Hideaway is a short story that starts the chronology of the Merlin series by Alastair Reynolds. It packs an enormous amount of plot into a very short space, and is a wild ride of world building, concepts, plot, jeopardy and character development, all wrapped up in a hard sci-fi shell.
Set in a universe where the last vestiges of humanity are running from the ‘Huskers’, who would have humanity wiped out. The inevitability of being trapped by the Huskers in a deep space equivalent of a pincer movement leads a group of Humans, including the title character, Merlin, to hide rather than run.
The story spans several years - the inevitability of the Huskers’ arrival doesn’t mean it’s imminent… just inevitable. During this time, our people find themselves in a star system in which they could potentially hide, but also has some mysterious characteristics. The exploration of these mysteries, and their consequences for our intrepid band of humanity, carries us through the story.
There is a lot of ground that gets covered, and the writing is very concise - although it sometimes felt like I was drinking from a plot and world-building fire hose. But the result is very satisfying. My only complaint is that the story feels a little empty of people, despite how many thousands there actually are. But this is almost certainly just a consequence of having to squeeze so much plot, and some decent character development of the small number of main characters, into the short space available. This left me wishing it had been a novella rather than a short story.
An enjoyable introduction to the series. I look forward to the rest.
My rating: ★★★★☆
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