Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Event: The Survivors Book One

Top positive review

4 against ET

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018

What I liked about this book was it was just plain good old story telling. People have said well no one cross's the ocean in 4 days or sail boats cannot go fast or the people met and became friends right away. It is a story and as much of the SF being written now, I think it is refreshing to not see constant space battles and mass ships being blown out of space. This was a people story and I enjoyed how the story unfolded little bit by little bit. I would say if your looking ray guns and missiles and ships being destroyed, then this book is not for you. If you want a change of pace and a people story, I think you will like it. I am going for the next book.

83 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Nikolai Tsekov

I was probably 30 pages from the end and couldn't finish it.

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2018

I was probably 30 pages from the end and couldn't finish the book. Had to hard press myself into reading it for the sake of all those positive reviews I've read, but this is becoming ridiculous to the point I just couldn't do it anymore. Serves me right, after all I know to never trust reviews on sci-i books. The main character, the aliens, the technology, everything is utter nonsense. It's 2018, we should be more picky and critical with the books we read, and that was just a waste of my time.

Mind you, this is one of the very few books I ever gave lower than 3 star. Even books I didn't enjoy at all usually got 3 or 4 because of some nice ideas, characters, setting or something else. Here you have a complete failure in every regard.

69 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Chris Stivers

The Event is a page turner full of surprises.

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018

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The Event, by Nathan Hystad, takes a common trope and makes it an engaging and satisfying read you won't want to put down. Full of surprises, the story includes interesting characters whose ambitions and loyalties may not be clear for many chapters. The heros face many challenges to accomplish their goals, not to mention mere survival. We see real human emotion--attraction, distrust, vulnerability, dependence--as relationships form. For sci fi the reader must suspend belief to accept alien trappings, but Hystad effectively explains the unearthly. It's the way our natural world is described that is sometimes hard to accept (travel time, physical properties, luck). Despite that, I found this an entertaining read that had me staying up later than I should. Can't wait to start book 2, New Threat.

37 people found this helpful

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Greyhound37

A good mystery that reels you in, but sometimes lacking in science and logic

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2018

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A good mystery story with some science fiction thrown in.

I enjoyed the mystery writing in this book. Lots of unexplained happenings, stringing the reader along til the end. However, there were a few things I had hoped more effort had been put into to make the experience more complete.

1. The Logic Train derailed sometimes. Some basic premises the characters accepted, seemingly quite easily seemed to defy logic or human nature occasionally. I thought it would all be explained in the end, and some of it was, but ultimately I was left scratching my head a few times thinking, "really? who would believe that!"

2. The Science, or perhaps the facts. Since this book is nominally Science Fiction, I was expecting a little more science and facts. Keeping things deliberately vague is one way to get around having to research things or create advanced technologies from whole cloth, but I really would have enjoyed more detailed descriptions in some areas.

All that said, it was a good, solid book that was enjoyable to read. Had it been a standalone novel I would have been completely sated. When the cliffhanger was revealed at the end, it kind of felt like it was tacked on as an afterthought to an otherwise complete story.

26 people found this helpful

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Mike NemethTop Contributor: Photography

Never trust an alien

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2019

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Dean lost his wife, the love of his life, three years prior. He's an accountant who keeps mostly to himself. But all that changes one day when the ships show up. It changes for everyone. Writer Nathan Hystad pulls the rough concept from "The Day the Earth Stood Still," the 1951 nuclear proliferation cautionary tale by director Robert Wise. But Hystad drops the similarities early. He doesn't have a guy named Klaatu spouting platitudes. Dean remembers something his late wife told him. Something important. The ships, which appear over most population centers, just sit there, somewhat like Klaatu's robot Gort. But then people start to disappear, captured in a green glow that causes them to rise and pass through any object. Dean touches the amulet his wife insisted he wear. Somehow, it kept him planet-bound. Dean's left alone, his best friend taken from his living room. Didn't even finish his beer. The neighbor's dog, a spaniel, becomes his one companion. But this isn't some apocalyptic novel about a guy learning to live off the land without anybody. Dean discovers he's got a mission, that his wife knew something, that he's required to play some role in saving humanity. And he's just one guy. Hystad crafts a compelling story, one that brings regular twists and turns. Dean's in for a ride. And since I just finished "The Event," the rest of the Survivors series appears pretty interesting. I already picked up the second novel in the series.

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Clabe

An entertaining romp in between alien tractor beams!

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018

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Imagine that alien space ships suddenly appeared over every major city on Earth and began harvesting every human being using tractor beams. Imagine that humanity is powerless, terrified and has no idea whether they will live or die. Imagine that three or four people have been spared and have no clue why. Each of them has been married to a spouse that has died mysteriously and with similar symptoms. Imagine these few are chosen to play a special role in a comic civil war in which Earth is caught in the middle…and that they have no concept of what they must face.

Dean, is one of the ‘chosen’. Allied with a cocker spaniel named Carey, Dean’s character must meet up with others who are chosen to be led by an alien race against a faction of the same alien race who are determined to inhabit the Earth. Dean proves to be a likeable, if somewhat clueless, hero bolstered by a second chosen, Mary, as they struggle again long odds and internal treachery to save the other occupants of Earth.

The Event is a slightly far-fetched read that I found entertaining just to see what kind madness turned up next. I particularly wanted to know the fate of the rest of the occupants of Earth; whether or not Earth would be saved from some of its excessive human population by the hostile actions of aliens. Doubtless, you will interested in finding that out as well.

To do so, however, you will need to buy a copy of The Event and read it. The Event should be appreciated by most any sci-fi fan with a sense of humor.

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Amazon Customer

Pretty good start to a series.

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2018

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Well-written, without the usual grammatical and spelling errors that often make these books unreadable. The main character is very nicely drawn, and quirky enough to be interesting (ie not the usual square-jawed hero). The end-of-the world scenario is novel, and the pace is stately without dragging. Only real complaints I have are that the aliens remain strictly two-dimensional, and there are two many important plot points where the hero suddenly remembers a repressed conversation from years back that illuminates a current conundrum. I enjoyed the read, and look forward to reading the next in series.

One suggestion to the author: the action takes place over a short period of time, a single week, and with every hour and day that passes, more people die. It's literally a race against time to save humanity. Unfortunately, it's very easy to lose track of the time frame and hence lose the tension. Might be a good idea to break the action down into days: Day One, Day Two, etc. Bit of a cliche, but it works.

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Kathleen R.

A very enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2018

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I like SciFi and near-future disaster stories, and this was a bit of both. Sure, there were some questionable areas but, I find that to be true of most of the fiction I read. None of the implausible parts ruined the overall storyline for me.
I can see becoming friendly and even intimate with another rather quickly when you think you may be the last humans left alive. We are a social animal, after all.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this series which, honestly, doesn't happen very often. I really want to find out what happens next and I want to know who the Kraskis' enemy is.
I do think more careful proofreading and editing is needed but it isn't even close to being bad enough to keep me from reading the next book in the series!

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Marc45069

A great little sci-fi adventure!

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2018

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The Event is a great little sci-fi adventure, no more, no less. If you want hard technical science fiction or a story with lessons for today, set this aside for later and get something by Arthur C. Clark or Peter F. Hamilton. But if you do want to escape for several hours in a fast-paced alien adventure, The Event is perfect. Our hero, Dean, and the rest of the world wake up to thousands of sleek spaceships hovering over the world’s cities. And things go downhill from there! Dean is put on a quest to save mankind. He’s joined by the typical cast of companions; the buddy, the love interest, the mysterious lady, and of course the loyal dog. He finds other survivors and they challenge the aliens both on earth and in space. This minimalist summary makes the book seem simplistic. But it does an excellent job being the exciting sci-fi adventure it was intended to be. The only problem I had and why it got a 4 and not a 5 was that personally, I do prefer a little more hard science than I found in The Event. But regardless I’ll read the next book in the series and I’m eagerly looking forward to it.

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Amazon Customer

Good

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2018

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It's not the best book I've read on this topic, but it's definitely good. There are some repeating things that are a bit annoying, character traits I figure, but it's not that bad.
The story has a few plot twists which I really enjoyed. One of them actually did surprise me, so that's why it got a rating of 4 stars!
The book is fast paced, you get thrown into the story right at the start and most characters are easy to connect to. I love that the main isn't the most interesting and most perfect person ever, but an actual normal, decent guy.

If you're looking for a quick easy read that will surprise you but not leave you feel like it's too heavy, this is a perfect choice.

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Eto Demerzel

interesting plots and twists

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2018

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It's good enough for me that it's one of those books when I coudn't quit reading, I wanted to know what was going to happen at each turn of events. The psychology or development of the characters was up to the various stressful situations that arose. It's true that the science behind it was a little sloppy at times; but I do not like it when, for the sake of the opposite (scientific rigor), authors try to lay out complicated scientific ideas which don't add up anyway if you stick to the current state-of-the-art physics (I am a mathematician having worked in mathematical physics). Between the two extremes and if you can't have the perfect compromise, I prefer Hystad's way.

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FafhrdF

Fun Read, but a Little Weak on thew Science

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018

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I found The Event to be a pretty good read, with characters I could identify with and a compelling plot. However, the science seems a bit lacking. There is little attempt to provide an explanation of how any of the technology is accomplished. To be fair, the story is written in a way that would not provide access to that insight. There were a few illogical aspects which I won't go into for fear of spoiling the plot, and some of the human capabilities when dealing with alien technology were hard to believe. However, I truly enjoyed the read and plan to continue with the next book in the series.

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