Ethos

Link, Book 1

By: Nathan Hystad

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Ethos was mankind’s greatest hope. Until the Link closed.

On the 300th anniversary of Earth’s first expedition to another solar system, the original colony ship miraculously appears near Saturn. But the crew of Excursion One is nowhere to be found. All that’s left is a broken android, and a string of clues.

Captain Calvin Brooks, a hero from the Solar Wars, spends his days trying to forget the past on Link Station, until he’s thrust into danger when he’s asked to pilot the decayed ship back through the wormhole to search for the Ethos colony.

Jane Vanderbilt is the world’s most renowned historian on the revamped Excursion One mission, and her connection to the crew runs deep. Jane is added to the team by a mysterious astrophysicist, loyal to the Diplomats.

Luke Dalton is haunted by tragedy. He works the mines on Mars, while the loss of his family constantly weighs on him. The Deniers have other plans. Luke’s enlisted for duty by the Diplomat’s enemy. His mission: learn what really happened on Ethos.

Join the crew of Excursion Two as they venture into the Link. No one is ready for what they find across the void.

From Nathan Hystad, the Best-Selling author of The Other Place, First Life, The Event, Lost Contact, and many others.

©2025 Nathan Hystad (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

Great listen!

Compelling plot twists and over arching storyline. Intriguing characters and development. Cannot wait until the sequel drops.

Disappointed

The story idea was good. I found that it dragged a bit and most disappointing was the ending. It wasn’t even a cliff hanger. It didn’t exactly make me want to read the sequel, assuming there is one coming.

This read is a slog

Narrator character voices are hard to tell apart. This combined with a slow story and characters that are hard to like make this a slog. Now, I’m a huge scifi fan with kind of low standards. So when I say it’s barely passable, most people would probably not get through it. I will not be reading the sequel or even notice when or if it comes out.

How poorly this was written and orated

I didn’t like any part of this. I should have stopped listening after ch. 2. But being an optimist I hung in there. I’ll avoid such a boring situation in the future. It wasn’t worth even a half of a credit.

I couldn’t finish

It’s a teen sci-fi book. The characters are like kids in adult bodies. The book is full of “OMG the situation is life and death… too bad I’m busy tying my shoes.”