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Fortress Sol
When Rab was a baby, his mother made a decision which would change his life. She feared he would be sent to work in the hellish mines of Mercury, to eke out his life until he was worn out, all in the name of maintaning the defense of the Solar Sytem. But when her desperate attempt to flee with her 2 year old failed, she took a desperate step to save him. She cut off his hand.
Decades later, Rab has been spared the physical hardships he can no longer endure, and is now based on the Mask, the all-encompassing structure which hides the Solar Sytem from alien eyes. And it is during his watch that a spaceship arrives, one which has travelled for a hundred years from a long-forgotten colony planet.
If they pierce the Mask, everything humanity has created will be left open to the alien threat. But this strange ship, bearing an offshoot of the species, may bring something else with them. Hope.
Decades later, Rab has been spared the physical hardships he can no longer endure, and is now based on the Mask, the all-encompassing structure which hides the Solar Sytem from alien eyes. And it is during his watch that a spaceship arrives, one which has travelled for a hundred years from a long-forgotten colony planet.
If they pierce the Mask, everything humanity has created will be left open to the alien threat. But this strange ship, bearing an offshoot of the species, may bring something else with them. Hope.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
480 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2024
81 people are currently reading
359 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
405 books2,620 followersStephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the Year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships. He is currently working on his next novel, a collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Mr. Baxter lives in Prestwood, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
September 13, 2025
Wow, one of Baxter's most conceptually, and philosophically, provocative novels since 'Ring'. And my God, what a left field '2010' ending. I could not stop reading this; Baxter is also savvy enough to subvert SF fans' ingrained expectations. Which makes for a Golden Age meta reading experience (when scientific truth, like Kepler, was dangerous and revolutionary). Magnificent.
November 17, 2024
As a long time reader of Baxter, I was left disappointed. While the initial premise and characters were promising, the second half and especially the last few chapters were really dragging. The same explanations about the society, the technology, and its history kept being rehashed without introducing new information.
November 4, 2024
Great beginning but then goes off the rails. Loads of plot holes and an uninteresting reveal. Don't bother with this one.
November 2, 2024
DNF. Disappointed to say I bought this straight away on the strength of Baxter's past writing but this did not ride to that same level of quality. Quite a few times there were so many typos and nearly verbatim repeated passages that it feels more like a first draft.
January 21, 2025
Oops. Somebody killed Neptune. Now, what do you do? Well, first, you send out some colony ships to look for a place to hide. Then, you organize the solar system and build something like a Dyson sphere to hide it from inquisitive aliens.
A thousand years later, this paranoid culture is destabilized when a ship from one of the extra-solar colonies returns to check on how things are going at the old homestead. A couple of smart kids provide the nudge needed to reveal the strange truth about Neptune.
I feel sorry for Stephen Baxter. He is a good storyteller and deep-future world-builder, but his stuff is never quite as good as his competition. In Britain alone, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Alastair Reynolds, and Peter F. Hamilton are all building future worlds snazzier than the one in Fortress Sol.
A thousand years later, this paranoid culture is destabilized when a ship from one of the extra-solar colonies returns to check on how things are going at the old homestead. A couple of smart kids provide the nudge needed to reveal the strange truth about Neptune.
I feel sorry for Stephen Baxter. He is a good storyteller and deep-future world-builder, but his stuff is never quite as good as his competition. In Britain alone, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Alastair Reynolds, and Peter F. Hamilton are all building future worlds snazzier than the one in Fortress Sol.
January 5, 2025
Fascinating concepts and sense of world building on the grandest of scales. Howwever, there was a distinct lack of plot and substance. The premise seemed rushed and emerged out of nowhere. This book has a lot of potential and deeper meaning, but unfortunately this one was not for me.
February 25, 2025
Would have given it four stars except for the way too long guided tour of the solar system and the too brief wrap up for an ending.
October 26, 2025
This is an unusual sort of book I'm glad to have read, but not necessarily due to its quality, and I wouldn't recommend it to many people.
There are probably several key reasons for the remarkably low average rating, most obviously the thin characterization and laid-back plot. I have more to say about the latter: this book has some of the lowest levels of tension/conflict I've ever read in this sort of thing.
The premise includes a theoretical threat, but it's defanged immediately; the reunion between branches of humanity might have been violent, but everyone is polite and professional; the characters are technically on the run for most of the book, yet there's never any rush and both they and their pursuers meander around the solar system visiting tourist attractions.
That leads to the real attraction: this is clearly a worldbuilding book, and you can feel the author's enthusiasm when it reveals how everything is based on Johannes Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum. The system-sized constructs struck me as improbable for hard science fiction, but as I got deeper, I don't think this was meant to be more than a thought experiment.
The other aspect of the book that's taken somewhat serious is the philosophy, which I'd simplify as "How much control can be justified by survival?" It can't escape readers' notice that the real Earth is between the fictional worldship and fortress system in terms of being a closed system we need to care for. I wouldn't call this part great, but it actually grapples with some questions instead of gesturing at them.
All of that said, the book has a baffling level of repetition. Often when people say that, they mean that certain events seem comparable, but here's one egregious example:
"But, she saw now, a kind of sculpture, made of junk -- metal bars and some kind of cable. All wired to make a tetrahedron, crude but unmistakable.
'A signature,' Elinor said. 'Crude but unmistakable.' "
Certain facts are told over and over again (like Earth being partially populated), and sometimes we're even told inconsistent things (like how much water Mars has locally). I thought it had peaked with telling us that Hellas City has a population of 250 million twice in one page, but then it tells us the location of the genetic databases twice in one paragraph.
There's one time when a character calls out the repetition, but this is still insane to me. I remember a Sanderson book that repeated a couple facts, and there I speculated it was a result of the editing process breaking down, but this is beyond anything else I've read.
At the end of all this, the big reveal of the book isn't so much "obvious" as so clearly given it's hard to imagine what else it could be; the characters explain at length what I think basically all readers would have assumed long ago.
Normally marketing copy isn't relevant, but in light of all this, I feel the need to note that the flap/back copy are very strangely written and that the author's blurb declares him "the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation".
There are probably several key reasons for the remarkably low average rating, most obviously the thin characterization and laid-back plot. I have more to say about the latter: this book has some of the lowest levels of tension/conflict I've ever read in this sort of thing.
The premise includes a theoretical threat, but it's defanged immediately; the reunion between branches of humanity might have been violent, but everyone is polite and professional; the characters are technically on the run for most of the book, yet there's never any rush and both they and their pursuers meander around the solar system visiting tourist attractions.
That leads to the real attraction: this is clearly a worldbuilding book, and you can feel the author's enthusiasm when it reveals how everything is based on Johannes Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum. The system-sized constructs struck me as improbable for hard science fiction, but as I got deeper, I don't think this was meant to be more than a thought experiment.
The other aspect of the book that's taken somewhat serious is the philosophy, which I'd simplify as "How much control can be justified by survival?" It can't escape readers' notice that the real Earth is between the fictional worldship and fortress system in terms of being a closed system we need to care for. I wouldn't call this part great, but it actually grapples with some questions instead of gesturing at them.
All of that said, the book has a baffling level of repetition. Often when people say that, they mean that certain events seem comparable, but here's one egregious example:
"But, she saw now, a kind of sculpture, made of junk -- metal bars and some kind of cable. All wired to make a tetrahedron, crude but unmistakable.
'A signature,' Elinor said. 'Crude but unmistakable.' "
Certain facts are told over and over again (like Earth being partially populated), and sometimes we're even told inconsistent things (like how much water Mars has locally). I thought it had peaked with telling us that Hellas City has a population of 250 million twice in one page, but then it tells us the location of the genetic databases twice in one paragraph.
There's one time when a character calls out the repetition, but this is still insane to me. I remember a Sanderson book that repeated a couple facts, and there I speculated it was a result of the editing process breaking down, but this is beyond anything else I've read.
At the end of all this, the big reveal of the book isn't so much "obvious" as so clearly given it's hard to imagine what else it could be; the characters explain at length what I think basically all readers would have assumed long ago.
Normally marketing copy isn't relevant, but in light of all this, I feel the need to note that the flap/back copy are very strangely written and that the author's blurb declares him "the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation".
February 5, 2026
Reads a bit like a draft. Very much tell not show was we follow two characters around the future solar system being told what it’s like. There’s not a great deal of plot. I’d skip this one.
December 30, 2024
Baxter's Fortress Sol is a novel that collapses under its own gravitational ambitions faster than a neutron star. The premise starts promisingly enough, but quickly deteriorates into a cosmic mess that would make even a black hole seem organized.
Let's talk about these mysterious "lumes" - apparently the Swiss Army Knife of energy sources. They conveniently power everything from interstellar flights to massive engineering projects, yet nobody thinks to ask basic questions about their nature. It's like discovering electricity and using it to power your toaster without wondering what it actually is.
The timeline is about as realistic as faster-than-light travel. A mere millennium to transform the entire solar system into a fortress, complete with sun-wrapping technology and a massive transport system called the Frame? That's like expecting humanity to go from the Middle Ages to building Dyson spheres in the time it takes to perfect sourdough bread.
The character development is flatter than Earth was once thought to be. Our protagonists react to earth-shattering revelations with all the enthusiasm of someone finding out their favorite coffee shop is out of oat milk. The plot holes are numerous enough to rival the Asteroid Belt - somehow, humanity manages to build a solar system-spanning police state with less opposition than a local parking ordinance receives, while space email apparently doesn't exist in this technologically advanced future.
My Rating - 1/5
PS - This fortress isn't worth besieging - it's already crumbling under the weight of its own plot holes.
Let's talk about these mysterious "lumes" - apparently the Swiss Army Knife of energy sources. They conveniently power everything from interstellar flights to massive engineering projects, yet nobody thinks to ask basic questions about their nature. It's like discovering electricity and using it to power your toaster without wondering what it actually is.
The timeline is about as realistic as faster-than-light travel. A mere millennium to transform the entire solar system into a fortress, complete with sun-wrapping technology and a massive transport system called the Frame? That's like expecting humanity to go from the Middle Ages to building Dyson spheres in the time it takes to perfect sourdough bread.
The character development is flatter than Earth was once thought to be. Our protagonists react to earth-shattering revelations with all the enthusiasm of someone finding out their favorite coffee shop is out of oat milk. The plot holes are numerous enough to rival the Asteroid Belt - somehow, humanity manages to build a solar system-spanning police state with less opposition than a local parking ordinance receives, while space email apparently doesn't exist in this technologically advanced future.
My Rating - 1/5
PS - This fortress isn't worth besieging - it's already crumbling under the weight of its own plot holes.
December 20, 2024
3.5 Stars
This really is a book of 2 halves. I was very frustrated at the beginning, and wondered whether I should continue. But persistence did reward me in a small way. The characterization was wooden, simplified and without nuance. It is only in the second half of the novel, as the half-formed characters lead the reader through the sights of a solar system reconstructed in paranoia does Baxter spread his wings and pose the questions of philosphy and human nature and of the nature and purpose of society which are raised by the narrative.
In the beginning, the lumes came from the Oort Cloud and consumed Neptune. And headed sunward. And there was evidence in the oort cloud of another devoured missing planet. To what purpose did these entities arrive? Were they a weapon, or were they themselves the invaders? Would they devour everything?
In response, humanity battens down the hatches, Masks the solar system, Wraps the sun and builds a massive transport system - the Frame. Society is repurposed as a defensive armed camp - each person with a purpose, who must serve that purpose, and that purpose alone. The Frame, moves folk around as required. And if you don't care to lead a short unhappy life in the mines of Mercury, well that is just too bad.
Some humans flee the system in Generation Starships, seeking safety somewhere in the dark forest of the galaxy. Paradoxially, the very invading lumes provide the energy to enable this massive engineering process, and the flight of the starships. No one looks too deeply into just what the lumes are. They are just too convenient.
The theme of the novel could have been taken from Anaïs Mitchell's 'Why Do We Build the Wall?' Because of course, we build walls to keep us free from that we define as the enemy. Ask no questions. Do your duty and build.
It is only when the starship 'Lightbird' returns to the solar system 1000 years after its ancestors departed that someone (appropriately a young person from each society) begin asking the questions that have been stiffled for most of the 1000 year Reich. Lume wrangler Muree from Lightbird, and Midshipman Rab Callis, a Mask operative with an artificial hand, with the able assistance of archetypal tramp trader pilot Angela Plohky escape the Mask control centre outside the orbit of Uranus and flee to the inner system seeking secrets at its heart.
They are pursued by two more archetypes, again one from each cohort of humanity. Leiutenant Planter, cop with a conscience, and Muree's lume wrangler colleague Brad, always not quite as exceptional as his friend engage in this chase. The dramatis personae are rounded out by Rab's mother Elinor, simultaneously responsible for his disability, and for sparing hime from the mines. Bookending the cast are the speactacularly bone-headed commanders of the respective factions. Stories such as these cannot happen without incompetent command.
The star of 'Fortress Sol' is the massive engineering works which have been created in response to the 'invasion' by the mysterious lumes. Baxter assures us that everything has 'some' basis in real science. Not much consideration of maintenance of life-support in enclosed system though. Just apply free energy from lumes I guess! Curiously, though the live and death of lumes powers the entire edifice, no on seems interesting in asking too many questions about their lifecycle. Are they sentient? What does it mean to enslave a sentient species, using them unto death to power your society?
So not too bad after all.
This really is a book of 2 halves. I was very frustrated at the beginning, and wondered whether I should continue. But persistence did reward me in a small way. The characterization was wooden, simplified and without nuance. It is only in the second half of the novel, as the half-formed characters lead the reader through the sights of a solar system reconstructed in paranoia does Baxter spread his wings and pose the questions of philosphy and human nature and of the nature and purpose of society which are raised by the narrative.
In the beginning, the lumes came from the Oort Cloud and consumed Neptune. And headed sunward. And there was evidence in the oort cloud of another devoured missing planet. To what purpose did these entities arrive? Were they a weapon, or were they themselves the invaders? Would they devour everything?
In response, humanity battens down the hatches, Masks the solar system, Wraps the sun and builds a massive transport system - the Frame. Society is repurposed as a defensive armed camp - each person with a purpose, who must serve that purpose, and that purpose alone. The Frame, moves folk around as required. And if you don't care to lead a short unhappy life in the mines of Mercury, well that is just too bad.
Some humans flee the system in Generation Starships, seeking safety somewhere in the dark forest of the galaxy. Paradoxially, the very invading lumes provide the energy to enable this massive engineering process, and the flight of the starships. No one looks too deeply into just what the lumes are. They are just too convenient.
The theme of the novel could have been taken from Anaïs Mitchell's 'Why Do We Build the Wall?' Because of course, we build walls to keep us free from that we define as the enemy. Ask no questions. Do your duty and build.
It is only when the starship 'Lightbird' returns to the solar system 1000 years after its ancestors departed that someone (appropriately a young person from each society) begin asking the questions that have been stiffled for most of the 1000 year Reich. Lume wrangler Muree from Lightbird, and Midshipman Rab Callis, a Mask operative with an artificial hand, with the able assistance of archetypal tramp trader pilot Angela Plohky escape the Mask control centre outside the orbit of Uranus and flee to the inner system seeking secrets at its heart.
They are pursued by two more archetypes, again one from each cohort of humanity. Leiutenant Planter, cop with a conscience, and Muree's lume wrangler colleague Brad, always not quite as exceptional as his friend engage in this chase. The dramatis personae are rounded out by Rab's mother Elinor, simultaneously responsible for his disability, and for sparing hime from the mines. Bookending the cast are the speactacularly bone-headed commanders of the respective factions. Stories such as these cannot happen without incompetent command.
The star of 'Fortress Sol' is the massive engineering works which have been created in response to the 'invasion' by the mysterious lumes. Baxter assures us that everything has 'some' basis in real science. Not much consideration of maintenance of life-support in enclosed system though. Just apply free energy from lumes I guess! Curiously, though the live and death of lumes powers the entire edifice, no on seems interesting in asking too many questions about their lifecycle. Are they sentient? What does it mean to enslave a sentient species, using them unto death to power your society?
So not too bad after all.
June 23, 2025
Firstly the prose is well written and I enjoyed reading the book.
But there are issues with this book.
The concept is interesting and the books starts really well. The middle is supported by the wondrous technology and concepts which are interesting. The end suffers a bit. I felt like the author maybe ran out of ideas close to a deadline and lengthened a short story into a novel. The reveal at the end is so well signed posted that it isn’t really a reveal although I carried on reading to see how they got there. Some of the things that the characters did were down right magical feats of precognition which I guess was because the author had a beginning and an end in mind but got lost in the middle. The threat/opposition in this book was token at best. I felt he included it because it would have been illogical for people to act differently but then it didn’t really add anything to the story.
Despite that I would say it is worth a read as the concepts are pretty cool and the writing style is nice.
If he solved some of the issues above I would have increased the rating but has to be 3 stars.
But there are issues with this book.
The concept is interesting and the books starts really well. The middle is supported by the wondrous technology and concepts which are interesting. The end suffers a bit. I felt like the author maybe ran out of ideas close to a deadline and lengthened a short story into a novel. The reveal at the end is so well signed posted that it isn’t really a reveal although I carried on reading to see how they got there. Some of the things that the characters did were down right magical feats of precognition which I guess was because the author had a beginning and an end in mind but got lost in the middle. The threat/opposition in this book was token at best. I felt he included it because it would have been illogical for people to act differently but then it didn’t really add anything to the story.
Despite that I would say it is worth a read as the concepts are pretty cool and the writing style is nice.
If he solved some of the issues above I would have increased the rating but has to be 3 stars.
November 5, 2025
Goodreads review, ‘Fortress Sol’ by Stephan Baxter
Stephen Baxter has the reputation as a ‘hard science fiction’ author. He does have degrees in mathematics and engineering so he has the data to write this so called genre of ‘hard science fiction’. Personally the hard science fiction genre proves book after book to be little more than mundane and even boring. Sounds harsh I know. Still, I love science fiction and I think that science fiction requires a believable leap of faith to create a story that one can find meaning. Yet, the incessant mathematical and scientific attention to detail in my reading enjoyment is fractured. ‘Fortress Sol’ spans millenia and technological advancement so much so that there is a loss of meaning and comprehension. An interesting and at times an interesting story. A road trip in the solar system with banal outcomes. I read vigorously and with intention but the story is so clammy with mathematics and engineering that the story is lost in the data stream. It is well written but for me lacks a sense of pleasure. A hard and challenging read. Great idea but painfully read. Bought for $21.75 from Amazon for $21.75. Enjoy.
Stephen Baxter has the reputation as a ‘hard science fiction’ author. He does have degrees in mathematics and engineering so he has the data to write this so called genre of ‘hard science fiction’. Personally the hard science fiction genre proves book after book to be little more than mundane and even boring. Sounds harsh I know. Still, I love science fiction and I think that science fiction requires a believable leap of faith to create a story that one can find meaning. Yet, the incessant mathematical and scientific attention to detail in my reading enjoyment is fractured. ‘Fortress Sol’ spans millenia and technological advancement so much so that there is a loss of meaning and comprehension. An interesting and at times an interesting story. A road trip in the solar system with banal outcomes. I read vigorously and with intention but the story is so clammy with mathematics and engineering that the story is lost in the data stream. It is well written but for me lacks a sense of pleasure. A hard and challenging read. Great idea but painfully read. Bought for $21.75 from Amazon for $21.75. Enjoy.
November 30, 2024
An interesting take on system-wide political structures, but not Baxter’s best
I’ve been an avid fan of Stephen Baxter’s “hard science” novels since the original Manifold trilogy. The character development and world building is lackluster. The descriptions of the Wrap, Frame and Mask are not with the typical Baxter poetic language I’ve come to love. Unlike previous novels that suck the reader into the story, Fortress Sol took a while to really gain momentum. Compared to World Engines, Fortress Sol felt rushed, or as if an editor took a hacksaw to the meat of the novel. I was also annoyed by the periodic typos in the Kindle version.
Overall a decent story. Fortress Sol is good, but not Baxter at his best.
I’ve been an avid fan of Stephen Baxter’s “hard science” novels since the original Manifold trilogy. The character development and world building is lackluster. The descriptions of the Wrap, Frame and Mask are not with the typical Baxter poetic language I’ve come to love. Unlike previous novels that suck the reader into the story, Fortress Sol took a while to really gain momentum. Compared to World Engines, Fortress Sol felt rushed, or as if an editor took a hacksaw to the meat of the novel. I was also annoyed by the periodic typos in the Kindle version.
Overall a decent story. Fortress Sol is good, but not Baxter at his best.
November 5, 2025
A strange book. It felt a little bit like mr Baxter had a couple of really interesting ideas about how to build a world for this book. But had problems with how to put a story into it.
I really like the world building, the generall feel of the story and some of the ideas that he put forward.
But the story is weak and only seems to roll on without much of a focus. It seems to mainly be there to show of his world building. A world building quite a few characters feel like they need to explain to each other quite a few times.
Also: how the authority of the book reacts seems VERY strange to me.
Worth a read if you are a sucker for wierd sci-fi worlds. If you are a story person first, you might want to sit this one out.
I really like the world building, the generall feel of the story and some of the ideas that he put forward.
But the story is weak and only seems to roll on without much of a focus. It seems to mainly be there to show of his world building. A world building quite a few characters feel like they need to explain to each other quite a few times.
Also: how the authority of the book reacts seems VERY strange to me.
Worth a read if you are a sucker for wierd sci-fi worlds. If you are a story person first, you might want to sit this one out.
November 17, 2024
I was listening to an audio book narrated by Frankie Porter and she was truly the only thing that kept me listening. Endless repetitive exposition, giving me the same facts over and over. Even the idea that a revolution might happen because an architect 600 years ago or whatever had a different plan than what took place? Absolutely not. Most people would be all like "oh well whatever". Characters were bland and acted oddly. (I'm desperate to meet my mother, oh I've met Her and I'm mad. But not in a way that showed her had complex feelings about her and was struggling with it, just meh I'll be rude to her)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2024
So the people of earth were scared that the sun would be destroyed so they destroyed the sun to hide themselves. That's the logic, also move everyone off earth just to build support structure to keep everyone alive to be out of earth.
What would happen to earth if the sun would be destroyed, you would just have an ice planet, how would lumes keep earth warm and give light to all the plants?
This whole book logic just does not make sense.
Also there would be communication between earth and the other colonized planets. It would be slow but they would not just break off communication for no reason.
What would happen to earth if the sun would be destroyed, you would just have an ice planet, how would lumes keep earth warm and give light to all the plants?
This whole book logic just does not make sense.
Also there would be communication between earth and the other colonized planets. It would be slow but they would not just break off communication for no reason.
January 26, 2026
Fortress Sol uses present theories that focus on putting a framework around the outer planets and a wrap around the sun. But the book is too long and explains everything to the tenth degree. Starts off well with young Muree in charge of the lumes that act as an energy source for her spaceship.
Once this shop reaches Mars, Muree is partnered up with Rab, a young man who has had to contend with a prosthetic hand since childhood.
During the book questions reappear about the lumes. And the mystery about them is finally resolved. However I feel sure that the next book on the series will focus on them, anyway
I hope it does. They were by far the most interesting characters/objects in the book
Once this shop reaches Mars, Muree is partnered up with Rab, a young man who has had to contend with a prosthetic hand since childhood.
During the book questions reappear about the lumes. And the mystery about them is finally resolved. However I feel sure that the next book on the series will focus on them, anyway
I hope it does. They were by far the most interesting characters/objects in the book
December 6, 2024
Decent read and enjoyable throughout, but more space opera than hard science. Also, I don't know why Baxter shoehorns romance into his books. The interaction between the Venusian and the extraterrestrial girly girl was boring and the book never made it clear how their various foreign appendages actually technically combined into a surging physical romance explosion. I would have enjoyed more detail on the space vittles which everyone are and the digestive impacts of same including a vivid description of alien megacolon.
June 15, 2025
As a long time Baxter reader, I always hope for something new. Well, this is something new, and yet much is well trodden. A sort of alternative explanation for the Fermi paradox, if other species react to the perceived threat in the same way humanity does in this novel. But much of this novel feels familiar for regular Baxter readers, both in tone and structure. A fairly slow set up, a nicely paced middle, and a hastily wrapped up final third. Humanity shown capable of amazing achievements, yet is dogged by deep flaws. All very Baxter. Enjoyable but not a classic.
June 25, 2025
Mildly interesting premise (though extremely implausible) but amateurish execution. Characters are few, flat, lacking realism and motives, and the world is only a sketch. The only facial expression available seems to to be a "grin". Major memory lapses within chapters - characters make a decision together about what to do next then announce it again to everyone's surprise a page later. Makes Adrian Tchaikovsky look like Proust, Franklin W. Dixon look like Dostoyevsky. Where was the editor? 3/4 of the way through and finishing feels like Zeno's paradox...
August 3, 2025
I have enjoyed some of Stephen Baxter's stories in the past, but this one did nothing for me. Very weak character development and not much of a plot. As usual the author tries to incorporate some published scientific ideas into his writing. I think a story about the origins and life cycle of the lumens and something about the social unrest and fear that lead to the changes in the solar system might have been much more interesting. And how in the "world" does a 2400-3400 era human civilization build the Mask and the Wrap in less than 1000 years??!!???
January 9, 2025
It bothered to give this book two stars because I am a Stephen Baxter fanboy; I love his books, but not this one. "Fortress Sol" is simultaneously a travelogue and an example of what writing teachers call an expository dump. It is almost a continuous, "as you know, Bob."
It does have incredible world building and great scope and ideas, but the characters are all shallow. I could not care about any of them.
I can recommend a dozen or so Baxter books, but not this one.
It does have incredible world building and great scope and ideas, but the characters are all shallow. I could not care about any of them.
I can recommend a dozen or so Baxter books, but not this one.
October 26, 2024
Excellent start with both main characters and the novel rolls nicely until they meet but then it veers badly of course and becomes a lifeless travelogue/ideas thrown about without much of interest beyond a lot of look what wonders humans built to keep themselves imprisoned by fear; very disappointing after the great beginning
January 11, 2025
I really like Baxter’s books, and the concept and idea behind this was good, but half way through and I still don’t know what the actual plot is heading towards
Loads of world building, but no actual momentum or plot threat
I
Loads of world building, but no actual momentum or plot threat
I
Read
February 1, 2025I'm 1/3 into the book, and I wanted to read some reviews. Because I thought I'd misunderstood something. The characters and story (barring the concept of the hidden solar system) are just so flat and juvenile.
Is this a kid's/YA book and not really intended for more advanced readers?
Is this a kid's/YA book and not really intended for more advanced readers?
August 31, 2025
Deeply boring and uninspiring. I don't think Baxter was very committed to the story, or the desperately badly wrought characters, and it shows -glaringly- in the writing. It sometimes felt like a bad YA novel. Got to the 30% and abandoned it. Disappointing.
January 10, 2026
Bit disappointed with this to be honest. Lots of repetition of the stories premises which became tedious. Quite a few plot holes followed by a rushed and disappointing ending. It almost left me wondering why I’d bothered reading it!
January 20, 2026
I read it in paperback. Fuck that kindle shit.
Solar system building. The story was a guided tour of the construction.
It threw in some great ideas and added an alien fuel source.
It was well written
Solar system building. The story was a guided tour of the construction.
It threw in some great ideas and added an alien fuel source.
It was well written
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November 13, 2024DNF
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