Half Way Home

by Hugh Howey

genre: speculative fiction, sci-fi, young adult protagonists

What a fantastic opening…and then the promising balloon of story and intrigue deflated. This is why I gave it a 2 out of 5 stars!

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads)

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

Review

I was looking for a new book, something different and a little darker. The book cover first drew me to the book (as is the job of a book cover :P). It looked grungy. The story itself is NOT grungy. I felt like the book cover didn’t reflect the “themes” or the story’s atmosphere.

When I read the first 20 or so pages, I found out that it was very sci-fi. This got me excited because while I’m not the biggest sci-fi fan, I know there are some great sci-fi movies, stories, and games. I’m always excited to try something new! The premise was tantalizing. A bunch of underdeveloped adults (teens) lost on a star billions of light years away from earth. Tension. Inner group conflict. And there was a strong push for “psychology” as our main character, Porter, was designed to take the role as a psychologist for the new colony. Continue reading →