I haven’t read his Mars trilogy yet, but I am now planning to do so (interesting note, “2312” takes place in the same “universe” as the Mars trilogy, and there are references to characters and events from the trilogy that, unfortunately, I didn’t have the frame for at the time). “Aurora” is a great example of “hard” science fiction, which is not typical in the space opera or interstellar-travel subgenres.
I feel that I learned a lot from reading “Aurora,” and probably some of it is or will be influencing my writing since then. To my surprise, I found the book highly engaging, and yes, just as you described in your post, he goes into some serious technical detail about what it would take to attempt such a journey. As a result, I didn’t expect to read more from Robinson.Īnd then he published “Aurora.” Despite myself, I picked it up, as the concept was one of great fascination to me (though his was not the first novel I’ve read on the subject of generation ships - if you’re interested in this topic, I highly recommend Robert A Heinlein’s 1963 book “Orphans of the Sky,” which is actually a combination of two related novellas published twenty years earlier). It felt more like a jumbled-together collection of shorts that became one unwieldy tome. I felt the story was too disjointed, and I could never sympathize with any of the characters, or feel what the narrative direction of the story was. Then I read “2312,” and that one was a disappointment. He did a great job with that one, in part because he actually visited there under the National Science Foundation’s Artists and Writers grant program, so he was able to infuse his writing with greater realism about the southernmost continent than almost anyone else I’ve ever read who wrote about it. I first came across his work with “Antarctica,” which captured my attention because I spent nearly four years there, and he was writing about some places that I know. I admit, I’m not much in the way of a book reviewer, but I will say that I’ve gone both hot and cold on Robinson’s novels.
You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to reading more from you. Header image credit: Reimund Bertrams (user:DasWortgewand) / under Pixabay License If, like me, you are fascinated by realism in our quest to reach the stars, Rabil’s summary is a good place to start. He also does a great summary of the evolution of science fiction as a genre, another post I can strongly recommend. Rabil is a technical writer, who writes both fiction and essays on subjects as diverse as technology and faith, and he tackles many interesting subjects on his blog (which I’ve only just discovered, but so far it’s very promising). Robinson’s article is a great read, but if you want a nicely wrapped up synopsis of it, I recommend Richard Rabil Jr’s Stars Beyond Our Reach, linked at the beginning of this post. Even upon arrival, the problems don’t cease. He goes into some detail about the issues faced with biological, ecological, physical, sociological, psychological… lots of logicals there. I won’t spoil it for you by talking about his conclusions in the novel.īut Robinson also wrote a blog post discussing his thoughts on the various challenges faced, Our Generation Ships Will Sink, and perhaps the title gives it away. It’s a great read, and I highly encourage you to check it out. I like to think so, but I also understand that the challenges are incredibly daunting, more so than the majority of interstellar-themed science fiction stories would have us believe.īestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson tackles the challenges of so-called generation ships, in which people will be born, live, and die during the voyage, and only the grandchildren of the original astronauts will be alive at journey’s end in his 2015 novel Aurora. It’s also the subject of intensive research by some fairly serious scientists, even if they don’t quite get the billing and notoriety of NASA projects focused right here in our own Solar System. Indeed, it’s at the core of what I’ve been writing, and the same is true for many other science fiction authors.
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