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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A bit tedious

I loved the Mars series, where they felt dynamic and continuously expanded on the story, this one felt so linear that the end was predictable several hours out. A bit disappointing..

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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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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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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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An alternative view on colonisation

An interesting take on space exploration. The narrative style in the later parts is slightly reminiscent of Stapledon's "First and Last Men" - though far more conventional. Well worth listening to.

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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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1 person found this helpful