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Under Fortunate Stars
A modern, progressive homage to classic space opera stories, with flawed heroes and time travel
Two Ships. One Chance To Save The Future.
Fleeing the final days of the generations-long war with the alien Felen, smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter the Jonah breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue—until they encounter the research vessel Gallion , which claims to be from 152 years in the future.
The Gallion ’s chief engineer Uma Ozakka has always been fascinated with the past, especially the tale of the Fortunate Five, who ended the war with the Felen. When the Gallion rescues a run-down junk freighter, Ozakka is shocked to recognize the Five's legendary ship—and the Five's famed leader, Eldric Leesongronski, among the crew.
But nothing else about Leesongronski and his crewmates seems to match up with the historical record. With their ships running out of power in the rift, more than the lives of both crews may be at stake...
Two Ships. One Chance To Save The Future.
Fleeing the final days of the generations-long war with the alien Felen, smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter the Jonah breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue—until they encounter the research vessel Gallion , which claims to be from 152 years in the future.
The Gallion ’s chief engineer Uma Ozakka has always been fascinated with the past, especially the tale of the Fortunate Five, who ended the war with the Felen. When the Gallion rescues a run-down junk freighter, Ozakka is shocked to recognize the Five's legendary ship—and the Five's famed leader, Eldric Leesongronski, among the crew.
But nothing else about Leesongronski and his crewmates seems to match up with the historical record. With their ships running out of power in the rift, more than the lives of both crews may be at stake...
480 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2022
About the author
Ren Hutchings
6 books183 followersRen 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 She loves pop science, unexplained mysteries, 90s music, collecting outdated electronics, and pondering about alternate universes.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.
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June 27, 2022Absolutely delightful SF. A crappy and chaotic set of space bums and escaping criminals on a junk ship in the middle of a terrible war find themselves a) in a weird rift out of time and space b) with another ship from 150 years in the future where c) they are the incredible heroes who ended the war. The story unfolds in both past and present with flashbacks (not in chronological order) filling in the backstories of the main characters from both timelines.
Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff can very easily be too clever for its own good, and exceedingly hard to follow. Not here. The world building is magnificently done, so that within the first three chapters you're completely clued in, and then you get the immense pleasure of watching the story spool out and a lot of very clever pieces snick perfectly into place and apparent plot flaws suddenly make perfect sense. A well-oiled machine of a plot is a rare pleasure, and this is one.
It's also a wonderfully human story. Characters are badly flawed, and have made terrible mistakes. People are mostly doing their best. Apparent villains are more complicated than that. This is very much a book about allowing people nuance and failings and redemption, and as such it's immensely loving. Plus diversity (racial and sexuality) is a given.
I enjoyed this enormously, and recommend it hugely if you need an absorbing, immersive read to give you hope about people. Which, let's face it, you do.
Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff can very easily be too clever for its own good, and exceedingly hard to follow. Not here. The world building is magnificently done, so that within the first three chapters you're completely clued in, and then you get the immense pleasure of watching the story spool out and a lot of very clever pieces snick perfectly into place and apparent plot flaws suddenly make perfect sense. A well-oiled machine of a plot is a rare pleasure, and this is one.
It's also a wonderfully human story. Characters are badly flawed, and have made terrible mistakes. People are mostly doing their best. Apparent villains are more complicated than that. This is very much a book about allowing people nuance and failings and redemption, and as such it's immensely loving. Plus diversity (racial and sexuality) is a given.
I enjoyed this enormously, and recommend it hugely if you need an absorbing, immersive read to give you hope about people. Which, let's face it, you do.
October 28, 2021
Space opera fans, rejoice: this book is SO GOOD.
Under Fortunate Stars is a fast-moving, compelling time-travel saga about what it actually means to live on in history, and what happens when the stories we've always told about ourselves come back in ways we don't expect. It follows a research ship as it slips out of time and into contact with members of the Fortunate Five: a band of legendary heroes who ended a war that threatened the universe—but who don't appear quite the way they did in the legends. For one thing, they haven't stopped the war yet. For another, they're not all sure they want to.
The characters in this book are stellar: I will go to my grave as the biggest Leesongronski cheerleader known to man, and Jereth is exactly the kind of smart-mouthed space rogue I love to yell at while I read. The dynamic between these two is literally Tulio and Miguel from The Road to El Dorado, except in space, and I cannot imagine a vibe I would enjoy more. I would follow them anywhere, and I'm so glad I get to follow them on this adventure, which is simultaneously exciting, heartrending, and an absolute mind-bend.
This is a fantastic debut by a new writer, and there are scenes in this book that I can't stop thinking about. (Ask me about that one scene with Jereth and the Felen. You'll know which one when you get there.) I can't wait to see what comes next from Ren!
Under Fortunate Stars is a fast-moving, compelling time-travel saga about what it actually means to live on in history, and what happens when the stories we've always told about ourselves come back in ways we don't expect. It follows a research ship as it slips out of time and into contact with members of the Fortunate Five: a band of legendary heroes who ended a war that threatened the universe—but who don't appear quite the way they did in the legends. For one thing, they haven't stopped the war yet. For another, they're not all sure they want to.
The characters in this book are stellar: I will go to my grave as the biggest Leesongronski cheerleader known to man, and Jereth is exactly the kind of smart-mouthed space rogue I love to yell at while I read. The dynamic between these two is literally Tulio and Miguel from The Road to El Dorado, except in space, and I cannot imagine a vibe I would enjoy more. I would follow them anywhere, and I'm so glad I get to follow them on this adventure, which is simultaneously exciting, heartrending, and an absolute mind-bend.
This is a fantastic debut by a new writer, and there are scenes in this book that I can't stop thinking about. (Ask me about that one scene with Jereth and the Felen. You'll know which one when you get there.) I can't wait to see what comes next from Ren!
May 29, 2022
Slightly reminiscent of the ST:tNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise this is the story of a rag-tag crew of the space freighter Jonah getting lost in a rift in space-time and encountering a ship from 152 years in the future. A future where the ship and crew of the Jonah are legendary heroes that saved the future for two races, a series of events that have happened for them yet.
This is a great concept for a science fiction story as the only medium where it can be told properly. It's executed pretty well here too, with my only quibble being that it's a bit wordy and some of the flashbacks to events in both crews parts could have been edited out or condensed.
This is a great concept for a science fiction story as the only medium where it can be told properly. It's executed pretty well here too, with my only quibble being that it's a bit wordy and some of the flashbacks to events in both crews parts could have been edited out or condensed.
July 12, 2022
Enjoyment of this book is likely to hinge on whether you like time travel, circular causality, and extremely fortunate coincidences. For me, it was all a bit too tidy and coincidental. 2.5 stars, rounded down because I am tired and cranky.
Note on LGBTQ content - for a book where "queer" is the third GR genre on the list, there is not a ton of queer content here. For the first half, there are only two side characters in a same-sex couple. Around 50%, one of the MCs is revealed to be hooking up with men and women, but it's from another character's perspective and I would categorize this as "self-destructive slutty bisexual", which is not my favorite. And a bit after that we discover that one of the other MCs has a history of relationships with men and women. This last thread probably ends up being the strongest queer content in the book, but for me this book is more queer-inclusive rather than outright queer. (This is not something I am factoring into my rating, as the classification in this case came from other users rather than the author or publisher.)
Things I liked:
-The reactions everyone had to encountering each other in the Rift. I thought this was very well done and felt realistic.
-I liked that there weren't really gender roles or conflict over sexuality in this society, although the book only depicts binary genders and no trans people
-I enjoyed the author's writing voice, which was engaging and descriptive
Things I didn't like:
-I really, really hate causal loops in time travel, where technologies are never actually invented because someone brought them from the future to the past and then it turns out that's how they got to the future in the first place
-Way too many really convenient coincidences - things going wrong in just the way to make the situation the most dramatic, and then characters having exactly the right resources or skills to fix it just in the nick of time
-The ending felt just much too tidy, with some reveals that felt they were left too late and a crisis that felt like it was entirely predictable and avoidable
-The romance. I am not opposed to romance in general, but it didn't work for me here.
Note on LGBTQ content - for a book where "queer" is the third GR genre on the list, there is not a ton of queer content here. For the first half, there are only two side characters in a same-sex couple. Around 50%, one of the MCs is revealed to be hooking up with men and women, but it's from another character's perspective and I would categorize this as "self-destructive slutty bisexual", which is not my favorite. And a bit after that we discover that one of the other MCs has a history of relationships with men and women. This last thread probably ends up being the strongest queer content in the book, but for me this book is more queer-inclusive rather than outright queer. (This is not something I am factoring into my rating, as the classification in this case came from other users rather than the author or publisher.)
Things I liked:
-The reactions everyone had to encountering each other in the Rift. I thought this was very well done and felt realistic.
-I liked that there weren't really gender roles or conflict over sexuality in this society, although the book only depicts binary genders and no trans people
-I enjoyed the author's writing voice, which was engaging and descriptive
Things I didn't like:
-I really, really hate causal loops in time travel, where technologies are never actually invented because someone brought them from the future to the past and then it turns out that's how they got to the future in the first place
-Way too many really convenient coincidences - things going wrong in just the way to make the situation the most dramatic, and then characters having exactly the right resources or skills to fix it just in the nick of time
-The ending felt just much too tidy, with some reveals that felt they were left too late and a crisis that felt like it was entirely predictable and avoidable
-The romance. I am not opposed to romance in general, but it didn't work for me here.
May 22, 2022
3.5 Stars
This was a fun, rompy space opera. The tone of the story never felt too heavy so I did not feel the full weight of the situation. Instead, this was an entertaining story involving a rag tag group pulled into a destiny they didn't like. For me, the execution did not quite meet the potential of the premise, but yet it was still an enjoyable read. It was good, but I found the answers a little unsatisfying.
I would recommend this standalone space opera for anyone who likes a light hearted narrative filled with fun banter between a group of eclectic characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This was a fun, rompy space opera. The tone of the story never felt too heavy so I did not feel the full weight of the situation. Instead, this was an entertaining story involving a rag tag group pulled into a destiny they didn't like. For me, the execution did not quite meet the potential of the premise, but yet it was still an enjoyable read. It was good, but I found the answers a little unsatisfying.
I would recommend this standalone space opera for anyone who likes a light hearted narrative filled with fun banter between a group of eclectic characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
October 29, 2021
There's a lot to like here. The editing, even in the pre-release version from Netgalley, was well above average. The main characters are distinct and well developed, both in backstory flashbacks and in the course of the main storyline, and they face varied challenges that test them, showing courage, determination and skill, and risking their lives for the greater good. All of that is exactly what I look for in a book, and would usually get it on my Best of the Year list.
Unfortunately, for me, all of this good stuff was countered by a huge problem: the fortunate coincidences. The title really isn't kidding.
Now, having one large fortunate coincidence that allows the plot to happen is a fault, but if everything else is good - and here, it is - I can forgive it. A large fortunate coincidence every few pages, on the other hand, goes from a fault to a fatal flaw. And lampshading it by having characters talk about how lucky and miraculous it is that they have exactly the equipment, skills, knowledge, and people they need to make a highly unlikely and contingent escape from what amounts to a large sealed room in subspace - that doesn't help at all.
If the author hides a get-out-of-jail-free card up their sleeve and surreptitiously plays it at a key moment, that's cheating. But if the author openly writes out 40 or 50 new get-out-of-jail-free cards right there on the table in front of you and plays them every time the plot hits a problem... I don't even know what to call that.
I'll give an example in spoiler tags from a subsidiary part of the plot.
It reads, to me, as if the plot wasn't outlined in advance but written by the seat of the pants. That's absolutely fine, and it can produce excellent stories - if the author unfolds the story organically from the initial seed of the situation, setting, and characters, rather than continually pulling things out of a location quite close to the seat of the pants in order to goose the plot back on track every time it becomes difficult. It seems like she's not even embarrassed about it, and she absolutely should be.
Incidentally, the blurb (as at the date I read it) claims that it's a "modern, progressive homage to classic space opera stories". As far as I can tell, this claim is made because two minor characters are a gay couple and two viewpoint characters are bisexual, which doesn't make much difference to anything. It's set far enough into the future that human names have all changed and you can't tell ethnicity from them; I think someone might have been described as brown-skinned once, but race is basically not a thing, and you could read any given character as whatever race you like. I can think of plenty of books that have more diverse characters and don't make a specific "progressive" claim.
Anyway: If continual massive luck in place of competent plotting is not a dealbreaker for you, this is otherwise a good book. But it was a dealbreaker for me, so much so that an otherwise four-star book drops all the way down to two stars.
Unfortunately, for me, all of this good stuff was countered by a huge problem: the fortunate coincidences. The title really isn't kidding.
Now, having one large fortunate coincidence that allows the plot to happen is a fault, but if everything else is good - and here, it is - I can forgive it. A large fortunate coincidence every few pages, on the other hand, goes from a fault to a fatal flaw. And lampshading it by having characters talk about how lucky and miraculous it is that they have exactly the equipment, skills, knowledge, and people they need to make a highly unlikely and contingent escape from what amounts to a large sealed room in subspace - that doesn't help at all.
If the author hides a get-out-of-jail-free card up their sleeve and surreptitiously plays it at a key moment, that's cheating. But if the author openly writes out 40 or 50 new get-out-of-jail-free cards right there on the table in front of you and plays them every time the plot hits a problem... I don't even know what to call that.
I'll give an example in spoiler tags from a subsidiary part of the plot.
It reads, to me, as if the plot wasn't outlined in advance but written by the seat of the pants. That's absolutely fine, and it can produce excellent stories - if the author unfolds the story organically from the initial seed of the situation, setting, and characters, rather than continually pulling things out of a location quite close to the seat of the pants in order to goose the plot back on track every time it becomes difficult. It seems like she's not even embarrassed about it, and she absolutely should be.
Incidentally, the blurb (as at the date I read it) claims that it's a "modern, progressive homage to classic space opera stories". As far as I can tell, this claim is made because two minor characters are a gay couple and two viewpoint characters are bisexual, which doesn't make much difference to anything. It's set far enough into the future that human names have all changed and you can't tell ethnicity from them; I think someone might have been described as brown-skinned once, but race is basically not a thing, and you could read any given character as whatever race you like. I can think of plenty of books that have more diverse characters and don't make a specific "progressive" claim.
Anyway: If continual massive luck in place of competent plotting is not a dealbreaker for you, this is otherwise a good book. But it was a dealbreaker for me, so much so that an otherwise four-star book drops all the way down to two stars.
May 8, 2022
Holy timeline! There are two of them, right from the start. Or is that one timeline plus flashbacks? Three timelines? And four POVs. But it all makes perfect sense, trust me. There are smugglers and mathematical and physical geniuses, undercover activists, a war in space, aliens, genetic modification, love, heists and more. That‘s all I am going to give away, read the blurb if you want more! Anything else would diminish the fun of finding it out by yourself!
“We could even be completely outside the flow of time.“
You don‘t say! Smart idea to tell the story by jumping back in time by increments and slowly revealing pertinent information to the reader for consecutive chapters. With the odd surprising twist strewn in.
Jereth‘s shaking hands showed up a bit too often for my taste. Other than that I was quite happy with the writing, although I would have preferred more action and faster pacing, especially towards the end. Some bits could have done with less telling and more showing.
There was quite a lot of navel gazing, which I tend to dislike, but here it fit nicely into the plot and was an integral part of the story telling. The characters were believable, distinct and varied.
Great concept, a love of history and screwy timeline shenanigans. No idea if the science was solid, it worked for me. Satisfying ending with a nice plot bunny. As a debut novel this is excellent.
There are two Q&As about the book on the authors‘s blog here: https://www.renhutchings.com/blog
I would read more by the author and recommend or gift this to others.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
“We could even be completely outside the flow of time.“
You don‘t say! Smart idea to tell the story by jumping back in time by increments and slowly revealing pertinent information to the reader for consecutive chapters. With the odd surprising twist strewn in.
Jereth‘s shaking hands showed up a bit too often for my taste. Other than that I was quite happy with the writing, although I would have preferred more action and faster pacing, especially towards the end. Some bits could have done with less telling and more showing.
There was quite a lot of navel gazing, which I tend to dislike, but here it fit nicely into the plot and was an integral part of the story telling. The characters were believable, distinct and varied.
Great concept, a love of history and screwy timeline shenanigans. No idea if the science was solid, it worked for me. Satisfying ending with a nice plot bunny. As a debut novel this is excellent.
There are two Q&As about the book on the authors‘s blog here: https://www.renhutchings.com/blog
I would read more by the author and recommend or gift this to others.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
November 10, 2022
This is an SF with spaceships, smugglers, an interspecies war, and time travel – this all can be read in a blurb or in the 10% of the novel, so I guess it is not a spoiler. At the same time, in my opinion, it isn’t a space opera, for most of the story happens is a closed room equivalent and operas for me are usually vaster and grander. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for November 2022 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group. This is a 2022 release therefore eligible for the 2023 nominations for SFF awards.
The story starts at a small cargo hauler Jonah that had seen too many years in space. Two guys play cards and discuss their extremely limited living quarters. They have a paying passenger and an arrestee aboard, which exhaust their separate living quarters and they have to sleep on the floor, which is uncomfortable. This by the way irritated me – heck, you have artificial gravity but are unable to modify it or locally turn it off? – lazy thinking likely created by SF TV series – for them it is just cheaper to shoot as if everything has Earth gravity, but this is a book! The short intro ends with Jonah suddenly turning off.
Then readers are moved to a different ship - Research Vessel RV ZC-2812 ZeyCorp Gallion, which has much more people (and not only humans) aboard, that also has a sudden and unexpected turn-off of drives, which cannot be restarted. What is more important, from dialogues readers understand that these people are honoring nearly legendary for them the Peacemakers of the Great Ship Jonah, so, when they find out that both ships are stranded in a pocket space the legend will meet reality.
Each chapter is written from the POV of one of several characters and as the story goes by readers are presented with multiple flashbacks that help to form the backstory and the universe of the book. It is adequately done but I cannot say that any character “grew on me”.
The story starts at a small cargo hauler Jonah that had seen too many years in space. Two guys play cards and discuss their extremely limited living quarters. They have a paying passenger and an arrestee aboard, which exhaust their separate living quarters and they have to sleep on the floor, which is uncomfortable. This by the way irritated me – heck, you have artificial gravity but are unable to modify it or locally turn it off? – lazy thinking likely created by SF TV series – for them it is just cheaper to shoot as if everything has Earth gravity, but this is a book! The short intro ends with Jonah suddenly turning off.
Then readers are moved to a different ship - Research Vessel RV ZC-2812 ZeyCorp Gallion, which has much more people (and not only humans) aboard, that also has a sudden and unexpected turn-off of drives, which cannot be restarted. What is more important, from dialogues readers understand that these people are honoring nearly legendary for them the Peacemakers of the Great Ship Jonah, so, when they find out that both ships are stranded in a pocket space the legend will meet reality.
Each chapter is written from the POV of one of several characters and as the story goes by readers are presented with multiple flashbacks that help to form the backstory and the universe of the book. It is adequately done but I cannot say that any character “grew on me”.
November 6, 2021
Where to start? This book is like a beautiful, complex puzzle box. Discovering each piece and how it fits is a delight. When the last twist falls into place and the puzzle reveals itself as a smooth, intricate whole, it’s very satisfying, but at the same time you feel a tinge of regret because it’s finished and it was such a pleasure to put together.
A ship is stranded outside normal spacetime, and soon its crew realizes they are not alone: another ship is out there too. When they find out where—and when—the other vessel came from, they are plunged into a confrontation with the legends and traumas of their past. As they race to free their ship, they must also safeguard history itself, and if they fail, a vicious inter species war will destroy everything they love before it even begins.
This is a multi-POV masterpiece, and it’s hard for me to pick my favorite character: Uma, the history fangirl and extremely competent engineer who gets to meet her heroes, and finds out they are nothing like what she expected? Shaan, the quiet nobody haunted by a past that won’t stay in the past? Jereth, the inveterate gambler and charismatic survivor who did not sign up to save the galaxy? Leeg, the chainsmoking, gloomy mathematician who is a navigational genius but can’t navigate his intimate relationships? I love them all.
I adored this book from beginning to end. It has so many things that I look for in sci fi/space opera: nerds saving the universe, weird time hijinks, lots of positive queer rep, bi protagonists, fascinating aliens. There’s a theme that isn’t exactly “don’t meet your heroes” but more like “your heroes are human.” It delves into the way the reality of the past is wilder and more interesting than written history.
If you enjoy space opera with heart, Star Trek, time travel stories, and living history, this book is a love letter to all of them. Like Star Trek, it’s ultimately a positive vision of the future. Its core is fueled by the hope that humans will rise to the challenges that face us and work together against all odds to make a better, more peaceful universe, even when faced with things we can’t fully understand.
I had the privilege of reading this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A ship is stranded outside normal spacetime, and soon its crew realizes they are not alone: another ship is out there too. When they find out where—and when—the other vessel came from, they are plunged into a confrontation with the legends and traumas of their past. As they race to free their ship, they must also safeguard history itself, and if they fail, a vicious inter species war will destroy everything they love before it even begins.
This is a multi-POV masterpiece, and it’s hard for me to pick my favorite character: Uma, the history fangirl and extremely competent engineer who gets to meet her heroes, and finds out they are nothing like what she expected? Shaan, the quiet nobody haunted by a past that won’t stay in the past? Jereth, the inveterate gambler and charismatic survivor who did not sign up to save the galaxy? Leeg, the chainsmoking, gloomy mathematician who is a navigational genius but can’t navigate his intimate relationships? I love them all.
I adored this book from beginning to end. It has so many things that I look for in sci fi/space opera: nerds saving the universe, weird time hijinks, lots of positive queer rep, bi protagonists, fascinating aliens. There’s a theme that isn’t exactly “don’t meet your heroes” but more like “your heroes are human.” It delves into the way the reality of the past is wilder and more interesting than written history.
If you enjoy space opera with heart, Star Trek, time travel stories, and living history, this book is a love letter to all of them. Like Star Trek, it’s ultimately a positive vision of the future. Its core is fueled by the hope that humans will rise to the challenges that face us and work together against all odds to make a better, more peaceful universe, even when faced with things we can’t fully understand.
I had the privilege of reading this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 12, 2022
Not only is this my first five star read of the year, it's also my favourite sci-fi since The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet!
Under Fortunate Stars is part space opera, part time traveling adventure. I was a bit confused after the first chapters, then it all clicked into place. 😅 I often find time travel difficult and annoying but this was so well written and made sense to me! 😄
I don't want to say too much about the plot, but basically a large research ship and a junk freighter from different times end up in the same rift of time out of contact with their networks and one rescues the other. As it transpires, the little freight ship was of major historical significance - but they don't know that yet! The story is told in past and present, and it's just super cool!
I'm grateful to @netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Under Fortunate Stars' expected publication date is 10th May 2022. Sci-fi fans, I suggest you pre-order a copy! I mean just look at that cover too 😍😍
Under Fortunate Stars is part space opera, part time traveling adventure. I was a bit confused after the first chapters, then it all clicked into place. 😅 I often find time travel difficult and annoying but this was so well written and made sense to me! 😄
I don't want to say too much about the plot, but basically a large research ship and a junk freighter from different times end up in the same rift of time out of contact with their networks and one rescues the other. As it transpires, the little freight ship was of major historical significance - but they don't know that yet! The story is told in past and present, and it's just super cool!
I'm grateful to @netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Under Fortunate Stars' expected publication date is 10th May 2022. Sci-fi fans, I suggest you pre-order a copy! I mean just look at that cover too 😍😍
November 30, 2022
This book started off well but by the end I was skimming it. It had a great premise, and I was really interested in the idea of meeting historical heroes who turn out to be very different than the historical record.
Unfortunately, most of the characters were underdeveloped, and even more unfortunately, the lack of development was very gendered. Of the four members of the historical 'famous five', the two men got all the focus and the two women were background characters with very few lines and no personality. I couldn't tell you a single thing about them. Commenting on the fifth member would involve spoilers, so I won't speak to that. The two main characters from the present day cast were women and yet one of them was an obsessed fangirl who was constantly fawning over one of the men, and the other one developed a very forced romance with the other main male character. There were SO many pointless flashbacks of these two men - we literally got their whole life stories - and yet the author couldn't manage some page time for the two female genius heroes??
The ending was downright bad. The villain was two dimensional and the twist was so badly done. It was barely even a twist. The author just held back a key piece of information about one of the viewpoint characters, which made it weird in hindsight that the character in question had never once thought about this very relevant experience. It didn't work and it was only in the story so that the romance could work out. Literally, it served no other purpose.
I did enjoy parts of this book so I've allowed it the three stars but the ending was two stars max. Not worth it for the payoff. Such a shame but I can't recommend. EDIT - I decided to lower my rating to two stars. If I had to skim read the last 10% then the book probably doesn't deserve a three star rating. Plus I'm still feeling irritated and petty
Unfortunately, most of the characters were underdeveloped, and even more unfortunately, the lack of development was very gendered. Of the four members of the historical 'famous five', the two men got all the focus and the two women were background characters with very few lines and no personality. I couldn't tell you a single thing about them. Commenting on the fifth member would involve spoilers, so I won't speak to that. The two main characters from the present day cast were women and yet one of them was an obsessed fangirl who was constantly fawning over one of the men, and the other one developed a very forced romance with the other main male character. There were SO many pointless flashbacks of these two men - we literally got their whole life stories - and yet the author couldn't manage some page time for the two female genius heroes??
The ending was downright bad. The villain was two dimensional and the twist was so badly done. It was barely even a twist. The author just held back a key piece of information about one of the viewpoint characters, which made it weird in hindsight that the character in question had never once thought about this very relevant experience. It didn't work and it was only in the story so that the romance could work out. Literally, it served no other purpose.
I did enjoy parts of this book so I've allowed it the three stars but the ending was two stars max. Not worth it for the payoff. Such a shame but I can't recommend. EDIT - I decided to lower my rating to two stars. If I had to skim read the last 10% then the book probably doesn't deserve a three star rating. Plus I'm still feeling irritated and petty
January 7, 2022
UNDER FORTUNATE STARS is a book that is at once about the past catching up to you, but also about forming your own future—figuratively and literally. It weaves many backstories together to develop excellent, rich characters with complex pasts, full of traumas, past relationships, and regrets.
In this way, it’s a very personal novel. While we don’t get to know all characters on this personal level, it really does work with the ones we do. It’s also a very “big” book, about people literally saving human civilization. Full of doubts, human heroes, time travel, and hope.
Very well plotted (there’s a lot of coincidences, but they felt logical in the context of the story… Might break the story for some other people, however) with a bit of a puzzle throughout the entire thing.
Great debut!
Disclaimer: I received an ARC for this book in exchange of an honest review.
In this way, it’s a very personal novel. While we don’t get to know all characters on this personal level, it really does work with the ones we do. It’s also a very “big” book, about people literally saving human civilization. Full of doubts, human heroes, time travel, and hope.
Very well plotted (there’s a lot of coincidences, but they felt logical in the context of the story… Might break the story for some other people, however) with a bit of a puzzle throughout the entire thing.
Great debut!
Disclaimer: I received an ARC for this book in exchange of an honest review.
November 24, 2021
Wow, I just admire the hell out of this book. It is so intricately plotted, and the characters are incredibly compelling. It was such a pleasure to see how each chapter dropped one more piece of the puzzle—sometimes you could see how they fit immediately, sometimes you had to wait. And that ending! A marvelous, funny, thoughtful exploration of the concept of destiny through a deftly-managed cast of characters and a thrilling adventure.
December 29, 2022
A decent, fast paced story about a rift in a spacetime continuum and the resulting paradox. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but on the other hand - as a debut novel - it feels quite well-written, especially in terms of smoothness and pace. Also, additional plus in my point of view is for resisting the common temptation of science fiction and NOT overusing these bulky, clumsy hard words. I'm not sure if it is a quote by someone famous or it is my own thought, but I've always said that it takes someone to be really smart to tell complex things in a simple way, so thats the case.
On the other hand (the one that holds cons), this is a kind of story that seems familiar. Sure, it is so hard to come up with fresh, unheard ideas, but thats what make these books really stand out. Also, the story lacked a kind of balance in a couple of moments. Like, on page X the Jonah crew are "what the hell, who's the fortunate five? We've got nothing to do with them and no resemblance whatsover, don't be ridiculous", and on page X+1 they already are like "Fortunate5? Sure we are, we're them heroes, no prob, cheers mate". No middle ground there. Also, add lots and lots of "fortunate coincidents", that are basically bordering on the "Deus ex Machina" trope, and, well, you get me.
And what's with names? I really get confused every time, when I encounter these strange human names, future or no future. I'm pretty sure that by now we have enough history to conclude that, well, classics remains.
All in all, it is a simple, decent sci-fi'ish pageturner without any claim to be grand or complex. I'll go with 3*, since I still had fun reading it, but it is a long way from truly grand science fiction.
On the other hand (the one that holds cons), this is a kind of story that seems familiar. Sure, it is so hard to come up with fresh, unheard ideas, but thats what make these books really stand out. Also, the story lacked a kind of balance in a couple of moments. Like, on page X the Jonah crew are "what the hell, who's the fortunate five? We've got nothing to do with them and no resemblance whatsover, don't be ridiculous", and on page X+1 they already are like "Fortunate5? Sure we are, we're them heroes, no prob, cheers mate". No middle ground there. Also, add lots and lots of "fortunate coincidents", that are basically bordering on the "Deus ex Machina" trope, and, well, you get me.
And what's with names? I really get confused every time, when I encounter these strange human names, future or no future. I'm pretty sure that by now we have enough history to conclude that, well, classics remains.
All in all, it is a simple, decent sci-fi'ish pageturner without any claim to be grand or complex. I'll go with 3*, since I still had fun reading it, but it is a long way from truly grand science fiction.
July 24, 2022
I'm so annoyed >:( This is an interesting concept with a neatly done nonlinear narrative, but unfortunately, the characters were so two-dimensional and cliche as to make the whole thing an enormous drag. Like, the character work here was on the level of side characters in a mediocre Doctor Who two-parter. I just couldn't believe in or get invested in any of these characters, and it made the whole book feel hollow. Also, the dialogue was not great, bob. Often cliched, and a whole lot of exposition dumping. I'm only giving it two stars because the idea and structure were genuinely compelling.
November 29, 2021
One of the most interesting science fiction books I've read in a long time!!!!!
The characters really make this book stand out from most of the other science fiction books I've read in recent years. I still find myself thinking about them because they really got to me emotionally. The author easily balances four POVs and multiple timelines, which is a feat in itself, and each POV feels very real and nuanced.
Shaan was my personal favorite because I loved the mystery behind her character, but I think Jereth is going to be the fan favorite because he's so funny. Somehow there are parts of this book that made me tear up and other parts that made me laugh. The friendship between Jereth and Leeg, in particular, had so much depth. I really believed that these were two people who'd been through so much together.
Each of these characters gives us a different viewpoint on the world the author has created. When you put them together the scale and level of detail in the world building really blew me away. I loved how strange an inhuman the Felen were, and how prejudice ultimately was as dangerous for the characters as the aliens.
AND THE TWISTS AT THE END! Some of them I predicted and others I didn't. I just love how the different timelines resolve. The conclusion felt very satisfying and hopeful at the same time, with great commentary on history and how events are remembered/recorded over time.
If you're looking for a very character driven space opera with expansive world building and a hopeful ending then you should definitely read this.
The characters really make this book stand out from most of the other science fiction books I've read in recent years. I still find myself thinking about them because they really got to me emotionally. The author easily balances four POVs and multiple timelines, which is a feat in itself, and each POV feels very real and nuanced.
Shaan was my personal favorite because I loved the mystery behind her character, but I think Jereth is going to be the fan favorite because he's so funny. Somehow there are parts of this book that made me tear up and other parts that made me laugh. The friendship between Jereth and Leeg, in particular, had so much depth. I really believed that these were two people who'd been through so much together.
Each of these characters gives us a different viewpoint on the world the author has created. When you put them together the scale and level of detail in the world building really blew me away. I loved how strange an inhuman the Felen were, and how prejudice ultimately was as dangerous for the characters as the aliens.
AND THE TWISTS AT THE END! Some of them I predicted and others I didn't. I just love how the different timelines resolve. The conclusion felt very satisfying and hopeful at the same time, with great commentary on history and how events are remembered/recorded over time.
If you're looking for a very character driven space opera with expansive world building and a hopeful ending then you should definitely read this.
February 18, 2026
This is one of those “uh did I read the same book as everybody else?” type of situations.
This is the story of two spaceships, one a beaten up freighter crewed by your standard bunch of misfits and rogues, the other a bright, shiny corporate research ship from 150 years in the first ship’s future, who both get caught together in a temporal anomaly that strands them in the same patch of space at the same time with no working engines or ability to call for help. To add an additional wrinkle to this it turns out that the past-crew are fated to someday become the saviors of humanity, and are basically legendary heroes in the eyes of the future crew.
If it’s not clear from the plot description, the usage of a phrase like “temporal anomaly” and the need for two time-displaced crews to join forces, this is a book that’s very much written with a view towards 90s Star Trek. There’s some Yesterday’s Enterprise present in this book specifically, but also just more generally the author is borrowing from that subgenre of 90s Trek that’s like “Oh no we’re stuck in a subspace whatsit, we’ve gotta crack this mystery while reciting a bunch of technobabble to get ourselves out of trouble.” I love Star Trek, and I love that particular type of Star Trek story so I had pretty high hopes for Under Fortunate Stars.
And on paper at least there’s a lot here to be hopeful about: a time loop story where all the pieces fit together like clockwork by the end, a slobs vs snobs dynamic between the two crews as they work with and sometimes against each other, crooks and conmen pulling capers, a ton of non linear storytelling, discussions about how the historical record is shaped and why it’s often so hard to have a clear idea of anything that actually happened in the past, like there’s just a ton of stuff here that I personally think is cool and want to read about. The problem is the execution of all these ideas. The actual writing just doesn’t have the wherewithal to make any of this stuff interesting, exciting, surprising, or urgent seeming. It’s like the literary equivalent of throwing the ingredients for the most delicious stew you’ve ever made in your life in to a crockpot and then forgetting to actually turn the thing on. Just a remarkably lifeless book.
Lack of urgency is the book’s biggest problem. These people are up against a ticking clock, and a slow, miserable, drawn out death for both crews is on the table but you’d never know it from how anybody actually behaves here. We’re having long talks about our hopes and dreams and regrets in life, we’re talking about our parents and our exes, we’re playing video games, we’re stopping in the middle of vitally important missions to give each other massages and do visualization and meditation exercises, we’ve got our back to the wall and fighting for our lives but we’re relaxed about it. Pretty frustrating to read all this, there’s this constant feeling of “ok can something please just happen already?” But also when something is happening there’s an equally frustrating sense of “ok can we pretend that this thing that’s happening actually matters?”
This becomes more frustrating when it becomes clear how predictable this book is. As soon as the book lays out the story of The Fortunate Five (the name that history has given the heroes of the past-ship’s crew), and the future crew starts thinking “hold up there’s some discrepancies between these people and the historical record” you can start to see the overall shape of the story. This happens again and even more so when the scientist character lays out an explanation for the rift everybody is trapped in and her plan for getting them out. And then the book is just screaming in your face exactly what’s going to happen as all the fortunate coincidences (really just the timey-wimey consequences of a couple dozen people stuck in a time loop though the characters themselves never seem able to grasp this) start adding up. This is a book that has no surprises to offer the reader and is instead an exercise in waiting for characters to figure out stuff that will have been long obvious to the audience. That’s fine if the book is doing other things to make up for that, like say having its characters act as if they’re in a tense, frightening, life and death situation, but we’re just not doing that sort of thing here.
Characterization is also a big problem. Everybody speaks in the same voice, behaves similarly, and dialogue between characters often feels interchangeable. The two male leads are especially bad about this, they’re both obnoxious roguish crooks who make up the flight crew of an old beat up spaceship, are best friends and frequently appear in the same scenes together, with heavily intertwined backstories. I often needed a moment to remember which one was which anytime they were referred to by name instead of job title. Whenever they would speak to each other trying to tell them apart became hopeless. This eventually got easier to do as the book went on and some flashback chapters were devoted to their respective backstories, but for the first two thirds or so of the book it was a constant thing of “wait are you Awful Dude Number One or Awful Dude Number Two?”
Finally there’s the issue of the audio book, which I think is overall very poor. There’s two readers, one for the past ship’s crew POVs, the other for the future crew. One of the readers speaks with an English accent, the other an American. There’s no effort made to match specific accents with specific characters so sometimes these characters will all be from London and other times they’ll all be from Ohio and that’s just how it is. No effort is made by either reader to speak with specific character voices and very little effort is put in to acting. This audiobook isn’t performed, it’s just read. Some people like that no frills approach in an audiobook, but when it comes to fiction at least, I like a little more pizzazz than what this book is offering. Add to that just generally poor production values (weird unnatural pauses in the text that could have easily been edited out, and a recording that sounds like it was made on the cheapest mics in the world) and I often found myself wondering why the publisher chose to release this recording as is.
Tough to justify giving this more than one star. There’s lots of good ideas here and the book certainly promises a lot, but nothing really works in execution. This one just doesn’t have the juice.
This is the story of two spaceships, one a beaten up freighter crewed by your standard bunch of misfits and rogues, the other a bright, shiny corporate research ship from 150 years in the first ship’s future, who both get caught together in a temporal anomaly that strands them in the same patch of space at the same time with no working engines or ability to call for help. To add an additional wrinkle to this it turns out that the past-crew are fated to someday become the saviors of humanity, and are basically legendary heroes in the eyes of the future crew.
If it’s not clear from the plot description, the usage of a phrase like “temporal anomaly” and the need for two time-displaced crews to join forces, this is a book that’s very much written with a view towards 90s Star Trek. There’s some Yesterday’s Enterprise present in this book specifically, but also just more generally the author is borrowing from that subgenre of 90s Trek that’s like “Oh no we’re stuck in a subspace whatsit, we’ve gotta crack this mystery while reciting a bunch of technobabble to get ourselves out of trouble.” I love Star Trek, and I love that particular type of Star Trek story so I had pretty high hopes for Under Fortunate Stars.
And on paper at least there’s a lot here to be hopeful about: a time loop story where all the pieces fit together like clockwork by the end, a slobs vs snobs dynamic between the two crews as they work with and sometimes against each other, crooks and conmen pulling capers, a ton of non linear storytelling, discussions about how the historical record is shaped and why it’s often so hard to have a clear idea of anything that actually happened in the past, like there’s just a ton of stuff here that I personally think is cool and want to read about. The problem is the execution of all these ideas. The actual writing just doesn’t have the wherewithal to make any of this stuff interesting, exciting, surprising, or urgent seeming. It’s like the literary equivalent of throwing the ingredients for the most delicious stew you’ve ever made in your life in to a crockpot and then forgetting to actually turn the thing on. Just a remarkably lifeless book.
Lack of urgency is the book’s biggest problem. These people are up against a ticking clock, and a slow, miserable, drawn out death for both crews is on the table but you’d never know it from how anybody actually behaves here. We’re having long talks about our hopes and dreams and regrets in life, we’re talking about our parents and our exes, we’re playing video games, we’re stopping in the middle of vitally important missions to give each other massages and do visualization and meditation exercises, we’ve got our back to the wall and fighting for our lives but we’re relaxed about it. Pretty frustrating to read all this, there’s this constant feeling of “ok can something please just happen already?” But also when something is happening there’s an equally frustrating sense of “ok can we pretend that this thing that’s happening actually matters?”
This becomes more frustrating when it becomes clear how predictable this book is. As soon as the book lays out the story of The Fortunate Five (the name that history has given the heroes of the past-ship’s crew), and the future crew starts thinking “hold up there’s some discrepancies between these people and the historical record” you can start to see the overall shape of the story. This happens again and even more so when the scientist character lays out an explanation for the rift everybody is trapped in and her plan for getting them out. And then the book is just screaming in your face exactly what’s going to happen as all the fortunate coincidences (really just the timey-wimey consequences of a couple dozen people stuck in a time loop though the characters themselves never seem able to grasp this) start adding up. This is a book that has no surprises to offer the reader and is instead an exercise in waiting for characters to figure out stuff that will have been long obvious to the audience. That’s fine if the book is doing other things to make up for that, like say having its characters act as if they’re in a tense, frightening, life and death situation, but we’re just not doing that sort of thing here.
Characterization is also a big problem. Everybody speaks in the same voice, behaves similarly, and dialogue between characters often feels interchangeable. The two male leads are especially bad about this, they’re both obnoxious roguish crooks who make up the flight crew of an old beat up spaceship, are best friends and frequently appear in the same scenes together, with heavily intertwined backstories. I often needed a moment to remember which one was which anytime they were referred to by name instead of job title. Whenever they would speak to each other trying to tell them apart became hopeless. This eventually got easier to do as the book went on and some flashback chapters were devoted to their respective backstories, but for the first two thirds or so of the book it was a constant thing of “wait are you Awful Dude Number One or Awful Dude Number Two?”
Finally there’s the issue of the audio book, which I think is overall very poor. There’s two readers, one for the past ship’s crew POVs, the other for the future crew. One of the readers speaks with an English accent, the other an American. There’s no effort made to match specific accents with specific characters so sometimes these characters will all be from London and other times they’ll all be from Ohio and that’s just how it is. No effort is made by either reader to speak with specific character voices and very little effort is put in to acting. This audiobook isn’t performed, it’s just read. Some people like that no frills approach in an audiobook, but when it comes to fiction at least, I like a little more pizzazz than what this book is offering. Add to that just generally poor production values (weird unnatural pauses in the text that could have easily been edited out, and a recording that sounds like it was made on the cheapest mics in the world) and I often found myself wondering why the publisher chose to release this recording as is.
Tough to justify giving this more than one star. There’s lots of good ideas here and the book certainly promises a lot, but nothing really works in execution. This one just doesn’t have the juice.
November 19, 2021
Just finished this and I highly recommend it, it was smart and fun and fascinating. Bills itself as accidental time travel and that is so well put. I don't always like time travel plots because they make no sense but in this one everything fit perfectly. Also, do you like funny, smart, nuanced characters? This had a great central cast. This is the type of book that's put together like a puzzle, and watching it come together is just an intellectual treat. Check out this book!
March 12, 2023
Online book club read for March 2023.
Entertaining story of a ship stuck in a sort of sub-space rift. An odd sort of tale because early on you know how it is going to end. I guess you could sum this one up as it's all about the journey and less about the destination. A couple of small sub plots, but those were also very predictable. It may have been the authors intention to write it that was so the whole thing felt very familiar.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
Entertaining story of a ship stuck in a sort of sub-space rift. An odd sort of tale because early on you know how it is going to end. I guess you could sum this one up as it's all about the journey and less about the destination. A couple of small sub plots, but those were also very predictable. It may have been the authors intention to write it that was so the whole thing felt very familiar.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
July 6, 2022
I’m about halfway through and I’m struggling. This book reads like a poorly written video game plot. Physics takes a backseat to a lot of hand waving. If the drive is shut down, where’s the gravity coming from? Tractor beam? Lanardium cabling? Sub space? It’s as though Mass Effect, Firefly and Star Trek: TNG fan-fiction got smashed together. Reminds me of Becky Chambers, but without being enjoyable. I’m going to finish it, but I just don’t understand how this gets 4+ stars. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess I’m not the target audience.
Edit: I’m about halfway and struggling to continue. I’d be able to ignore the lack of attention to having at least a self-consistent world and science if the characters were well-written. But they are not. At all. They’re paper thin caricatures and worse, they’re unlikeable. And the author seems unable to write exposition that doesn’t involve long, boring dialogue. At one point the characters are giving a - I shit you not - PowerPoint presentation to advance the plot. Budding authors, take note: show, don’t tell.
And despite being trapped in a situation where doing nothing means a long and slow death, the characters argue with each other over the dumbest shit for no reason other than the author seeming to think conflict is character development.
Another annoying habit the author has is withholding information from the reader for no apparent reason. Ok, I get it, something traumatized that character in the past and now they’re a basket case. Why don’t you just tell me what it was? How am I supposed to care about this one-dimensional character if I can’t empathize with them? Continuing what is fast becoming a slog through one of the worst books I have ever cracked open.
Edit 2: I’m 2/3 of the way through it. I’ve stopped reading every word and am now skimming just to get through it. This is the most plodding, boring godawful tripe I’ve ever read. We’re talking Dresden Files level bad. To be fair, I only read the first one. But this book is worse.
Edit 3: I gave up. I’m pretty sure how it ends, and I really don’t care about the details. Not one of the characters are memorable or interesting. They’re all rather annoying and dreadful boring. That’s my main problem, actually. This book is boring. Dull. Uninteresting. There’s nothing original in this story, and there’s nothing that makes me give two shits about the characters. How did this garbage even get published?
Edit: I’m about halfway and struggling to continue. I’d be able to ignore the lack of attention to having at least a self-consistent world and science if the characters were well-written. But they are not. At all. They’re paper thin caricatures and worse, they’re unlikeable. And the author seems unable to write exposition that doesn’t involve long, boring dialogue. At one point the characters are giving a - I shit you not - PowerPoint presentation to advance the plot. Budding authors, take note: show, don’t tell.
And despite being trapped in a situation where doing nothing means a long and slow death, the characters argue with each other over the dumbest shit for no reason other than the author seeming to think conflict is character development.
Another annoying habit the author has is withholding information from the reader for no apparent reason. Ok, I get it, something traumatized that character in the past and now they’re a basket case. Why don’t you just tell me what it was? How am I supposed to care about this one-dimensional character if I can’t empathize with them? Continuing what is fast becoming a slog through one of the worst books I have ever cracked open.
Edit 2: I’m 2/3 of the way through it. I’ve stopped reading every word and am now skimming just to get through it. This is the most plodding, boring godawful tripe I’ve ever read. We’re talking Dresden Files level bad. To be fair, I only read the first one. But this book is worse.
Edit 3: I gave up. I’m pretty sure how it ends, and I really don’t care about the details. Not one of the characters are memorable or interesting. They’re all rather annoying and dreadful boring. That’s my main problem, actually. This book is boring. Dull. Uninteresting. There’s nothing original in this story, and there’s nothing that makes me give two shits about the characters. How did this garbage even get published?
June 10, 2022
Thanks to NetGalley & Solaris for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest reflection on the text provided.
4.5 stars
Under Fortunate Stars is so good - I can't stop thinking about this book and I wish it was a series. Not that it would really work with this story, but I want more to read!
It took a few chapters to get into this story, and at first, I didn't have high hopes. The characters felt stereotypical - expected caricatures of the space opera genre - and I had no idea what was going on. But at some point, I realised that my perspective had shifted, and I was entirely engrossed in the story. Though these characters appeared superficial initially, there is a lot of hidden depth and complexity to be revealed as we learn their stories.
I love that even though this is a pretty intense story with high stakes and serious danger, the tone never feels too heavy. The back stories are captivating and add weight and importance to the central storyline. Under Fortunate Stars is an incredibly unique book, and I can't wait to see what Hutchings writes next.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
4.5 stars
Under Fortunate Stars is so good - I can't stop thinking about this book and I wish it was a series. Not that it would really work with this story, but I want more to read!
It took a few chapters to get into this story, and at first, I didn't have high hopes. The characters felt stereotypical - expected caricatures of the space opera genre - and I had no idea what was going on. But at some point, I realised that my perspective had shifted, and I was entirely engrossed in the story. Though these characters appeared superficial initially, there is a lot of hidden depth and complexity to be revealed as we learn their stories.
I love that even though this is a pretty intense story with high stakes and serious danger, the tone never feels too heavy. The back stories are captivating and add weight and importance to the central storyline. Under Fortunate Stars is an incredibly unique book, and I can't wait to see what Hutchings writes next.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
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May 18, 2022
From the blurb you know that two ships from different times meet in a rift, with the ending of a universal war having occurred in the time between. We have the newer ship filled with scientific wonders and staff who have hero worshipped the war-enders. We also have the five miscreants from the older ship who have no intention of going near the enemy, let alone ending the war!
The story is told in flash backs of the main four characters - this sounds like it could be confusing but it flows really well. The flashbacks help reveal events that are key to the next chapter. It’s well done.
The narrative is written well and the characters are likeable although I would’ve liked one to be a little more ‘rogue-y’.
I did drop a star as there is one reveal that seemed too fortunate for me but overall I enjoyed it a lot. Read over two sittings, stayed up too late!
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing this E- ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story is told in flash backs of the main four characters - this sounds like it could be confusing but it flows really well. The flashbacks help reveal events that are key to the next chapter. It’s well done.
The narrative is written well and the characters are likeable although I would’ve liked one to be a little more ‘rogue-y’.
I did drop a star as there is one reveal that seemed too fortunate for me but overall I enjoyed it a lot. Read over two sittings, stayed up too late!
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing this E- ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
November 16, 2021This is a great story -- I liked every single POV character. They all had very personal, close stories, but when you put them all together it was really wide ranging, too. Good world building, and just a really enjoyable story. This is going to be one of the top SF debuts of 2022. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2022
The Fortunate Five are heroes to the humans in the galaxy. They’re commemorated in artwork, museums, and countless publications documenting their backgrounds and actions. The Five were instrumental in brokering a peace 150 years ago between humans and the alien Felen after a many years-long war.
And that would be fine, except a crew ferrying a Felen ambassador and his Voice to a crucial meeting are stranded in a weird Rift, with no communications elsewhere, and losing power. Head Engineer Uma Ozakka and her crew have no clue what caused the problems, but keep scanning outside and trying to make repairs. Then they find another, small ship nearby, in the same shape as them, and haul it aboard. And get the shocks of their lives, as they find they have the ship Jonah within theirs (a reference to another ship getting stuck in a whale?). The Jonah was the ship of the Fortunate Five, and three of the Five are instantly recognizable to Uma, a major Five fangirl (she’s read EVERYthing about these people). These people were alive 150 years ago, and there should be no way Uma and others could be interacting with these heroes.
Which brings us to the idea that it’s never good to meet your heroes, as the captain, Jereth Keegan is a con artist, and Uma’s fave Eldric Leesongorski is misanthropic and cynical. There’s also a biogeneticist working with the peace movement active during the Felen war, another is a genius physicist, and the last is the Jonah’s engineer.
Ren Hutchins has created a time travel story, added in a bunch of flashbacks giving us details on the actions of Keeven and Eldric for several years before their capture by the Rift. The story structure should be confusing but instead it all comes together coherently and is darned entertaining while that happens. The characters are all flawed, with the failing power on the big ship raising the tension, as well as the slowly revealed facts about the characters.
The book is a lot of fun, and I liked Uma, Eldric, Jereth and Shaan (a woman in the present, onboard the big ship, with a murky past). I also really appreciated how Hutchins contrasted the rosy perceptions of the Five with their less than honourable actuality. It’s a fun, fast-paced and entertaining story.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion, Solaris for this ARC in exchange for my review.
And that would be fine, except a crew ferrying a Felen ambassador and his Voice to a crucial meeting are stranded in a weird Rift, with no communications elsewhere, and losing power. Head Engineer Uma Ozakka and her crew have no clue what caused the problems, but keep scanning outside and trying to make repairs. Then they find another, small ship nearby, in the same shape as them, and haul it aboard. And get the shocks of their lives, as they find they have the ship Jonah within theirs (a reference to another ship getting stuck in a whale?). The Jonah was the ship of the Fortunate Five, and three of the Five are instantly recognizable to Uma, a major Five fangirl (she’s read EVERYthing about these people). These people were alive 150 years ago, and there should be no way Uma and others could be interacting with these heroes.
Which brings us to the idea that it’s never good to meet your heroes, as the captain, Jereth Keegan is a con artist, and Uma’s fave Eldric Leesongorski is misanthropic and cynical. There’s also a biogeneticist working with the peace movement active during the Felen war, another is a genius physicist, and the last is the Jonah’s engineer.
Ren Hutchins has created a time travel story, added in a bunch of flashbacks giving us details on the actions of Keeven and Eldric for several years before their capture by the Rift. The story structure should be confusing but instead it all comes together coherently and is darned entertaining while that happens. The characters are all flawed, with the failing power on the big ship raising the tension, as well as the slowly revealed facts about the characters.
The book is a lot of fun, and I liked Uma, Eldric, Jereth and Shaan (a woman in the present, onboard the big ship, with a murky past). I also really appreciated how Hutchins contrasted the rosy perceptions of the Five with their less than honourable actuality. It’s a fun, fast-paced and entertaining story.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion, Solaris for this ARC in exchange for my review.
May 12, 2022
Under Fortunate Stars is a story that is sure to have many sci-fi fans hooked throughout. While there were elements of this I did enjoy, it mostly left me conflicted. That is not to say I disliked it, simply that it wasn’t quite everything I had imagined.
The concept of Under Fortunate Stars grabbed me from the start, ensuring I was eager to see how everything developed. While it did keep me curious, there were points in this where I felt things moved a little too slowly – which was when I started to notice just how fortuitous things really were. I expected some luck, some chance, considering the title, but it became a little too much as the story developed. There were lots of points where everything was ‘just so’ and it took away some of the intensity of the story, making it feel almost easy. I know this will not annoy everyone, but it did bug me when it kept happening. There were points when I wanted to see the characters battle through the problems instead of it happening because of their good fortunate.
All in all, this was an interesting read. While I enjoyed it, it was a little too easy, but it was still an addictive story.
The concept of Under Fortunate Stars grabbed me from the start, ensuring I was eager to see how everything developed. While it did keep me curious, there were points in this where I felt things moved a little too slowly – which was when I started to notice just how fortuitous things really were. I expected some luck, some chance, considering the title, but it became a little too much as the story developed. There were lots of points where everything was ‘just so’ and it took away some of the intensity of the story, making it feel almost easy. I know this will not annoy everyone, but it did bug me when it kept happening. There were points when I wanted to see the characters battle through the problems instead of it happening because of their good fortunate.
All in all, this was an interesting read. While I enjoyed it, it was a little too easy, but it was still an addictive story.
January 20, 2023
DNF 50%
Технически эта книга написана не лучше Fortuna, но в Fortuna сюжет идет по ровной линии "упал, очнулся, гипс", а вот Under Fortunate Stars замахнулась на очень амбициозную петлю.
Замахнулась и промазала.
Это подобие герметичного детектива, где мы еще в первой главе знаем все про убийство. И чтобы такое вытянуть, надо очень хорошо писать.
Надо быть богом характеров и конфликтов, чтобы зритель не скучал, наблюдая, как персонажи слоняются по месту своего заключения. Надо красиво переврать финал или создать новые душераздирающие ставки. Надо гениально пускать пыль в глаза и ненавязчиво раскладывать пазлы.
И к сожалению, со скиллом дебютанта такой сюжет превращается в болото.
На 50% мои глаза уже устали закатываться, а трещины моего потолка я и так знаю досконально, поэтому днф.
Но читается легко, и если вам нравятся временные петли - можно попробовать.
Технически эта книга написана не лучше Fortuna, но в Fortuna сюжет идет по ровной линии "упал, очнулся, гипс", а вот Under Fortunate Stars замахнулась на очень амбициозную петлю.
Замахнулась и промазала.
Это подобие герметичного детектива, где мы еще в первой главе знаем все про убийство. И чтобы такое вытянуть, надо очень хорошо писать.
Надо быть богом характеров и конфликтов, чтобы зритель не скучал, наблюдая, как персонажи слоняются по месту своего заключения. Надо красиво переврать финал или создать новые душераздирающие ставки. Надо гениально пускать пыль в глаза и ненавязчиво раскладывать пазлы.
И к сожалению, со скиллом дебютанта такой сюжет превращается в болото.
На 50% мои глаза уже устали закатываться, а трещины моего потолка я и так знаю досконально, поэтому днф.
Но читается легко, и если вам нравятся временные петли - можно попробовать.
May 25, 2022
I loved this book so much! There is a lot going on, including time travel, flashbacks, aliens, and yet I never felt lost. I loved getting to know each one of the characters - both the ones on the research vessel, and the "Fortunate Five" from the past, who don't seem to match up to the history books. The flashbacks slowly feed information about people and events, and I loved how things unfolded. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy character-driven science fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley, Rebellion Publishing, and Ren Hutchings for the chance to read this book. I am sure it'll be one of my favorite science fiction books of the year.
Thank you to Netgalley, Rebellion Publishing, and Ren Hutchings for the chance to read this book. I am sure it'll be one of my favorite science fiction books of the year.
July 12, 2022
What a fun time travel adventure! Under Fortunate Stars was a pleasant surprise, I didn't fully know what I was getting into and usually I'm huge on time travel plots mixed with my space operas, but this book has a pretty cool feeling of every piece falling into place by the end and it was very satisfying.
I will say that the best parts of it are the characters, the overall arch of the story and the beginning, which was super engaging.
I would 100% recommend this book if you are looking for a fun space opera but with some pinches of time paradox. This one is for you!
Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for an ARC copy of it!
I will say that the best parts of it are the characters, the overall arch of the story and the beginning, which was super engaging.
I would 100% recommend this book if you are looking for a fun space opera but with some pinches of time paradox. This one is for you!
Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for an ARC copy of it!
December 6, 2021
Space opera fans, we are BLESSED. I came for the time slip shenanigans and stayed for the space casino heists, the best friend smuggler duo, and the engineer trying her best. Put this on your 2022 tbr IMMEDIATELY!
March 11, 2024
I'm not sure where to start, but given that the author did not now when to stop, that might balance things out 😉
Anyhow, what we have here is an example of the old well-worn setup with a time travelling loop where things happen exactly as they had happened and must happen, i.e. 100% deterministically. Nothing wrong with that, some of those stories are fun, but this one, not so much. A fundamental problem is that as soon as you as a reader realise it is one of those stories, the plot cannot rely on the tension of whether the characters actions will be successful or not; that we already know, so instead the book needs to offer something else.
Unfortunately, this book does not. Instead we are given stuff such as a character not perhaps being as glorious as legend has it, i.e. as those in the know of what happened has read and thus they worry that something is wrong with the legends and maybe things will not turn out OK after all (i.e. that something will cause history to change). But at the same time we learn that nothing certain is known about the character from the history books except that he was maybe born on planet X, which we as readers already know he is, so the tension is palpable: Will he actually turn out to be the legendary person?!?
There are so many cheap things such as this one, like there actually being five legendary persons who need to do the things history tells that they did, but the history books are extremely vague about details of two of them, to make it more suspenseful about who they will turn out to be (one of them already mentioned). If the book was shorter it might have been ok, but as mentioned it goes on and on, trying to make the events exciting and utterly failing to do so.
Characters? Ha! There are a lot of them, all as thin as the paper in the book (I assume, reading it on a Kindle I probably should have compared them to something else). They have one or maybe two character traits each, and that's it. Here's the one with PTSD, here's the one genius with a tragic love story, here's the one who wants to have a successful career... And here's the one who has no trait at all (Barnabyn; I dare say any reader claiming to have an opinion of them is lying), so let's make this character the only one who dies heroically, just so the emotional impact is as small as possible. And let's not mention the alien race which never gets any characterisation at all except being difficult to talk with, otherwise seeming very human; the whole thing with them relentlessly killing all humans before someone could say hello to them is just never explained or even made to sound plausible.
There are so many other things which annoyed me, like the enormous amount of techno-babble, or even more failed ways of trying to build up suspense, like when a scientist says when all hope seems lost that actually, maybe building a giant bomb might help them but it's unlikely, and then the book spends a lot of time with people discussing this over and over again while as a reader you are absolutely certain that of course they will because there are zero alternatives. Actually the last thing there is a common theme in the book: A situation arises, there is only one possible way out, and then a lot of arguing takes place before deciding to try that option.
A few more complaints: I can live with a lot of the astronomically unlikely stuff going on in the novel since it is a time travel one, like everyone just happening to know exactly what is necessary to save the situation (lots of people turn out to have for others hitherto unknown knowledge saving everyone), but some of the things were so ridiculous I just couldn't, like the fact that they accidentally end up at exactly the same place on the space station where one of the characters had experienced that PTSD thing.
But even worse Hutchings commits the grave error of making a novel where there is a whole galaxy in play but it seems as small as a country village. Everyone knows each other, everyone turns out to have ties to each other, and most of the time there is absolutely no reason for it. A perfect example of this is Halli/Kehallian Sifyer: She happens to be at the inquest of Shaan, she happens to be the ex of Uma, she happens to be the one in charge of Sector Command. When Uma realises this (after some ridiculous computer hacking enabling Shaan to digitally present as Halli) we get the following:
After this, the connection is never mentioned again and it makes no difference at all in the story, so the only reason it is there is... I actually don't know, because to me it simply makes the universe ridiculously small.
So, a bad book overstaying its welcome somewhere around 20% into it. Still, I will not give it the lowest rating possible but instead two stars. Why? Well, I enjoyed some of the limited world building in the background chapters, like Sëgra City. So, hesitantly, two stars it is!
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm not super happy about how the noun "skin" is used in the book. Counting quickly in my digital edition so I might have missed a few, the word is used 32 times. 12 of those are related to stuff like "prickling skin" / "skin crawled" etc, so nothing about the look. The rest are 12 "brown skin", 4 "olive skin", and 4 "bronze skin". Apparently the only time it is worth mentioning how skin looks is when it is brown/olive/bronze. This being science fiction it might simply be that those are the hues that exist, but unfortunately I get a strong feeling of skin hue only being relevant to mention when it is not the default hue, considering a lot of the main characters' skin hues are never mentioned at all, whereas for others - like in the "bronze skin" case where all 4 times it is used it's for the same person - it is mentioned repeatedly 😕
Anyhow, what we have here is an example of the old well-worn setup with a time travelling loop where things happen exactly as they had happened and must happen, i.e. 100% deterministically. Nothing wrong with that, some of those stories are fun, but this one, not so much. A fundamental problem is that as soon as you as a reader realise it is one of those stories, the plot cannot rely on the tension of whether the characters actions will be successful or not; that we already know, so instead the book needs to offer something else.
Unfortunately, this book does not. Instead we are given stuff such as a character not perhaps being as glorious as legend has it, i.e. as those in the know of what happened has read and thus they worry that something is wrong with the legends and maybe things will not turn out OK after all (i.e. that something will cause history to change). But at the same time we learn that nothing certain is known about the character from the history books except that he was maybe born on planet X, which we as readers already know he is, so the tension is palpable: Will he actually turn out to be the legendary person?!?
There are so many cheap things such as this one, like there actually being five legendary persons who need to do the things history tells that they did, but the history books are extremely vague about details of two of them, to make it more suspenseful about who they will turn out to be (one of them already mentioned). If the book was shorter it might have been ok, but as mentioned it goes on and on, trying to make the events exciting and utterly failing to do so.
Characters? Ha! There are a lot of them, all as thin as the paper in the book (I assume, reading it on a Kindle I probably should have compared them to something else). They have one or maybe two character traits each, and that's it. Here's the one with PTSD, here's the one genius with a tragic love story, here's the one who wants to have a successful career... And here's the one who has no trait at all (Barnabyn; I dare say any reader claiming to have an opinion of them is lying), so let's make this character the only one who dies heroically, just so the emotional impact is as small as possible. And let's not mention the alien race which never gets any characterisation at all except being difficult to talk with, otherwise seeming very human; the whole thing with them relentlessly killing all humans before someone could say hello to them is just never explained or even made to sound plausible.
There are so many other things which annoyed me, like the enormous amount of techno-babble, or even more failed ways of trying to build up suspense, like when a scientist says when all hope seems lost that actually, maybe building a giant bomb might help them but it's unlikely, and then the book spends a lot of time with people discussing this over and over again while as a reader you are absolutely certain that of course they will because there are zero alternatives. Actually the last thing there is a common theme in the book: A situation arises, there is only one possible way out, and then a lot of arguing takes place before deciding to try that option.
A few more complaints: I can live with a lot of the astronomically unlikely stuff going on in the novel since it is a time travel one, like everyone just happening to know exactly what is necessary to save the situation (lots of people turn out to have for others hitherto unknown knowledge saving everyone), but some of the things were so ridiculous I just couldn't, like the fact that they accidentally end up at exactly the same place on the space station where one of the characters had experienced that PTSD thing.
But even worse Hutchings commits the grave error of making a novel where there is a whole galaxy in play but it seems as small as a country village. Everyone knows each other, everyone turns out to have ties to each other, and most of the time there is absolutely no reason for it. A perfect example of this is Halli/Kehallian Sifyer: She happens to be at the inquest of Shaan, she happens to be the ex of Uma, she happens to be the one in charge of Sector Command. When Uma realises this (after some ridiculous computer hacking enabling Shaan to digitally present as Halli) we get the following:
“Uma was clutching the back of Leesongronski’s chair with one hand, her other hand clasped to her mouth. “Oh my gods...” she breathed, almost inaudibly. “I...”
Leesongronski turned to look at her, his face concerned. “What?”
“High Commander Kehallian Sifyer,” she repeated in a whisper, pointing at the open profile on his display. “That’s Halli!”
After this, the connection is never mentioned again and it makes no difference at all in the story, so the only reason it is there is... I actually don't know, because to me it simply makes the universe ridiculously small.
So, a bad book overstaying its welcome somewhere around 20% into it. Still, I will not give it the lowest rating possible but instead two stars. Why? Well, I enjoyed some of the limited world building in the background chapters, like Sëgra City. So, hesitantly, two stars it is!
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm not super happy about how the noun "skin" is used in the book. Counting quickly in my digital edition so I might have missed a few, the word is used 32 times. 12 of those are related to stuff like "prickling skin" / "skin crawled" etc, so nothing about the look. The rest are 12 "brown skin", 4 "olive skin", and 4 "bronze skin". Apparently the only time it is worth mentioning how skin looks is when it is brown/olive/bronze. This being science fiction it might simply be that those are the hues that exist, but unfortunately I get a strong feeling of skin hue only being relevant to mention when it is not the default hue, considering a lot of the main characters' skin hues are never mentioned at all, whereas for others - like in the "bronze skin" case where all 4 times it is used it's for the same person - it is mentioned repeatedly 😕
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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