Half Way Home by Hugh Howey Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eBook
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Less than sixty kids awaken on a distant planet. The colony ship they arrived on is aflame. The rest of their contingent is dead. They've only received half their training, and they are being asked to conquer an entire planet. Before they can, however, they must first survive each other.In this gritty tale of youths struggling to survive, Hugh Howey fuses the best of young adult fantasy with the piercing social commentary of speculative fiction. The result is a book that begs to be read in a single sitting. An adventurous romp that will leave readers exhausted and begging for more.
This is a short sci-fi story about a colony on a distant planet. AI-controlled ships are sent out to distant planets where they begin transforming the worlds and growing human colonists from embryos. However, if a planet is not deemed sustainable then the embryos and all equipment is destroyed. This novel follows a colony that was in the midst of being destroyed but the AI changed its mind half-way through.
While the planet and sci-fi elements were nice, what really shines here is the interaction between the characters, and the mystery of why the AI aborted the destruction. It was interesting to see what the AI would do to achieve its goals and how the colonists reacted to that and how they chose their own destiny.
As for the downsides, I wished it had been a bit longer as there was so much that could have been developed further, and much more of the story I wanted to see.
Overall this was a nice, short story that I couldn’t put down. As always, I am impressed with Howey’s imaginastion and have really enjoyed all of his works.
About Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey spent eight years living on boats and working as a yacht captain for the rich and famous. It wasn’t until the love of his life carried him away from these vagabond ways that he began to pursue literary adventures, rather than literal ones. Hugh wrote and self-published his first adult novel, Wool, which won rave reviews and praise from readers. Dust is the final part of the trilogy. Hugh lives in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife Amber and their dog Bella.
