Well, it finally happened. In a move this weekend that saw me updating every scheduled post for the next few weeks, Colony has become the first book of mine to hit the fifty-review/rating milestone on Amazon. For a while there it was a real question of which would be first, Colony or One Drink (my first), as both were neck and neck for a few weeks. But Colony has proven itself, and has now taken not only the lead, but broken the first major review milestone I’ve had on Amazon, cracking fifty reviews and ratings.

Which … may not seem like a lot to some of you. In an era where a ten-thousand dollar instagram campaign can drive a book to a thousand reviews seemingly overnight, fifty reviews doesn’t seem like much. But there’s one thing that Colony has going for it with its small selection that those massive advertising campaigns don’t: Colony‘s reviews are organic and all-natural!

Better yet, it’s still sitting at 4.5 stars after all these years.

And in case I didn’t have more to say about this, One Drink caught up as of this morning. That’s how close it was. Colony managed it on Saturday, One Drink just this morning. Talk about a tight race!

But a race that Colony clearly won. Which means it’s time to deliver on the tease I kept making recently about whichever title managed it getting a reward worth bragging about. And well, here it is:

Colony will be free to everyone this weekend. And it’ll be a five day weekend. Fifty reviews, five days. That means starting this Thursday, May 5th, and running through Monday, May 9th, Colony will be free to download and keep forever.

For five days.

Yeah. That’s the prize. Colony was the first to reach fifty, so it’s going to be free for almost a week. If you’ve been waiting in the wings thinking you’d pick this one up when the moment arrived … this is the moment! Starting tomorrow, you’ll have your chance!

But it shouldn’t just be you. If you know someone who would enjoy Colony and the rest of the trilogy, fire a link at ’em! Let them know now is the time to check it out!

However … that’s not all. Those of you that have read Colony and Jungle will be happy to know that next week, after the free giveaway is over, you’re going to get a very special post indeed: A preview of Starforge.

This was a Patreon-exclusive for some time, but now you’re going to get a look at it. Pre-Alpha, so unedited (Starforge editing is ongoing). But hey, it’s a preivew! It is, in fact, the entire prologue.

And it will be massively full of spoilers if you’ve not read Colony and Jungle. Just saying. I’ll have a warning on the post, just in case.

Either way, if you’re one of the reviewers that helped push Colony to fifty, thank you. Colony continues to thrive in part because of your willingness to let the world know how great it is.

Now it’s time for others to find that out as well.

Congratulations Colony for hitting the milestone!