Teaser

Reid Malenfant should have died in a space shuttle accident. Instead, he is frozen, woken five centuries later to a world he barely recognises. Malenfant’s search for meaning will take him not only across space and time, but across the bridges between universes . . .

Review

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Stephen Baxter. Granted, he has the odd novel that doesn’t work for me, but when he’s firing on all cylinders, he is up there with the very best. I struggle to think of another writer with a similar style, certainly none currently active in the field. Baxter is probably most famous for his Xeelee universe, which comprises multiple series, often with fairly loose connections between books. That’s not his only universe, however, for the lead character of World Engines first appeared in the Manifold series, though given the turn this series takes, I suspect it’s a different version of Reid Malenfant that appeared earlier. I haven’t read the Manifold novels, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of Destroyer or Creator, and I certainly recommend diving straight in with these two if you get the chance. World Engines is my favourite Baxter series to date.

Baxter is open about the influence H.G. Wells has had on his work, and that influence is on full display here. The full first half of Destroyer is Malenfant exploring his new home. Baxter doesn’t just settle for one idea like post-climate change Britain or AI ruling on the Moon, but layers the ideas on top of one another, each informing the last. This section is so sedately paced it borders on the glacial, but the slow discovery of the future is worth the investment.

The second half of Destroyer takes Malenfant into space, with Baxter’s traditionally rock-hard approach to technology more than suited for the task. There are authors who can make science exciting, and authors who appreciate the vastness of the cosmos. Baxter combines these, coupling it with a sense of human endeavour that few others can match. Sometimes the science does go over my head, but I never feel lost with Baxter’s clean prose to guide me. Even if I don’t fully understand the physics of moving planets, I feel confident that Baxter does, and that allows me to simply lie back and enjoy the story.

Creator opens with a bit of a reset, with Malenfant and company stranded on a super-earth alongside a Neanderthal tribe. Here I want to point out that Baxter has earlier played with the idea of branching timelines, notably in Proxima and Ultima, but the ideas are played out here in a much more rewarding form. The jumping between universes does mean having to relearn the basics again and again, but there’s always something new and exciting on the other side.

This style of storytelling won’t be to everyone’s taste. There’s no immediate peril. No villain to be faced. The characters travel, and things happen to them. The only common thread is the delightfully curmudgeonly Malenfant. One of the oldest ideas in science fiction is ‘the sense of wonder’ – the idea that science fiction should make you stop and say ‘wow.’ Destroyer and Creator does exactly that. The ideas in these books are mindbogglingly cosmic, and they can’t help but make you stop and consider humanity’s place in the universe.

This is backed up by the immense amount of research Baxter puts into his novels. Like his other novels, each of the World Engines novels ends with an afterword filled with citations and references to a dozen scientific papers. Baxter is keeping up with the cutting edge of science, and it pays dividends in his fiction.

Baxter’s books are just getting better and better, with the World Engines duology marking an author at the height of his craft. If you’re a fan of hard SF, or just want something a little different from the rest of the genre, I can’t recommend Baxter’s work highly enough, and Destroyer is on of the best places to start.

Series Stats

• A Two Book Series (Destroyer & Creator)
• Published 2019-2020