2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
8.9
Set in a somewhat bleak, distant future in which humanity has moved beyond earth, colonizing other planets, moons and even asteroids, 2312 tells the story of a sequence of events that may just force humans to return to their origins to save themselves. Mr. Robinson is well known for his award-winning Mars Trilogy.
Science Fiction / Orbit / May 22, 2012
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Critic's Reviews
Reviewer: Tom Shippey
""2312" does what sci-fi is supposed to do: combine enthralling scientific sweep with envy-inducing human interest. The great writers of sci-fi's past would salute Mr. Robinson...Mr. Robinson has long had a seat at the big table, and "2312" shows how well he deserves it."
Reviewer: Choire Sicha
"It's a future history that's so secure and comprehensive that it reads as an account of the past—a trick of craft that belongs almost exclusively to the supreme SF task force of Le Guin and Margaret Atwood....Robinson’s books don't feel architected; he glosses over plotty things that a writer would normally hammer out in boring detail, and then he expends all his energy and time on the magical moments."
Reviewer: Jeff VanderMeer
"the often mind-blowing scope of "2312" is eclipsed by Robinson's genius-level portrait of one of the greatest odd couples in the history of science fiction....Perhaps Robinson's finest novel, "2312" is a treasured gift to fans of passionate storytelling; readers will be with Swan and Wahram in the tunnel long after reaching the last page."
Reviewer: Annalee Newitz
"A brilliant, plausible account of how humans might colonize planets, moons and asteroids...the novel weaves between astropolitical thriller, crime novel and gorgeous commentary on the quest for justice on Earth and in the cosmos beyond."
Reviewer: Gerry Canavan
"The wonderfully inventive 2312 is, in this way, Robinson’s most aesthetically reverent work to date....It might, therefore, be Robinson’s most nakedly utopian novel, his most ambitious attempt to show us just how good life after capitalism could be."
Reviewer: M John Harrison
"if Robinson has a weakness, it's the immemorial weakness of the hard SF writer, which is to assume that the reader is as excited by extreme technological speculation as he is. Mind you, the issues covered in 2312, whether of pure science or of science and politics, are exciting in themselves."