Ren Hutchings has written a quite enjoyable book with An Unbreakable World, second in her interconnected but standalone Union series. As with her prior novel, Under Fortunate Stars, two linked plot lines from different times converge to solve a mystery; in this case the intersection is more traditional and doesn't involve time travel.

Heroine Page is a petty thief on a remote space station, with no memory of who she is or even how she got there, after a time spent in suspended animation. She struggles to learn clues about her identity. She is kidnapped by criminals intent on a complex scam and discovers unanticipated skills, including fluent knowledge of an uncommon language, all suggesting she may have links to the isolated world of Teyr. Those links are integral to the criminals' plan.

Page's journey is fraught with peril, revelations, a burgeoning relationship with a captor, and many twists and turns. Lots of surprises await the reader and the background world building is interesting. The book moves quickly and is highly readable. The climax is worth the read and contains a surprise or two. I look forward to more by Hutchings, who is growing as a writer.

Great structure, characters, plots, twists, back stories. Man this was a great book for fans of The Culture or These Burning Stars. Highly recommend.

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

Action packed, fantastic worldbuilding, heartfelt, and full of twist and turns. Was drawn in straight away by the intrigue and storytelling style, following Page, Maelle, and Dalya's stories through
such a richly imagined universe. I loved the snippets of history of the system, the folklore and how they all wove together so neatly by the end. Really brilliant and immediately added to my top space opera reads!

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

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

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

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

Thank you to 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.

I was thoroughly entertained for all of this story. Having read the first story set in this universe some years ago (Under Forunate Stars), I was fully satisfied by this story as well. Although slightly different in style and format, the signature voice and tension-filled storytelling of Hutchings is very much still here. In fact, I particularly enjoyed the blending of formats in this story (e.g., transcribed recordings, encyclopedic articles etc.) and how they were all weaved artfully together alongside the heartfelt past-and-present timelines. I found that to be exceptionally well done.

This was so, so fun! I see others call it a space opera so let's go with that. I loved the multiple POV and the bits of lore interspersed throughout. I don't know how this ended up on my TBR but I'm really glad it did because it was an absolute delight!

Thanks to you NetGalley and Solaris for the EARC!

The cover drew me to this book! It’s so beautiful, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I came out of it wanting to live somewhere with lots of worlds!!

I am usually good at working things out but I got it wrong!! So much detail, be that in the multiple POV, storyteller pieces, articles and transcripts! I love a range of chapters like this!

Page Found has been wondering round in found for years trying to find themselves making surprising friendships along the way!

There’s suspense, bird headed monks, history and future. The con is a secret and the secret is the con 😂😂 5*