The Colonial Scouts are an elite group of explorers who seek out habitable planets for the Colonial Expansion Board. They travel via programmable wormholes.
Trace, a new Scout, wants desperately to prove himself to both the Board and to his girlfriend. But when he leads a rescue party to a failing colony, everything goes against him.
His estranged father turns out to be the leader of the settlement. The colonists think he is inept because he is a teenager. And his disgruntled teammates believe he was named team leader because of his dad. He can tell no one about his secret mission to save only fifteen of the seventy people.
Will he follow orders and leave the colonists to die? Or will he find a way to save them all?
Professional Reviews
deftly deploying cliffhanging segues between scenes to create a wonderful page-turner. Alien Jungle is a compelling science fict
Alien Jungle is the second book in Roxanne Smolen’s Colonial Scouts Adventure series. After graduating from the academy the cadets now work as full scouts exploring new worlds and evaluating them for colonization. In addition to the challenges of their new duties, Trace and Impani are now dating. They struggle to balance the needs of their relationship with their professional aspirations. Things come to a head when Trace is named over Impani as team leader of the first ever Colonial Scout rescue mission to a planet led by Trace’s politically connected and disapproving father. As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, Trace also struggles with special orders, which force him to keep secrets from his friends, teammates, and the colonists.
Author Roxanne Smolen skillfully weaves a multi-threaded story arc; deftly deploying cliffhanging segues between scenes to create a wonderful page-turner. Alien Jungle is a compelling science fiction adventure. It features futuristic technology and bizarre aliens, but it’s about much more than that. The core of this story focuses on Trace overcoming his fears, accepting his weaknesses, and resolving his insecurities. Failure will not only end his career and dash his love-life it will also cost him his best chance to reconnect with his father. The book may be set in the distant future, but this is a tale that resonates with people from any time.
Alien Jungle features action sequences, numerous battles, and the angst of young love. Smolen treats all of them in an age appropriate manner. Using the movie ratings system Alien Jungle scores a rating of PG. Appropriate for teens and even pre-teens who are solid readers, it will also appeal to crossover adults interested in reconnecting to their inner teen. A fun-filled adventure, I highly recommend Alien Jungle.
I really liked the Stargate movie and all three tv shows
Mold Zombies?! Not exactly, but yeah. I got hooked. Trace is a colonial scout. They have these portable wormhole devices and explore the galaxy looking for habitable worlds. I really liked the Stargate movie and all three tv shows, yes including Stargate Universe so the premise was an easy sell. I received an audible code for a free review copy of this story and listened to it while trekking nearly unknown country backroads in Upstate New York.
Trace had a bit of a bungle on his first mission as team leader, so he’s surprised when his better qualified girlfriend Impeny gets passed over and he is selected to lead a five person team on a rescue mission. Now Trace needs to save the day and figure out how to get along with his girlfriend again.
He learns that each person’s traits can either be troublesome quirks or great strengths, but did he figure it out in time to stop the mold zombies from taking every last living colonist into the fungus forest? Don’t be lazy, read it for yourself! Har har har.
A great adventure like the serials of old
I listened to the Audible version of this book by Roxanne Smolen -- The production quality was excellent and the narrator's voice lent itself quite well to this YA story. In general, I got a great nostalgic feel from this book -- it harkened back to the serials I would watch with my grandfather.
At first, I was a little put-off by the teen angst that's prevalent in the book, but then I realised that 18-year-olds DO think this way, got over it to just enjoy the story -- and what a story it was! I won't give any spoilers, but I was pleasantly surprised by the way the central mystery unfolded. There were just enough clues to help the reader figure things out just before the scouts do. The ending was an emotional surprise that felt very satisfying. All in all, I recommend this book to anyone who likes a great adventure, and I will definitely look into the rest of this series.
A female assassin, known as Raven and hailing from both human and alien backgrounds, shares her story with Security Chief Salina Craddock of the Earth Conglomerate Space Security Agency (ECSSA) after being captured.
