A review by loveallthis
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
3.0
I got a good hundred pages into 2312 thinking "holy shit, I finally found a ballsy female hard sci-fi author!" before looking up Kim Stanley Robinson and finding out that yeah, he is a dude.
In which case, (and I don't know why I'd be easier on a woman - there's probably something wrong with this) this is a pretty forgettable attempt at an Iain M. Banks-like story. Sprawling and with lots of characters (check), super-advanced human/alien diaspora (check), secret evil cabal potentially run by robots trying to control the universe (check), mysterious bombings of technologically advanced cities on far-flung planets (check).
This is a nicely-crafted and intellectually impressive book without a lot of heart. Like this summer's unfortunate Prometheus, it's a story about commuting. From Earth to Mercury to Mars to Saturn to Jupiter's moons, with lots of shuttles and asteroids-turned-spaceliners in between, our characters hop around the solar system incessantly - all the while investigating who or what is behind the attacks.
There are some interesting bits, to do with body modification, art, music, and technology. The book's 560 pages, though it felt significantly longer.
Three stars. A decent read.
In which case, (and I don't know why I'd be easier on a woman - there's probably something wrong with this) this is a pretty forgettable attempt at an Iain M. Banks-like story. Sprawling and with lots of characters (check), super-advanced human/alien diaspora (check), secret evil cabal potentially run by robots trying to control the universe (check), mysterious bombings of technologically advanced cities on far-flung planets (check).
This is a nicely-crafted and intellectually impressive book without a lot of heart. Like this summer's unfortunate Prometheus, it's a story about commuting. From Earth to Mercury to Mars to Saturn to Jupiter's moons, with lots of shuttles and asteroids-turned-spaceliners in between, our characters hop around the solar system incessantly - all the while investigating who or what is behind the attacks.
There are some interesting bits, to do with body modification, art, music, and technology. The book's 560 pages, though it felt significantly longer.
Three stars. A decent read.