Ren Hutchings’ debut novel Under Fortunate Stars, out now from Solaris, is a characterful and thought-provoking space opera featuring accidental time travel, unwilling heroes and space-based corporate bureaucracy. On board the cargo hauler Jonah, roguish Jereth and cynical Leeg are trying to stay away from the war with the Felen engulfing Union space when they find themselves trapped in a strange deep-space rift. Caught in the same rift is the Gallion, a ZeyCorp research vessel transporting an alien ambassador. When the two ships meet, confusion abounds as the Gallion crew claim to be from a time far in the Jonah’s future. Not only that, but history buff Uma, Director of Engineering onboard the Gallion, recognises the Jonah as the ship that carried the ‘Fortunate Five’ and played a crucial part in ending the war with the Felen…even if its crew doesn’t quite match up to what the history books say.
The central core of the narrative takes place on the becalmed Gallion as the two crews look for a way to escape the Rift and return to their respective timelines, with power running out and no way of calling for help. This part is told through the eyes of Uma and Shaan, the Gallion’s Facilities Coordinator, while interspersed with this are scenes from Jereth and Leeg’s points of view, looking back to their timeline and telling the story of how they each came to be on the Jonah. The four POV characters’ stories are brought to life with warmth and a sensitive touch, even as they bicker amongst themselves and work at cross-purposes. Unlike many space operas, while the stakes here are pretty huge the focus is much more on slow-reveal character work than action or excitement, and all four main characters come to vivid, brilliantly-realised life as the book progresses.
It’s refreshing to see the slightly more positive, hopeful SF setting that Hutchings has created here, with the war safely in the past for the Gallion crew at least. Of course this brings its own problems for the characters to deal with, as they’re forced to face up to their past/future (delete as applicable) and worry about whether they really are engaging in unintentional time travel or not. Then there’s the question of whether Jereth, Leeg and the Jonah passengers can really be the Fortunate Five, and what it might mean – both to them and to the Gallion crew – if they are…or indeed if they’re not. There are plenty of big questions to ponder but it’s not all serious stuff, and the slightly absurd nature of life for the Gallion crew – beholden to the bureaucratic whims of their employer ZeyCorp, from risk assessments to infuriating PR concerns – adds a wry, relatable (for anyone who’s worked for a big corporation, at least) element to proceedings.
Hutchings does a brilliant job of playing with time travel and many of its attendant paradoxes in an unusual, engaging way here, and has created a memorable cast of believable characters with their own rich, compelling back stories, each of them unsure of where they stand and what’s real. This smart, engaging setup allows her to explore the dangers of meeting one’s heroes and the question of whether what’s in the history books really matches up to what actually happened, themes which contribute to a story which builds organically from an interesting start to a powerful, utterly gripping conclusion. This is genuinely brilliant, characterful science fiction, with a really strong emotional core – the sort of book which becomes impossible to put down, and leaves you both torn up and uplifted by its conclusion. In short, it’s must-read SF.
Review copy provided by the publisher
See also: AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ren Hutchings Talks Under Fortunate Stars.
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