Review: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published: Orbit, 2015

Awards Nominated: Campbell & Locus SF Awards

The Book:

“Many years ago, a generation ship set out with the purpose of spreading humankind to the stars.  Their goal was the planet Aurora, which was expected to be both devoid of life and suitable for human habitation.  The original travellers are long gone, but their descendants--who were given no choice in the matter--now struggle to maintain the delicate balance of their ship’s ecosystem long enough to reach their destination.

The humans are aided by the ship’s AI, a sophisticated computer whose interactions with the brilliant engineer Devi have set it on a path toward self-awareness. Freya, the mildly developmentally-impaired daughter of Devi, will be in the generation that must attempt to colonize Aurora and handle whatever comes after.” ~Allie  

I like generation ship stories, and I have been a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson for years. Thus, Aurora was an obvious book for me to pick up.  I bought the audio version (narrated by Ali Ahn), and my husband and I listened to it while driving across Provence and then the eastern US.

My Thoughts:

Aurora is what I would consider characteristic of a Robinson novel, a story constructed with careful attention to scientific detail in its treatment of the future of the human race.  It can be dense sometimes, and there are occasional digressions on topics of interest. The story is told by the ship’s AI, who has been tasked with building a meaningful narrative account of the voyage, so it’s understandable that the narration sometimes focuses on technical aspects.  The development of the AI’s character was one part of the story I particularly enjoyed. She learns about the nature of self and life both through her attempt to create meaning out of events and through her connections to members of the crew.  I also appreciated her understated sense of humor.  The narrator of the audiobook did a pretty fantastic job with the voice and intonation of the AI.

I am a big fan of stories about building societies, so it must be no surprise that this aspect of a generation ship is one that appeals to me.  A lot of Aurora involves exploring how people can structure the ship to survive, both physically and socially.  Not only do the colonists need to deal with the very delicate balance of materials needed to support life, they also have to make sure the people stay happy and under control.  It was interesting to see the social forces that come into play, and to see the decisions people make about priorities.  The ship is large enough to have habitats with different biomes and cultures, and I enjoyed seeing how the various groups of people came to terms with their situation.  

The story takes a darker turn once they arrive at Aurora, and it was interesting to see what the stress from the crisis they face there would do to their fragile community.  There is so much that happens after their arrival that it seems like it could easily have been a series.  The novel has several notable narrative shifts, and by the end it felt a little like there was just too much packed in.  It also makes it a little difficult to talk about in review, since I try to avoid major spoilers. The story wraps up nicely in the end, but the final segment runs a little longer than I would have liked. As a planetary colonization story, the conclusion is pretty pessimistic regarding humanity’s prospects, but I think there is value in stressing that we shouldn’t be cavalier with the health of the one planet that we know will support human life.

My Rating: 4/5

Aurora is yet another novel by Kim Stanley Robinson that I have greatly enjoyed. It is a compelling and thoroughly-researched take on the idea of a generation ship. I loved seeing how people might manage to make their circumstances work generations down the line.  The AI made for an unusual narrator, and I appreciated her digressions about language, humanity and self. The story takes several unexpected turns, and it has a rather dim view of our chances of successful colonization.  After seeing all the difficulties the colonists encounter, I hope that our current planet remains viable for human life for many years to come.

Review: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published : Orbit (2012)

Awards Won : Nebula Award

Awards Nominated : BSFA, Campbell, Clarke, Hugo, and Locus SF Awards

The Book :

“In 2312, humanity has moved beyond the Earth.  Through great feats of creativity and engineering, communities of spacers now live on planets, moons, and asteroids throughout the solar system.  While the spacers are busy building countless new societies and ways of life, Earth is still overflowing with people and held back by ingrained problems.

Swan Er Hong lives in the city of Terminator, which perpetually circles Mercury just ahead of the deadly sunrise.  An unexpected death of a relative, Alex, leaves Swan with many unanswered questions.  It seems she may be expected to join Alex’s friends, including the toad-like Fitz Wahram and the small Jean Genette, in continuing her work.  Apparently, some qubes (quantum computers) have been acting strangely lately, and the consequences could be deadly.” ~Allie 

It looks like I’m still managing to review one KSR title per year!  This one, as well as a few other upcoming reviews, won’t count for any of my 2014 challenges, since I mostly read the books in 2013.  Also, if you’re wondering what happened to the review of Never Let Me Go, that was designed for a series on WWEnd, so I will post just that one here after it makes it through the WWEnd blog queue.

My Thoughts :

In a lot of ways, 2312 feels like a sequel to the Mars Trilogy, though it is a standalone story.  It uses a lot of the same ideas, in terms of terraforming and general philosophies, and features some attitudes that I could see developing from the narrow-minded hedonism of the young natives in Blue Mars. It is not a sequel, however, as the dates of the future history, as well as some events and developments, don’t follow the timeline of the previous novels.  I feel like, if the Mars Trilogy had been updated to extrapolate the future from our current decade, 2312 might have been a direct sequel to those hypothetical books. Having read the Mars Trilogy first gives a lot more context to many of the ideas of 2312, but it also somewhat robs them of their novelty.

The story moves at a pretty glacial pace. Unraveling the mystery of the qubes’ behavior could be considered the main plotline, but I think it would be incredibly frustrating if one were to read the novel with interest in that mystery alone. Long stretches go by with very little progress on that front, and the main characters were often not directly involved in the investigation.  The novel can also be read as a slowly developing romance, as Swan and her eventual lover find that sometimes differences in personality are complementary.  The main characters are also involved in a lot of interplanetary politics and projects, and all three of these plotlines end up involving the characters spending quite a lot of time traveling from one place in the solar system to another.

This constant travel provides an opportunity for long descriptions of various asteroid habitats, other settlements, ways of living, and so on, which can become rather dry.  One interesting aspect of this future was the fluidity of sex, gender, and partnerships.  For instance, spacers can modify their bodies in many ways, and using gendered pronouns is considered a mark of familiarity. Swan thinks of her herself as “she”, though she has both borne and fathered a child during her long life.  The story is also interspersed with chapters of excerpts and lists that provide more context for various aspects of the world.  While the plot moves along very slowly, 2312 gives a wide overview of the various human communities and experiences that are available in this fictional future.

Initially, I was not extremely fond of the main characters, but they won me over through the stories of their experiences, as I came to understand them more thoroughly. Swan was capable of creating great things as a habitat designer, but she seemed incredibly impetuous and immature.  She handled her long life by always jumping for the next possible experience.  Wahram balanced her energy with his stolidity, and sought his comfort in routine, a happy ‘pseudo-iterative’. Other notable characters include Inspector Jean Genette and Kiran, an Earther who Swan helped relocate to Venus.  Kiran was especially entertaining, as someone who quite accidentally becomes embroiled in a lot of political scheming.  In the end, I enjoyed experiencing some of the major events of the year 2312 through their eyes.

My Rating : 3.5/5

2312 is a standalone novel set in a world that seems similar to a future that might arise post-Blue Mars. The story involves mystery and romance, but the action is very slow and meandering, with lots of traveling across the developed solar system.  The novel is quite dense with information, as expected from Robinson, and the plot is full of plenty of descriptions of living spaces, experiences, and communities.  The two primary main characters, the mercurial Swan and saturnine Wahram (who are, in fact, from Mercury and Saturn, respectively), work surprisingly well together.  2312 explores a lot of the same ideas as the Mars Trilogy, but it remains an entertaining exploration of a complex future inhabited solar system.

Review: Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published : Bantam Spectra (1996), HarperCollins/Voyager(1996)

Series : Book 3 of the Mars Trilogy

Awards Won : Hugo and Locus SF Awards

Awards Nominated : Clarke, Campbell,  and BSFA Awards

The Book :

”The red planet is red no longer, as Mars has become a perfectly inhabitable world. But while Mars flourishes, Earth is threatened by overpopulation and ecological disaster. Soon people look to Mars as a refuge, initiating a possible interplanetary conflict, as well as political strife between the Reds, who wish to preserve the planet in its desert state, and the Green "terraformers". The ultimate fate of Earth, as well as the possibility of new explorations into the solar system, stand in the balance.” ~WWEnd.com

This is the third and final book of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy, so there will be spoilers of the series ahead!

That is a fairly vague introduction for such a massive book, but I think that most people who have read Red Mars and Green Mars know the kind of book they’re getting into with Blue Mars.  I do have to say that I would strongly recommend against reading this novel without having read the first two books in the series.  Altogether, I expect this trilogy to remain a classic in stories of Mars for a long time to come.

My Thoughts:

I’ve spaced my reading of the Mars Trilogy over the past three years, so now I can look back on the earlier events of the series with a feeling of nostalgia.  This series started with the journey to and colonization of Mars, and then moved on to terraforming, creating a new society, and navigating the social, economic, and political ties to Earth.  These characters have been through several revolutions, and have lived through many human-driven—but still chaotic—changes of geology, atmosphere, environment, government and culture that have fundamentally changed the face of Mars and its people.  Blue Mars is a fitting conclusion to this story.

Though many of the First Hundred have died at this point, many familiar characters are still alive as part of the “superelderly” (living 200+ years as a result of gerontological treatments) generation.  The story focuses even more than Green Mars on the psychological effects of such a long life. While I felt like the longevity treatment was not especially well integrated in Red Mars, it seems much more incorporated here.  This may be in part because it has grown to play such a large role in both the story and structure of these future societies. Seeing the major characters from Red Mars reaching the (possible) end of their massive life span, and watching them reflect on all that came before gave the story a feeling of natural completeness.

After so many pages, I have come to appreciate the personalities of most of the viewpoint characters. I enjoyed seeing more of Nadia, even though she was not especially central to the novel this time.  Nirgal, as well, feels much less like a wonderkid, and much more like a well-rounded character.  His successes here feel balanced by his failures, and I especially enjoyed reading about his slow process of building his ex-revolutionary life.  Another young native Martian is added to cast, showing more of the new wave of culture.  Her sections were markedly different from any of the other characters, which was refreshing.  I think her chapters were just short enough to keep me from becoming bored with her one-track hedonistic mind.   

Back to the old guard, I was especially happy to see more of Maya and Michel, the unstable pair (or choleric and melancholic pair, Michel might say).  Michel is still dealing with his homesickness for a place that no longer exists, while Maya’s mental problems steadily worsen as her mind is pushed beyond its natural lifetime. Through Maya we see the difficulty of continually trying to renew yourself, and to keep up with the events of a world that is always threatening to leave you behind. Lastly, Ann and Sax seemed to be a central focus of this last novel. They represent the two sides of the old debate, Red vs. Green, though the whole debate is becoming obsolete in the terraformed society of Mars.  Ann must deal with her grief for Mars, and see if she can find a way to adapt to the present. Sax is eager to help, but knows no way to adequately communicate to her the wonder and beauty that he sees in this new man-altered Mars.

Blue Mars seemed to be a quieter book than the first two, with more description and contemplation than tension. It also widened the lens to show colonization elsewhere in the solar system, as well as the “hyper-Malthusian” situation on Earth. All of this served to paint a satisfying picture of where humanity was, how far it had come, and what hopes remained for the future.  While this did round out the series in a satisfying way, the novel did not have as much of a focus or narrative drive as either of the first two novels. Despite this, Blue Mars works quite wonderfully to give a sense of resolution to the personal journeys of many characters, as well as to the fate of humanity and their many worlds.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Blue Mars is a successful conclusion for the impressive work of imagination and research that is the Mars Trilogy.  Though some artistic liberties were taken with science, Robinson has brought Mars to life in a way that feels plausible, and seems to have the complexity of reality.  Slowly, interspersed with many tours of painstakingly described Martin landscape, the handful of First Hundred who head the story have grown into characters that will linger in my mind indefinitely. The story of Blue Mars is both quieter and less focused than in the first two novels, but it still gives a satisfying and hopeful conclusion for the lives of these fascinating characters and the world they inhabit.

P.S.  For an overall series rating, I would give Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy a 5/5.  

Review: Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published : 1993, HarperCollinsUK/Bantam Spectra

Series : Book 2 of the Mars Trilogy

Awards  Won : Hugo Award, Locus Science Fiction Award

Awards Nominated : Nebula and British Science Fiction Association Awards

Spoiler Warning:  This review contains some details of the plot of the first novel of the trilogy, Red Mars

The Book :

“Mars: the Green Planet. Man's dream of a new world is underway but corrupted. Red Mars is gone, ripped apart by the violent and failed revolution of 2061. The First Hundred have scattered or died, and for the moment their dreams with them. The rebels are underground, dreaming of their utopia. The transnational corporations have a dream, too. Mars can be plundered -- for the benefit of a ravaged Earth. It can be terraformed to suit Man's need -- frozen lakes form, lichen grows, the atmosphere slowly becomes breathable.

But most importantly, Mars can be owned. On Earth, countries are bought and sold by the transnationals. Why not Mars too? Man's dream is underway, but so is his greatest test. The survivors of the First Hundred -- Hiroko, Nadia, Maya and Simon among them -- know that technology alone is not enough. Trust and co-operation are need to create a new world -- but these qualities are as thin on the ground as the air they breathe.” ~WWend.com

At long last, I’ve read the second novel of the Mars Trilogy! I’ve always intended to finish KSR’s story of Martian colonization, and I’m looking forward to reading the concluding novel, Blue Mars  (though with my current rate, I’m guessing I will read it in early 2013).

My Thoughts:

Green Mars involves some dramatic events, but it is a very, very slow-paced novel.  It is a continuation of the story that began in Red Mars, so I would definitely recommend reading that novel first.  The First Hundred are still around, thanks to their anti-aging treatment, and they face many of the same problems.  They still need to find a way to establish a non-dependant and non-submissive relationship with the troubled Earth, which is increasingly controlled by powerful corporations.  The debates about terraforming—to what extent and by what means it should be done—still rage.  However, no matter what decisions are made, Mars is slowly and inevitably changing.  The physical environment is being permanently altered, and new generations of Martian-born people are coming of age, people who know Mars as their only home.

Much of Green Mars is dedicated to explorations of the landscape, and to debate about the major political, sociological, economic, and environmental problems that face those who want to form an independent Martian society.  Some very interesting segments featured scientific or political conferences.  I enjoyed how relatively fairly Robsinson portrayed many different points of view.  The issue wasn’t for the ‘right’ people to be triumphant, but for many groups of people with varying cultural backgrounds and beliefs to find a way to work together.  I think the conferences themselves were very realistically portrayed, as was the difficulty in coming to any kind of consensus.

Like Red Mars, Green Mars is separated into long sections, told from the third-person point of view of various characters.  Given the high amount of dry ideological debate and geographical detail in the novel, feeling a connection with the characters was absolutely essential for me to feel engaged by the story.  There were some parts, more notably early in the novel, where the point-of-view was not as strong as I would have liked, leaving me feeling a little detached from events.  As the book progressed, though, I felt more involved, particularly as it built up to the final, breathtaking conclusion.

A few new characters were added to the cast for Green Mars: the young Martian Nirgal, and the Earthman Art Randolph.  I can see how these characters were useful additions as viewpoint characters.  Nirgal provided insight into the state of mind of the new generation of Martians.  I didn’t strongly dislike Nirgal’s personality, but I felt that he was portrayed as a little too perfect and special, especially initially.  He’s wise, charismatic, attractive, and has strange powers of metabolic control.  His metabolic powers are never really explained, and I felt like the novel could really have done without them.  Art Randolph provides an interesting look into the state of the deteriorating Earth, and his sense of wonder for Mars is a pleasant addition.  Overall, I felt that these were valuable viewpoints to add to the story, though Art, in particular, seemed little underutilized.

Of course, many of the characters from Red Mars also made another appearance as viewpoint characters.  The First Hundred, now down to less than half their number, still wielded considerable influence. I really enjoyed Nadia’s segments, but I think that Sax and Maya were the most notably developed throughout the story of Green Mars. Sax, who was mostly a lab worker in Red Mars, began to take a much more active role in the problems that faced Mars.  I was not much of a fan of Maya in Red Mars, but she became much more aware of her own weaknesses and mental issues.  Maya’s sections most clearly showed the psychological toll that the longevity treatment was taking on the First Hundred. Overall, this is a cast of characters that I will gladly follow into Blue Mars. 

My Rating: 4/5

Green Mars is an incredibly dense, thorough, and slow-paced continuation from the Mars colonization story that began in Red Mars.  Green Mars features the development of a Martian ecology and society, and it is filled with many debates between disparate groups about how each of these things should develop.  Many familiar faces show up as viewpoint characters, such as Nadia, Maya, and Sax, as well as a few new characters, such as the Martian Nirgal and the Earthman Art.  For me, the story picked up interest significantly in the second half of the novel, and it came together in the end to a very satisfying conclusion.  I don’t think I enjoyed this quite as much as Red Mars, but I still think it was an impressive work of science fiction.  

Review: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published: HarperCollins UK/Bantam Spectra (1993)

Series: Book 1 of the Mars Trilogy

Awards: British Science Fiction Association Award, Nebula Award

Nominated: Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, and Locus SF Awards

The Book:

“For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny.

John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists, " Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life...and death.

The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planets surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces--for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed.”

~from barnesandnoble.com

I’ve been meaning to read the Mars Trilogy for quite a while, ever since I enjoyed Robinson’s Years of Rice and Salt years ago.   Given the length of the trilogy, and the overpowering density of detail I expected from Robinson’s work, I somehow just kept putting it off.  Now, I’m finally doing it, and Red Mars is a wonderful first installment of the series.  I would personally say that it stands alone as a novel, but I have heard other opinions.  It certainly leads into the second novel, sort of like how the 20^th century led right into the 21^st.

My Thoughts:

I would say that, above all else, Red Mars is a hard SF novel. The focus of Red Mars is the process of colonization and the formation of a Martian society.  I’m sure a tremendous amount of research went into extrapolating how current technology could advance in such a way as to make the colonization possible.  Robinson is incredibly thorough, and he meticulously details everything, from the construction of the habitats, to the many different efforts towards terraforming, and so on.  I particularly enjoyed the terraforming discussions.  Robinson describes all the different ideas the scientists on Mars have for increasing the surface temperature, thickening the atmosphere, and increasing the oxygen content of the air.  Not everything is a success, and some of the plans backfire in interesting ways.  Robinson shows us the effects of the settlement and the terraforming on Mars through lengthy descriptions of the planet’s countryside and geography.  Whether or not all of the technology he describes could be real one day, almost all of it seems completely plausible. 

Beyond the physical effort of colonization, he also spends an immense amount of time detailing the sociological, political, and economical forces shaping the colonization.  The colonization begins with the First Hundred, carefully selected specialists that are sent to establish the first dwellings on the Martian surface.  Even among the First Hundred, there are many conflicting ideas of how Martian society should be shaped, what their relationship should be to the Earth, and to what extent Mars should be terraformed.  The situation becomes immensely further complicated when their past catches up with them in the form of governmental controls, transnational corporations with their eyes on profit, and desperate, culturally diverse immigrants from the crowded Earth.

The narrative is from the point of view of people from the First Hundred, and it shifts with each major segment of the book.  I enjoyed that, even though it was in third person, the narration felt distinctive for each character.  While none of the characters seemed universally sympathetic, they were all well-rounded and had interesting ways of seeing the world.  My personal favorite segment was that of the homesick French psychologist Michel Duval.  However, even while we’re following hard-working, cynical Frank’s bitterness, idealistic, Mars-loving Ann’s despair, or the drama queen Maya’s love triangle, the focus is always on Mars.  They are all just the human windows through which we are allowed to see the development of Martian history.

Though I was very entertained by Red Mars, I have to admit that, in my opinion, it was not a completely flawless book. It’s very slowly paced, and the human stories were often overshadowed by the huge amount of scientific, geographic, social, and political information that ran through the narrative.  Furthermore, some of Robinson’s guesses for the future were a little off, so the novel sometimes feels a little dated.  For instance, Robinson’s colonization of Mars is headed by the US and Russia in the 2020s.  I’m not sure who could head that kind of a multi-billion dollar project given today’s economy, but I doubt it would be US/Russian.  Also, his Earth is collapsing under a Malthusian population crisis, something that doesn’t really appear to be hanging over us at the moment (or maybe I just don’t see the signs!). 

One other element that bothered me was his most fanciful technological development—an immortality treatment.  I think he included it so that we could follow the same characters through a large swathe of Martian history, and so that Earth’s population problems would more quickly come to the breaking point.  However, compared to how much detail he lavished on the other technology of the novel, the DNA-repairing, anti-aging treatment seemed almost like a simple plot device.  Despite all of this, I think I can solidly recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in reading an in-depth description of Martian colonization.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Red Mars is an immersive, thorough, near-future account of the colonization of Mars and the subsequent development of Martian society.  It is terrific hard SF, with plenty of ecology, geography, physics, sociology, politics, engineering, and economics to keep your mind engaged.  It also features well-developed, if not completely likable, characters through which the reader watches the future unfold.  Though it is thick with information and slow-paced, it is a fascinating vision of the sort of future we could still be moving towards.