Dave Hutchinson (1)Rezensionen

Very short novel (less than 100 pages according to my ebook reader). It's an intriguing space opera about an "outlaw" community based on genetic manipulation that tries to avoid detection by the main human civilization. The readers are dropped right in and it takes a while before they understand what the setting is like and what the plot is about. The process is a bit too slow, perhaps, as it takes almost half the book. However, it's interesting enough, and in the second half the pace of the story quickens and it ends with a good twist. Recommended.

Europe in Autumn; Europe at Midnight; Europe in Winter ~ Dave Hutchinson

The first book in this ‘Fractured Europe’ series was recommended to me by a friend, and I bought it as a ebook for a few dollars. Then I rapidly went out and bought the second. The third, maddeningly, wasn’t yet released, but I placed it on pre-order and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

So I read these three books in a matter of a few weeks. And then I turned around and immediately read them all through again from cover to cover, and I’m glad I did — so much I had missed or not understood now became clear(er). But even now I’m not sure that I fully understand what has been going on, and I’m wondering if there will be a fourth or fifth book in the series which may reveal more. Talk about ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’! (A not-inappropriate quotation, as it turns out).

Where to start? Well, first we have to set the scene, which is the near-term future in Europe after the European Union has essentially broken up back into its individual nations. But the rot hasn’t stopped there, and there’s a wave of independent nations, principalities or ‘polities’ breaking off from those nations, as regional and ethnic loyalties come to the fore. This reaches an almost absurd degree, with in some cases a few blocks of some cities declaring their independence. The whole concept of the Schengen Treaty of doing away with borders in Europe is now a sad, half-forgotten joke. Borders and border controls are everywhere.

Even more interesting, a trans-continental railway line has been built from Spain through to Eastern Sibera. On its completion the company promptly declares the railway and the land immediately surrounding it to be sovereign territory, and that the Line is now an independent nation. The Line’s stations are Consulates. One needs a visa to travel on the train, and to become a citizen to work for the Line. The author somehow makes this all seem perfectly rational.

We’re introduced to Rudi, the young Estonian-born chef at Restaurant Max in Kraków, in Poland. Through some shady connections of his boss Max, Rudi is eventually recruited into a shadowy organisation called Les Coureurs de Bois (“the runners of the woods”?). It’s kind of a courier operation, carrying mail and packages from one nation to another — something no longer easy, or even necessarily legal. It’s like a cross between a courier company, a smuggling ring, and an espionage outfit. Most governments heavily disapprove of it.

For most of the first book, we’re learning about Rudi and following him on the various Situations he’s placed in from time to time (while still mostly working as a chef). Some of these go well, a few go wrong, and eventually disastrously wrong. Something very strange is going on, and Rudi finds that he is being hunted and that his life is in danger. All of this (other than the slighly futuristic setting) has the engaging fascination of a spy thriller, or perhaps one of the Jason Bourne movies. Apart from the occasional use of advanced technology like ‘stealth suits’, this all seems barely like science fiction at all.

I can’t describe too much more without spoilers. Suffice it to say that about 80% through the first book, Rudi has finally tracked down what a dying former Coureur tells him is ‘the proof’. It’s in the deciphering of this proof that Rudi discovers a secret which does plunge us into real science fiction territory.

I enjoyed the second book even more than the first, as we encounter the first person narrative of ‘Rupert’ who lives in a vast (really vast) university campus run as a totalitarian regime, which has just undergone a bloody revolution. How this ties in with what Rudi has discovered in the first book takes quite a while to emerge.

It was really worthwhile re-reading the books. So much of what is going on in earlier parts of the narrative is explained by what comes later that you are almost compelled to go back and read those earlier passages again. It’s a tribute to how good the writing is that all three books were just as enjoyable to read again so soon.

Gosh these books are good! Puzzling, challenging, but very good. Written, by someone who seems to know Eastern Europe (and the restaurant trade) very well; very clever plotting; really original concepts; great characterisation. I loved them and look forward to reading more from this author.

Europe in Autumn; Europe at Midnight; Europe in Winter ~ Dave Hutchinson

The first book in this ‘Fractured Europe’ series was recommended to me by a friend, and I bought it as a ebook for a few dollars. Then I rapidly went out and bought the second. The third, maddeningly, wasn’t yet released, but I placed it on pre-order and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

So I read these three books in a matter of a few weeks. And then I turned around and immediately read them all through again from cover to cover, and I’m glad I did — so much I had missed or not understood now became clear(er). But even now I’m not sure that I fully understand what has been going on, and I’m wondering if there will be a fourth or fifth book in the series which may reveal more. Talk about ‘a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’! (A not-inappropriate quotation, as it turns out).

Where to start? Well, first we have to set the scene, which is the near-term future in Europe after the European Union has essentially broken up back into its individual nations. But the rot hasn’t stopped there, and there’s a wave of independent nations, principalities or ‘polities’ breaking off from those nations, as regional and ethnic loyalties come to the fore. This reaches an almost absurd degree, with in some cases a few blocks of some cities declaring their independence. The whole concept of the Schengen Treaty of doing away with borders in Europe is now a sad, half-forgotten joke. Borders and border controls are everywhere.

Even more interesting, a trans-continental railway line has been built from Spain through to Eastern Sibera. On its completion the company promptly declares the railway and the land immediately surrounding it to be sovereign territory, and that the Line is now an independent nation. The Line’s stations are Consulates. One needs a visa to travel on the train, and to become a citizen to work for the Line. The author somehow makes this all seem perfectly rational.

We’re introduced to Rudi, the young Estonian-born chef at Restaurant Max in Kraków, in Poland. Through some shady connections of his boss Max, Rudi is eventually recruited into a shadowy organisation called Les Coureurs de Bois (“the runners of the woods”?). It’s kind of a courier operation, carrying mail and packages from one nation to another — something no longer easy, or even necessarily legal. It’s like a cross between a courier company, a smuggling ring, and an espionage outfit. Most governments heavily disapprove of it.

For most of the first book, we’re learning about Rudi and following him on the various Situations he’s placed in from time to time (while still mostly working as a chef). Some of these go well, a few go wrong, and eventually disastrously wrong. Something very strange is going on, and Rudi finds that he is being hunted and that his life is in danger. All of this (other than the slighly futuristic setting) has the engaging fascination of a spy thriller, or perhaps one of the Jason Bourne movies. Apart from the occasional use of advanced technology like ‘stealth suits’, this all seems barely like science fiction at all.

I can’t describe too much more without spoilers. Suffice it to say that about 80% through the first book, Rudi has finally tracked down what a dying former Coureur tells him is ‘the proof’. It’s in the deciphering of this proof that Rudi discovers a secret which does plunge us into real science fiction territory.

I enjoyed the second book even more than the first, as we encounter the first person narrative of ‘Rupert’ who lives in a vast (really vast) university campus run as a totalitarian regime, which has just undergone a bloody revolution. How this ties in with what Rudi has discovered in the first book takes quite a while to emerge.

It was really worthwhile re-reading the books. So much of what is going on in earlier parts of the narrative is explained by what comes later that you are almost compelled to go back and read those earlier passages again. It’s a tribute to how good the writing is that all three books were just as enjoyable to read again so soon.

Gosh these books are good! Puzzling, challenging, but very good. Written, by someone who seems to know Eastern Europe (and the restaurant trade) very well; very clever plotting; really original concepts; great characterisation. I loved them and look forward to reading more from this author.

Maybe I’m getting old but I found this a difficult read. Three separate female POV characters, operating in different years (we eventually discover) plus flashbacks of their earlier lives, often without quick identification of whose story we are following. It would all be much clearer on a second read, but I’m not sure I want to do that.

Still, that aside, it’s an interesting enough extension of Hutchinson’s Fractured Europe scenario.

This was a very strange book. Alt History, with Europe divided into many tiny states, and our hero a courier who crosses all the guarded boundaries to deliver people and things across borders. But there is another level of reality he's only so far gotten a glimpse of.

I found it confusing and less engaging than his previous Fractured Europe novels, with too many disparate threads and flashbacks, and vast numbers of characters popping in and out. Also, the le Carré type spycraft got a bit wearing.
OK but not his best.½

I found this to be a very readable and interesting SF story and I don't know what all those other reviewers are whining about. So I gave it one more star that it really merits just to help raise the rating a bit. They're MY stars and I'll do what I want.

The sci-fi stuff don't come out until past the middle portion of the novel. And really the technology isn't that spectacular compared to the plot and the characters. The main character is severely sympathetic. You'd want to follow him to find out what happens to him. The dialogue and descriptions are very well-done, almost poetic, oftentimes witty.

I really like the politics in this. It is about a near-future Europe filled with micro-states and emerging micro-states. Speculative politics is an interest of mine, books like The Dispossessed, Dune, John Shirley's Eclipse series, Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan, etc. There's intrigue, conspiracies upon conspiracies, and lots of killings.

Another book I'd compare it to is Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. Both have these interesting take on what makes a character badass, but the one in Europe in Autumn is more sympathetic in my opinion.

If you liked any of the books mentioned here, I highly recommend this novel.

(...)

This form is one of the books’ many strengths, but in Winter it is also its weak spot. Remarkably, Kincaid wrote that “there is no point where [Hutchinson] allows the story to flag”, contrasting this with the previous two books. I don’t agree, as for me it was exactly the opposite. I thought the previous books nowhere became tiresome, and it’s only in Winter that the story did flag a bit: the final fourth failed to really grab me. That’s because Hutchinson expands his world in that final part of the novel yet again, and to a certain extent it felt like he stretched it too much.

So I rather agree with Jeroen, who wrote that the ending “seems to come out of the blue. We never really follow Rudi’s explorations from up close, so there is no sense that the story is going places, and when Hutchinson seemed to tire of his short stories he pasted the resolution at the end to round off the novel.” While the books seem intricately crafted, at the same time I get the impression Hutchinson made it up as he went along – nothing wrong with that, to be clear, it’s an interesting paradox that attests to Hutchinson’s writing prowess & skill.

(...)

Full review on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It½

Excellent collection of SF, Spec, and PA/world-after short fiction. The stories were both entertaining and very thought-provoking. Some were downright scary. Highly recommended.

Wraps up the series, but the story feels even more fragmented and disconnected than the others. Even more things that don't make a lot of sense, and it just left me feeling disoriented and not really enjoying it that much.

I enjoyed Europe in Autumn enough to continue the series. This did not feel at all like a sequel to the first for a while, but you eventually see where it fits in. I would say this one is a bit better than the first.

This fourth volume of the fractured Europe series wraps up a number of the story lines from earlier volumes and brings the series to a satisfying conclusion - I assume although it is less a resolution than a recalibration. Hutchinson's combination of near-future alternate universe (acting as it does as a mirror held up to our current and recent society) and Le Carre type spy thriller works well for him, combined as it is with well-paced plotting and interesting characterisation. January 2021.½

The title led me to expect a more light hearted SF thriller than the fractured Europe series. I found it lighter but not particularly lighter hearted. There is a very long build up, interesting in itself but it takes up too much of the book. The sf bit is more pacy but quite short and the plot remains partly unresolved. On the other hand, Hutchinson's narrative skill and characterisation are as strong as ever. When I finished this, I was convinced it must be the first of a series and if it were, I'd certainly carry on reading. But there is no sign of that being the case. January 2021.½

Extremely well written, but odd: paced very strangely, and ultimately a too-close riff on Dr. Manhattan from [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442239711l/472331._SY75_.jpg|4358649]. Plus, the first 3/4 read as a (very good) pastiche of [a:William Gibson|9226|William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1373826214p2/9226.jpg].

Full review on Positron:
https://www.positronchicago.com/2019/09/the-return-of-incredible-exploding-man.h...

Ever wonder what would happen if a comet broke apart and smashed into the Earth, causing the downfall and destruction of civilization? Then this is the book for you. Not only does this show you what would happen to the people who got a hold of farms and managed to take care of themselves, but also what would happen if people banded together, like raiders, and their own small time military. Of course, completely lawless.

Check out my full review here!

https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/shelter-the-aftermath-1-...

The conceit is nice — what if Europe reverted to a pre-Westphalian condition? — and I was loving the ride until the last quarter took a sharp turn into ... something else. Not necessarily a bad something else, but it’s as if he read Rotherweird or The City and The City and thought “I’ll have some of that, let’s add in a hidden world”. The gear change killed it for me.

Hutchinson, Dave. Acadie. St. Martins P, 2017.
Acadie is a far-future space opera novella with an unexpected twist at the end. It begins when Duke wakes up on the morning after his 150th birthday. There is a crisis on the utopian thinktank Colony of deep space habitats where he has been chosen president because nobody else wanted the job. He was abducted and offered the chance to join this Colony when he told off his bosses and quit his job with the ruling Bureau of the Settled Worlds. The genetic engineering genius who founded the Colony is on the run from the Settled Worlds, so the Colony has to move from one star system to another every time it is found by probes still searching for them after half a millennium. Now another Settled Worlds probe seems to have found them. Hutchinson, a British writer, has Duke speak a lively British slang. Even in the far future, Brits are likely to say “bollocks” when the occasion arises.

3.5 stars.

Well done twist ending! Entertained me well enough, but didn't fully "click" with me either.

At first you think "pretty good, but there are some weird details that don't quite add up..." and then the dark twist pulls the rug out from under you and you realize WHY - very enjoyable novella!

Welcome to Pulp-Land! In more ways than one!

1. 3/4 of the novel is about a slow-simmering failed science-writer landing a cush job to write a book for a tech millionaire who bought a town. Add a bit of espionage and some funny interpersonal experiences with his new home and neighbors, and I still had a fun time wondering HOW THE HELL THE TITLE FIT IN. This is old-school SF technique, btw. Total pulp. :)

2. The last part is TOTAL freaky quantum superhero stuff with time travel, teleportation, and pretty awesome callbacks to the events in the first 3/4. I had a total blast with this particular pulp.

3. Pulpy! Like, literally. An explosion of biomass! PULP-LAND!


I had a good time. I didn't expect it to be like the Fractured Europe Sequence and I came into it expecting a light-hearted SF, and this is what I got. :)

Kinda like orange juice. Freshly squeezed.

This fourth book in the Fractured Europe Sequence defintely needs the prior three to follow it with any kind of authority, but I can honestly say that if you're a fan of modern spycraft, SFnal post-bioweapon-devastation, high-tech, and old-world stories, then these books are right up your alley.

Yes, Rudi is back and it's a treat, his world-weariness, food smarts, and ex-courier status showing up one last time, but this book is not all about him.

It's about the milieu, modern Europe, and the deeply wearying sensation that no one is in control of anything. Despite all the spycraft and the plots or the elites or the runners, there is no real sense of order. Indeed, there never could be.

That doesn't stop all kinds of people from trying, however.

This book feels like a series of many short stories with all kinds of different characters. Some of them return from previous books. There's wry and dry humor, a shocking amount of odd grifts, and a few riots to contend with.

But more than anything, the biggest joy we'll glean from these is within the world. Observations are everything.

Quite enjoyable.

I'm of two minds on this one.

I feel like I ought to go easy on it because it is, after all, just a recreation of the Hatfields and McCoys set in rural post-apocalyptic England. It's been many years after a broken asteroid took out North America and we have a mostly illiterate farming community that is run more like a feudal system than anything else.

Enter in the characters. This is where all the fun is going to be had, assuming you have fun with them. Me? I was kinda meh with them and the underlying concept of the novel. It was competent but nothing truly stood out. I've enjoyed Hutchinson's other novels quite a bit but this one kinda left me flat.

You know it's a bad sign when you're rooting for the bloodshed and a nightmare-fueled war between these "sane" rural community folk.

Then again, maybe that was the whole point. I'll be looking out for other novels by him but this one... not so much.