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Hearthspace
Thousands of years ago, a massive colony ship arrived at the Hearth - the celestial birthplace of millions of planets, ranging from habitable earth-like worlds to unimaginable hellscapes of pressure and heat. Using lightsails to navigate, humanity has spread itself across dozens of these worlds. But they have also forgotten their beginnings, where they came from... and a terrible secret is about to be unveiled.
For Commander Ulla Breen, on her first tour of duty aboard a patrol sail-ship, the universe is about to change around her. Attacked by an unknown and unthought-of enemy, she and her fellow crewmembers will face slavery, punishment and death - and so will their home planets. Because someone else has seen the richness of the inner Hearth, and plans to take it for themselves. A new enemy, but one who seems disturbingly familiar. And perhaps knows more about the history of the Hearth than even Ulla and her crew.
Faced with a complete upheaval of all she thought she knew, Ulla must survive long enough to come up with a plan - one which will unite all the disparate elements of the Hearth, and perhaps discover the reason why humanity came to Hearthspace in the first place . . .
For Commander Ulla Breen, on her first tour of duty aboard a patrol sail-ship, the universe is about to change around her. Attacked by an unknown and unthought-of enemy, she and her fellow crewmembers will face slavery, punishment and death - and so will their home planets. Because someone else has seen the richness of the inner Hearth, and plans to take it for themselves. A new enemy, but one who seems disturbingly familiar. And perhaps knows more about the history of the Hearth than even Ulla and her crew.
Faced with a complete upheaval of all she thought she knew, Ulla must survive long enough to come up with a plan - one which will unite all the disparate elements of the Hearth, and perhaps discover the reason why humanity came to Hearthspace in the first place . . .
- GenresScience Fiction
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2025
76 people are currently reading
356 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Baxter
405 books2,613 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 24, 2025
Oh to read almost an entire book in less than a day, what a delightful experience I did not get for a while - and I am very happy that this was the book I got to enjoy while doing it.
It's funny how Baxter seems to veer away from purely hard science stories for more fleshed out character arcs lately, and I am here for it. Although, of course, the science is still a big part of the story, and I will forever enjoy his deviations and lectures. This one especially was very interesting to me, the concept of the Hearth and the lightsails namely made me look his cites articles up while I was reading it, so thanks for that Stephen !
While I enjoyed the premise, and had a fun ride, I cannot help but find the baddies a bit too simple (even the nicer slaver and the scientist master), and the resolution was either too rushed or overdue, it felt strange to me.
The last part, though, and the idea of a separated humanity in Space, were both very cool, and saved the book for me. I cannot say it is his best, but it was a lovely read, that I will now recommend as a good way to dive into Baxter's writings, along with Galaxias.
It's funny how Baxter seems to veer away from purely hard science stories for more fleshed out character arcs lately, and I am here for it. Although, of course, the science is still a big part of the story, and I will forever enjoy his deviations and lectures. This one especially was very interesting to me, the concept of the Hearth and the lightsails namely made me look his cites articles up while I was reading it, so thanks for that Stephen !
While I enjoyed the premise, and had a fun ride, I cannot help but find the baddies a bit too simple (even the nicer slaver and the scientist master), and the resolution was either too rushed or overdue, it felt strange to me.
The last part, though, and the idea of a separated humanity in Space, were both very cool, and saved the book for me. I cannot say it is his best, but it was a lovely read, that I will now recommend as a good way to dive into Baxter's writings, along with Galaxias.
October 5, 2025
Sadistic space nazi takes over worlds in a thin and not believable plot
I was a great fan of Baxter in his early days but this book is a disappointment. He should have stopped writing after Sunstorm imho
I was a great fan of Baxter in his early days but this book is a disappointment. He should have stopped writing after Sunstorm imho
October 31, 2025
Utter travesty of writing.
October 4, 2025
I’ve mentioned more than a few times in the past that one of the attractions of SF for me is its ability to look at current issues and extrapolate them to make some sort of point.
Indeed, it is often said that as well as being a way of looking at a possible future (or futures!) such distancing allows the reader to examine difficult issues more objectively.
SF is as much about the time it was written as it is about ‘the future’.
In a review of one of Stephen’s most recent novels, The Thousand Earths I wrote about it being his take on the issues of refugees, an issue again in current discussion. With this in mind, Stephen Baxter’s latest novel, Hearthspace, again lets us look at some more difficult and complex contemporary moral issues whilst in the guise of an SF novel.
From the publisher: “Thousands of years ago, a massive colony ship arrived at the Hearth - the celestial birthplace of millions of planets, ranging from habitable earth-like worlds to unimaginable hellscapes of pressure and heat. Using lightsails to navigate, humanity has spread itself across dozens of these worlds. But they have also forgotten their beginnings, where they came from... and a terrible secret is about to be unveiled.
For Commander Ulla Breen, on her first tour of duty aboard a patrol sail-ship, the universe is about to change around her. Attacked by an unknown and unthought-of enemy, she and her fellow crewmembers will face slavery, punishment and death - and so will their home planets. Because someone else has seen the richness of the inner Hearth, and plans to take it for themselves. A new enemy, but one who seems disturbingly familiar. And perhaps knows more about the history of the Hearth than even Ulla and her crew.
Faced with a complete upheaval of all she thought she knew, Ulla must survive long enough to come up with a plan - one which will unite all the disparate elements of the Hearth, and perhaps discover the reason why humanity came to Hearthspace in the first place . . .”
Ulla’s capture and incarceration by space pirates leads her to be in a difficult position. Ulla finds herself the go-between between the slavers and the slaves thanks to Ciren Pulet, senior protector of the Hierarchy. He sees his main purpose to explore for science and also exploit resources for the good of the Hierarchy. He is mercurial, eccentric and possibly insane - one minute jovial, the next violent, with a strange tolerance for Ulla. Pulet’s unpredictable actions are to his own mind entirely suitable and appropriate - even essential for the smooth running of the space ship and the greater benefit to the Hierarchy.
Ulla is given an easier ride as a result, but also has to watch punishment being given out to those deemed to deserve it, because as one character puts it, people must be seen to be punished*. Ulla finds the task demoralising and onerous, forever guilty that she has been chosen for such a role whilst at the same time others have not. There is also a worry that the victim has become part of the process, allowing such a situation to continue.
The conditions that the slaves live in are truly awful – claustrophobic, unpleasant, unendingly grim. There are children forced to work in deadly conditions, mutilations, beatings, rape and even murder as the slaves struggle to exist. The slaves are effectively dehumanised, becoming mere cogs in the machine that keeps Pulet’s spaceship running, a crude yet workable design. I was rather reminded by the descriptions of the space ship of those suggestions back in the 1970’s of things produced by the Soviet state – functional, yet at the same time crude and basic.
Much of the main part of the book deals with these issues. Baxter’s muted writing style allows the reader to observe really horrible things and yet at the same time see the understanding behind it. We may be repulsed by what we read, but we are shown the misguided logic behind their actions. It’s at times not easy reading, but it does have a purpose. How to cope with, and act against, a clearly insane person in power, may have a message for us all.
Of course, all of this is set in a universe filled with Baxter’s usual ‘big ideas’. It was nice to see Arthur C Clarke’s idea of solar-sailed spaceships reappear, but as well as that we have dark matter stars generating energy, and thousands of families of planets existing in Mars-like, Earth-like and Jupiter-like zones around these stars, which Pulet and his crew are hoping to explore and mine. Oddly it is Pulet’s love of such things that connects him to Ulla, as he enthusiastically shows such sights off to her whilst keeping also her close-to-heel.
After such a long build-up, the ending, surrounded by an enveloping substory, seems to come around rather quickly. Most issues are resolved, and sensibly, although it did feel rather fast by comparison of what has gone before.
In summary, then, Hearthspace is a compelling read that raises difficult questions and actions entwined within a science fictional setting. This is a dark novel dealing with problematic issues – slavery, freedom (or lack of it), torture, rape, murder, mutilation… and yet in the end there is a degree of positivity and hope.
Above all, Hearthspace tells us that, despite our differences and everything bad life throws at us, more unites us than divides us.
*It reminded me of those situations where people are punished after being told, “It’s for your own good.”
Indeed, it is often said that as well as being a way of looking at a possible future (or futures!) such distancing allows the reader to examine difficult issues more objectively.
SF is as much about the time it was written as it is about ‘the future’.
In a review of one of Stephen’s most recent novels, The Thousand Earths I wrote about it being his take on the issues of refugees, an issue again in current discussion. With this in mind, Stephen Baxter’s latest novel, Hearthspace, again lets us look at some more difficult and complex contemporary moral issues whilst in the guise of an SF novel.
From the publisher: “Thousands of years ago, a massive colony ship arrived at the Hearth - the celestial birthplace of millions of planets, ranging from habitable earth-like worlds to unimaginable hellscapes of pressure and heat. Using lightsails to navigate, humanity has spread itself across dozens of these worlds. But they have also forgotten their beginnings, where they came from... and a terrible secret is about to be unveiled.
For Commander Ulla Breen, on her first tour of duty aboard a patrol sail-ship, the universe is about to change around her. Attacked by an unknown and unthought-of enemy, she and her fellow crewmembers will face slavery, punishment and death - and so will their home planets. Because someone else has seen the richness of the inner Hearth, and plans to take it for themselves. A new enemy, but one who seems disturbingly familiar. And perhaps knows more about the history of the Hearth than even Ulla and her crew.
Faced with a complete upheaval of all she thought she knew, Ulla must survive long enough to come up with a plan - one which will unite all the disparate elements of the Hearth, and perhaps discover the reason why humanity came to Hearthspace in the first place . . .”
Ulla’s capture and incarceration by space pirates leads her to be in a difficult position. Ulla finds herself the go-between between the slavers and the slaves thanks to Ciren Pulet, senior protector of the Hierarchy. He sees his main purpose to explore for science and also exploit resources for the good of the Hierarchy. He is mercurial, eccentric and possibly insane - one minute jovial, the next violent, with a strange tolerance for Ulla. Pulet’s unpredictable actions are to his own mind entirely suitable and appropriate - even essential for the smooth running of the space ship and the greater benefit to the Hierarchy.
Ulla is given an easier ride as a result, but also has to watch punishment being given out to those deemed to deserve it, because as one character puts it, people must be seen to be punished*. Ulla finds the task demoralising and onerous, forever guilty that she has been chosen for such a role whilst at the same time others have not. There is also a worry that the victim has become part of the process, allowing such a situation to continue.
The conditions that the slaves live in are truly awful – claustrophobic, unpleasant, unendingly grim. There are children forced to work in deadly conditions, mutilations, beatings, rape and even murder as the slaves struggle to exist. The slaves are effectively dehumanised, becoming mere cogs in the machine that keeps Pulet’s spaceship running, a crude yet workable design. I was rather reminded by the descriptions of the space ship of those suggestions back in the 1970’s of things produced by the Soviet state – functional, yet at the same time crude and basic.
Much of the main part of the book deals with these issues. Baxter’s muted writing style allows the reader to observe really horrible things and yet at the same time see the understanding behind it. We may be repulsed by what we read, but we are shown the misguided logic behind their actions. It’s at times not easy reading, but it does have a purpose. How to cope with, and act against, a clearly insane person in power, may have a message for us all.
Of course, all of this is set in a universe filled with Baxter’s usual ‘big ideas’. It was nice to see Arthur C Clarke’s idea of solar-sailed spaceships reappear, but as well as that we have dark matter stars generating energy, and thousands of families of planets existing in Mars-like, Earth-like and Jupiter-like zones around these stars, which Pulet and his crew are hoping to explore and mine. Oddly it is Pulet’s love of such things that connects him to Ulla, as he enthusiastically shows such sights off to her whilst keeping also her close-to-heel.
After such a long build-up, the ending, surrounded by an enveloping substory, seems to come around rather quickly. Most issues are resolved, and sensibly, although it did feel rather fast by comparison of what has gone before.
In summary, then, Hearthspace is a compelling read that raises difficult questions and actions entwined within a science fictional setting. This is a dark novel dealing with problematic issues – slavery, freedom (or lack of it), torture, rape, murder, mutilation… and yet in the end there is a degree of positivity and hope.
Above all, Hearthspace tells us that, despite our differences and everything bad life throws at us, more unites us than divides us.
*It reminded me of those situations where people are punished after being told, “It’s for your own good.”
December 4, 2025
not intelligent just cliches after another. violence and more violence that doesn't add to the story arc. worst Baxter ever!
January 6, 2026
DNF at 12%.
Started with a somewhat decent premise with the world building of hearth space, but lost me at the appearance of the stereotypical pulpy ‘slavers’. If this weren't written by Baxter, I would have thought this was a pulp SF from the 1930-40s.
A disappointment.
Started with a somewhat decent premise with the world building of hearth space, but lost me at the appearance of the stereotypical pulpy ‘slavers’. If this weren't written by Baxter, I would have thought this was a pulp SF from the 1930-40s.
A disappointment.
January 9, 2026
Well, honestly, I thought this would have been a more breathtaking take on colony shipping, especially with a plug like what we get in the blurb. Completely altering the way she thinks about everything, etc.
And to be fair, it IS there, in the text. Hearthspace itself is pretty fascinating. Multi-universal exploration of space, of space itself AND alt-universes--a very Baxterian trope we've seen with his Manifold series.
But in this particular book, I can't say whether it's an awfully our-world-reflective story, or whether it's almost cartoonishly set with its focus squarely on fascism. And, like I said, it's rather too on the nose.
You'd think an interstellar civilization could get things moving a bit better without mass-scale slavery. But it IS audacious enough to be plausible. Especially when the goal is just power and looting without thinking about sustainability or long term anything.
Ahem.
No, no, it's not relevant today.
But that brings me back to my rating. Why so low? Because it's practically all just fighting the man from inside the belly of the beast, with just a FEW small parts that fulfill the promise of the blurb.
It could have been so much more.
And to be fair, it IS there, in the text. Hearthspace itself is pretty fascinating. Multi-universal exploration of space, of space itself AND alt-universes--a very Baxterian trope we've seen with his Manifold series.
But in this particular book, I can't say whether it's an awfully our-world-reflective story, or whether it's almost cartoonishly set with its focus squarely on fascism. And, like I said, it's rather too on the nose.
You'd think an interstellar civilization could get things moving a bit better without mass-scale slavery. But it IS audacious enough to be plausible. Especially when the goal is just power and looting without thinking about sustainability or long term anything.
Ahem.
No, no, it's not relevant today.
But that brings me back to my rating. Why so low? Because it's practically all just fighting the man from inside the belly of the beast, with just a FEW small parts that fulfill the promise of the blurb.
It could have been so much more.
October 3, 2025
We have met the enemy and they are us (sort of)
Two groups of humans form Earth colonize widely separated groups of planets in the same solar system surrounding a super massive dark matter star.
One group discovers the other after they've been developing separately for about 1000 earth years.
How much can two groups with a common root diverge culturally in that much time?
There is also a third group that launch from Earth and have some difficulties along the way. How are they related to the other groups, if at all?
Read the book to find answers to these questions.
As usual with Stephen Baxter, the science is plausible.
Two groups of humans form Earth colonize widely separated groups of planets in the same solar system surrounding a super massive dark matter star.
One group discovers the other after they've been developing separately for about 1000 earth years.
How much can two groups with a common root diverge culturally in that much time?
There is also a third group that launch from Earth and have some difficulties along the way. How are they related to the other groups, if at all?
Read the book to find answers to these questions.
As usual with Stephen Baxter, the science is plausible.
December 18, 2025
I enjoy reading Baxter for his SFnal ideas and while this is not as great an entry in his oeuvre as say, Ring, there are enough interesting ideas (well mostly one big idea) for it to be interesting and engaging. Characters are... Baxter-y and there are sections that are harsh and harrowing but also rooted in real history and so serve the larger story of two different but related civilizations encountering each other. If you are already a fan of Baxter's, I'd recommend this.
3.5 rounded up to 4.
3.5 rounded up to 4.
January 3, 2026
Not to his normal high standard.
It teally felt like this book had been written by an AI - or an apprentice. Typically Stephen Baxter can be relied upon for high quality hard SF. This book was certainly an exception to that rule. Lots of repetition, not much care taken with descriptions. No soaring, transcendental themes. I could go on. Hearthspace had the feel of a very old fashioned story, similar in style to Jules Verne or HG Wells but lacking in their quality of writing. I was very disappointed.
It teally felt like this book had been written by an AI - or an apprentice. Typically Stephen Baxter can be relied upon for high quality hard SF. This book was certainly an exception to that rule. Lots of repetition, not much care taken with descriptions. No soaring, transcendental themes. I could go on. Hearthspace had the feel of a very old fashioned story, similar in style to Jules Verne or HG Wells but lacking in their quality of writing. I was very disappointed.
September 30, 2025
2.5 stars. Almost DNFd this gruesome tale a couple of times, but decided to slog through and see if there’d be redeeming qualities (narrator voice: there were not). There are lots of little issues with the pseudoscience but ultimately sadistic space slavery with cartoonish characters is not something I would recommend anyone spend an entire novel exploring.
October 31, 2025
Stephen Baxter continues his exploration of the far future. He provides a fast-paced but thoughtful insight into an imagined 'Hearthspace' where multiple planets co-exist around a huge 'star'.
Always interesting; his explanation of how such a thing might exist includes some thoughts about how human society can go very wrong
Always interesting; his explanation of how such a thing might exist includes some thoughts about how human society can go very wrong
November 15, 2025
I really enjoyed this book and found it very hard to put down. The “Afterword” chapter in the book is definitely worth the read, I chased up some of the articles the author used as reference for this book and found them very interesting. Highly recommended.
January 13, 2026
Decent idea for a story but so much of the dialog / narrative didnt make sense or work for me
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews