diff --git a/aux.go b/aux.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2637fdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+package nostr
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type StringList []string
+type IntList []int
+
+func (as StringList) Equals(bs StringList) bool {
+	if len(as) != len(bs) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	for _, a := range as {
+		for _, b := range bs {
+			if b == a {
+				goto next
+			}
+		}
+		// didn't find a B that corresponded to the current A
+		return false
+
+	next:
+		continue
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+func (as IntList) Equals(bs IntList) bool {
+	if len(as) != len(bs) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	for _, a := range as {
+		for _, b := range bs {
+			if b == a {
+				goto next
+			}
+		}
+		// didn't find a B that corresponded to the current A
+		return false
+
+	next:
+		continue
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+func (haystack StringList) Contains(needle string) bool {
+	for _, hay := range haystack {
+		if hay == needle {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func (haystack StringList) ContainsPrefixOf(needle string) bool {
+	for _, hay := range haystack {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(needle, hay) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func (haystack IntList) Contains(needle int) bool {
+	for _, hay := range haystack {
+		if hay == needle {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/event.go b/event.go
index 690aa0f..e1916f3 100644
--- a/event.go
+++ b/event.go
@@ -1,18 +1,26 @@
 package nostr
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"crypto/rand"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/hex"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/fiatjaf/bip340"
+	"github.com/valyala/fastjson"
 )
 
+type Event struct {
+	ID        string
+	PubKey    string
+	CreatedAt time.Time
+	Kind      int
+	Tags      Tags
+	Content   string
+	Sig       string
+}
+
 const (
 	KindSetMetadata            int = 0
 	KindTextNote               int = 1
@@ -22,36 +30,6 @@ const (
 	KindDeletion               int = 5
 )
 
-type Event struct {
-	ID string `json:"id"` // it's the hash of the serialized event
-
-	PubKey    string `json:"pubkey"`
-	CreatedAt Time   `json:"created_at"`
-
-	Kind int `json:"kind"`
-
-	Tags    Tags   `json:"tags"`
-	Content string `json:"content"`
-	Sig     string `json:"sig"`
-}
-
-type Time time.Time
-
-func (tm *Time) UnmarshalJSON(payload []byte) error {
-	unix, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(payload), 10, 64)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("time must be a unix timestamp as an integer, not '%s': %w",
-			string(payload), err)
-	}
-	t := Time(time.Unix(unix, 0))
-	*tm = t
-	return nil
-}
-
-func (t Time) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
-	return []byte(strconv.FormatInt(time.Time(t).Unix(), 10)), nil
-}
-
 // GetID serializes and returns the event ID as a string
 func (evt *Event) GetID() string {
 	h := sha256.Sum256(evt.Serialize())
@@ -62,36 +40,29 @@ func (evt *Event) GetID() string {
 func (evt *Event) Serialize() []byte {
 	// the serialization process is just putting everything into a JSON array
 	// so the order is kept
-	arr := make([]interface{}, 6)
+	var arena fastjson.Arena
+
+	arr := arena.NewArray()
 
 	// version: 0
-	arr[0] = 0
+	arr.SetArrayItem(0, arena.NewNumberInt(0))
 
 	// pubkey
-	arr[1] = evt.PubKey
+	arr.SetArrayItem(1, arena.NewString(evt.PubKey))
 
 	// created_at
-	arr[2] = int64(time.Time(evt.CreatedAt).Unix())
+	arr.SetArrayItem(2, arena.NewNumberInt(int(evt.CreatedAt.Unix())))
 
 	// kind
-	arr[3] = int64(evt.Kind)
+	arr.SetArrayItem(3, arena.NewNumberInt(evt.Kind))
 
 	// tags
-	if evt.Tags != nil {
-		arr[4] = evt.Tags
-	} else {
-		arr[4] = make([]bool, 0)
-	}
+	arr.SetArrayItem(4, tagsToFastjsonArray(&arena, evt.Tags))
 
 	// content
-	arr[5] = evt.Content
+	arr.SetArrayItem(5, arena.NewString(evt.Content))
 
-	serialized := new(bytes.Buffer)
-
-	enc := json.NewEncoder(serialized)
-	enc.SetEscapeHTML(false)
-	_ = enc.Encode(arr)
-	return serialized.Bytes()[:serialized.Len()-1] // Encode add new line char
+	return arr.MarshalTo(nil)
 }
 
 // CheckSignature checks if the signature is valid for the id
@@ -104,19 +75,6 @@ func (evt Event) CheckSignature() (bool, error) {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("Event has invalid pubkey '%s': %w", evt.PubKey, err)
 	}
 
-	// check tags
-	for _, tag := range evt.Tags {
-		for _, item := range tag {
-			switch item.(type) {
-			case string, int64, float64, int, bool:
-				// fine
-			default:
-				// not fine
-				return false, fmt.Errorf("tag contains an invalid value %v", item)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
 	s, err := hex.DecodeString(evt.Sig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("signature is invalid hex: %w", err)
diff --git a/event_aux.go b/event_aux.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87e6843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/event_aux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+package nostr
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/valyala/fastjson"
+)
+
+type Tags []StringList
+
+func (t *Tags) Scan(src interface{}) error {
+	var jtags []byte = make([]byte, 0)
+
+	switch v := src.(type) {
+	case []byte:
+		jtags = v
+	case string:
+		jtags = []byte(v)
+	default:
+		return errors.New("couldn't scan tags, it's not a json string")
+	}
+
+	json.Unmarshal(jtags, &t)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (tags Tags) ContainsAny(tagName string, values StringList) bool {
+	for _, tag := range tags {
+		if len(tag) < 2 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if tag[0] != tagName {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if values.Contains(tag[1]) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+func (evt *Event) UnmarshalJSON(payload []byte) error {
+	var fastjsonParser fastjson.Parser
+	parsed, err := fastjsonParser.ParseBytes(payload)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse event: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	obj, err := parsed.Object()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("event is not an object")
+	}
+
+	var visiterr error
+	obj.Visit(func(k []byte, v *fastjson.Value) {
+		key := string(k)
+		switch key {
+		case "id":
+			id, err := v.StringBytes()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'id' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.ID = string(id)
+		case "pubkey":
+			id, err := v.StringBytes()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'pubkey' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.PubKey = string(id)
+		case "created_at":
+			val, err := v.Int64()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'created_at' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.CreatedAt = time.Unix(val, 0)
+		case "kind":
+			kind, err := v.Int64()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'kind' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.Kind = int(kind)
+		case "tags":
+			evt.Tags, err = fastjsonArrayToTags(v)
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid '%s' field: %w", key, err)
+			}
+		case "content":
+			id, err := v.StringBytes()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'content' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.Content = string(id)
+		case "sig":
+			id, err := v.StringBytes()
+			if err != nil {
+				visiterr = fmt.Errorf("invalid 'sig' field: %w", err)
+			}
+			evt.Sig = string(id)
+		}
+	})
+	if visiterr != nil {
+		return visiterr
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (evt Event) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	var arena fastjson.Arena
+
+	o := arena.NewObject()
+	o.Set("id", arena.NewString(evt.ID))
+	o.Set("pubkey", arena.NewString(evt.PubKey))
+	o.Set("created_at", arena.NewNumberInt(int(evt.CreatedAt.Unix())))
+	o.Set("kind", arena.NewNumberInt(evt.Kind))
+	o.Set("tags", tagsToFastjsonArray(&arena, evt.Tags))
+	o.Set("content", arena.NewString(evt.Content))
+	o.Set("sig", arena.NewString(evt.Sig))
+
+	return o.MarshalTo(nil), nil
+}
+
+func fastjsonArrayToTags(v *fastjson.Value) (Tags, error) {
+	arr, err := v.Array()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	sll := make([]StringList, len(arr))
+	for i, v := range arr {
+		subarr, err := v.Array()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		sl := make(StringList, len(arr))
+		for j, subv := range subarr {
+			sb, err := subv.StringBytes()
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			sl[j] = string(sb)
+		}
+		sll[i] = sl
+	}
+
+	return Tags(sll), nil
+}
+
+func tagsToFastjsonArray(arena *fastjson.Arena, tags Tags) *fastjson.Value {
+	jtags := arena.NewArray()
+	for i, v := range tags {
+		arr := arena.NewArray()
+		for j, subv := range v {
+			arr.SetArrayItem(j, arena.NewString(subv))
+		}
+		jtags.SetArrayItem(i, arr)
+	}
+	return jtags
+}
diff --git a/filter_aux.go b/filter_aux.go
index 362158e..1bf29b1 100644
--- a/filter_aux.go
+++ b/filter_aux.go
@@ -8,78 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/valyala/fastjson"
 )
 
-type StringList []string
-type IntList []int
-
-func (as StringList) Equals(bs StringList) bool {
-	if len(as) != len(bs) {
-		return false
-	}
-
-	for _, a := range as {
-		for _, b := range bs {
-			if b == a {
-				goto next
-			}
-		}
-		// didn't find a B that corresponded to the current A
-		return false
-
-	next:
-		continue
-	}
-
-	return true
-}
-
-func (as IntList) Equals(bs IntList) bool {
-	if len(as) != len(bs) {
-		return false
-	}
-
-	for _, a := range as {
-		for _, b := range bs {
-			if b == a {
-				goto next
-			}
-		}
-		// didn't find a B that corresponded to the current A
-		return false
-
-	next:
-		continue
-	}
-
-	return true
-}
-
-func (haystack StringList) Contains(needle string) bool {
-	for _, hay := range haystack {
-		if hay == needle {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
-func (haystack StringList) ContainsPrefixOf(needle string) bool {
-	for _, hay := range haystack {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(needle, hay) {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
-func (haystack IntList) Contains(needle int) bool {
-	for _, hay := range haystack {
-		if hay == needle {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
 func (f *Filter) UnmarshalJSON(payload []byte) error {
 	var fastjsonParser fastjson.Parser
 	parsed, err := fastjsonParser.ParseBytes(payload)
diff --git a/tags.go b/tags.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 593a762..0000000
--- a/tags.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-package nostr
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
-)
-
-type Tags []Tag
-type Tag []interface{}
-
-func (t *Tags) Scan(src interface{}) error {
-	var jtags []byte = make([]byte, 0)
-
-	switch v := src.(type) {
-	case []byte:
-		jtags = v
-	case string:
-		jtags = []byte(v)
-	default:
-		return errors.New("couldn't scan tags, it's not a json string")
-	}
-
-	json.Unmarshal(jtags, &t)
-	return nil
-}
-
-func (tags Tags) ContainsAny(tagName string, values StringList) bool {
-	for _, tag := range tags {
-		if len(tag) < 2 {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		currentTagName, ok := tag[0].(string)
-		if !ok || currentTagName != tagName {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		currentTagValue, ok := tag[1].(string)
-		if !ok {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		if values.Contains(currentTagValue) {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-
-	return false
-}