perfect and idyllic, but it didn't take long for danger to show its face. The first colony of settlers has completely disappeared, and when James investigates he finds a series of spheres buried on Eos amidst the seemingly untouched settlement.
Meanwhile, Emma has been elected as the mayor to Jericho city and is doing her best to keep the people safe as a big storm bears down upon them.
The curtains of chaos rise higher and higher around humanity's remnants, and from the darkness a great new enemy emerges, a danger none could have foreseen. With nowhere to run, humanity can only face the music, or see its flame extinguished forever.
A Slower Wind-Up in The Lost Colony
I think I can confidently say I belonged to the group of people who didn't exactly see where Riddle could take the series after having read the second book.
It felt like the end was very much nigh, and we simply didn't have many places left to go. When I had gone through approximately the halfway point of the novel, I had a feeling my fears were more or less proven correct.
As much as I love the series and A.G. Riddle's penmanship skills, I couldn't help but feel the first half of this book was fairly slow, and dare I say it, made me fear things were going nowhere.
I'm not sure how much of this was done on purpose, but it felt to me as if the author was maybe having a bit of trouble reaching the amount of pages he wanted to, and so decided to expand his descriptions of the world.
Don't get me wrong, it is pleasant to read about Eos and the way in which all the characters are organizing their lives, but there always comes a time for things to move forward.
Thankfully, after roughly the halfway point, it seemed like the author was getting back to his original form and picking up the pace quite a bit. He begins to drop little hints as to what might actually be happening, and slowly starts painting the portrait of the ultimate truths in this universe, surrounding basically everything we've witnessed up until this point.
Riddle makes a very real effort to close all the plot points and answer all the questions, for which I have to commend him, even though it was obvious he didn't really have them fore-planned in some cases. Overall, I felt like his grandiose design did live up to the hype we were assuming for it.
The Scientist's Dream
Now that we've compared this third book to the previous entries in the series and how it fits into the trilogy, I think it also deserves to be examined on its own for the story it tells.
While I was fairly skeptical of how much the author diverged from the plot of humanity fighting The Grid, which is what we were all familiar with, I did end up seeing it as a worthy decision, especially since the former plot isn't completely relegated to the background.
The new story revolving around humanity's attempt at resettling on Eos has its own share of mysteries, intricacies and plot twists, and most importantly, Riddle manages to connect it rather well with the story up until now.
What started off like feeling as a completely separate chapter from the series ended up feeling like the logical continuation of the story. James and Emma are once again in the driver seats for our experience, and the different challenges they face always add some welcome diversity to the plot and prevent it from stagnating.
While it is certainly possible to become a bit lost in these passages (the concepts broached aren't always simple), I think we can only appreciate their existence, if only for the uniquely scientific paint with which it colours the trilogy.
The Final Verdict
The Lost Colony by A.G. Riddle is a worthy and satisfying finale to a unique and unforgettable science-fiction trilogy which, despite its slower start, delivers on all fronts starting from the second half.
If you've enjoyed the two previous books in this series, then I strongly recommend you bring it to a close and give this novel a shot.
 | A. G. RiddlePersonal site A. G. Riddle is an American author from North Carolina who spent ten years dabbling in the world of internet business before devoting himself to his true passion, fiction writing. The Atlantis Gene is his widely-acclaimed debut novel, having already been translated into over 22 languages and marking the beginning of a bestselling series. |
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