An Unbreakable World

by Ren Hutchings

If something seems too good to be real, you’ve got to get out of there.

That’s the rule that Page Found has always followed. She’s a petty thief with no memory of her past, scrounging to survive on a backwater outpost – until she’s kidnapped by one of her marks.

Her kidnappers – the cruel, self-serving Zhak and the tough maverick Maelle – plan to pass Page off as a monk from an ancient, isolated planet to help them capture a treasure-filled ship. If Page is willing to play along, they all stand to become richer than they can imagine.

Everyone is keeping secrets, and Maelle finds her loyalties conflicted as she gets closer to their captive. Page can’t remember the last time she counted on anyone. But to navigate this deception, she and Maelle will have to trust each other to survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Queer, Fiction, LGBT, Space, Space Opera, Adventure

400 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 9, 2025

About the author

Ren Hutchings is a speculative fiction writer, writing mentor, editor, and lifelong SFF fan. She loves pop science, unexplained mysteries, 90s music, collecting outdated electronics, and pondering about alternate universes. Ren is the author of twisty sci-fi books including Under Fortunate Stars and An Unbreakable World (Solaris Books) and The Legend Liminal (Stars and Sabers), as well as short fiction.

Reviews

[Chewable Orb · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings

3.75 rounded up to 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From multiple points of view, Ren Hutchings, the author of the previous title World of Unfortunate Stars, commands the reader's attention in her latest work. Our novel commences behind the eyes of three individuals: Page Found, a known thief and stasis survivor. Dalya of House Edamaun, a young girl being groomed by her uncle for the betterment of her homeland of Teyr. Lastly, Maelle Bereda, a space pirate with a score to settle.

This space opera lies snuggly beneath the impending doom arc of mankind’s obliteration at the claws of the Felen, more simply known as aliens. It is prophesied that inhabitants of Teyr, the supposed Unbreakable World, will be the only survivors of the onslaught. Having since broken away from the umbrella of the Union, Gepcot (Great, Everlasting Planetary Council of Teyr) soon makes the decisions regarding Teyr’s well-being. What is Gepcot’s true agenda?

On Kuuj Outpost, Page Found resides. As a thief, she makes enough to scratch by in this godforsaken place. An opportunity for a rare score presents itself, and like a rat tempted with cheese, she bites. Abductors Zhak and Maelle have a scheme that requires Page’s assistance to complete. As readers soon learn, the plans have a backstory. One with ulterior motives, and it could lead to an impromptu friendship.

Say it isn’t so. Religion is being used for manipulation. Pushing covert agendas behind the scenes, Gepcot operates silently. Those who look to expose the truth are routinely silenced, or rather, killed, to be more precise. The novel adheres to an often-told tale of modern-day society. Those making the rules only to break the same laws they enforce for personal gain, masquerading as “it’s for society’s own good,” feel.

While I found the political intrigue in this book fascinating, I was equally engrossed in Page Found’s character. Page has undergone stasis; she awakens to find herself on Kuuj Outpost, remiss of who she truly is or how she got there. Her main mission is attempting to piece together memories in the hope of uncovering her real identity.

Threats exist around every corner in Hutching’s world. Yet the relationships throughout brought a feeling of togetherness in a place of chaos. I was invested. There was an ease of writing style that made the pages turn at maximum velocity.

To summarize, likeable characters… check. Imminent apocalyptic threat…check. Aliens…check. What more could you ask for?

Recommended!

Many thanks to Rebellion/Solaris for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Nina van der Kooij · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley & Solaris for the ARC!

To start, for those of you who are expecting a heist book: it's not that. There's planning a heist. There's build up to a heist. But the actual heist part starts around the 80-85% mark somewhere, and it's not really the main thing of the book.

Overall, I'd say this is a character driven book, with the main mystery surrounding Page's lost memories and identity. It's about how to move forward when you lost your past, and trying to uncover who you were vs moving towards who you want to become. I really liked Page's character development in this aspect.

Page Found (yes that's her name, but it's a name she chose after waking up without her memories) lives on a far off space station, trying to recover who she is after she lost her memory during a stasis research trial and was dumped there. She survives by stealing, but then she gets kidnapped by someone she tried to rob, and they offer her a job in their heist plan. Here she meets Zhak, the main guy behind it and kind of an asshole, and Maelle, a more sympathetic character who is nicer to Page. Maelle also has a POV and she is an interesting character with motivations of her own, who is using Page for her own goals but grows to care for her too.

The book is divided into 3 POVs, along with some interludes. Page and Maelle both have their POV and follow the main storyline which is largely them building up to this heist. Meanwhile, Dalya has a story that is completely seperate from the rest but does tie in to the rest of the book at the end. Dalya's story takes place over a much longer span of time (she's 9 at the start, 18 at the end), and it is kind of unclear when it takes place compared to Page and Maelle's story, but that's part of the intrigue. Dalya is the niece of a very important political figure on an isolated planet with a strong religious doctrine who believe themselves the origin of humanity, and that after a rapture event only they will be saved. Dalya believes all this, but does have to question it all, and her story was quite interesting, and offers some speculation about Page's lost identity too.

There are lots of interesting world building aspects, and not all of it is truly explained, some is really more of a backdrop for Page's story surrounding her lost identity and the heist. For example, there's this war with aliens going on, and no one really knows what they want, and this is never explained, nor do we meet any aliens. I do think it adds to the atmosphere, but I would have liked to see this fleshed out more.

There's also the occasional interlude, some of which focus on additional world building aspects, especially in regards to this world's religions, but others are interview transcripts that set up more hints for the plot and I liked those especially.

The ending gets more fast paced and twisty, with some things I managed to put together and others I hadn't worked out at all, and I really like how Page's lost identity works out in the end.

There's no romance in this book, but there's some romantic tension between Page and Maelle which I enjoyed reading, the situation likely wasn't right for a full romance but I still enjoyed the way their relationship built from distrust towards being quite fond of each other.

Would recommend to fans of character driven sci-fi

[Katlix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Page is swept up in Zhak's and Maelle's heist because she's probably the only one in the known universe with unique characteristics to play her part. An Unbreakable World builds up to a space heist story, with perhaps some slight inspiration from the Anastasia movie, but unfortunately the exciting part of it was severly lacking. I DNF'd this book just after the halfway point because honestly almost nothing happened at that point, and not in a cozy fiction kind of way. For a book that markets itself as heist and moreover is a standalone I don't really understand why it wastes so much time and space (pun intended) not progressing the story forward.

The Good:
- The general writing was decent and I could tell Hutchings put a lot of thought in the worldbuilding.

The Could be better:
- I normally like intermissions that give more background information and show snippets of deeper worldbuilding, but it was... a lot... Like... a lot a lot.

The Bad:
- As you might guess from all the previous: the pacing was simply atrocious. At the 35% point Page still wasn't sure if she wanted to join the crew/heist and by the halfway point the story only barely started going. By then this book pretty much put me in a reading slump and I was simply not invested anymore to continue.
- The dialogue was very cringey. And there's a lot of dialogue.

All in all I'm very sad this book disappointed me so. I was looking forward to fast-paced hijinks, and was met with the opposite. I saw another reviewer refer to this book as character driven and I don't disagree, but even then it doesn't really shine. Its biggest downfall is the extremely slow pacing and cringey dialogue. Thanks to NetGalley and Solaris Books for providing me with this ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Alwynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ren Hutchings’s standalone novel’s a blend of traditional space opera and hopepunk with a strong fantasy element. The writing’s more than decent but the plot could definitely be improved. It’s centred on Page Found who’s based on Kuuj Deep Space Outpost, located in a quadrant that’s part of an interplanetary organisation known as the Union. Page makes a living through petty crime, mostly pickpocketing. She washed up at the Outpost eight years earlier with no memory of her life before then. But now she finds herself caught up in a scheme to find and steal a legendary priceless artefact the Bird’s Heart. Interwoven with Page’s narrative are scenes set on faraway planet Teyr a non-Union member. Teyr has a complex belief system part of which is a belief in impending apocalypse – the detailed explanations of their religious and cultural systems were often a bit info-dumpy. At first the relationship between the Teyrian episodes and Page’s experiences is unclear, but gradually their separate worlds intersect. Overall, fairly readable with numerous pleasing small details and some wonderful descriptive passages, also liked the main characters, but the structure and pacing could be tricky to navigate at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Solaris for an ARC

Rating: 2.5/3

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

An Unbreakable World is a space opera novel, written by Ren Hutchings, published by Solaris Books. Set in the same universe as Under Fortunate Stars, we have a new standalone story that puts great care into developing a character-driven storyline that touches themes such as identity and societal oppression through beliefs, while still giving us an interesting worldbuilding as the backdrop for our characters.

Page Found has been living on a far off space station since she woke up without her memories, apparently as the result of a stasis experiment. She survives by stealing, but her last try has ended with her being kidnapped; however, soon her captors offer her a pass to her freedom from the station: joining them in their heist plan. Even if Zhak, the guy that kidnapped her, is an authentic asshole, the reward is too good to not accept; and Maelle, the other collaborator in the plan, seems more sympathetic towards her, even if she has her own goals that are hidden.
We have a second timeline in the novel, following Dalaya of House Edamaun, the niece of an important political figure on the Teyr planet; an isolated place from the rest of the Union that believe themselves to be the origin of humanity. A disconnected timeline from our main one, and that allows us to explore more about Teyr's religion and a possible origin for Page.

Page and Maeve are certainly fascinating characters, partly helped by how Hutchings focused most of the narrative weight on their POVs; and their reluctant collaboration that grows from mistrust and necessity. Zhak pales a bit in comparison with those two, but mostly because we have two powerful leading characters; and the mistery behind Page's lost memories only makes her even more interesting to follow.

Hutchings gives us an intriguing universe as the backdrop of the story; not all is explained, but with the help of some interludes and the third POV (Dalaya's), we get to know more about Teyr and its religion, an aspect that I found quite interesting, especially with its parallelism to certain nowadays religious movements.
The pacing is quite good, engulfing the reader as soon as they are on the first page; it feels like a really short book despite its length.

An Unbreakable World is a great space opera novel, a new story in this vast universe created by Ren Hutchings; if you like character-driven stories with quite a fascinating backdrop of worldbuilding, you should give her books a try. Can't wait for more!

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

The way that it's laid out and how we bounce between POV's, storyteller, historical documents and such was very enjoyable.

I really loved Page and her growth as a character. I think the only thing I wish for is that we had more of her.

I look forward to more in this universe for sure.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a massive fan of Ren Hutchings' last book, Under Fortune Stars, so I was hoping for more of the same but didn't quite gel with this one as much.

An Unbreakable World is marketed as a heist story, but there's not much heist. It's very slow and more focused on the character relationships, which is fine but not what I was expecting.

I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned this actually, but it's basically a retelling of the movie Anastasia, but in space!

I liked the main character Page, however the different POVs through the book were too random and detached, to the point that you know it's significant.

Not a bad book by any stretch, just not quite what I was hoping. If you're thinking of reading it, please do and I hope you love it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Katie May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGally and the author/publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was just fine. Classic sci fi heist. It just unfortunately was very middle of the road and unremarkable. It was easy to read and not necessarily bad just didn’t do anything new.

Some things that didn’t work were I had trouble believing the characters were in their 30s with the way the dialogue is written and the format of the story. It read much more YA than adult. The main character is referred to as ‘stinky’ multiple times in a few pages and they use phrases like ‘nuh uh’

The pacing was really off. The story is dual timeline (which wasn’t actually made super clear initially) and thus made most of the story take place way later in the book. It also made the story really predictable.

The characters could have been a little more fleshed out and the world building could have been a little more show than tell although using the files as world building was a cool idea

Appreciate the chance to read this early.

[natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I liked it. I certainly liked aspects of it. Or maybe I liked the idea of it?

Dalya's POV wasn't as pronounced as Page's or Maelle, but I found her set-up to be the most intriguing. Her chapters had the most potential, in my opinion, but cults also fascinate me greatly.

Page had the amnesia plot going for her, which piqued my interest. Maelle unfortunately didn't resonate much with me; at least not as a POV character.

I think the overall problem is the fact that nothing much happens. I find the characters quite idle despite the fact that there's a lot in the works; I mean, Page and Maelle are planning a heist; and I do want to emphasise the word "planning."

I don't know, I really don't know.

I'll come back and edit this review if I think of something better, or when I actually manage to formulate a proper opinion. My thoughts need to marinate.

Sidenote: This book was acquired through the Illumicrate Starbright subscription.

[Azrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I was provided with a digital copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

CW: war, death of parents, grief, kidnapping, brief gun violence
--

It’s been a hot minute since I read Under Fortunate Stars but this book was such a brilliant expansion of the universe and a wonderful standalone in itself too!

The war with the Felen, the alien threat to humanity, is still very much ongoing in the galaxy but this story follows characters not as directly linked to the main conflict and takes place on outer worlds.

There is a dual timeline, the first following two individuals – Page Found, a young woman who doesn’t remember anything of her past other than randomly triggered snippets of memory from before she was put into stasis, getting by on Kuuj Outpost as a thief. And Maelle Bereda, a space pirate with her own motives who is part of the team that abducts Page in order to use her anonymity for a heist job.

The other takes place at an undefined time and follows Dalaya of House Edamaun, a younger protagonist as she is growing up as heir of Teyr, a planet which has withdrawn from the Union and its associated conflicts.

I came running for the heist storyline but was pleasantly surprised to find a much more character driven narrative, focusing on the exploration of themes of identity, acceptance and allowing yourself to choose FOR yourself.

This was both in terms of unpacking the past to readily face the future and getting second chances as well as breaking away from systems of indoctrination in order to seek the truth and independence.
The heist plot itself is actually a very small part as we mainly follow the lead up to it.

Hutchings’ writing welcomes you in like an old friend and even though there are a lot of worldbuilding details to take in everything is easy to follow. There is a good balance of adventure and cosyness with an air of mystery to both timelines and how exactly they link constantly keeps you guessing. While the reveals aren’t all that difficult to suss out, they still come about in such a satisfying way.

The connections and relationships that form between the characters are so wonderfully heartfelt. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing both Page and Dalya find friendship after facing periods of loneliness, uncertainty and tragedy. Plus Page’s arc as a whole was brilliantly done.

I personally loved the ending but I know its one of those that some will have an issue with. All the pieces are there but nothing is strictly confirmed or denied and we’re left to draw the lines ourselves and I think its quite fitting.

Here’s to there being more stories in this universe in the future because I will always be down!
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars

[Sara. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐️. Thank you NetGalley & Solaris Books for the ARC.

I am utterly blown away by this. So twisty! Ren Hutchings builds a fascinating world of planets with their own unique lore, cultures, and politics. And oooh the politics! The format of this novel is non-linear with a few POVs (one of which is obviously a flashback), the narration of a yet-unknown character's life story, and historical articles. It's all so cleverly woven culminating to the finale where all is revealed and you learn the identities of the characters you've been reading this whole time, and how everything is all connected.

I initially thought this was a heist book from the synopsis, but really, the heist is not important at all. It's a space opera book about identity and revenge. Said heist is merely a catalyst for our protag Page to get started on her journey. Before the supposed con is pulled off, the story also hones in on her growing bond with the other member of the heist crew, Maelle. There's sapphic undertones but not a full out romance, which I didn't mind because the story otherwise focuses on dealing with each woman's respective baggage. Particularly Page, whose entire deal is she has amnesia and tirelessly wants to find out who she is, where she's from. I did develop some suspicions as to who Page's true identity is, and I was right. That said, I do find it interesting that she doesn't find out the way we the readers do, but it's one of those stories with the theme of her past identity is not as important as who she chooses to be right NOW, and how she wants to live her life.

I do think that the entire threat of the aliens turned out to such a non-event. It's merely a convenient backdrop and feels odd because what do you mean there's a vicious war going on and it doesn't exactly touch our main characters at all??

Still, I enjoyed myself a lot. Would definitely be interested in seeing this world expanded.

[Jessica-sim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The full five stars because I enjoyed it, but also because I have the ridiculously beautiful version by illumicrate and I just cannot to otherwise.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dropped this author's first book, Under Fortunate Stars , two whole tiers in my annual recommendation list because of its truly massive overuse of fortunate coincidence to drive the entire plot. But everything else about it was decent to excellent, and (unlike one of the characters in this book) I believe in second chances, so I picked this one up when I saw it on Netgalley.

I'm mostly glad I did.

True, the main characters still don't have a whole lot of agency; events act on them more than vice versa, and their decisions often don't end up mattering, or are "decisions" to go along with the situation because there doesn't seem to be much other option. But I did come to care about their wellbeing, and almost everything else - the copy editing, the characterization, the plot, the twists - is at a high standard.

The worldbuilding, though, is mostly off-the-shelf space opera, including a threat from implacable alien Others who can't be communicated with and are almost impossible to fight (and yet haven't destroyed humanity, and clearly are possible to fight or the alien ship hulls that form an important plot point wouldn't be available). I don't have much time for this trope, not only because it's a piece of xenophobia originating in the Cold War, but because I've read Murray Leinster's story "The Aliens" from 1959 - more than 65 years ago - which points out how much more likely it is that advanced civilizations would want to trade with us rather than make war. (You can read it on Project Gutenberg, if you're curious.) But anyway, here the trope is, mostly providing a background existential threat to provoke reflection, but also a couple of important plot points.

The most original part in the worldbuilding is that there's an isolationist planet that claims, and teaches its people to believe, that it was the original home of humankind, despite the presence of clear marks of "seedships" having colonized it ("they're natural formations," according to the propagandists). One of the several narrative threads follows the niece of the leader of this planet, a cynical politician with a direct approach to silencing dissent and a lot of hypocrisy to hide. We follow the niece as she grows up, interleaved with the story of the tribulations of a young woman with no memory of who she is, thanks to having been cryo-revived, who is caught up in a proposed heist. That story is told both from her perspective and the perspective of another participant in the heist who semi-befriends her. There's also a fourth viewpoint, that of an anonymous (until the end) "storyteller" participating in what turns out to be an oral history project, who fills in bits of backstory that are important to the main plot and that the other viewpoint characters don't have access to.

Like the author's previous book, it's well enough written and has enough depth that it would normally get to the Gold tier of my annual recommendation list. However, also like that book, I'm going to demote it, though not by as much. As well as the implacable-aliens trope, which I personally think needs more thought put into it, and the shortage of protagonism among the main characters, there are also spoilerific reasons: the story of the niece is a bait-and-switch; we're clearly meant to think the niece is the amnesiac, right up to when it's revealed that she's not, just before the end. But that means that the niece's entire viewpoint has very little bearing on the main plot, making this two novels that are interweaved and have a tenuous point of connection through one character who doesn't remember any of the events in the other part of the story - some of which she isn't even present for - rather than one novel in two timelines. Also, we're implicitly promised a heist, and then there is no heist; that, too, was misdirection. And I do love a heist, and was looking forward to it, so I ended up feeling let down.

The quality of the writing is far above average, but the author makes some decisions that turn this into a book that doesn't map well onto my personal preferences, so it only gets to Silver tier on my annual recommendation list. Other people, I'm sure, will like it more than I did, and even I liked it OK.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris Books for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

Release date: 9th Sept 2025

TW: war, grief, memory loss, religion, kidnapping

Scrounging to survive on a backwater space station, Page Found has no memory of her past except for skill in a strange language she doesn’t understand. Working as a petty thief since she was woken from stasis, she’s always followed one rule: if something is too good to be true, leave. Trying to piece together who she once was is expensive and the one time she goes for a mark on impulse, she’s kidnapped. Her kidnappers, the cruel Zhak and the tough Maelle, propose a ridiculous idea: pass Page off as a monk of an isolated, ancient planet to gain access to an enormous treasure ship. If Page is willing to play along with Zhak’s schemes, with the aid of Maelle, she’ll gain the score of a lifetime. Everyone is keeping secrets and Maelle finds her loyalties wavering the closer she gets to Page while Page is terrified to finally have someone she can depend on. In order to make sure the plan works, Maelle and Page have to trust each other. The reader also follows, in flashback, the young Dalya, who is being raised by her uncle on the same mysterious planet that Page is now pretending to be from. Narrating the entire book is an unknown, unnamed Storyteller speaking after the events of the book.

I was an enormous fan of Ren Hutchings’ debut novel ‘Under Fortunate Stars’ and I was so excited to be brought back into this world, even centuries before that book. This is very different to that debut novel, and while it focuses on the planning of a heist, that isn’t the most important thing about it. ‘An Unbreakable World’ is a beautiful mix of present tense narrative, excerpts from folk tales and interviews and flashbacks from the perspective of a child, weaving together into a beautiful story about faith, belonging, identity and found family. My favourite characters were definitely Page and Dalya, but I enjoyed them all by the end (it took me a bit longer to trust Maelle, though I liked how she actively worked against Zhak). Page is a mystery to herself, she has no memory of anything before being woken up, and her endless quest to discover who she is has long been hindered by a lack of money. I loved how she’s constantly challenging herself and how determined she was to find somewhere to call hers. Her gradual connection with Maelle was really well written as the two of them wavered between distrust and strong chemistry. Dalya’s perspective was an excellent use of a child character; we follow her from being quite young and naive to becoming more independent in her thinking, even though she’s from a cult-like planet. There’s some interesting twists and double meanings which is what I appreciated so much about ‘Under Fortunate Stars’ and I was glad to see something similar here. If you think this is a story about a heist, you’re wrong- the heist is happening in the background, just like the war with the alien race the Felen, and that’s what made it truly so special to read.

[Shannon Miz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

Can I just say that this is one of my favorite covers in the history of books? Truly, a masterpiece. This story is set in the same world as the author's debut, but is a completely standalone story that you needn't any prior knowledge to enjoy. (But, if I may suggest, I looooved  Under Fortunate Stars , so you should read it regardless.) The main characters, Page and Maelle, are wonderful, and I really enjoyed them both. There's also a past-look into a young character Dalya who is the niece of some political bigwig which provides some context of the world. It is interesting, but I didn't love the whole "gods" part of the world-building. Also, there is a distinct lack of alien fights with a lot of mention of alien fights, so I felt like it would have been better to have them play a bigger role, or leave 'em out altogether.

That said, I really enjoyed Page and Maelle's adventures!  They are both strong characters with intriguing backstories. Especially in the case of Page, she has no idea who she even is, which adds to the suspense. The characters trying to figure out who to trust and their complicated relationships (with each other and with other friends and family) was a highlight, too. I also liked the planet-hopping and space travel, of course! I really hope the author writes more books in this universe, because I have quite enjoyed them.

Bottom Line: Loved the characters in this one! Also the cover is a genuine work of art, just saying.

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! Going into it I was expecting a lot more focus on the big heist, and at points I did find myself thinking “when is this actually going to happen?” but as the story progressed I realised it isn’t really about the heist at all. Instead, we are untangling a web of hidden truths, lost identities and complicated family and galactic politics. This book went a lot deeper than I was expecting and it was a pleasant surprise!

I loved the concept: a women with no memories or any recollection of who she is, swept up in a mission she never asked to be a part of, that eventually would bring her closer to herself than she could ever realise, and leads her towards her future rather than her past. A sorry team of thieves who don’t trust one another, each with something to hide and something very different to gain. All the while a galactic space war is raging, on in a complicated political religious backdrop that we are slowly uncovering the facts of as time goes on.

This world felt extremely well fleshed out from the political and religious history of the prime worlds, to the ins and outs of the dusty burnt out space outposts. As a sci-fi fan I am sometimes intimidated by huge epic space operas with a lot of backstory and history, they can be dull and boring if not done well. But the use of the multiple POVs here was great! It brought the past and present together perfectly and I enjoyed joining the dots gradually as we uncovered more details.

The characters were also great! I really enjoyed Page’s character. How she managed to endure and grow alongside the constant longing for her memories and identity was so interesting. Plus her links to the past and Layla and Anda’s story. I also loved Page and Maelles growing relationship and the discoveries they both made about their identities, their beliefs, and their pasts through each other. Maelles family backstory was an interesting link to the unfolding heist too that I wasn’t expecting when we first meet her.

Overall a great story, and would definitely love to read more from this universe! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[The Void Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings
Advance copy read – and what a ride it was.

“If something seems too good to be real, you’ve got to get out of there.” That’s the mantra Page Found lives by—and it sets the tone for this twisty, high-stakes space adventure that’s as much about identity and trust as it is about heists and hyperspace.

Page is a petty thief with no memory of who she really is, scraping by on a dusty outpost until she’s snatched by two very different criminals: the ruthless Zhak and the sharp-edged, magnetic Maelle. Their plan? Pass Page off as a monk from a mysterious planet to infiltrate a treasure-laden ship. What could go wrong?

Turns out—everything. Secrets pile up, loyalties blur, and the chemistry between Page and Maelle crackles with tension and vulnerability. Hutchings balances action and emotional depth with finesse, crafting a world that feels lived-in and characters who are messy, guarded, and deeply human.

What I loved:

• The slow-burn trust between Page and Maelle—equal parts suspicion and spark.
• The layered worldbuilding: ancient orders, forgotten tech, and a galaxy that feels just a little broken.
• The way memory and identity are explored without ever slowing the pace.


Why not five stars?
There were moments where the plot’s momentum dipped slightly, especially in the middle third, and I wanted just a bit more clarity around Page’s backstory payoff. But honestly? That’s a minor quibble in an otherwise stellar read.

If you like your sci-fi with grit, heart, and a touch of found-family chaos, An Unbreakable World delivers.

Happy Reading 🚀📚

[Ciphertext · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lot of nothing happened in this book, and that's my main reason for not liking it. The world-building seemed like it would be cool, but in a book where there is a war with humanity against aliens going on, I cannot believe we did not once see an alien.

This brings me to my next point: we never see any of the stuff that is apparently important. Zhak is "cruel and self-serving" except he's only on-screen for less than 10% of the book, and I have to disagree with the author's decision to describe him as "cruel". Self-serving, yes. But he doesn't do anything else to show he is cruel, at least by my definition of the word. Not to mention how Tully was supposedly a significant portion of Page's life since she woke up from stasis, except he is also never on-screen despite shaping her entire life as she knows it.

NGL, I also felt extremely queer-baited by this book, sold to me as LGBT. Maybe that's my fault for assuming the main character would get her love interest, but the fact that nothing comes of that and it's more just implied than anything else really rubbed me the wrong way.

I did like the Nathin twist, but that was about it. I found Page annoying as a main character, especially when she is kidnapped by people and despite her telling us how much she is not going to trust them, she also immediately spills her entire backstory to them completely unprompted. Maelle bored me a bit. Zhak wasn't even there, so he ended up feeling like a cookie-cutter villain. I found all of the stuff going on at Dalya's end really confusing, which I suppose makes sense when she herself never knew what was going on, but still.

And finally, that little Storyteller chapter at the end that talks about how sometimes we do not get to see what happens to everyone, and things do not always wrap up nicely? I'm sorry, but you cannot spin some nonsense in this way to try to justify the fact that you were either incapable of or unwilling to actually properly wrap up your own story. That is a completely unhinged choice and I cannot believe that got past multiple rounds of edits, that someone thought that would be a satisfying conclusion to a book that was already struggling to make anything interesting happen and didn't give the LGBT pay-off either.

I had some of Hutchings' other books on my TBR, but this one has cemented my opinion of their work, and I don't think I'll be reading anything else now RIP.

[Faye Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Unbreakable World is a standalone which is set in the world of one of the author's previous books. I hadn't read that other book and I don’t think you need to in order to enjoy this one. It tells a distinct story and had a firm ending. 

It wasn't the sci-fi heist book that I thought it was going to be. It's more of a sci-fi mystery, as the reader tries to understand how all the POVs fit together, and to find out who Page is/used to be before she lost her memory. Everything comes together right at the end of the book.

Normally, a main character with amnesia annoys me because it's just so common in books, and feels like a very convenient plot point to add drama most of the time. Amnesia does feel more realistic in a sci-fi book though, given all the scientific, so it didn't irritate me here.

This is categorised as an Adult sci-fi book, but I'm not totally sure I'd place it there. There's a bit of swearing, but there's no romance or spicy scenes. One of the POV characters, Dalya, is a child at various ages up to 18 during her chapters, and Page (aged at around 30) suffers from amnesia so has an almost-childlike sense of wonder and naivety as she experiences things "for the first time". So the Dalya and Page POVs made it feel younger than the Adult categorisation suggests. If you're ok with a bit of swearing, I think this would be suitable for a YA audience.

[Cherie • bookshelvesandtealeaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I loved this book.

This one’s a mixed timeline with three POV’s plus some extra materials like in-world reading excerpts, ship logs etc and it made for such a compelling read.

I absolutely loved Page, Maelle and Dalya. They all had strong, independent voices and I was so hooked on each of their stories. I especially loved Page and Maelle and the bond they formed. I’ve seen some read it as sapphic and I could definitely see it going there, but I’m a sucker for a strong friendship story and I really loved how much they came to trust and care for each other.

The way Dalya’s story connected to Page’s as it was told had me so excited, desperate to find out more, and it absolutely did not disappoint.

The ending is not wrapped up in a neat little bow, which I actually really like. But it does feel hopeful and I felt so content with where things were as I turned the last page.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unbreakable World is a high-energy space heist—and, at the same time, it's a gorgeous meditation on folklore, religion, belief, and how we decide who we are and what we value. I'm an absolute sucker for SFF that explores questions of faith, and Ren Hutchings has created a full universe with richly textured legends and rituals that I wanted to know everything about. I'm also a big fan of the multimedia aspects, as another thing I'm a sucker for is stories told in found documents. I fell especially in love with the character of Maelle, who wants so desperately to do right by everyone around her (except for the limited few to whom she actively wants to do wrong, in which I support her). There's also plenty of banter, theft, intergalactic subterfuge, and everything else readers who enjoyed Under Fortunate Stars will be looking for. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up this book because I had read Hutchings' debut and enjoyed it (fantastic premise). In An Unbreakable World, Page Found lives in a crumbling space station as a petty thief, desperately trying to pay back her debt from her treatment after waking half-dead and without her memories from cryosleep. Until a space pirate and a slippery contractor kidnap her and convince her to join an unlikely heist centered around an isolationist planet...

An Unbreakable World is set primarily over two timelines: Page's present and the memories of an aristocratic girl living on theocratic Teyr. Unfortunately, I think the Teyr timeline added relatively little to the plot, other than the reveal of how the two narratives connected, and it left Page's story feeling underbaked. Still, I found Page's story compelling--she clearly came from a very different background than a thief on a dying space station, but she had to completely reinvent herself after losing her memories. While she sometimes recalls very short glimpses of the past, she has to live with the knowledge that she'll probably never know who she was. But aside from Page, most of the characters are brief sketches rather than full characters. The only two who get any development are the secretive love interest Maelle and the pirate Zhak, who's consistently unpleasant with no redeeming characteristics.

A solidly constructed SF novel about missing identity, centered around a compelling main character. But be warned that the actual heist gets very little attention.

[Mindy'sBookJourney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page Found is a petty thief who has lost her memory who is kidnapped to take part in a heist with Maelle. Dalya is being trained to be her uncle's successor in his government leadership role on Teyr.

This space opera is told from multiple perspectives. It is full of political intrigue, unlikely friendships, and revenge. There is also a alien threat to the human race and an epic heist. There is a lot going on in this book, and it is all a lot of fun to read about. I wish there was more of distinctive connection between Page Found's story and Dalya's, but I also like being able to make my own conclusions. I would recommend this book to fans of space operas who think they would enjoy the elements I mentioned above.

Thank you to Solaris and Netgalley for the copy for review.

[Amelia Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

An epic space opera heist. Loved the multiple POVs and the word building was detailed and descriptive. Whilst it was a little slow to start once it got going it was a wild ride of adventure and twists and turns . Thank you NetGalley and Solaris for the arc opinions my own.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - There are a lot of things about this book that could’ve been better. The pacing is a little strange, the mysterious aspects are very obvious, some of the characters are a bit flat, and for a heist space opera there’s not a lot of action and a lot of talking. And yet, I had a really good time reading this. It was an easy, fun read and I liked the world building. Even know I did see where things were going, the ending had me on the edge of my seat anyway.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard not to think about how dumb the name "Page Found" is.

[Alida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent start, middle was too slow, ending almost gave me hope that everything was building up to a great climax only to give the most “Okay.” ass ending ever. Lore building and the mystery building were pretty good but overall like…Okay.

[Elizabeth museumgrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of character driven science fiction need to put this on their TBRs IMMEDIATELY. While billed as a stand alone space opera, it is actually set in the same universe as Ren's debut novel and I was so excited to re-enter the world that Ren Hutchings opened for us with Under Fortunate Stars, and let me tell you.... An Unbreakable World did not disappoint.

An Unbreakable World centers around 4 characters whose lives and stories intertwine across time and space. From Page, a young woman resurrected from cryo sleep with no memory but an uncanny ability to speak a practically dead language, to young Dalya growing up in an isolated planet under a religious regime that she is the heir to, and even an unnamed, unseen story teller providing context and breaking the fourth wall, this story leads you on twists and turns. While the universe of UW is set in the center of an intergalactic society on the brink of war with the Fellen, the characters grapple with belonging, expression, and identity. While their stakes are unlike our own personal experiences, their emotions and experiences all feel so deeply real and human in ways that left me feeling nostalgic, bereft, comforted, and challenged in equal turn.

I particularly resonated with the youngest iteration of Dalya. A young girl intrenched in a deeply structured religious community with intense expectations and deep longing to find certainty in that faith and community even as her world starts to crack open and face new, differing viewpoints and realities.

Best of all, you can read these books in either order or as stand alones (though I firmly believe that you should pick up both. Ren Hutchings is 100% an auto-buy author for me and I cannot wait to see what she does next

Thank you to Rebellion Solaris for reaching out to share this advanced reader copy for an unbiased review.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on my blog: Venus Bloo Books

I received a free advance review copy of An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings from Rebellion via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Rebellion!

More than eight years ago, Page Found was brought into Kuuj Deep Space Outpost by a random freighter. All she remembers from this time is what others have told her. She was in stasis on a ship as part of a paid medical experiment, and she was also saddled with a huge amount of medical debt thanks to the efforts it took to bring her out of stasis on Kuuj. A local criminal buys her debt and, essentially, buys her. She's spent the past eight years as a petty thief using her meager earnings to pay down her debt. All the while she has on idea who she really is or where she's really from. The twenty odd years prior to her time on Kuuj are a complete blank spot in her mind.

Then, one day, she sees the perfect mark. Unfortunately, things that appear too good to be true, usually are, and this mark manages to trap and kidnap Page, taking her away from the Kuuj for the first time in years. When she wakes up on a ship with one kidnapper, Zhak, threatening her and the other, Maelle, attempting to buy her with friendship, she doesn't know what to think. Until Zhak reveals that he knows she can speak another language, and this language is special. It's ancient, difficult to learn, and the monks of a planet called Teyr speak it exclusively.

Zhak dangles a few carrots in front of Page. If she helps him hijack one of the Teyrian monk ships to steal the Heart of Teyr, a prize worth millions, not only will Page get a cut of the loot, but she may also learn something of her forgotten past. Eventually, Page agrees, but this con isn't everything it seems. There are a lot more connections to other people and to Page's mysterious past, and the secrets her memory loss keeps may be more than any of them bargained for.

This entire story is about three things: spirituality, connections, and history. In fact, the spirituality in this story surprised me a bit. Sci-fi, at least in my experience, tends to ignore spirituality in favor of science. If we go to space and colonize it and spread ourselves across the stars, then what use have we for spirituality and belief? What is belief in the face of facts? But humanity has always sought to find explanations for the things they see and experience. Sometimes when science fails to explain, belief steps in.

This is what happens on Teyr. Interspersed throughout the main story about Page Found is the story of Dalya. Dalya is the living heir to the Edemaun House on Teyr. Her uncle is the spiritual leader of Teyr, and since their society has become increasingly theocratic, he is also the political leader of the entire planet. On the surface, Dalya's uncle is a benevolent leader trying to save his people from destruction. However, over the course of Dalya's part of the story, it becomes clear that he is really using his religious power and censorship to control Teyr with an iron grip. Thus, Teyr serves as an example of what happens when belief is used as a means of control.

Teyr is only one small subset of the spirituality in the galaxy of the book's world, though. There are also the people who rarely, if ever, set foot on a planet or who spend most of their time traveling the stars. They too have belief and a god they pray to. While the people of Teyr put their faith in the Fair-Feathered Goddess, people who make their lives on ships and stations often pray to Yhannis, the traveler-god.

All of this spirituality serves another purpose as well - connection. People from all across the galaxy share belief in a pantheon of gods, each one serving a different purpose for its believers. People can all connect to this common system of belief and through it to each other. Dalya becomes best friends with Anda, and their initial connections are based on their common beliefs in and worship of the Fair-Feathered Goddess. Page also finds connection and friendship with Maelle through shared experiences, including stories of the gods.

Finally, history is a huge theme throughout the book. All the characters have history between themselves, even Page who can't remember the vast majority of her past. This history is yet another connection they all share, for better or worse.

If I had to boil this story down into a lesson or proverb, it would be this: do not become so lost in thinking about your past or future that you forget to live today. Every character has that epiphany at some point in the story, but it's most evident with Page. In fact, every character's story seemed to have a lesson in it. For Dalya it was "don't blind yourself to the evil of others." For Page and Maelle it was "don't get lost in the past and forget to live." For Anda it was "don't lose yourself to your beliefs." This book was really all about being true to yourself and constantly seeking connection with others while remembering to live in the present.

I obviously really enjoyed this book a lot. The only little knitpicky thing that bothered me about it was that it was often hard to remember that Page is supposed to be 29 years old throughout the story. Her mannerisms and naivete and the way other characters treated her, particularly Maelle, made her seem much younger. On the one hand, it makes sense she wouldn't be very mature with so many of her memories missing. She technically only has eight years of experience living. But on the other hand, it was distracting enough at first that it affected my immersion in the story at times. Regardless of this small issue, I highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to see what Ren Hutchings writes next!

I gave An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings five out of five stars. I could not put this book down once I started it. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since I loved her other book written in the same universe, Under Fortunate Stars, just as much. This story is filled with drama, longing, and connection with beautifully written characters in a rich world filled with history and lore.

[Jude · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if “cozy sci-fi” is a thing, but this fits the bill. In a world where humans have dispersed across different planets under the Union, Page Found is a thief with memory loss who is kidnapped/coerced into joining a heist for a mysterious relic being carried on a drifting spaceship of sedated monks. Said monks are from Teyr, an isolationist planet cut off from the Union, whose main religious doctrine rests on the idea that they are the original planet from which humanity originated, the “Unbreakable World” at the beginning and end of the universe. Parallel to Page's story is that of Dalya Edamaun, a young Teyrian aristo(crat) and presumptive heir to the planet's Speakership, who befriends an outsider that makes her question everything she's ever known about her religion, her government, and her planet. Also, there's a war between humans and Aliens(™) happening in the background, but that's beside the point.


I actually appreciate the new perspective this book brings into the classic space opera, perfect for those wondering about the Other Illegal Shit happening in the background of a galactic war while the government's backs are turned. Smuggling! Piracy! Theatrical revenge scenes! Religious doomsday paranoia! Found family?! I had a lot of fun reading this, the pacing was good and the world-building was interesting. The book offers glimpses of the larger world's (or galaxy's?) art, culture, history, religion, etc. in various formats in-between chapters, which I found pretty cool (I low-key need a sample of that song). I also loved the writing style, close to my ideal for a sci-fi novel.


However, those who are more interested in getting answers to the Wider Problems like ‘What do the aliens want?’, ‘What will happen to this isolated planet in the midst of a war?’, and ‘Do Page and Maelle ever kiss?’ Might have to manage their expectations. Personally, I see the vision as a cutout of Black Market Shenanigans in the midst of a larger war, but I still think some plotlines were resolved very abruptly, like the Teyr-Meneyr storyline from Dalya's POV (it felt like a deus ex machina that could've been better explained idk). Also a Song plays in the middle of a confrontation scene, no lyric reveal, but I think that's a pretty good way to gauge whether or not the book is for you.


On the cozy sci-fi front, the book had a surprisingly strong Found Family aspect, but in a natural heart-warming way that was kind of cute? Also the concept of the heist was kind of silly in hindsight but so was its mastermind (thee Zhak Evelor, intergalactic richloser) so! Fork found in kitchen. The heist progressed in some very interesting directions, but I liked it! Very entertaining on the popcorn scale imo. I was also pleasantly surprised by the heavy sapphic undertones bere, the relationships are just very cute all around. The story manages to balance its softer aspects with elements of intrigue and suspense. To me, Dalya's story carried the meat of said suspense, mixing coming of age with a sprinkle of political intrigue and religious interrogation, though I wish we got to see a bit more of that last act, could've made the last reveal a bit more impactful. 


A beautifully written tale of finding family in the least traveled corners of space.


Thank you to Solaris Books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.