What do you think?
Rate this book
The Beyonders
What would you do if your quiet town becomes the site of a crashed alien spacecraft? Would you trust in your government and treat the aliens as hostiles or would you try to look past the surface level encounters across the globe and see something more?Humanity has always pondered the existence of aliens and what meeting them would mean for mankind. Many assume they would come for our resources, our land or simply to exterminate a greedy and violent species.But what if they came for help?Oscar, content with his peaceful yet boring life in Alice Springs, finds himself in the midst of government inquiries, strange visitors and the aliens themselves after his best friend, Nick, reveals from his job at Pine Gap that aliens will soon be arriving on Earth.Discovering an indecipherable alien code during his work on a broken satellite motor, Oscar quickly realises that he must make a choice – to follow the path of his fellow humans or extend a hand of trust towards the aliens; a choice that will ultimately have ramifications for the future of mankind.
259 pages, Paperback
Published May 22, 2020
5 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 2, 2020
I should preface this by saying that I know the author personally so I'm probably a bit biased, but as an avid reader I can say with all honesty that I really enjoyed this read.
The story is set in Alice Springs, a sleepy town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Oscar, a repair shop owner, often contemplates the state of the world and likes to discuss deeper topics with his best friend Nick. Oscar is bored with small town life but at the same time, can't imagine something more.
Nick gets a job at the nearby satellite surveillance base, Pine Gap. After some mysterious interference damages a few of the satellites, the secretive Pine Gap agents recruit Oscar for his mechanical skills to repair them, but the damage is nothing like Oscar has ever seen before.
Nick soon becomes privy to life-altering information: something unknown has entered the solar system. Earth is about to make it's first contact with aliens.
The first half of the story is extremely well done- I was on the edge of my seat as it became clear that something eerie was going on in Pine Gap and I considered the philosophical questions that Oscar and Nick discussed about the fate of mankind. I loved the suspenseful and slow reveal of the new life forms.
The second half, without giving too much away, was equally thought provoking and packed with action, with an unexpected ending. Although after considering some truths about human nature, not completely unexpected.
Some critiques: the second half was a little too fast paced. I would have loved a bit more detail and background, and some pov from other characters, though perhaps we can expect that in a future installation. Also, there are some typing and grammar errors, though not enough to ruin the reading experience. Considering the author wrote and edited this entire story himself during quarantine, I'm impressed as is.
Overall this was a great story. I zipped through it and had no problem getting into the story and relating to the characters, even though some Australian vernacular was lost on me as an American. Lol.
I'm really proud of my friend for this awesome accomplishment and looking forward to see what he writes next!
The story is set in Alice Springs, a sleepy town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Oscar, a repair shop owner, often contemplates the state of the world and likes to discuss deeper topics with his best friend Nick. Oscar is bored with small town life but at the same time, can't imagine something more.
Nick gets a job at the nearby satellite surveillance base, Pine Gap. After some mysterious interference damages a few of the satellites, the secretive Pine Gap agents recruit Oscar for his mechanical skills to repair them, but the damage is nothing like Oscar has ever seen before.
Nick soon becomes privy to life-altering information: something unknown has entered the solar system. Earth is about to make it's first contact with aliens.
The first half of the story is extremely well done- I was on the edge of my seat as it became clear that something eerie was going on in Pine Gap and I considered the philosophical questions that Oscar and Nick discussed about the fate of mankind. I loved the suspenseful and slow reveal of the new life forms.
The second half, without giving too much away, was equally thought provoking and packed with action, with an unexpected ending. Although after considering some truths about human nature, not completely unexpected.
Some critiques: the second half was a little too fast paced. I would have loved a bit more detail and background, and some pov from other characters, though perhaps we can expect that in a future installation. Also, there are some typing and grammar errors, though not enough to ruin the reading experience. Considering the author wrote and edited this entire story himself during quarantine, I'm impressed as is.
Overall this was a great story. I zipped through it and had no problem getting into the story and relating to the characters, even though some Australian vernacular was lost on me as an American. Lol.
I'm really proud of my friend for this awesome accomplishment and looking forward to see what he writes next!
June 29, 2020
A wonderful debut novel, The Beyonders is a different take on the 'first contact novel' and cleverly speculates on how we, as species, would react to such an event. Interestingly, it is set in Australia - which is a nice change of scenery from your typical American novel, doing away with the overplayed tropes featured in those. It is a story spookily prescient of society's response to an existential threat like COVID-19. I highly recommend you give The Beyonders a read!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews