Hearthspace
Sep 2025 · Sold by Gollancz
2.0star
1 review
Ebook
384
Pages
family_home
Eligible
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About this ebook
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 . . .
Ratings and reviews
2.0
1 review
Xuan Yuan Huang
- Flag inappropriate
September 28, 2025
An interesting concept, but the two major societies are barely explored, unlike the [spoiler] slave ship which is the actual center of the story. Additionally, while I enjoy Stephen Baxter's overly expositive writing in prior works, here it is downright repetitive. There are also amateurish inconsistencies throughout the story. Characters and details contradict several times, most egregiously the origin story of the generation ship itself. This is one thing I have never seen in Baxter's writing. I found myself wondering while reading if somehow the publisher had released an unedited, rough draft version to Google Books?
About the author
Stephen Baxter is the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation. With Terry Pratchett he has co-authored the Long Earth novels. Published around the world he has also won major awards in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. Born in 1957 he has degrees from Cambridge and Southampton. He lives in Northumberland with his wife.
Visit Stephen Baxter's website at www.stephen-baxter.com.
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