Review by Booklist Review
Aboard a multigenerational starship bound for Tau Ceti, an engineer begins to suspect that the recent change to the ship's status (the two-decade-long deceleration process has begun, after nearly 160 years of travel) has caused unwanted and potentially disastrous changes to the delicate balance of the ship's ecosystems. Even more distressing, the engineer sees signs that the people themselves, who have spent their entire lives aboard the ship, are changing. Will the ship reach its destination safely, or is the expedition doomed? This is hard sf the way it's meant to be written: technical, scientific, with big ideas and a fully realized society. Robinson is an acknowledged sf master his Mars trilogy and his stand-alone novel 2312 (2012) were multiple award winners and nominees and this latest novel is sure to be a big hit with devoted fans of old-school science fiction.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This ambitious hard SF epic shows Robinson (Shaman) at the top of his game. Freya and her parents live aboard a starship that has traveled for generations and will soon reach Tau Ceti, a star about 12 light years from Earth's solar system. Freya's mother, Devi, is the de facto chief engineer, struggling to keep the ship's environment balanced until they reach a new world and, they hope, survive on it. But ecologies are delicate, resources are limited, and the laws of physics are immutable. Over the course of Freya's life, her community faces genuinely surprising struggles for survival, leading Freya to wonder whether it is too late to reconsider a question initially decided millions of miles away and centuries ago: should this ship have been launched in the first place? As always, Robinson is at his best when dealing with large populations, scientific questions, and logistics, and the very human characters are more than afterthoughts. Even an occasional lapse into preaching about the philosophical problems with space exploration can't mar this poignant story, which admirably stretches the limits of human imagination. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Robinson's latest tome opens as a generation colony ship approaches its destination and the end of its projected lifespan. Regression to the mean has taken its toll on the mechanical and human elements of the massive ship, and engineer Devi holds it together only with the help of the ship's ever evolving artificial intelligence. Her daughter, Freya, may lack her mother's intelligence, but none of her love for the ship and their mission. VERDICT At times ponderous but never dull, this novel offers a lengthy exploration of humanity's reach beyond the solar system in a search for a new home. Robinson fans will recognize many of the technical elements of the ship as it is a product of the solar system that is home to many of the author's previous books, including the award-winning 2312. [See Prepub Alert, 2/2/15.]-Jessica Moyer, Sch. of Information Studies, Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Freya knows nothing except life on the ship. She and her family have been traveling through space for generations, heading to Aurora, a new sun, and a new life. They are close to arrival, which is fortunate because supplies are running out. But Aurora isn't the saving grace it was hoped to be-the landing crews have to deal with strong winds and worse. The ship community must decide what to do-attempt life on Aurora? Head to another inhabitable planet or see if the struggling ship can make it back to Earth? Freya may not be a chief engineer like her mother, but she has the ability to unite her people, and the ship itself believes in her. With the recent success of Andy Weir's The Martian (Crown, 2014), space fiction is in the limelight, and this epic by a well-respected author won't disappoint fans seeking an apocalyptic adventure. The idea that a dying Earth will send ships to space to save humanity isn't a new plotline, but Robinson develops an artificially intelligent spaceship that becomes an important parental figure to Freya. Her world might end soon, and readers will root for a lifesaving miracle. VERDICT A natural introduction to adult science fiction for teens.-Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Robinson's latest well-researched novel exposes the fundamental flaws in one of science fiction's most beloved tropes: the multigenerational space ark traveling at sub-light speed to colonize a planet around a distant star. In the 26th century, a ship departs our solar system, bound for the Tau Ceti system and carrying 2,000 humans who live within a series of miniecosystems. Nearly 200 years later, the descendants of the original crew are preparing to reach their destinationand it's none too soon, because the detrimental aspects of living in a closed (but leaking) system without recourse to fresh chemical, biological, and material supplies have begun to multiply. The ship and the biomes within it (including the people living there) are breaking down. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that the planets and satellites of Tau Ceti may not be suitable for colonization. Science fiction from previous decades has nearly always assumed that humanity's spreading out among the stars was not only possible, it was probable or maybe even inevitable. Current scientific research, as well as prevailing social, political, and economic conditions, makes that seem less sure. Again, most SF imagines we'll be able to overcome those challenges over the centuries; Robinson (Shaman, 2013, etc.) builds a fairly convincing case that we might not and vividly describes the biological and psychological damage that long-term space travel might cause. Allowing the ship's artificial intelligence to serve as the novel's primary omniscient narrator gives Robinson the excuse to deliver a multitude of mini science lectures (which do border on the pedantic at times, a frequent hazard of hard SF). It would have been nice if, among all the detailed explanation, the author had explained why the starship has no formal command structure (no captain, no navigator, no formally titled chief engineer). A compelling (if depressing) argument against those who still dream of an interstellar manifest destiny. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
