Half Way Home
Ratings41
Average rating3.6
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews<
Summary
Earth is sending out compact colony ships, designed to raise colonists from blastocysts by machine, and to abort if the colony isn't viable. But one colony is only partially aborted, leaving a handful of the least capable to try to survive - all only in their teens.
Review
Neither the title nor cover of Half Way Home will tell you much about the story, which is perhaps just as well, since they have little to do with it. Published the year before Wool, this is Howey well before fame.
The writing, as craft, doesn't suffer from it. As in later books, Howey creates effective, engaging characters and brings their troubles to life. There's a little too much introspection here, sometimes feeling like Orson Scott Card when he gets too wrapped up in character philosophy, but like Card, the result is an appealing, well written adventure.
There are plenty of scientific elements that get leaped over here, and Howey's not as devoted to realism as in his later books. But, for a quick adventure, it's fun.
Where I had far more trouble was with some of the social roles. For absolutely no reason I could find (there's the very thinnest of rationales offered), all the characters, though raised by carefully programmed machines, fall instantly into traditional gender roles, and homophobia immediately rears its head. My ebook edition was published in 2019, and I was startled to see the treatement of the issue, but even acknowledging the book was first published in 2010, that's far too late for the attitudes and assumptions offered here. I suppose one can put it down to Howey's then lack of polish, but I found the attitudes a major stumbling block for the book. The protagonist also throws out his scruples about treatment of local fauna with so little effort that they feel more like window dressing than actual beliefs.
The other problem is that the book doesn't really finish. Or rather it does, but that ending isn't built up to, so that it feels much more like an arbitrary stopping point than a carefully thought out climax.
If you enjoy Howey (and he's a good writer), you may also enjoy this book, but it's awkward enough that you shouldn't feel you need to include it in your library.
Interesting premise and plot, as well as interesting world-building, but this somehow felt more like a halfway-fleshed-out thought experiment than a book. It could have either been shorter and more compressed of a story, or a longer more in depth exploration, but the length it is just felt a little unsatisfying.
This review can also be found on my blog.
disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All of the opinions presented below are my own.
Half Way Home was originally published in 2010 but was recently re-released. I've consistently enjoyed a lot of Hugh Howey's books so I was excited to pick up this one, which was no exception. Quite an original concept, Half Way Home explores the potential future of space colonization. Colonists are sent to planets and raised sleeping in vats as an AI sets up the start of the colony. After 30 years, the colonists awaken fully-grown, trained, and ready to take over. In Half Way Home something has gone wrong, and the colonists are awakened early. They must figure out how to make it without their full training program and without all of the resources they were supposed to have.
While it had a lot of potential, this really just missed the mark for me. There were a lot of interesting bits — in particular, the flora and fauna unique to this new planet — but there wasn't enough to impress me. It felt like there was just something... missing, and I felt a bit let down by the ending. Part of this can probably be chalked up to a lack of proper world-building. Howey definitely has skill when it comes to building a sci-fi world (Wool speaks to that), but there was a lot here that felt like it should have been expanded upon. I just never felt fully convinced by the environment he had created here. It felt so limited; we're only really introduced to a couple of new species with the implication being that they are the only ones.
Besides that, I felt really uncomfortable about the characterization of the main character. He's gay, and the “hints” towards it are quite heavy-handed. He's also often likened to a woman and is made fun of by the other characters for being a “sissy.” This isn't at all challenged or addressed, and doesn't do much except play into existing stereotypes. There's also a love triangle that doesn't really get resolved; the drama with it feels forced and even the main character admits that it's ridiculous to think so much about dating when lives are on the line.
For all my criticisms, this is a pretty enjoyable read. I ended up getting sucked in whenever I'd pick it up, and had no problem jumping back into the story. The pacing is good and I was always intrigued to see what would happen next — even if it didn't seem like much would. Overall, this is a decent sci-fi novel, but nothing I'll be scrambling to recommend.
I love Hugh Howey, and although this was a bit of a departure from his other works, and definitely more YA, I enjoyed it very much. Great main character, as always!
A very compelling and interesting story with a bit of a Dune-esque element. It kept your attention throughout and though I'm not sure if I liked the ending or not. Otherwise it was quite enjoyable.
Simply Fantastic. It's one of those books that you'll be thinking about for long after you've read it. The author describes this on his blog as Lord of the Flies meets Alien. I don't know how much I agree with the alien part but it definitely is very similar to Lord of the Flies. Except, while not a huge fan of Lord of the Flies, I absolutely loved this book.