The Initiates
Table of Contents
The Initiates
The Initiates is the latest novel to be checked off my to be read list. It is the tenth book from author Ryan Hyatt that I’ve read. Ryan’s stories are always an adventure, and I love that. I’m never entirely sure what I’m getting myself into when I pick one up to read.
This is a big part of what drives me to read his novels and short stories, the adventure of not knowing what I’m signing up for. Which is interesting, because normally I find comfort in knowing exactly what I’m getting into with a familiar author. But Ryan forces me to go outside my normal box, and I always appreciate that fact.
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“No creeps allowed, but people who interview in pink Polo shirts and khakis? Sure. Just don’t force our guests to eat sugar-free smores.”
Ryan Hyatt, The Initiates
Have you read The Initiates? Come on in and let me tell you about it!
About The Initiates
A cynical high school graduate must overcome otherworldly odds with a group of fellow misfits if they hope to survive an alien invasion at summer camp. The Outsiders meets Annihilation.
Myles Harper’s transition to adulthood couldn’t be more disturbing.
After celebrating his high school graduation, his stepfather tells him he needs to get a job. The cynical Los Angeles native, more concerned that climate change will affect his life than his lack of a career, grudgingly applies to Camp Friendly Forest, where he is hired to work as a counselor for the summer. Soon Myles has more responsibilities than he bargained for. Supervising a cabin of boys in the mountains means that he must prioritize the needs of others over himself.
Even worse, vicious cosmic canines, Kiaskis, have crash landed off the coast and quickly overrun Southern California. As the situation at camp deteriorates, Myles and a group of fellow misfits, his new friends, realize they must work together if they hope to survive a horrifying nightmares.
A science-fiction horror novel involving humanity’s first contact with a violent extraterrestrial race, exploring notions of youth, masculinity, and morality during a time of crisis.
Thoughts on The Initiates
“How many near-death encounters have I had with this homicidal bobblehead? How much longer can I keep the peace?”
Ryan Hyatt, The Initiates
The Initiates is the fourth book in Ryan Hyatt’s “Terrifide” series, but each can be read as a standalone novel, and don’t necessarily need to be read in any specific order. With that said, this one feels like an extension or next book following The Psychic’s Memoirs. We meet Ms. Alice Walker again and get to know more about her journey.
Given that I wasn’t a huge fan of The Psychic’s Memoirs, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting out of The Initiates. The Psychic’s Memoirs was good, but definitely not my favorite in the series. It didn’t knock my socks off, so to speak.
The Initiates also brings back Ray Salvatore from Rise of the Liberators, and I was thrilled to see him make another appearance. Sometimes when you’ve read everything from an author or have a favorite series, bringing characters back is exciting and comforting. Like meeting an old friend again.
Ryan weaves two timelines together here, with part of it being about Ray Salvatore and Alice Walker, and the second being about Myles Harper, until they come together in the end, and he does a great job at it. I always appreciate when an author can weave timelines together seamlessly. I felt the same about Everything We Didn’t Say. Weaving two timelines together isn’t always easy, but Ryan Hyatt does an excellent job with it.
It is a short read, at just 225 pages. Which I finished in a mere two days. I found myself annoyed that I had to be an adult and do ridiculous things like sleep, when I really just wanted to binge read this one straight through. It has been a little while since a book really kept me wanting to read.
There is a lot of detail, and often graphic and raw detail, crammed into that mere 225 pages. It is impressive, to say the least. I wasn’t prepared for the journey this book took me on, but so very glad I decided to go on it by reading this. I’ve had authors who can’t get this much detail in 400-600 page books, nor have this much effect on me as Ryan managed to do within the pages of The Initiates.
The other thing that surprised me about this one was, it struck feelings for me. It is hard not to go into large details without spoiling it, but I felt a range of emotions, from happiness, to sadness, to just shock from some of the descriptions in the book. It really got me in a couple of places, and I’m always impressed when that happens.
I loved watching the personal growth that Myles experiences from the beginning of the book to the end. I found myself rooting for him, wanting to see him succeed, and have a happy ending. That is always a sign of a great book for me, and a part of how I rate them. I was invested in Myles and seeing him be successful.
Final Thoughts on The Initiates
“And just like that, America is at war with aliens.”
Ryan Hyatt, The Initiates
Well, after reading this series, I never want to own a bobblehead doll of any sort. If you’ve read the series, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you will find out soon enough. Those bobbleheads are how nightmares start. Which could be the start of a whole other story.
I am calling this a five star read, because Ryan Hyatt absolutely knocked this one out of the park with a home run. I am now impatiently waiting on the next book in the series. It is rare that books take me on an emotional journey, but The Initiates did. It is an amazing story about drive, determination, learning, and personal growth.
I’ll be perfectly honest and tell you that I can’t remember every book I’ve read and reviewed. Sometimes I have to go back and read my own reviews to remember them. This is based on the sheer volume of books I read, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. This is also why I re-read books later on in life too. We all have books that we will not forget anytime soon, no matter how many books we read after. The Initiates is absolutely one of those for me. I will not be forgetting it anytime soon. It is one that will stick with me long after I’ve moved on and read many other stories.
I can assure you that you will not be disappointed reading The Initiates from Ryan Hyatt. Given that I have pretty set favorites from him, this one was amazing. It still isn’t my absolute favorite, but I will tell you that it has knocked a couple others down on the favorites list. You really can’t go wrong with this one, in my opinion.
Discussion
Have you read The Initiates or any other writing from author Ryan Hyatt? Are you a fan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
About the Author
Ryan Hyatt attributes his passion for writing to an adventurous upbringing and active imagination. He was born in Tucson in 1976. Ryan and his two younger sisters spent childhood living in communities throughout Arizona and California.
He returned to his hometown to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1999. Working as an editor for a defunct horse trade magazine, and then as an auto liability investigator, Ryan sold his car to move to Barcelona, Spain in October 2002, fed up with corporate life.
His experiences culminated in “Friends of the Night,” an unpublished memoir written at age 25. Failing to find a job in Spain, he returned to the United States four months later destitute and despondent because his foreign conquest didn’t last.
Ryan spent the remainder of his twenties moving back and forth between Phoenix and Los Angeles working as a journalist. It was in the throes of his love/hate relationship with conservatism and liberalism, the United States and Europe, Arizona and California, music and monotony, his friends and himself, that Ryan wrote his debut novel. This second edition was reprinted in 2016.
Ryan Hyatt tells stories about your future. He is a former news reporter, columnist, and author of the Terrafide sci-fi series. He edits the satirical sci-fi news site, The La-La Lander, as well as Not Your Father’s Bedtime Stories, kids lit he creates with his daughter, author Sage Hyatt. Find him at the beach and his stories across the internet.
Ryan holds a master’s degree in education from California State University Northridge and develops and manages literacy programs for Los Angeles schools.
Purchasing The Initiates
If you are interested in buying the paperback version of The Initiates, click here.
Click here for the Kindle version.
Click here for my favorite Kindle I currently own.
More From Ryan Hyatt
Did you enjoy my review of The Initiates? Need another great Ryan Hyatt story? Here are my favorites!
The Last Shimmer (Sage Hyatt)
The Initiates
Worlds War One
Author Interview
I had the amazing opportunity to visit with Ryan Hyatt about his writing, The Initiates, and the Terrifide series. I am always grateful when an author will chat with me about their books, writing, and more. It is so much fun to me, like talking to my bestie about football or anything that lets me nerd out about something I enjoy.
Besides Worlds War One, do you have plans to continue the series with more stories?
First off, Erica, I want to thank you for your interest in my books. Curiosity led you to them, and over the years you have read them all, which makes you part of an elite group of reviewers. You have many crafts, hobbies, and skills, and now you can add to that list ‘expert on obscure twenty-first century science-fiction writer.’
Ha!
The fact that you have been willing to give sci-fi a shot, thanks to me, means a lot to me. That includes your interest in my Terrafide series, which take place on an alternate timeline and involves tales that mirror and mimic current events. Worlds War One will be the final installment of the series. If all goes according to plan, WWO will leave off where The Initiates ends and Stay Younger Longer begins. Five books total.
There will be room for more stories in the series, but I plan to switch gears writing-wise after WWO is complete. For a few years, anyway.
Are you working on any other ideas at the moment?
Terrafide: Tales from the Edge of Sci-Fi, Horror, & Humor is set to be published in the next. The collection of previously published and unpublished stories weaves in and out of my Terrafide universe, and at least according to the readers who have previewed it, includes some of my most original fiction to date.
As a storyteller, I would love to expand into other mediums, such as comics, TV, film, and video games. In my opinion, many youth, especially young males, receive a lot of mixed signals about what constitutes adulthood nowadays. While I don’t feel like my writing offers strong answers, I do think it provides an opportunity for youth to reflect on how to be better people overall. I hope the collection provides a catalyst for members of the entertainment industry to become more familiar with my work and collaborate with me on projects geared toward energizing upcoming generations.
What inspires you when it comes to writing and the ideas you have?
Ideas and humor inspire me, which has allowed me to work in isolation and obscurity for so many years. As time marches on and I manage to age, despite the fact I feel like I was born yesterday, audience becomes more important to me.
I really want the right people to find my stories—people who are restless in these strange times but remain curious about the history and development of the world despite the clash of culture and technology and all the reasons to be cynical and despondent about the state of society and our flirtation with collapse. Ideas and humor, perhaps, are all that can save us, and so I want to share my ideas and humor as far and wide as possible.
Tell me a little bit about your writing process.
Most of my writing occurs during my train ride to and from work in downtown Los Angeles. I have a demanding career in education with a lot of responsibility. My day job occupies most of my brain, so I need to be choosy about how I use my writing time, because I only get 5-10 hours of it per week.
I usually have several stories gestating in my mind at once, but it may take months before I work through one story in my head and ‘see’ it in its entirety. At that point, I start to set it to a page—usually as a brief, bulleted outline. From there, I draft the story. As I write, the story also writes itself, so the outcome of the tale may vary a bit from the original idea. That’s okay and part of the fun.
My stories may be a ‘complete’ narrative by the time I finish the first draft, but the quality of the overall writing comes with subsequent rewrites. I usually incorporate feedback from several readers and go through several drafts before I am happy with the result.
On average, it takes me at least a year to write and finalize a novel. WWO is going especially slowly because I find myself needing to re-read, and often re-write, where I last left off before I can continue with new material. I’m about 70 percent finished with the first draft, but it may take years before it is finalized and published. That’s just how this story is going. There is too much else happening in my life right now, including me finalizing and promoting other books.
Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. The longer you’re in this crazy self-inflicted race, the better you’re able to pace and adjust. So long as writing remains a ‘fun’ passion, you’re in it for the right reasons, and hopefully for readers the blood, sweat, and tears pay off.
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