not as good as his other books.

I've read Mars triology and 2312 and this is my least favourite of them all

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Well written, but linear and predictable

I was quite disappointed by this. Aurora came with a huge rep, but completely failed to live up to it. The annoying thing for me is the writing is beautiful, with well-crafted characters, and brilliant narrative... But the story is awful: ship leaves Earth, goes to Tau Ceti, some people get killed, some go back to Earth, some stay, more people get killed, the ship AI develops a personality, stopping the ship is a problem, which is resolved and the remaining 600 get back, they have psychological problems when they get back and the lead character goes swimming in the ocean. End.

The author dwells on and delights in the science of the journey, which is great, but doesn't make a story.

The Guardian called this the "best generation starship novel I have ever read." That doesn't speak well of the genre.

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Could be better

Interesting setting, but the story gets less interesting as the book continues. Annoying and whiny protagonist. The last chapter pointless.

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Really enjoyable

If you liked Seveneves and other interstellar space stories, if you can forget the last 2 hours, and if you can get used to the narrators accents (particularly when doing male characters) then you'll love this book! Slow start and painfully slow ending but on the whole a fantastic book.

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2 people found this helpful

Icarus Falls, but survives...death of a dream.

A thought provoking story that suggests that perhaps the allure of interstellar colonisation may be doomed to fail.
A Hundred Thousand years of Homo Sapien evolution bind humanity to the solar system and earth.
Lifeless worlds with hostile atmospheres that will take thousands of years to terraform- longer than a container based society can survive.
Or hostile worlds with microscopic proto viruses, extreme climates and shot blasted landscapes.
The inevitable decline in the colonists own artificial environment spells doom .
Radiation, lack of biodiversity and a rapidly evolving bacterial onslaught.

The real message (and there is a clear one by the end of the book) is that humanity needs to look after its own homeworld first and foremost. It also suggests that a radical shift in our lifestyle and cultures is required to accomplish this balance.

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1 person found this helpful

It's a masterpiece....

....In my opinion. A great book including science, sociology and philosophy. Mostly spoken from the ships computer commanded to create a Narrative of the voyage. Brilliantly Narrated by Ali Ahn. Would have liked to have herd a little more from other characters roles.

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Thought provoking story, if in need of editing

The themes of this book are very original if somewhat pessimistic - or, as one character puts it, darkly realistic - and are a refreshing change from the assumptions of many interstellar science-fiction. As much a sociological investigation of the question of interstellar travel as scientific and biological, perhaps more so. The themes in the book have changed the way I think about space travel, putting the arguably selfishly optimistic dreams of billionaires like Bezos, Branson and Musk into perspective. The first book I've ever encountered that seriously made me question if we should attempt interstellar travel or the colonisation of other planets, given the often ignored yet inevitable human cost.

The characters were interesting and relatable, and there is certainly a great deal of humanity to the story, both the good and the bad, which is often central to the themes of the book. The treatment of the ship's AI is also an interesting and unusual take for a somewhat dystopian sci-fi story, especially as it is the AI which (who?) performs much of the overt philosophising and exposition.

Unfortunately the book does drag on a bit and might have benefited from better editing; some dialogue and even whole sections could have been shorter or removed entirely (though I get the impression the way the narrative seems to drag on is somewhat deliberate to convey the constancy of issues and moral quandaries the protagonists face).

The narration was competent but average, with most male voices sounding identical and the voice of the ship's AI, which constitutes much of the narration, becoming somewhat monotonous after a point. The soundscape was interesting and added to the narration and atmosphere, and more of this would have been welcome.

I haven't read the author's other books so can't compare but overall this was a very interesting and thought provoking story that I would definitely recommend for that alone. A better audiobook performance and potentially a skillfully abridged version of this audiobook would make it 5 star gold.

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Excellent read for fans of realistic sci fi

This book thoroughly explores the ethical and practical problems associated with intergenerational space travel. Packed with accurate science and a very human storyline, I felt as though I was part of the story and experiencing the adventure. For me, this would never be possible in a ludicrously unrealistic universe of so many other sci fi stories. This is one of the very few to hit the nail on the head. In this respect it holds its own against Carl Sagan's Contact and 2001 a Space Odyssey.

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A very long journey

Would you listen to Aurora again? Why?

It's not necessarily the sort of thing you listen to more than once but I still enjoyed it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Aurora?

No spoilers!

Would you listen to another book narrated by Ali Ahn?

Wasn't the best narrator but could have been worse.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's quite a slow one but it gets quite dramatic in the middle so I suppose that bit? And I guess the question of 'where is home?' is generally an emotive one.

Any additional comments?

It's quite slow-moving and I wasn't necessarily convinced by the speeches the ship makes about narratives etc. - felt a bit like the author was trying to force the work to be more meta/more 'literary' than it needed to be. I appreciated the attempts to create a coherent universe and to describe all the systems in it. I didn't totally love any of the characters, but there was a loving attention to detail in the descriptions of the many problems faced in settling a new planet that made me feel like I was experiencing the journey along with them. Wouldn't place amongst one of my favourite books but it's definitely worth a read if you're interested in the more mundane aspects of long-distance space travel.

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1 person found this helpful

Great science, so so novel

A thoroughly thought out and scientifically advanced SciFi novel, I found myself intrigued by the ideas and concepts the author tried to convey in the book, many of which even learned scientists would probably have dismissed/neglected. However, as a novel and a story I found this simply not engaging, with only a couple of characters I found myself caring for.
Still an ambitious tale and very well narrated/produced I think this is worth a look at for the scientific and philosophical discussions.

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