Fortress Sol

By: Stephen Baxter

Narrated by: Frankie Porter

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 maintaining the defense of the Solar System. 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 System 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.©2024 Stephen Baxter (P)2024 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Typical Baxter convoluted but brilliant novel

These books can be difficult to slog through at times, but this one is easier listening. In the future, earth believes it’s threatened by small creatures made from, out of (?) energy. Two groups of people who hopes to continue humanity against an onslaught are brought together a thousand years later - a group who tried to protect the solar system via “masks” designed to make themselves undetectable to outsiders and a generation ship returning from a colonized planet who just wanted to check on the other group.

A young man and woman - one from each moiety (obviously) meet and decide to explore the solar system together. They encounter an eccentric pilot and the young man’s mother, who he hates because she tried to save his life as a baby.

The four of them, plus the policeman who “rescued” the boy end up discovering a huge conspiracy designed to empower a certain elite. But, in a twist I’ve noticed in another Baxter novel, one of the group has an epiphany that explains the “invasion” on a much larger scale.

Target audience?

I am a big fan of Baxter’s novels but this one just didn’t hit the mark. The overall premise and ideas are true to his earlier works but I really felt this has to be targeted at a young audience. The story unfolds with great leaps that should have required a ton more explanations and backstories to make any sense. I honestly did have to check that the book I purchased really was by Stephen Baxter and not someone else…