Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest novel, is his version of the generation ship science fiction novel. The book, in some ways, can also be seen as a companion piece to his Nebula Award winning 2312. That novel postulated a possible future three hundred years from now, when humanity has spread across the solar system. This book extends that concept to tell a story about humanity’s future attempts to extend itself outside the solar system. Robinson takes the concept of a generation ship, a trope used in many science fiction stories, and applies exacting and cutting-edge scientific detail to question what it will actually be like when humanity tries to travel to the distant stars. The answer isn’t pretty, though the novel itself is quite stunning.

Most of the novel is set on a generation ship travelling at one tenth the speed of light for almost 200 years to a moon orbiting Planet E in the Tau Ceti system twelve light years away from Earth. The ship contains 24 ecosystems representing all the diverse climates on Earth and is packed full with as many animals and plants as it can carry (allowing for an optimal balance between weight and fuel). Each biome contains a fully functional society making up a total population of a little over 2,000 people. This is obviously a multigenerational endeavour and birth control technologies are used to ensure that the population of the ship is maintained at a constant level. Each generation keeps the ship functioning, along with the artificial intelligence inhabiting a quantum computer at the core of the ship, and teaches each subsequent generation the knowledge and skills they need to do the same. Therefore, whole generations are born and die on the ship without ever knowing Earth or their destination planet in Tau Ceti.

Readers pick up the story as the ship enters the last leg of its journey towards their destination in Tau Ceti, which is a moon the crew have named Aurora. Early in the novel readers are told “A narrative account focuses on representative individuals, which creates the problem of misrepresentation by way of the particular overshadowing the general.” In this case, the story focuses on a young girl named Freya, and it’s through her narrative that readers experience the fate of the entire expedition to Tau Ceti. Freya lives in the biome known as Nova Scotia and is the daughter of two prominent individuals onboard the ship. Her father, Badim, is the person Freya spends most her time with, and he is one of the medical officers onboard. However, it’s Freya’s mother, Devi, an engineer, who is most respected, not only by Freya, but also almost the entirety of the ship’s passengers. Devi has a close relationship with the ship’s AI, and is most instrumental in keeping everything functional.

Devi has a massive weight on her shoulders, because as the ship draws nearer to Aurora the problems faced by the crew are increasingly escalating. The ecosystems in the self contained biomes begin to unbalance after two centuries of travelling and parts of the ship itself are starting to malfunction as a result of the pressures exerted during a decades long deceleration. Compared to her mother, Freya seems unexceptional, or perhaps even the victim of a process of devolution which is beginning the affect those onboard, another source of frustration and fear for Devi. However, it turns out that Freya has many qualities that endear her to the people of the ship. For example, she is unusually large and very practically minded, making her an ideal person to help out with many odd tasks in the diverse communities living within the ship. Surprisingly, by the time the ship reaches Aurora, Freya is in her prime and a leader amongst the passengers. Of course, when the ship arrives at Aurora is when the crew is truly tested.

I have sometimes seen science fiction described as a mode of writing, rather than a genre. The theory goes that science fiction more often than not must be combined with another genre. There are many prominent examples of science fiction thrillers or science fiction war stories. Aurora seems to me to be very much proof that science fiction can be a stand-alone genre. Not only is this book pure science fiction, it is also a book that is in dialogue with science fiction. It takes the now venerable notion that it will one day be possible for humans to travel and live around distant stars, and dissects it with startling logic and clarity. But there are two things that make Robinson’s books read like works of art, rather than pop science. The first thing is the audacity of his imagination, which is on full, widescreen display here. I daresay there will not be another book that evokes the same magical level of sense of wonder produced in the field this year. The second thing is Robinson’s deep and penetrating sense of humanity. Despite the rich scientific content, Robinson never loses sight of the human element of his story, and he contextualises the ideas he explores within deeply personal and relatable experiences.

Having just gushed about the book, I do have to acknowledge that Robinson writes books in which the strengths for some readers will be the weaknesses for others, and Aurora is no exception. Aurora is a book full of dense and long techno dumps, and though, in my opinion, Robinson has long been able to make these flow like poetry, readers bored by exacting scientific detail will struggle with Aurora. 2312 was criticised by some for having a plot that was low on the list of priorities compared to other elements of the book. While Aurora undoubtedly has more narrative pull than its predecessor, it is nevertheless a very slow moving affair, which will frustrate those looking for a driving story. The book is also, on what I regard as a somewhat superficial level, born from a deep source a pessimism, that many science fiction readers may object to. I say on a superficial level because, though the book (without giving away too many spoilers) is against the idea that humanity will ever travel to, and colonise, other star systems, it is ultimately a very hopeful novel. By the end of the book readers should have a new sense of affection for the blue planet that cradled us, and be inspired to find solid footing on the ground underneath us.

Any new science fiction book from Robinson is a major event. Like many of his novels in the past, I predict Aurora will make the shortlist for many awards in 2015, both popular and juried. In my opinion, it is a book that also deserves to win one or two too. He is a writer that is both in deep conversation with the history of the genre, and at the forefront of pioneers crafting a literature of challenging and exciting ideas into the future. With Aurora he has written a book that will make you look at blue skies and blue oceans with a renewed sense of value and possibility.

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
Published by Orbit, July 2014
480 pages
ISBN: 9780316098106
Review copy received from publisher
Review by Luke Brown, June 2015

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