Publishing information: Paperback; 480 pages
Publisher: Roc; 4 November 2014
ISBN: 978-0451467706
ASIN: B00INIJJAI
Series Book one
Copy: Provided by publisher
Reviewer: Tyson
Amazon
Synopsis: "Mankind’s future in this galaxy could be all but infinite....
There are hundreds of billions of red dwarf stars, lasting trillions of years—and their planets can be habitable for humans. Such is the world of Proxima Centauri. And its promise could mean the never-ending existence of humanity.
But first it must be colonized, and no one wants to be a settler. There is no glamor that accompanies it, like being the first man on the moon, nor is there the ease of becoming a citizen of an already-tamed world. There is only hardship...loneliness...emptiness.
But that’s where Yuri comes in. Because sometimes exploration isn’t voluntary. It must be coerced...."
Proxima has been out in the UK for some time but now it is finally hitting the American shores this week. When I was approached to read Proxima, my only experience with Baxter was the novel, Flood, a very hollywood feeling book along the lines of the movie 2012, I still feel that flood would be an awesome big screen adventure but that it also would be over the top. So I figured that I should give Baxter a second shot as I enjoyed my first experience, even if it was not exactly the most scientific feeling book.
Proxima takes place in the future and mankind has colonized the majority of planets in the solar system and competition between the Chinese and everyone else has people scrambling for new planets to claim. The discovery of an mineral/fuel source on Mercury gives us the ability to travel beyond our solar system and reach distant planets within one's own lifetime.
Our main character Yuri is a bit of a trouble-maker, he is originally from Earth but lived his adult life on Mars, a rough planet with some shady people. He is resourceful and while not the strongest or brightest of individuals, he gets by and does rather well for himself. He is quite likable and to a degree compelling but he also has some characteristics that make you question whether you should be rooting for him until more of his past is unravelled.
What I enjoyed about Proxima was that there were a lot of big themes in the book: we have traveling the stars, starting a new colony and of course the adventure of the unknown. Some of which Baxter does really well. the colonization, due to how it was undertaken, was interesting and I really liked reading about it. It could have expanded more on that and I would have been perfectly happy with the book. However, there were a few things that I didn't care for. For instance, we have thousands of people signing up to be part of the first Mars colony and yet in the book the corporation tasked with colonizing Proxima basically kidnaps certain individuals to round out the colonization process. It doesn't really jive with our current reality. The main character talks a lot about the horrible conditions he lived in on the red planet and his story didn't feel all that unique to anyone living on Mars. I would think that being offered a chance to start over, the corporation would have to turn individuals away and have their pick of the litter to round out the colonists going to Proxima.
They also have the ability to hibernate during the long interstellar voyage and yet the people are woken up and some cause trouble. It helps drive the beginning of the story but if you have a bunch of reprobates on board that could cause problems, why wake them up early, it just didn't make much sense to me.
The other issue that I had with things is that we are in the future and while the colonists had some technological help to get them on there way and start out on the right footing, the were more or less tossed on the planet and then left to fend for themselves. The astronauts charged with getting them there basically unloaded their supplies and then quickly left to make the round trip. It seems to me that if you were invested in making sure that the group survived, you would make sure that your colonists start out properly and get things up and running before making a bee line out of the area. All that money and time put into the trip and the mission just goes out the window when the crew of the ship up and leave hours after dropping them off. It just didn't make sense when you consider the motivation for going to Proxima in the first place.
While I had some gripes about the book it was refreshing and while the book fumbled a few basic concepts, it was a captivating book. Just like my last experience with Baxter, it left me in a quandary as I enjoyed the book but there were a few pieces that were missing to make it truly spectacular. It was good but because of a few plot holes and missed connections, I found Proxima to be flawed but fun and worthy of reading, as long as you don't take it too seriously I think you will enjoy it as well. Proxima is out in the US this Tuesday the 4th.
Overall 7.5/10
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