Ren Hutchings burst onto the science fiction scene with her engaging time travelling space opera Under Fortunate Stars. Hutchings returns to the universe of that book, but in an earlier time in which the galactic war with the mysterious Felen is still burning on the fringes of the human worlds. The stakes are slightly lower in An Unbreakable World and the plot is a little more linear, but Hutchings still manages to do a fair amount of universe building. And once again, she drives a page-turning story powered by flawed characters.
The action of An Unbreakable World opens on a small, rundown space station called Kuuj Outpost. Page Found is a small time thief scoping a score in hope of paying back some of an insurmountable debt. Page has been living on Kuuj for eight years, before which her memory is a complete blank (hence her self-chosen name) and part of her debt is due to the cost of trying to find out who she is. But it turns out that Page is the mark and she soon finds herself kidnapped by a couple of criminals, Zhak and Maelle, who need her particular skills to help them with a heist of their own. Zhak gives Maelle the job of convincing Page to cooperate. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated story strand, nine-year-old Dayla has to learn about the lies that need to be told and the compromises that need to be made in order to rule the ‘unbreakable world’ of Teyr.
The relationship between Page and Maelle is well handled, and refreshing as it is depicted as a growing friendship rather than anything more. The driving motive for Page is to discover something about her past, to make sense of random images that she expereinces. Readers may well suspect what is going on (probably half of them will be right), the Dayla plot line would not make a lot of sense otherwise, although it does become relevant in a number of ways.
What Hutchings does really well in An Unbreakable World is to further build out her universe – the war with the Felen, the relationship between the planets of the Union, the religious stories that underpin particular elements of her society. Hutchins is particularly interested in the way in which that religion is used, reinterpreted and twisted by people for their own ends. This depth allows the action to feel like it is taking place in a lived-in universe. Coupled with engaging characters and some great twists Hutchings delivers another fun space adventure.
An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings
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