The River Saga: The Complete Series

by Nathan Hystad

“First contact, major deception!”

Can there ever be peace by the stars? Colton Beck doesn’t think so. But then again, he has six months to live…

Earth has long been occupied by the Angor, an often brutal and cryptic alien race that somehow convinced humanity to form an unjust alliance.

In a twist of fate, the Angor offer conscription to a colony world, and humans line up to visit the mysterious Dicore. They are even given temporary access to the River, an alien technology that grants passage between worlds.

Colton wants to truly live, if only for a short amount of time, so he finds a way to sneak into the elite army, and emerges on the other side of the River. But what is there to greet him?

Join Colton and his new allies, and see for yourself! This entire series of FOUR novels is over 1700 pages of science fiction adventure.

With over 5000 ratings, you won’t want to miss this epic deal.

From the best-selling author of The Event, The Other Place, Echoes From the Moon, and Lost Contact, comes a saga of redemption, second chances, and survival.

Included

First Life (The River Saga Book One)
Second Chance (The River Saga Book Two)
Third Party (The River Saga Book Three)
The Realms (The River Saga Book Four)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

1632 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2024

Reviews

[RBSProds]

“Four and a half HUGE Stars” ‘The River Saga, The Complete Series” (All 4 Books) is a fantastic SciFi reading delight, a marvelous space opera, based on a fascinating universe created by author Nathan Hystad. At times there is so much going on, you have to just go with it and let the storyline carry you forward. In Book 1, it all begins on Earth in Los Angeles with Colton Beck laden with a heavy heart from a medical diagnosis. But it really begins back in Fayetteville Arkansas with the arrival of advanced aliens, the Angor, who crave human interaction, making promises. And it all ends far from there, in this fast-paced, unique, twisty drama laid out across four novels. Your feelings about characters and scenarios may completely change through this strange, tumultuous journey. You may need to make a matrix to keep track of characters, locations, and time periods, but it's all enjoyable fun. The author makes extensive use of flashbacks, to the extreme at times, to deliver some wicked, hard revelations that push the multiple sub-plots along. Some stories are set against the backdrop of thousands of years. Promises from the past, promises of the future. Four and a half RELENTLESS Stars. 1632 pages, Kindle, special reduced-price ebook, mostly reviewed in text-to-speech mode.

[Brendan McTear · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I read a lot of science fiction but tend to stay away from books like this. I took a chance for some summer reading but was let down unfortunately. The plot felt like a video game stretched beyond the breaking point into a four book series. It was heavy on guns and fighting and very light on any scientific grounding. All of the aliens have two arms and two legs, a head and face, just two genders where men have all of the command, and very human based emotions and motivations. All the humans are just interchangeable macho archetypes. Our main character goes from a seeming nobody to the leader of saving the human race very easily plot wise. Language issues were solved by universal translators which feels lazy to me and aliens even used metaphors like “let sleeping dogs lie.” The jumbled time line was done in a somewhat clunky and predictable in a way. Keeping track of the alien species that are involved in the plot was difficult. It made it hard to care. To each their own. If you just want a book series that is full of shoot outs and machismo, this one has a lot of bang for your buck. But iI wasn’t for me.

[KHB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series, and nice to have all four books so there's no waiting for the next one to be released.

This is a fascinating, quick paced story that is full of mysteries that keep you guessing to the end.
Lots of character development, with the use of timeline flashbacks to add depth to the story.

A very unique take on contact with an alien race that is technologically superior and has an agenda that they don't reveal. It's hard to determine if the aliens are helping or plotting something malevolent. It's hard to trust anyone as these aren't your usual one dimensional aliens.

Just when I felt I had someone figured out, I'm wrong and the plot takes on a new twist. There's lots of balls to juggle here.

Each of these books enjoys new adventures that rely on previous storylines, so reading the series from the beginning is fairly important.

I really enjoyed this entire series. Quite a ride.

[Manie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is one thing true in almost any book you might read, then it is clarity on who the enemy is in that book.
But in the River Saga the enemy somehow keeps on shifting in name, form and accomplishments.
In The Realms (the final book in the River Saga series ) Drunal, the Spectral is by far the most horrific spectre you can possibly imagine, blessed with an immortal life as a Norosh and enemy of anything called the Rusa.
However, even he is but a touch to the real enemy Spectral called Bga'an.
Yes, even though trying to pronounce that name seems almost beyond the ken.
But this is where everything Colton and Krissa try to accomplish to re-establish the Ministry of the Realms, seems doomed to either fail miserably or get done with some major problems or even lead to their own deaths.
But not with this spectral Bga'an. With her around, their deaths seem to become accomplished fact soon.
Or will it?
Nail biting stuff. Again.
Enjoy

[Dom Hil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 3.8 to 4.0
Nothing spectacular
If you're not on to anything else.. it's still worth the read

Audiobook version
Narrator Christopher Ryan Grant

Narrator did decent, nothing to complain about

Overall characters and story is interesting however the author does not provide enough interaction and depth between the characters is very broad strokes! Same goes with the story very generic reads like anime.

The author fails to get explanation for how certain things work. He also seems to break off from one area/location of the story going to another area in a story with little to know lead up so I was frequently having to rewind to see what I missed.. and it turns out it was nothing.
Ok so.. since I "read" the audiobook.. I will give it may have just been the reader not breaking appropriately.

if the author had developed the storyline more going into greater detail and interaction between characters this could have been 20 books

[Christinaraven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good series that starts out slow so we get to know Colton Beck and the rest of the main characters that sets the scene and makes me really wonder if the Angor are the good guys that they have played for the last 20 years. As the story unfolds, it raises some interesting questions and hooks me in to try and guess what is really going on and if there is a hidden agenda. Then the fun really begins and the drama, intrigue, surprise twists and turns and then the mystery begins. Really enjoyed the story with its mix of mystery and scifi in this futuristic believable world heading to its first human colony. I found it easy to read and get sucked into the story to watch it all unfold. Found it hard to put down as had to see what happened next and what reveals would pop up too.

[mike hodgson Carole Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

More twists and turns than a Rubics cube.....on steroids! Great story line and concept. Well written with a flow that kept you engaged. The only cons being it was a bit twee where the main characters were rescued after overwhelming odds, (multiple times) but you wanted them to!! The other is the battles, this is not confined to this author I've noticed a lot recently with the same issue, in that overwhelming numbers of antagonists and friendlies and the action is over in seconds!!! I don't know how they can tackle this issue but it strikes me as unfeasible, logistically and physically. Normally with these two together I would bail, but he did such a good job with his characters that I was hooked. I would highly recommend

[Michael Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Hystad’s stories are always built around strong characters and vivid descriptions that pull me in and make me feel like I’m involved in the action. This series brought together a variety of species and multiple story arcs that kept the action flowing, along with twists that kept me guessing where things were headed, right up to the surprising and satisfying finale. It appears this is the end of the series, but there are ample opportunities for companion or spin-off stories to keep going for a number of other books. I’ve read a number of Mr. Hystad’s books and have enjoyed them all. I look forward to reading many more!!

[Lauren Capehart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two books were quite enjoyabe, but at some point in the third book a lot became the characters being more just a voice for narrator without any of their previous characterizations. Some of these sounded like an SAT vocabulary checklist was being used, unnaturally... to the characters history. No way to know how much this may have been changing editors between books or what, but the ending was satisfactory and I'm glad some authors don't just make up characters to murder them every other page. Overall a nice romp through the universe... Just be prepared that the characters don't gain depth as it goes along.

[Mohammed Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tantalising

A brilliantly fantastic saga that should be on every sci-fi addicts read list. The adventures never ending throughout the entire story with interlacing and weaving between this very well thought out ocean of realms. Our Author , Nathan Hystad has one heck of an imagination that is empowered by a force that can only be measured by the light years he travels spinning his yarns.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how this series should be read

Back to back. There are a lot of characters and places all well fleshed out. There are many twists and pivots in this saga. Best to read this entrancing, page turning series from beginning to end all at once to truly enjoy the complexities and the stories within this wonderful story arc.

[Samyann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coming-of-age space opera that is very long, has many characters, and is hard to follow, like playing a video game for the first time.

Liked: world-building, audiobook narration by Christopher Ryan Grant.

Disliked: Confusing, gave up on rewinding, and just let it go. Needs a good editor and shortened by a third.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked much of the first book, but as it got into the second, the...how can I say...fakeness of the plot and the poor portrayal of the characters began to bleed through. I had to quit it 1/3-1/2 of the way through the second book as the bad science, bad characters, and overly convoluted plot less satisfying and believable.

[John Cornett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review

This was a good tale. The good and bad..most of the time I was continuing to read looking forward to next chapter. The looking back at people history , was somewhat disappointing but it explained what they doing to get to where they were in time. Good books.

[Zane Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent series from Nathan Hystad.

Great series that just kept getting better with each book.
Read all four books back to back.
Fantastic characters with a beautiful story arch with twist and turns to keep you guessing.

[Wes Tatters · Rating 5 out of 5]

when aliens invade not everything is as it seems

And interesting take on the invasion of friend aliens. A salient reminder that when things appear to good to be true, there is a very good chance they are not.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have to see what happens next.

Good reading that keeps interest at a constant “what’s next” pace. Interesting dialogue between different races that seems to cement relationships quickly and efficiently. Looking forward to more stories.

[Aaron Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

This book kept my interest from start to finish. I like the twists and turns the characters were well developed and interesting. The story was amazing and different. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes sci-fi.

[Sam Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

couldn’t put it down

Excellent series of books that draw you in quickly.

At the end I was in mourning, as it had finished.

[Merle Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t stop reading

Nathan Hystad did it again. Another fabulous series. Worth the many nights of reading. Can’t wait for the next series.

[Bob Truman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great adventure

A great story meeting many new friends and questionable allies following their quest and the magical way events came together.

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

Very good read with plenty of twists, turns and unexpected side tracks. I will look forward to seeing more from this author.

[joyce e colf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great journey

An enchanting historic event on planets unknown to us,
leaving an everlasting impression with each book.
I enjoyed all 4 books.

[Richard Rote · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

Wonderful series filled with good characters and a great story line. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series and look forward to more from this author.

[Peter A. Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

books 3 and 4 slowed down a bit for me

[Bill Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

May the River be With You

Great sorry telling, although it was difficult sometimes to sort out who was who. It’s always good to see the good guys win …

[Grumpy cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

How many times does the reader need to know that the MC has an incurable ailment. FFS. LOTS of repetition of information makes this tedious to listen to. The storyline itself is intriguing and the baddy race changes as the story continues.