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First Life (The River Saga Book One) Paperback – January 20, 2022
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Colton Beck has six months to live. He works for the Angor near Los Angeles, aware that any day could be his last.
The Angor arrived twenty years ago, resolved to help mankind survive, but not everyone believes their motives are honorable.
When the Angor offer humanity a colony world, Colton is determined to see another planet before his final breath. He’s been diagnosed with Xeno, a rare disorder that surfaced with the Angor’s arrival, but he won’t let this stop him.
With the help of his old friend Indie Hart, now the single most powerful human on Earth, he joins the Expedition to Dicore.
They access the River, an alien technology that allows nearly instantaneous travel between worlds, and their universe is quickly expanded.
What they find on Dicore is far from idyllic, and Colton struggles to navigate their new existence while coping with his impending death.
First Life is a gripping science fiction adventure tale from the Best-Selling author of The Event, Lost Contact, and Final Days.
*******Peace by the Stars*******
- Print length445 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 20, 2022
- Dimensions5 x 1.12 x 8 inches
- ISBN-13979-8405720036
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Product details
- ASIN : B09QNZWQYW
- Publisher : Independently published (January 20, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 445 pages
- ISBN-13 : 979-8405720036
- Item Weight : 1.06 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 1.12 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,852,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11,020 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books)
- #14,052 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- #36,455 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Nathan Hystad is the best-selling author of The Event and Lost Contact. He writes about alien invasion, first contact, colonization, and everything else he devoured growing up. He's had hundreds of thousands of copies sold and read, and loves the fact he's been able to reach so many amazing readers with his stories.
Nathan's written over thirty novels, including The Survivors, Baldwin's Legacy, and The Resistance.
He's also done mystery/thrillers with Red Creek, Return to Red Creek, and Lights Over Cloud Lake.
All of Nathan's books are available in audio.
Get Constantine, a free story set in the Baldwin's Legacy universe by signing up for his newsletter at www.nathanhystad.com
The Bridge Sequence
Lost Contact
Lost Time
Lost Hope
Space Race
Space Race
Space Battle
Space Strike
The Survivors
The Event
New Threat
New World
The Ancients
The Theos
Old Enemy
New Alliance
The Gatekeepers
The Academy
Old World
New Discovery
Old Secrets
The Deities
New Beginning
New Lies
The Colony
Baldwin's Legacy
Confrontation
Unification
Culmination
Hierarchy
Lineage
Legacy
The Resistance
Rift
Revenge
Return
Red Creek
Return to Red Creek
Lights Over Cloud Lake
The Manuscript
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We learn that the aliens, the Angor, have come to Earth in peace, to offer Humanity several things as part of a ‘Unity Accord’, asking only for help with some projects, including help with colonizing a planet of our own.
However, when they came, the Angor released something into the atmosphere to allegedly help with the damage we had done, something that was supposedly non-toxic to humans. But not all humans were, a very small percentage of the population of the Earth developed a rare condition called ‘Xeno’, something that is fatal to anyone that develops it.
We learn all of this (and a lot more that I won’t give spoilers for), through multiple flashbacks throughout Colton’s life, and that he has Xeno, and how he will eventually succumb to the disease (You don’t know when, those that get it, go through lots of painful attacks early on, before adjusting to a reasonably normal life, and then towards the end, have a few more painful attacks and die). Colton works on an Angor project, having accepted his fate, and having just gotten on with his life, when he learns of the Human Colony that is being sent to the planet Dicore.
Only 10,000 people are being sent though, and unfortunately, no one with Xeno can go. However, Colton believes this is his last hope for a meaningful life, and decides he has to be on the ship that goes, and as a result, he contacts an old friend (His ex-girlfriend from High School who was stood on the baseball pitch the day the Angor came), Indie Hart, and begs her to help him.
And thus begins what is both a full-on adventure, but a story that is utterly riveting and intriguing. The start of this book is fascinating to begin with, and has you completely captivated, but when the story moves to the trip to Dicore, it is like a completely different level of story-telling.
Hystad has always been brilliant at creating characters that are intelligent and multi-faceted, but in First Life, he takes this to a whole new dimension. Colton is exceptional as the man with a death sentence, desperate to make a difference, but with a secret that could get him killed. He is so determined to get to Dicore, to do something significant with the time he has left, that the consequences are almost insignificant to him. Along the way, he meets some wonderful characters, Desmond, the man with a mystery past, but who is full of skills, and such a good friend. There is Miya, barely 18 and already a gifted computer genius, and yet so young in so many other ways.
There are countless others that Colton meets on his journey to Dicore as well (too many, and I don’t want to give away spoilers!).
Indie Hart is intriguing in this story, she appears in so many aspects of Colton’s life, and is such an integral part of him, and yet, as the story progresses, Colton is not ever really sure about who she really is. Indie is a very clever character, and is one of my favourite in this story.
Along with the humans, there are the Angor, who are fascinating, that deceptively humanoid looking alien type, but at the same time, with enough differences to make them look alien when you really compare them. Hystad does a masterful job with the Angor, as you never really know what is happening or going on with them, and it only adds to the intrigue and mystery of the story.
The multi-faceted world-building, including the different aspects of how the Earth changes under Angor occupation, and that of the planet Dicore, are extraordinary. There is so much depth and detail to the descriptive work, really bringing these worlds to life, and allowing you to not only put yourself in these scenes, but to totally lose yourself in them.
First Life is an exceptional first part in what is going to be an amazing series, not only following Colton Beck and through him Indie Hart, but the lives of multiple other people as they take the first steps in setting up a colony on Dicore.
But this isn’t just about setting up a colony, there are so many layers of intrigue, and different factions, all vying for various things that make this just as much a mystery/thriller as a first contact/colonisation story.
It doesn’t matter what genre you like in Sci-Fi, there is something for everyone in First Life, it is an incredible journey, and one not to be missed!!
Nathan Hystad has Again written a story that is believable, engrossing, full of characters that are as real as us!
Top reviews from other countries

The overall plot is basically sound, but after a while I found myself disengaging from it mainly because I got fed up with keeping track of what fact we knew and what we thought we knew. It's not that I don't like mysteries or thrillers, but I didn't like this one.
By a coincidence and sheer bad luck, this is the third book on the trot I've read which pits humans against huge killer scorpion type creatures that attack in swarms. I'm done with this trend for alien creatures.
Strange things happen that seem to defy logic. For example, the remains of a fortified alien colony buildings, that the settlers move to; they know nothing of the race that built it but no one queries the fact that the dimensions of doorways, passages, room sizes, type of light supplied, etc is a perfect match for what they want. No one says "these aliens must be very similar to us".
There are many questions left unanswered at the end of book 1 - to lure you buying book2. As book 2 isn't released yet (at the time of writing this) I am given sufficient pause to consider whether or not I want to buy book 2. On balance - especially with the high price tag attached to it - I think not.

I'm yet to pick up a book of his I've been disappointed by, so I'm afraid you are getting a biased review here because I love his stories, they are just so easy to fall into and get caught up in his characters and the intrigues surrounding them.
I was fortunate enough to get an early reading of First Life and throughly enjoyed it. Alien invasion, alien virus, but the aliens are doing all they can to help the humans in life and technology, including support in the virus they have brought....
The resistance are not convinced nor are others and our protagonist who has the virus also questions their motives; but dying and beyond caring, does all he can to get on one of the ships bound for the new world promised to humanity by the aliens.
Once on the ship the humans realise their destination may not be as hopeful as promised and once on the planet the action ramps up.
Fun characters, good plot with many twists and turns and yet more to come, as the humans discover they are caught up in a huge galactic web of intrigue and war where they will be fighting for their very existence.
Can't wait for the next 2 books!!

Colton's friend Indie is turning out to be an enemy of the humans, hopefully all will eventually be released in the following books.
Well worth the effort and I recommend this book, looking forward to the next two books.


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