First Life Audiobook By Nathan Hystad cover art

First Life

The River Saga, Book 1

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First Life

By: Nathan Hystad
Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant
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About this listen

A dangerous expedition. Extraterrestrial alliances. Unpredictable enemies.

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 20 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.

©2021 Nathan Hystad (P)2021 Podium Audio
Fiction First Contact Military Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Exploration Space Opera Space Interstellar
About the Creator - Nathan Hystad

About the Creator

Nathan Hystad is the bestselling author of Below Us, Lost Contact, The Other Place, The Event, and many others. He often merges his love of thrillers and mysteries into his science fiction, while using dynamic characters to tell the story. He lives in Alberta, Canada, with his wife and two cocker spaniels. When he’s not reading a book, writing a book, or dreaming about books, you’ll find him swinging a golf club.

What listeners say about First Life

Highly rated for:

Intriguing Story Captivating Plot Twists Versatile Narrator Immersive World-building Compelling Mystery Elements
Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

EXCEPTIONAL!!!!!!!

the narrator takes a chapter or two to get to where everything is coming out smooth or to where I got used to him but he did a great job very good with a different voices for each character and they all sounded great the story was intriguing and kept me pushing on not wanting to put the book down a thrilling story captivating from start to finish I had looked at this book several times considering it very very glad I finally did I will be following this story to the conclusion through hopefully many books loved it

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not enough to entice me for the 2nd book

I felt the whole 2nd half was just a build up to the next book. Why can't we get books that just close a story? Lots of potential, but became silly.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Starts slow

Takes a while to get going but after a few chapters it started to get interesting.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very good

will love if you like alien invasion type books, and a little different, we accept them a lot quicker without fighting like most other stories

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent !!!

Excellent book. Going right into the second. Man, you just can’t trust people. Everyone is dirty. It’s like that in real life too!!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hidden Gem

This is a great book. I can't wait for the next one! The story is interesting and the scope of the story is expensive.

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10 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good first 3/4, poor ending

Overall I like the story, hence the four stars. It took a little while to get going, and I could predict some of the things that were going to happen, but it was good science-fiction. I like the main character a lot, and some of the supporting cast. I didn’t care for Indie too much and didn’t invest a lot of emotion in her. The story arc, continued to ramp up and without giving away any spoilers, the last couple of chapters were a little disappointing. It set up nicely for the next book in the series, but not enough in my opinion to make me want to continue. I’ll think about it, and if there are any weeks when I don’t find something else to read, maybe I’ll continue. As for the narrator, I don’t remember ever hearing him before, but he was perfect for this story and I will seek out other titles he has narrated.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sleeper hit

I wasn’t too keen on this book in the first quarter. It wasn’t bad but just wasn’t getting me by the gills. Then things ramped up and it was a non-stop sprint to the finish. I’m looking forward to the next books in the series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Odd choices with interesting twists.

I struggled with some of the choices in the story because they seemed highly unlikely or flat out wrong. my suspension of disbelief was strained a little too much.

However several times, the story took an interesting turn or added engaging details. this was later in the book as the beginning was a slog.

The narrator is a bit flat. Not a lot of difference between his narrating voice and the flat alien voice of the Angor.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

No spoilers

Reviewing all 4 books in series—very good story overall. Fun & fast-paced except for 1st book which was excruciatingly slow, giving few clues to the shape of the story. It set up the series, but could have gotten to ‘the good stuff’ more quickly. Did a good job of character development often using flashbacks so got a m feel of who who each character was without the need to hear every detail of their life. The narrator was pretty good, but with some weird pauses as if he had not read ahead, so some of the story was oddly paced. Worth the credits and entertaining.

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