Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publication Date: October 1, 2019
Half Way Home isn't a novella--I don't have the word count, but it's structured and plotted like a full-length novel, albeit very much on the shorter end of that scale--but it definitely feels like one. In scope, in character development, etc., this stands as a complete story, but could easily be appended as "Part 1" of a longer cycle, though Goodreads tells me that isn't the case. (Also, that this is being re-published, so unless there are plans to continue on later, this is definitely a stand-alone.)
The plot is relatively straightforward: to get around the distance issue, humanity has begun 'seeding' worlds with blastocysts instead of fully-grown colonists. An AI raises and teaches the humans (decanting them as full-grown adults), builds the colony for them, and . . . well, and it's programmed to incinerate everyone and everything if the chosen planet turns out not to be as hospitable to life as originally thought. Which happens--sort of--at the beginning of our story; a group of 15-year-olds end up decanted early while the rest of their proto-colony burns, for reasons the AI refuses to discuss. That mystery---where they are, what's gone wrong, etc.---drive the story to its conclusion.
Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. It's a fun little story, engagingly written. (A certain famously cheesy scifi series was clearly the inspiration here, and if you finish this without knowing exactly which one I'm talking about, then there's really no hope for you.) Will this enter the scifi canon as one of the greats? Definitely not. But if you're looking for an afternoon's entertainment, this is the perfect story to curl up with.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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