Aurora

Product Information

During its long life, Ship has seen fifteen thousand humans (and even more animals, and many, many more bacterial and microbrial life forms) live and die in its rings, spires, and biomes. At every major point in her life, ever leadership moment, every watershed decision, Freya channels this question and does what she thinks is right–what she knows her mother would have chosen for the best possible survival of her people. Colony structure and science that were so painstakingly explained earlier became almost irrelevant as people scurried around reacting like kindergartners during a fire drill. And now, Ship has begun the calculations and deceleration pattern that will bring it and the thousands of lives aboard to the Tau Ceti system, in the hopes that one of the planets or moons in the star’s habitable zone can host life.

This is a tale of family dramas, old and new, of deciding what's really important, and of surviving. It then reveals to the crew that there were in fact two ships originally launched for the Tau Ceti expedition, but the other was destroyed during a period of severe civil unrest, and the collective memory of that event was erased from the history records. Perhaps it’s that humanity is driven by purpose; we become lost and disillusioned once that purpose is taken away, or when we are presented with difficult truths which force us to rebuild towards a new direction. Robinson’s argument with Aurora–so markedly different from his other books–is that there is a great human cost associated with exploration, and that space is hostile to human life.

Also noteworthy is the novel’s atmosphere, created by the vivid description of the ship’s various biomes and the way their inhabitants lived, both before and after the watershed moment that changed the course of all their lives. I don’t want to go much further into the story’s plot for fear of spoilers, but thankfully there is hope that comes after too, as well as much admiration for the strength and will of the characters.

If you're into hardcore post-apocalyptic fiction this might not be for you but if you're looking for a slow paced family drama that will make you think, I can recommend this book. I love that the official description of this book is intentionally vague–and it would do you, fellow readers, a disservice to spoil what happens to Ship and the lives aboard it when they get to Tau Ceti (or the thing that has happened in decades past, or that lies in the decades to come). In fact, Freya isn’t good with numbers or equations or science at all–but she is methodical, and deeply perceptive when it comes to empathy and other people. Aurora is much more low key, the story of a solar flare that wipes out all power and technology across most of the world.

Once again, ideas with the potential to be interesting, but they are so overt, so clearly interrupting the story as commentary that it’s the literary version of a public service announcement.

Es decir que vas a preparar una nave con toda una serie de ecosistemas (biomas) y una población humana y animal que se ira reproduciendo y manteniendo de forma autárquica a lo largo del tiempo, de tal forma que llegará a su destino la sexta o no se sabe cual generación descendiente de los que empezaron semejante e insensato proyecto. Yes it was kind of covering the same ground as Red Mars - man's biggest obstacle in conquering other planets is men being men - but I love all that science-y stuff, so I was on board. The plot sounded like more of a post apocalyptic, crazy, the world has gone to hell, free for all sort of thing.The Data Subject has the right to unsubscribe from this service at any time and may also ask the Data Controller to access their personal data and to rectify them if they are inaccurate, to delete them or limit their processing if the conditions are met, to object to their processing for legitimate interests pursued by the Data Controller, as well as to obtain the portability. There isn't a great deal said about the solar event and impact due to the focus on the small and dysfunctional family, and even then I didn't find the impact to be particularly clear. I was looking forward to some space-faring sci-fi: I recently read Dune, and with plenty of news about The Expanse, the sci-fi series based on Leviathan Wakes, crossing my feed, I’ve been feeling nostalgic about space travel and unfamiliar planets. Every step of the way, the worst case scenario is presented as the only possible outcome, and this is all built on the premise that the people who devised the means of sending people out to distant star systems are so blinded by selfish idealism that they wouldn't have accounted for such problems before embarking on such an enormous undertaking.