Reviews

Half Way Home by Hugh Howey

tishywishy's review against another edition

3.0

Well paced novel of colonist being sent to develop new planets or rather work on new planets for their creators. Porter is a psychologist and his training is interrupted at about age 15 when the ship decide to abort but changes its mind halfway through the sequence. Eventually Porter and his friends run away from their 'Colony' which has become a master and slave relationship and find the true source of why the abort sequence was cancelled. Not a bad premise and Howey has an enjoyable writing style but didn't enjoy this story as much as Silo and the ending was a bit humdrum.

gentlemangeek's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

gwynt's review

5.0

Wow, what a fantastic and unexpected novel! I really felt this embodied YA fiction. Everything experienced by the main characters were "firsts" in an imaginative way. Pacing was great and the message in the end was insightful. I can't wait to read other things by this author.

kleonard's review against another edition

3.0

I mostly enjoyed this novel, in which colonists raised in tanks are awoken early by the AI that governs their lives. Of 500, only 58 survive, and, only half-trained in their various areas of specialization--psychology, farming, geology, mining--they make a go of living on the planet they're supposed to colonize. But politics and alliances and the development of power groups appears immediately, and it's only by leaving the colony at great peril do some of the colonists discover the truth about the planet, the AI, and how they will need to function to live. There's a lot of action and thinking (and some scenes that feel a bit like they were written for a film treatment) that works, but there's also quite a bit of gender essentialism, and none of the characters really feel developed or even individual. There's room for improvement, and since this seems like the beginning of a series, I hope those improvements come about in future installments.

suzi4213's review

4.0

I love how Hugh Howey writes.
He creates excellent dystopian environments full of well-rounded and interesting characters.
My only problem with this book was that it was too short. Haha. I wish there was more.

uppermost's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sahentig93's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jenlynnhill's review

2.0

This book had a very interesting premise and at first I really enjoyed it. Then the further along into the book I got, the harder it was for me to understand what was going on, some of the descriptions of things/events were a little hard to understand. But overall, it was interesting.

duhwhoareyou's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

h3dakota's review

4.0

Loved this novella! I wish it had been longer. Unlike some other reviewers, I loved Porter and felt that Howey portrayed his character and his thoughts beautifully. I would also argue that this story is purely YA. These are 15 year olds, true. But let's face it, they are certainly not the same as today's 15 year old teens. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone that loves sci fi.