Normalmente aplaudo la publicación de obras en formato más corto que la novela, por ventajas como la rapidez en la lectura y la "contundencia" en la aplicación de las ideas, pero en el caso de Acadie no lo puedo negar :  me he quedado con ganas de más.

El libro está muy bien planteado y la historia se cierra, pero me parece que el universo creado por el autor hubiera podido dar muchísimo más de sí.

Quizá el elemento más destacable de la narración es el humor que se nota en cada párrafo, con una ironía fina pero muy acertada en su crítica a la sociedad. Algunos de los nombres de las naves espaciales me recuerdan a la nomenclatura de la Cultura de Banks, pero sin llegar a su nivel. Además se plantean algunos interesantes disquisiciones sobre la manipulación genética, pero sin entrar en profundidad quizá debido precisamente a la longitud de la publicación. Por si faltara algo, también tenemos algunas máquinas de Von Neuman sumadas al cóctel que es algo que siempre anima el cotarro.

Quizá sea algo criticable el maniqueísmo con el que Hutchinson trata la sociedad en la que se desarrolla la acción, donde todo es de color de rosa y quizá por esa misma razón el giro final no llega a ser tan sorprendente... pero la verdad, se disculpa por haber escrito un relato divertido y con más profundidad de la esperada que se acaba en un suspiro.

Brief and twisty turny and really fun! More shortish length books like this would be great.

3.5 stars
Enjoyable space-opera novella with an interesting concept. The tongue-in-the-cheek tone of the two first thirds changes dramatically in the last third with a nice and surprising twist. Recommended for any science fiction fan looking for a short, well-written and entertaining read.
I'll include it in my next Recommending Reading post.

Tor are leading the way in reviving the novella as a form of short fiction. They are investing in publishing shorter fiction by prominent writers. The novella seems primed to fit a particular evolutionary niche - perfect for a time-poor on-the-go lifestyle, something that can be fittted into a commute or an afternoon in a coffee shop. I'm not normally a fan of short fiction - I find it doesn't usually allow the writer to tell a story with enough depth and character development to be able to grab me. But with a little bit more length, the novella gives a bit more breathing room. It seems perfect for speculative fiction, creating a playground for ideas.

Dave Hutchinson's Acadie (review copy from Tor) is one of that new breed of novellas. It's a clever story focused on a group of people called The Colony. They are living on the fringes, having fled from the majority of humanity. The Colony's desire to pursue body and genetic modification puts it at odds with the rest of humanity, but for the Colony it presents an opportunity to equip its members to live in the very different environments of deep space.

The story opens as Duke, the current President of the Colony, wakes the morning after his birthday party, to discover that the location of the Colony appears to have been discovered by the Earth authorities, who have been pursuing them for a long time. As President, it's his job to pack up the Colony and move it to a new location.

This is a great story with a sting right at the very end, which makes it difficult to talk about without spoiling the story. The allusions and references to Kafka's Metamorphosis are particularly delightful. It's well worth investing a couple of hours of your time.

Goodreads rating: 4*

This was a very hard book for my to review. The ending of the book completely blew me out of the water but I'm not convinced that it was enough for me to changed my initial judgement of the book. The beginning was so tough and dry and jargon filled. I kept telling myself well hopefully in the next little bit the author will go back and explain the jargon. I was confused for a good 90% of the book. And the only redeeming fact is that it's such a short story that although I was confused I wasn't confused for long. I wish this book was longer. I live for the world building in books and for a scify book that takes place on another planet who knows where there was tons of room for crazy world building and although most of the book is just that in 112 pages how much really can you do when you take into account an actual story plot... Overall though, including the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the read, though I'm still confuse about some of the part of the beginning. It definitely is a book that makes you think. And I live for those kinds of books. I appreciate the ending so much so that I will recommend the book besides the fact that I was so confused.. The last 10 or so pages are a solid 5/5 but unfortunately I can't say the same about the rest.

Published by Tor.com on September 5, 2017

Acadie is a novella. It is exactly the length it needs to be, written without padding. I wish more authors would do that, although I understand the economic incentive to pad and the resulting pressure from publishers to do so.

Duke is the reluctant president of the Colony, elected because he didn’t campaign and, in fact, was off-world during the election. His first crisis involves a probe which a mining ship has fired upon and disabled, much to Duke’s consternation. The probe, one of many dispatched by the Bureau of Colonisation, is likely searching for the Colony. How the probe got past the Colony’s satellites is a mystery but, more to the point, if it sent a message back to the Bureau before the mining ship cooked it, the Colony will need to find a new place to hang out. That mess falls into Duke’s lap.

After the development of Duke’s backstory (he was a lawyer for the Bureau before his messy resignation and escape to the Colony), we learn about the Colony and its inhabitants, including the reigning Queen of genetic manipulation, who fled Earth with her graduate students and hijacked a ship full of colonists to pursue her experiments in a place where she could avoid being arrested again. You get to be who you want to be on the Colony — elf, Klingon, the Roadrunner, whatever — thanks to the ability to rewrite genes.

The guts of the story involve the Colony’s reaction to its potential discovery and Duke’s role in the last line of defense. The story is interesting and quirky, with a background of cool technology and a foreground of an even cooler Mexican standoff that forces Duke (and the reader) to consider whether the assumptions that have controlled the story until that point are all wrong. Challenging assumptions is something that science fiction does well, and this story does that in a surprising way. I like Acadie because it doesn’t try to do too much, and what it does try to do, it does well.

RECOMMENDED

Best known for his Fractured Europe trilogy (though I’m more familiar with his other SF novella, The Push), Dave Hutchinson brings a short Space Opera tale to life in this excellent novella from Tor.com Publishing. Acadie is the story of Duke Farady and his job to evacuate the Writers from their home system following its discovery by the Bureau…

Acadie has a simple premise where outlaw scientists who simply want to modify themselves however they wish, yet in escaping the Bureau – humanity’s government – they steal a colony ship full of colonists. However, the option for these colonists to return home after being woken from suspension seems to alleviate this issue, but the Bureau will not let it rest, determined to chase them down and capture them for their crime.

Hutchinson manages to weave a tale that is far more than the sum of its parts, delivering some great worldbuilding in a short page count, and also creating some memorable characters in which to tell this story. Duke, our main focus, is a former Bureau employee who left and joined the Writers, and is now President – though not through his choice! He is left to deal with the arrival of a Bureau probe and to make the decision on how to handle it, ultimately enacting the Writers’ evacuation option, seeing it out to the end…

While the first 2/3rds of Acadie are nicely told and hook you completely, it’s when it hits the final 1/3rd that a twist hits the story and makes you do a double take. In fact, this is so effective that I went back to the start and had another quick read through to see if I could spot any of the clues left along the way now I knew where it was going. Hutchinson nailed this perfectly!

Acadie is a quick and well paced novella, packing plenty into its page count. Definitely recommended, and highly enjoyed.

This is another one of those short ‘Single’ novellas that Tor are producing at the moment. At a mere 112 pages, there’s not a lot of space for expansion, but it’s a Space Opera tale that packs a lot in!

You may know Dave from his ‘Fractured Europe’ series of award-winning alternate-history series of books (Europe in Autumn, Europe at Midnight, Europe in Winter) but this is very different.

Acadie is more like a scenario that Peter F Hamilton or Alastair Reynolds would normally write. It’s a story that follows ‘Duke’ Faraday, 150-year old ex-lawyer. Following the old Heinlein maxim that no one in their right mind should be given power and responsibility, Duke reluctantly holds the position of President of Acadie.

In the finest traditions of old-school SF, the story tells of human expansion into space. Like the Pilgrim Fathers before them, a group of hyper-intelligent genetically adapted people, many of them created by radical scientist Professor Isabel Potter, have left Earth to avoid ethics laws and discrimination.

The only problem was that by leaving, Potter and her acolytes ‘borrowed’ a colony ship from the mega-corporation Bureau of Colonisation, (the BoC) who monopolised Earth’s planetary expansion. This unfortunately also included 150 other colonists suspended in deep-sleep, something that, even after 500 years, the BoC is reluctant to forget, even though the unfrozen colonists were returned to Earth if they wished.

And now the colony, up to now kept in secret, seem to have been found by a BoC probe. The question now is what should the colony do, and whether this is a deliberate search or an unfortunate accident? It’s Duke’s job to sort out the problem – something that’s going to take clever negotiation, cunning and skill.

Acadie is a well-written tale. What this story does is show a writer willing to play with traditional tropes, an author who is very skilful at setting scene and developing characters in a limited amount of words. The first part of the book reminded me much of a Heinleinesque-style story, a style something often imitated but rarely executed well. It’s surprisingly light of touch compared with Dave’s more serious, meatier novels, but I liked it a lot. There’s clever touches of backstory combined fairly seamlessly with events in the present. Unlike many attempts of ‘aping Heinlein‘ I’ve read, the dialogue is realistic without falling into the trap of information dump too often. The characters are likeable, too, although, as to be expected in a 100-ish page story, there’s not too many. Dave even manages to get some humour in without it being too far-fetched. (I don’t want to give it away here, but Council meetings in Acadie look like fun!)

And then….. the story hinges on an almighty twist. Once the reader has been lulled into the setting and the characterisation at the beginning, the second part of the novella reveals the true purpose of the story. What began as fun ends up as… more than that.

The conclusion is something that will leave you thinking, and made me start the story again straight after I had finished. I did not see the twist coming, which is how it should be. (But on re-reading – there are clues there.)

In summary, Acadie is a great story, showing that there’s more to this author than his well-known series. It’s also another novella that shows the power of the medium, one that made me want to read more. Skilfully done and cleverly engaging, I heartily recommend it as a story worth reading.

Great scenario and great twist plots.

A review in spanish: https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/09/dos-novelas-breves-de-tor-iv.html

Acadie is an entertaining sci-fi novella, but one that ultimately didn't work for me.

The first line is a good hook, but the story gets off to a bit of a slow start as daily life is established. Although the low gravity makes it plain things are a bit unusual, there were some small details I really enjoyed. For example, low gravity still doesn't stop cats from chasing each other around the house.

Its sense of humour is a strength of the story. John Wayne "Duke" Faraday might be the President of the Colony, but he's a pretty ordinary guy just looking to enjoy a holiday. In fact, the only reason he's president was because he was away during the elections. Unfortunately, it looks like the Bureau might have discovered the hidden Colony on his watch.

As you might have gathered, the story is full of pop culture references. Duke interacts with people who have genetically engineered themselves to look like the elves from Lord of the Rings or Klingons from Star Trek. The founder of the Colony is Isabel Potter. And Connie's full name made me chuckle.

The author builds a fascinating world in a very short space. There were some great character interactions and enough detail to paint a vivid picture.

Unfortunately, the surprise twist at the end undermined the story for me. Although clever, it left me wondering what the point was supposed to be.

This is a fun - and thought provoking - novella from Hutchinson. It's very much a change of mood from his Fractured Europe sequence, or at least, it seems to be on the surface.I very much enjoyed seeing Hutchison sketch on a broader canvas (although this is a fairly short narrative - I read it on my commute home - the ideas in play here could easily have filled a full length novel, so in places "sketch" is the right word: we know what's happened and where we are from the few bold strokes we see, but a great deal is implied).

Our protagonist is Duke, "Mr President", a man elected to lead his deep-space Hab largely on the basis that he doesn't want the office. Waking from his hundred-and-fiftieth birthday party, Duke steps into a crisis. The Hab - and all of the others that make up the colony - may have been discovered by deep probes from earth.

Whether they have, why they are on the run and what they do next, is the subject matter of this story and I won't spoil that. What I will say is that Hutchison delights in easing the reader's feet out from under them: building up characters as sympathetic then gradually casting doubt on their motives, letting the narrative go one way then sowing seeds of doubt.

It's a great example both of daring space opera - the central conceit of how the colony survives - and great storytelling (is everyone telling the truth? If not, who is lying to who?) and, as I said, is great fun while also raising questions about AI, genetic manipulation and reality.

I'd strongly recommend this, not least as a good starter to the author's work.

Acadie by Dave Hutchinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is novella. It is a quick easy read that starts out building to a climax and then delivers a unexpected punch line. I liked the characters, especially Duke, but was not expecting the ending. I was glad I got this one free as I would have felt I did not get my money's worth if I had purchased it

Acadie by Dave Hutchinson

Duke Faraday is sleeping off the effects of his 150th birthday celebrations when he’s woken up with dire news. A probe is approaching their colony. Earth has found them. They must dismantle the whole enormous complex and move off, seeking safety in the darkness of space once more. Earth wants every one of them dead. Duke, the colony’s president, must do all he can to keep them alive. He can only hope that nobody does anything stupid with the drone, such as shoot it down. He doesn’t want to make Earth even more mad that it is already.

Acadie is a short novella by Dave Hutchinson, author of the highly original and prophetic Fractured Europe series, now complete. Hutchinson takes us away from Earth and into the realms of space, where mankind has the ability to alter itself – extra arms and legs are just the beginning. Earth itself is less keen on this tampering.

This is a very quick read at under an hour and, as with the best short stories, it left me wanting much more. There is definitely enough here to form the heart of an exciting and thought-provoking full-length novel. Dave Hutchinson is so good at coming up with ideas and backing them up with fantastic characters and such an enjoyable writing style. The wit is on display here, especially in the very likeable character of Duke.

There are hints of wonder as well as the stuff of nightmares, all told with humour and an eye for the curious. Giving nothing away, the ending packs an enormous punch. It is such a fun read. While it left me wanting much more, I certainly enjoyed what I was given. I just hope that Dave Hutchinson ventures into space again – and soon.

An ingenious space opera where a bunch of genetic engineers establish their own colony, away from earth authorities spite.
The president is chosen among the less political involved settlers and the current president could not be more displeased with his job!
Particularly when a earth probe is found running in their direction.
This smart and enthralling story compels a fast paced reading until the final turnaround.

There's a fascinating little story here, but I'm not entirely convinced it works in its current form. Three-quarters of Acadie is context. This makes sense - the final question of what is real needs something to bounce off - but there's an awful lot of history and world-building to jam in - and not enough time to do so, so it is rather low-key and quickly-sketched. When it came to the crux, I didn't feel I'd seen enough to have an opinion (or indeed to care). On the other hand, it's a fast, easy, enjoyable read in Hutchinson's trademark style of politics, menace and bureaucracy - but I think it would work better with more room to breathe.

A scifi short story about genetic modification, space travel, and running from the authorities.

I did have some RPO flashbacks in regards to the chosen looks of some characters and also some of the dialogue. However it does work. It's a very quick setup of the world and while I initially thought more world building was necessary, I didn't by the end.

3.25 rounds to 3.

Acadie is a fun enough little story that had me just sort of nodding along... up until the ending, which packs a bit of a punch and casts all the rest in a new light. I still think that some more world-building could go into the utopian colony, because the little bits that were there were only just enough to whet my appetite; a bit more emotional involvement would probably make that ending even more satisfying. Right now, it's satisfying in an intellectual way, and didn't leave me as conflicted as I'd hoped.

Nonetheless, it's an absorbing story with a heck of a sting in the tail. My favourite sort!

Review link live from 6th September.