this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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Aurora was the first and last Kim Stanley Robinson book I read. I don't think it'll be a popular opinion to say this, but it was the worst sci-fi book I've ever read.
It took so long to say so little, focusing on irrelevant personal details and plot that had no unique nexus with the premise or setting, while the "sci-fi" plot elements were paper thin and resolve in the dumbest, least satisfying way possible. Really really turned me off of the author.
I'm not sure I entirely agree, but I am sympathetic. It really is an entire book about why one sci-fi trope is a bad idea. There's an almost eye-rolling meta-text that he's done with any traditional notions of space travel and heroic explorers, and that it's time to turn our eyes and brains to earth.
Now, I think I was okay with seeing that story play out, and I do appreciate any author who can hold my attentiona during info-dumps (Hello there, Neal Stephenson) but there was certainly an element of Wagons East! in the book, but not enough John Candy and Richard Lewis.