Aurora

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

Narrated by: Ali Ahn

Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, Aurora tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system.

Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.

Our voyage from Earth began generations ago.

Now we approach our new home.

Aurora.

©2015 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"This ambitious hard SF epic shows Robinson at the top of his game... [A] poignant story, which admirably stretches the limits of human imagination."—Publishers Weekly

Beautiful

I'm a longtime fan of Robinson... and this is one of his best. It's not often I wish I could unhear a book just to have the pleasure of hearing it again. Aurora is a slow meditation on not only the physics, engineering and biology involved in space travel, but also on the psychology behind the desire to explore and escape. Really lovely writing and narration.

Tried to like this, but came away disappointed

I have enjoyed many of Kim Stanley Robinson's books in the past. Maybe I had different expectations regarding this generation ship story. I suppose it conflicted with my desire for some "happy ending" scenario. The science is very accurate, the Ship voice was excellent --- but the overall story was just depressing. The end -- maybe I missed the point -- was just disappointing. If you are looking for escapist SF -- it is not here. This is a VERY realistic look at how a generation ship journey may turn out.

Never quite got the point

This is a long audible book, and I made it all the way to the end. But I never actually figured out why I was reading it, or what I was getting from it. I have to learn that a lot of the 2:1 deals on Audible are that way for a reason!

Desperately needs a storyeditor

First off, my compliments to Ali Ahn and the producers. I think "Aurora" has the best production value of any audiobook I've listened to yet.

This was my first exposure to KSR. I'm fine with fine-grained investigation of ecological collapse, the science of sustainability and long-distance space travel. These were selling points, not impediments to muscle my way through.

But I spent the majority of the book waiting for it to get going, waiting for the book to telegraph its main plot and give me characters I can sink into. It just never happened for me. Is the writing great? Absolutely! But with minor exceptional sequences, I found myself behind the eyes of unlikeable characters making weak choices that celebrate defeatism. Fledgling plot lines are given insufficient light and attention (look, a gardening metaphor!), minor characters fail to manifest in believable ways and the story simply limps on in search of dramatic conflict and I just couldn't care.

From other reviews, KSR merits another day in court, but I think I'll pay more attention to plot description and less attention to the hyperbolic adjectives like "masterful!" that sprinkled the cover. It's bad enough to be bored but when I'm chewing on a decision to abandon the story half-way through, it's tough to accept.

The first half is great. The second... blah.

Great story but it loses it's way halfway through. The Martian did a better job of "sciencing" and then the beach stuff at the end... I don't get it.

went long

the ideas of the book are great but excessive amounts of descriptions of things that dont move the story along

Interesting twist on a somewhat tired trope

Broadly speaking the generation ship adventure genre has probably been beat to death at this point. Aurora provides an interesting perspective that is more evolutionary than revolutionary. it's an oft-told tale that in this case doesn't quite elicit much empathy with the characters. Their development and evolution seems strained and forced. In spite of all attempts to get the reader/listener engaged in the lives of the crew, the most interesting character in the narrative is "Ship". Nonetheless there are some interesting plot points and plot devices that kept me slogging through it. in summary, there's worse ways to burn a listening credit. Just don't expect much in the way of character development or post-listen satisfaction.

Technically intriguing; slow pacing

What did you love best about Aurora?

The technological hurdles were very thought provoking that brought out ideas and problems which had never occurred to me at all. I was glad that KSR was willing to submit & explore that the Religion of Science may not be able to invent a way around every problem and technical challenge. Or that such inventions are not sufficient to meet our every need.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved discussions about the technology- none of it seemed too over-the-top but reasonable approximations of what can be done now with just some tech progression you would expect. Honestly it seems like by 2545 tech would be even better, but not a big complaint.

What aspect of Ali Ahn’s performance would you have changed?

Every young man's voice sounded the same.

Any additional comments?

The pacing was too slow. 14hrs is kinda long for me, although I just finished Red Mars first and found Aurora a lot more engaging. The last 1/6th of the story could be trimmed to 15 minutes and not have lost much.

Very unpredictable and well written

I kept thinking I could predict what would happen next, though I failed over and over.

The ending is how I have seen some 70's movies with the earth is great and wonderful.

My regret is that the people left behind pretty much get dropped off, pretty much never heard from again. So there are gaps here and there.

Good book.

Solid book, go for it

The narration was decent. The ship's voice was done very well, but the other characters lacked variety in voice. Additionally the dialogue felt stilted and forced. Though part of that was the writing. A great book with a few flaws, but definitely worth a read. The characterization of the ship is fantastic in its own right.