Thank you, Solaris, for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was marketed as a heist and, while there is a heist, it’s not the main event of the book, nor is it even a substantial portion of the book. That being said, this was still a wonderful ride.

Our main character, Page Found, has no memories of her life prior to the past 8 years of her life, at which point she was woken from a trial-run of a new stasis method. She chose her name and became a petty thief to pay off her debt to the guy who bought her medical debt.

The characters were all so endearing (the protagonists, anyway. Zhak sucks lmao), and the various relationships between the characters were little bright spots that made the book feel so optimistic and hopeful, despite the alien war/invasion happening in the background. The twists and turns of the plot and the shocking reveals made for a real page-turner of a story! I also really enjoyed the exploration of religious fanaticism, and the way people in power will use religion to manipulate and exploit the populace - that was so well done!

A space opera of isolated worlds and learning that who you are is who you are now, not who you were, An Unbreakable World is a mix of cozy and adventurous.

Hutching’s first novel, Under Fortunate Stars, was my favourite sci-fi of 2023, so I was super excited when I saw on Instagram that she had another one coming out.

I definitely enjoyed this one, but I wasn’t as into it as I was Under Fortunate Stars. Perhaps it’s because I wanted those characters back, or maybe I just have read too many heist books this year (though, to be fair, that book seems like a heist book, but it’s barely that), but I didn’t love it.

Yet, let me tell you about the good stuff! The points of view are interesting. We have Page, the amnesiac thief who, to her knowledge, has never left the decriptic space station she’s been living on. Her experiencing worlds again was really fun to read. We have Maelle, whose motivations and goals were revealed slowly to us as they were to Page, which was really cleverly done. And we have Dalya, who grows from a young girl to a young woman in a household ruled by her uncle, where she’s expected to learn to govern despite being essentially a shut-in. Her situation reveals to the reader how the political and society on Teyr functions, though I could have used a POV actually out and about.

The worldbuilding is extensive, and there are snippets throughout that build on it. Yet, one thing I felt a bit disappointed about was the lack of aliens in the story. They are mentioned enough to make it seem important, but that sort of fizzles out. As someone who loves aliens, I was a little disappointed about that. I do love the idea of a story on the periphery of a war, but you can’t mention aliens and then give me no aliens, especially as I was hoping for more of the aliens that were in Under Fortunate Stars.

Aside from that, which was minor, I think what held me back from loving it was the pacing. While Under Fortunate Stars is also a character-driven story with a rather slow-moving plot, there are far more characters with points of view, so the story moves along at a good clip as we’re learning about all of them. In this one, it just seemed like it took a while to really get started. I wasn’t sure why Page was so hesitant to partake in the offer, because she has literally nothing else going for her. She also spends a lot of time moaning about not knowing her past, without thinking that maybe the money from this job could help her pay for that? I don’t know, she waffled too much, I found.

The plot is quite languid, which I didn’t mind, but there is a twist near the end that, I will admit, I saw coming a mile away. The alternative would have been too obvious, but there was also only one other alternative, so that reveal was more like “oh” rather than “whoa!”

Yet, overall, I did enjoy it quite a bit. It’s a solid, entertaining space opera with interesting worldbuilding, easy-to-follow prose, and good characters. It’s great if you want something a little cozy but also not too light.

We follow multiple characters, Page, an amnesiac thief, Maelle, a con artist with more connections than you'd expect and Dalya, part of the ruling family of the Unbreakable World. There's also snippets of files and recordings in between chapters which flesh out the world and come back into play later on.

Page & Maelle's story plays out in the present with Dalya's taking over the space of many years which provides an insight into the planet and the changes happening there.

I dont want to get too spoilery but dont go in expecting a grand heist and more the underworld / con artist angle in a scifi setting! This didnt detract from my experience at all, honestly I was just enthusiastic about learning more about Page's past. I thought I had it figured out but I was still surprised in the end!

Overall, a really nice read with interesting characters and great prose. I had a really nice time reading this one and loved the world. I'll be picking up the other book set in this world as I want to know more! (This is very much a standalone though!)

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

Release date: 9th Sept 2025

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

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

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

I loved loved loved this - the first novel by Ren Hutchings was a debut I talked everyone's ears off about, and the sequel was long-awaited and didn't disappoint. If there is a sapphic space heist that's also a good mystery, I'm always going to read it - but if it's Ren Hutchings, I am doing so with conviction that I'll be in good hands. A solid addition to the bookshelves of readers who enjoyed These Burning Stars and Lady Eve's Last Con.

Page Found is a petty thief without a past - or at least, with no past she remembers. When she's kidnapped and set up to play a monk in order to rob a ship (much less convoluted than it sounds, I promise), she's got to learn to trust one of her kidnappers while diving into parts of her mind that may unlock her forgotten past so that she can pull off this heist.

Going into this expecting a sci-fi heist book is doing it a real disservice. The heist only comes into play for about the last 15% of the book, and the rest of the book is full of compelling worldbuilding, captivating characters, and a twisty plot. So if you go in expecting some good character work and character-driven writing, you're set up well to enjoy this.

I generally am a reader who connects with characters over plot, and this book was right up my alley. The bonds between the characters and their emotions were the driving forces of this story, and there was a lot about their pasts and how those pasts influence their futures. So you get a bit of soul-searching, as you can imagine.

This book does have a few POVs: Page, our main character, but also Maelle, one of her kidnappers, and Dalya, a child whose POV starts well before the action of Page's main plot and may not initially seem connected to the wider story. Even when I wasn't sure how Dalya's POV fit in, I loved getting a deeper glimpse of the world through her eyes, as she comes from a different background and her story shows more of the political side of the world as a whole. All three POVs were done well (and in third person!) and enhanced the story, though I am admittedly a fan of multi-POV stories so this was almost certain to be a plus for me.

Going into this, I didn't fully know what to expect (a sci-fi heist, perhaps?), but I was so pleasantly surprised by the smart and introspective writing as well as being hooked by the multiple POVs and wanting to understand these characters. My first Ren Hutchings book, but it won't be my last!

Thank you to the publisher, Solaris, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

‘An Unbreakable World’ is a multi-pov scifi novel set in the same universe as Ren Hutching’s previous book ‘Under Fortunate Stars’. If you’re looking for a slower paced and character focused read, then you should give this book a try (even without having read the previous book, as they are only loosely connected).

We follow along as Page, a thief with no memories of her past, is abducted in order to steal an ancient artifact. Complicating the situation is the tentative bond she forms with one of her kidnappers, Maelle, and whether she can trust her.
The story also focuses on Dalya, a young girl growing up within the confines of strict religious doctrines on an isolated planet. And looming in the background of both storylines are the Felen, an alien race threatening the survival of humanity.

Though the beginning is slow, I was immediately intrigued by the non-linear story structure, the excerpts of scientific and religious research, as well as the mystery of Page’s past and the overall timeline of the story.

The clean and direct writing style made it easy to empathize with the different characters and their personal journeys, as well as exploring broader themes such as revenge, finding yourself and your place in the universe, religious extremism, corrupt governments and what institutions are willing to do in order to stay in power.

The ending felt a bit rushed, but I was satisfied with the way the different storylines were woven together and I hope we get further installments to explore some of the unanswered questions in this universe.

Overall, ‘An Unbreakable World’ is a well-written scifi book that highlights the search for human connection in a vast and at the same time isolated universe with characters that you cannot help but root for to succeed, wherever their path may take them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for sending me an ARC for this book!

This books whole mystery of the main characters past gripped me and gripped me HARD very fast. In between the chapters from a mysterious storyteller and a third character who you wonder, who are they?? The foreshadowing is so subtle but so well done and I got really invested into trying to figure out all of the mysteries.

And if anything else fails you should read this just because there's some very adorable fluffy pets in it and I wish i could have one of those now but sadly they're fictional animals so I CANT which is a crime against me personally.

As other reviewers have noted, the pacing of this book was off. I wanted to get into the book but was too bored and unattached to the characters, and struggled to pick it up once I set it down. I do wonder if it's better on a reread tho -- will revisit it for a future r/fantasy bingo maybe.

Hutchings created a rich universe full of history, culture, and politics in An Unbreakable World. One of my personal favorite world building devices used to great effect here is the inclusion of other in-world documents between chapters like letters, excerpts from academic papers, and newscasts. These helped bring the setting to life and give more context to the book’s various planets and societies. While the primary POVs only touch the surface, it’s clear there’s a complex universe at work behind them.

Our main cast of characters were compelling with some emotional depth, especially Paige and Maelle. Their present-day timeline engaged me more, while the Dalya’s past POV took a while to pull me in due to the character’s hesitancy with her role. The antagonists, on the other hand, felt a bit underdeveloped. The aliens were described as an all-powerful enemy and never made much of an appearance or impact. Zhak was a villain, so he did villainous things. I would have liked more depth in our bad guys to make them more believable.

One thing I did not expect was the overall “cozy” feel of the novel; space operas typically have some high-level stakes, but here we mainly focus on our character’s world and their immediate surroundings. This approach was great in letting us get to know our characters and explore their emotional growth.

Overall I enjoyed An Unbreakable World, and I’d be interested in reading more in the setting. Check this one out if you want a character-focused space opera with a more intimate scope rather than the galaxy-spanning conflict that’s more typical of the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for a digital ARC in exchange for a review!

A sci-fi heist with aliens, monks, gods and a rich history.

This story follows two main POVs. Page a thief who has lost all her memories who is dragged into a heist and must play the part of a monk and Dalya the niece of the leader of the prime world who starts to question the truth about what she has been told growing up.
I much preferred Page’s story and loved the chapters containing the history of the world, its gods and their belief system.
Unfortunately the story was a little too slow paced for me until the last 10% of the book and I didn’t really form any attachments to the characters. This may be because we don’t fully understand their background and motivations until the end.
I loved the world building but would have liked a little more action and relationship building.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the copy of this arc.

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

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

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

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

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

A galaxy of memory, myth and meaning, An Unbreakable World promises a spacefaring heist threaded with faith, identity and rebellion. And while the ideas shimmer, the story itself moves like stardust through your fingers - drifting, elusive, hard to hold onto.

There’s something warm and effortless about Ren Hutchings’ prose, a gentleness even when the world is sharp edged. Thematically the book touches on some interesting things, particularly around faith: the idea of belief as a personal, positive force rather than something rooted in structured religion, contrasted with the dangers of fundamentalism as a means of control and suppression.

But for all its conceptual weight, the book feels strangely weightless. Ultimately this is a character driven novel with a focus on identity and family, and the characters for me fell flat. Neither Page nor Maelle in the present day timeline felt particularly compelling or emotionally resonant. Page's constant attempts to trigger her lost memories became repetitive, less like mystery and more like static, and for a petty thief she seemed increasingly naive as the story progressed.

The past timeline hints at richer lore - cults, suppression, myth - but it unfolds in a haze with characters drifting through events almost like a slice of life. There’s so little agency, so little drive, and that passivity felt true of the whole book. The promised heist is more mirage than mission - just enough structure to open and close the novel without the tension or cleverness that makes a heist sing.

It’s a book of threads: memory, faith, identity, belonging. And those threads are meaningful but loosely woven. In the end An Unbreakable World feels less like a story that grips you and more like one you watch from afar, it's all shimmer and shape but the emotional core never quite resolves.

AN UNBREAKABLE WORLD follows Page Found, a petty thief on some backwater station who has a case of amnesia from her time in stasis. She gets kidnapped by Maelle (who gets her own POV that I won't talk about in too much detail for spoiler reasons) and Zhak to be a key piece of their heist on a mysterious monk ship that's carrying really expensive rare artifacts. We also follow Dalya's POV in the past, an heir at an isolated religiously indoctrinated planet. (There are also interludes by a mysterious narrator that slowly weave another layer to the story.)

I think the biggest issue here is that this novel is mis-marketed as a fun heist space opera. It does have those elements but at its core this is a character and world exploration with the heist plot as background. That's not going to be everyone's cup of tea unfortunately but I was pleasantly surprised with it. The pacing was slow but deliberate and immersed me so fully into this universe that even after finishing it I'm reluctant to start reading something else. What personally fascinates me in sci-fi worldbuilding is the way culture and religion is portrayed and this book does such a phenomenal and fascinating exploration of that. The lore feels so complex and multi-layered and so ingrained in the way characters behave.

The way that Page's memory loss is portrayed is also incredibly fascinating. She is such a broken person and it's so refreshing to see a character who isn't actually as brash and witty as they perceive themselves to be. Dalya's journey I think was my favorite (no surprise there as I am always partial toward characters who grow up indoctrinated in some way and go through a journey of deprogramming) and I wish there was a full novel about her life after the end of this book. All in all, I think the multiple POVs come together in sync, which was satisfying.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed how the actual heist plot-line was always happening behind the scenes without becoming central to any of our main characters. It was just background and the climax of it wasn't the actual emotional climax of the story. I do feel like some details could've been a little less convenient but in the bigger scheme of things it didn't matter that much to me. Would I have enjoyed a more complex ending? Yes. But somehow it didn't matter all that much to me personally because this book is about the journey and that's what it spends most of its energy on.

Overall, I enjoyed this read immensely. Looking forward to reading the other book set in this universe and hopefully others that are still to be written.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for this eARC.

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

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

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

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

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

This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Rebellion.

Set in the same universe as the author's previous book, Under Fortunate Stars (which I have not read), this is an engaging science fiction space opera heist story with some intriguing world building.

Page Found, whose name is a mordant joke, was revived eight years ago from frozen sleep or stasis with no memory of who she was before. She has been working as a petty thief for a gangmaster on a remote station in order to pay off her medical debt. It's a form of slavery. In attempting to steal a valuable comms device from a target, she finds the tables turned on her, and she is kidnapped.

What do the kidnappers want with a penniless thief with no past? It turns out that Page is uniquely qualified for their planned heist. She speaks an ancient language known to few in this fictional space union.

The language is one of the old ones, from one of the first settled planets, one which has since isolated itself from the Union. When this detail came up, I immediately thought, Brexit, and then had a look to check on the nationality of the author. Sure enough, they're British.

There are a number of narrative viewpoints, and what one has to do with the others is one of the mysteries you'll be keen to solve as you read. There are some "non-fiction" interstitial elements as well: recordings, encyclopaedia entries, catalogue entries, comms recordings. I didn't find this particular element as successful as the rest. These short sections acted as info-dumps, filling in back story and world building that I thought was already adequately covered by the main narrative. Personally, I think you could lose most of these interstitial chapters and the book wouldn't suffer.

Still, it was an enjoyable read and I might look out for the earlier book.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for approving my request for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

I was SO hopeful about this book! Then… it kind of let me down.

I was sold on this book being a girl being kidnapped by a pair of smugglers to perform a heist on a religious ship that’s cut off from the outside world. And it ended up being like THREE PAGES of a heist (barely the start of one) and that was already nearly the end of the book.

And I love a heist myself, I was obsessed with the Six of Crows series and Artemis by Andy Weir and basically anything vaguely resembling a heist. To be set up for one and basically not even have it happen? That’s disappointing.

But all that said, the rest of the book was enjoyable to read, I loved the characters and all the side chapters too, even when I didn’t really know what timeline we were on at any one time. But… that kind of fell flat for me also? Like, I think there was a reveal at the end for who some side chapters people ended up being and who was the overall storyteller, but it went over my head if it was supposed to be obvious. I have some ideas and a guess for one I think is pretty solid, but that’s that. Kind of meh at the end of the day.

I DID love the world-building though - nothing bad to say about that really. Great slow growth of information, so I didn’t feel overwhelmed, and a lot of depth to it also. I kind of wish this was like Becky Chambers TLWTASAP series where we’ll get more books set in this same universe but maybe from another perspective for the most part? Then I’d get to visit this world again, see more about the war and the Felen, and other planets that maybe have different beliefs and issues of their own.

So overall a fun read, I enjoyed it all the way through, but it did feel mildly unsatisfying and I kind of felt a bit sad at the ending that it wasn’t giving me more. I will keep an eye on this author however.

A cosy space-opera story with a little bit of heist, sapphic undertones and triple POV on two timelines (sorta). If that is your thing, you will like this book!

Our FMC named herself Page Found after she lost her memories due to stasis - and that is to me the most intriguing part of this story. The way it handles memories, loss and identity just really spoke to me.
The second POV is that of Maelle, space pirate with an agenda. Her and Page's relationship goes from reluctant allies to friends to...maybe more.
And then there is Dalya of the planet Teyr, her timeline spanning about 10 years. She is being groomed as an heir and obedient until her worldview gets sprinkled with doubts sown by an outsider.

So we have politics, a wide worldbuilding and mysteries of identities.

I loved the character driven parts of the story, yet I was not totally convinced by the plot and especially how everything tied up eventually.

This is a solid 4/5 stars for me, even though I had wanted a bit...more.

But let me know if things worked out well for you - as maybe I just failed to connect enough.

Thank you @netgalley and @solarisbooksfor the eARC!

#UnbreakableWorld #Netgalley #Bookstagram

If something appears to be to good to be true, you have to get out of there is the one rule Page, petty thief struggling to get by on a backwater outpost in deep space, has always lived by until she’s kidnapped by one of her marks and they conscript her for the heist of a lifetime.

Disclaimer: I received an advance reader copy of An Unbreakable Worldnbreakable World by Ren Hutchings via Netgalley. Many thanks to Solaris and Ren Hutchings for the trust!

I can’t lie, I was absolutely stoked to start reading An Unbreakable World because of this epic premise:
- A petty thief with no recollection of her past? Mysterious! Secrets! I love secrets.
- A con gone wrong and turned into kidnapping? Juicy!
- And the heist of a lifetime in space? Just sign me the fuck up already. I may not have any notable heist skills, but I do bring a lot of character to the table!

I was fully expecting this to be fun and full of banter, and for it to be fast-paced. Which is honestly perfect for me, because I currently have the attention span of a fruit fly. So when nothing really had started happening by the 40% mark, except that Maelle’s captors have finally convinced her to join the heist, my enthousiasm just fizzled out and died. Moreover, the dialogue felt stilted and.. awkward, and that made it hard for me to connect with the characters.

It's not all bad though- An Unbreakable World has a really cool space setting and the concept of the heist – where they plan to pass Page of as a monk in order to capture a treasure-filled ship- is freaking awesome, but unfortunately the slogging pace made it impossible for me to become invested again and care about the outcome.

I appreciate the chance to read an early copy of this novel, and wished I’d ended up enjoying it more than I did.

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

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

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

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

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

Appreciate the chance to read this early.