Book Review: Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
A standalone sci-fi with Lord of The Flies vibes.
I am a huge fan of Hugh Howey and his Silo Series (Wool, Shift, and Dust). This purchase was a no-brainer for me.
This is a really interesting sci-fi. I immediately got Lord of The Flies vibes, but set in the far future in space. A bunch of 15-year olds running around trying to make things work. I liked the varied cast of characters and the roles they were taught to be in. The complexity of learning to survive AND learning to be a person was intriguing.
"We survive in order to struggle. Struggling means we're winning."
I did have a difficult time visualizing the setting, I’m not sure if it’s due to the descriptions or because it was intentionally vague, but it was hard to put myself in the shoes of the person telling the story. So when the protagonist was describing where he was or what new environments he was experiencing, it was a little hard to picture it. I did like that some of it sounded not just alien, but terrifying alien.
While this book didn't quite hit the mark for me, it was still a very interesting read and I liked idea behind it. I'll definitely be checking out other books by Hugh Howey!
Rating: ★★★.5
Book Summary
- Title: Half Way Home
- Author: Hugh Howey
- Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
- Who Should Read It? Sci-fi lovers looking for an interesting standalone.
Synopsis: WE WOKE IN FIRE
Five hundred colonists have been sent across the stars to settle an alien planet. Vat-grown in a dream-like state, they are educated through simulations by an artificial intelligence and should awaken at thirty years old, fully trained, and ready to tame the new world.
But fifteen years into their journey, an explosion on their vessel kills most of the homesteaders and destroys the majority of their supplies. Worse yet, the sixty that awaken and escape the flames are only half-taught and possess few useful survival skills.
Naked and terrified, the teens stumble from their fiery baptism ill-prepared for the unfamiliar and harsh alien world around them. Though they attempt to work with the colony A.I. to build a home, dissension and misery are rampant, escalating into battles for dominance.
Soon they find that their worst enemy isn’t the hostile environment, the A.I., or the blast that nearly killed them. Their greatest danger is each other.
