Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

2312

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 2,402 ratings · 597 reviews

The Hugo and Nebula nominated and New York Times bestselling novel.
The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to...more

Hardcover, 561 pages

Published May 22nd 2012 by Orbit (first published February 1st 2012)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Win a Copy of This Book

2312
by Kim Stanley Robinson

Release date: Jun 25, 2013

Two men who hate each other. One impossible mission. A legend in the making.

Hadrian Blackwater, a warrior with nothing to fight for is paired with Roy…more

Enter to win

Giveaway dates: Jun 06 - Jun 25, 2013

10 copies available, 397 people requesting

Countries available: US

View details »

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Sword and Laser Sci-Fi list

14th out of 263 books — 720 voters

Science Fiction & Fantasy Titles for 2012!

41st out of 561 books — 1,270 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 17, 2013 BG Josh rated it 1 of 5 stars

So at 65% I finally just kicked this pig and stopped reading. This book is objectively terrible. The story is foolish and non existent, no one involved is sympathetic or even slightly interesting. The main character actually gets her way by threatening to scream, at one point. I was constantly reminded of the twilight books.

The world is goodish, unless you have ever read any other trans humanist books.

The only people I can recommend this book to are extreme liberals. Unwashed hippies, reeking o...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 17, 2013 Graham Crawford rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It has an extremely interesting structure that verges on the allegorical. There's an alchemical marriage of Mercury and Saturn, The dynamic of old and emerging structures embedded in the present, three prose styles,- all very clever. A duet of Swan and Frog.

The lovers spin like Pluto and Charon, around the two plot Lagrange points of an endless walk beneath the surface of Mercury, and waiting to be rescued in the blackness of space- two p...more

12 likes · like · see review

Aug 10, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

2/3 of the way through this one. Not as good as some of his previous works so far. Could do without the "lists" and other iterations, and some of the fragmented partial commentaries from fictitious future reference works. The usual KSR weirdness abounds, particularly his love of unconventional and experimental social arrangements (he truly is the contemporary science fiction author most like Robert Heinlein in this regard). This is yet another book about colonizing and/or terraforming planets in...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 14, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read maybe one sci-fi book a year. My barrier to entry is generally the writing itself. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I find that most contemporary sci-fi books - as with most "genre" books - tend to be poorly written, sacrificing craft in favor of the fascinating worlds, etc that they present. So, it's always a pleasant surprise when I encounter a work of sci-fi that's also really well written because I am a bit of a futurist at heart and love to delve into these worlds. (It's not for nothing that S...more I read maybe one sci-fi book a year. My barrier to entry is generally the writing itself. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I find that most contemporary sci-fi books - as with most "genre" books - tend to be poorly written, sacrificing craft in favor of the fascinating worlds, etc that they present. So, it's always a pleasant surprise when I encounter a work of sci-fi that's also really well written because I am a bit of a futurist at heart and love to delve into these worlds. (It's not for nothing that Star Trek: The Next Generation was my favorite show as a kid.) I'm happy to say 2312 is such a work. Kim Stanley Robinson is perhaps most famous for his Mars trilogy, and from what I gather this book is typical of his earlier style. I haven't read the Mars trilogy, so I can't speak from personal experience. However, after 2312 I'm definitely intrigued.

It's difficult to summarize this book because it's really more a history of a possible future than a traditional novel. Sure, there's a main character and a central conflict, but so much of the book deals with the meta factors of life in space cohabiting with technology that it does the book a disservice to say it's simply the story of Swan Er Hong. Swan is Mercurial - in both the sense that she's prone to sudden mood shifts and that she's from the planet Mercury (there are a lot of little puns like that throughout) - and when we first meet her she's mourning the recent death of her grandmother. The plot picks up from there with Swan getting tangled up in a type of solar system manhunt/mystery. But, 2312 isn't a mystery, not really anyway. For one thing, the action scenes are few and far between and when they do arrive they're over before you even notice. No, the focus here is most definitely on exploring the time and place. Curiously enough, the strongest narrative voice here speaks from an even more distant future so that while reading one gets the dizzying sense of looking back on a time that for one reading today hasn't yet occurred. An interesting technique, but I could see how some might consider it gimmicky.

The greatest weakness here is also the novel's greatest strength. While the world building is fascinating it can at times drag on. It's worth enduring, however, as some of the most beautiful passages depict things never seen by human eyes: sunsets that last for 16 "days" on the moons of Saturn; clear aquarium "terrariums" floating in the nothingness of space; etc. Again, from what I gather, this is typical of Robinson's work, so if you're okay with that you shouldn't have any reservations about diving in. If this is the only sci-fi book I read this year, I'm glad it was such an enjoyable experience.(less)

20 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2012 Liviu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012_release_read, genre-sf, read_2012, review_fbc

2312 is actually quite interesting about 100 pages in, I just wish the author's style would me more on my taste; this way it is like reading a very dry proof but of a very interesting result so while I derive little emotional pleasure, it's intellectually satisfying; let's hope that continues as otherwise as fiction I would have no reason to continue with 2312 and i really wish to finish it.

I finished 2312 and overall I wouldn't call it disappointing as I did not expect that much from it, but I...more 2312 is actually quite interesting about 100 pages in, I just wish the author's style would me more on my taste; this way it is like reading a very dry proof but of a very interesting result so while I derive little emotional pleasure, it's intellectually satisfying; let's hope that continues as otherwise as fiction I would have no reason to continue with 2312 and i really wish to finish it.

I finished 2312 and overall I wouldn't call it disappointing as I did not expect that much from it, but I wish the author would write better prose as the book is full of interesting ideas; that however is not enough as the novel is utterly lifeless and it reads like a play on an empty stage where characters rush along and try to engage the spectators in an imagination game (see, now I am traveling to Earth, now I am on Mercury, now we are in a spaceship...) while a constant flow of information rolls in the background...

In other words, the book has no "external reality" and the main characters read like paper constructs than actual living human beings

Here is a little more coherent take on the above as done on FBC:

There are a lot of detailed and raving reviews out there about 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson and I can appreciate them intellectually, but for me the "writing magic" that makes a book more than a collection of words without special meaning beyond the dictionary one, mostly lacks here.

I wouldn't call the novel disappointing as I did not expect that much from it considering my past experience with the author's style, but I wish the author would write better prose as the book is full of interesting ideas. That however is not enough as the novel is utterly lifeless and it reads like a play on an empty stage where characters rush along and try to engage the spectators in an imagination game: see, now I am traveling to Earth, now I am on Mercury, now we are in a spaceship, while a constant flow of information rolls in the background... In other words 2312 reminded me strongly of the TV play adaptions where characters talk and talk and describe action happening to them, though we actually have to imagine it, rather then see it...That's fine if the actors are great, but here as mentioned we have just a string of words...

So overall, 2312 has no "external reality" and the main characters read like paper constructs than actual living human beings and the book is most liekly the last I will ever attempt from the author as if one of the most interesting subjects possible for me (solar system space opera) and the book reads lifeless, there is no point in wasting time again.
(less)

7 likes · like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Hard SF fans and agents-provocateurs

Recommended to Alan by: (A lot of) previous work, and io9's best-of-2012 list

The title of Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312 immediately brought to my mind Arthur C. Clarke and 2001 A Space Odyssey. Like Clarke's best work, 2312 is a big science fiction novel in a very traditional mode, easily one of the most thought-provoking sf novels I've read in awhile.

Swan Er Hong is a Mercurian, an artist and a sunwalker who lives on the planet Mercury in Terminator, the grand domed city which travels around the diminutive first planet on rails, elegantly powered by the heat of the sun it...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 25, 2012 Steve Callear rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book with exception to the plot. Robinson created an amazingly detailed world that I really could imagine as a possible future.

Good characters as well but, some were really under developed. Alex, yes she was dead but, we never learn about any of her personality, except that she was loved and highly regarded by many. She was supposed to be the hero/motivating factor for the main character Swan, yet we never know what type of person she was except that she was basically the matriarch for me...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 23, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 2012, space-opera, mystery

In many ways, this is much more of a love story than anything else. Boy meets girl, even.

This does take place in the same universe as the Mars Trilogy, but you don't need to have read them to appreciate this book, other than perhaps knowing that longevity treatments were developed then, allowing humans to live 150+ years.

The people, the spacers, in this book are almost far removed from us as a different species. They almost resemble the Culture from Iain M. Banks's books. The spacers are very he...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2013 Christiana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-scifi

This is a beast of a book. There are literally substantial excerpts from futuristic encyclopedias to read, along with multiple sections of quantum walks (aka stream of consciousness writing from the perspective of a quantum computer). They are artistic and informative and mind-bending and challenging and as much fun to read as this sentence.

Also, the plot line is meandering. We spend large amounts of time in certain sections that are expounded and drawn out almost like meditations, and then int...more This is a beast of a book. There are literally substantial excerpts from futuristic encyclopedias to read, along with multiple sections of quantum walks (aka stream of consciousness writing from the perspective of a quantum computer). They are artistic and informative and mind-bending and challenging and as much fun to read as this sentence.

Also, the plot line is meandering. We spend large amounts of time in certain sections that are expounded and drawn out almost like meditations, and then intense action sequences are glossed over. It sort of has the effect of giving the reader the same effect as the character; most of life is mundane, and the intense action moments happen so fast. Also, much of it is deconstructed and doesn't seem connected. the plot line is not clean and perfectly arched. However, it leaves me with lots of questions and curiosities. I especially wanted to know more of Kiran's story and experience. He was much more interesting, and it seems like he would have been a more fun main character. Though fun doesn't seem to be the point of this book.

I gave the book five stars because of the amazing world that is created. It is filled with possibilities, and each planet has its unique politics, technological problems, etc. The world is less Star Trek and more what I would picture could actually happen, in terms of how I would expect people to act and structure themselves when settling new planets.

There are also constant philosophical undertones, from Warham's iteratives, to the drawings that people made in the black dust on one Saturnian moon (was it sacrilegious, artistic, or just human?), to my favorite parts about the various ships that are sent out into the great unknown, never to return. I love how they express and show how far away everything is.

Swan and Warham's relationship is interesting and alive. They are believable, flawed characters. I could have done with less description of sex throughout the book though, if for no other reason than that there is so much else I want to know about this universe! (less)

like · see review

May 29, 2013 Carl rated it 3 of 5 stars

It is the 24th century. Human beings have spread all over the Solar System the same way that bacteria would spread if they had space ships, as another sci-fi author put it. Mars has been terraformed, Venus is being worked on, various moons are inhabited, there is even a clever city on Mercury. Thousands of asteroids have been hollowed out to make little worldlets of endless variety.

But a great deal of the human race has been transformed by biological engineering into side-show freaks, like the f...more

like · see review

Apr 30, 2013 Gene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an odd one. I loved Robinson's earlier Mars trilogy (Red Mars,Blue Mars, and Green Mars), and 2312 is set in the same science fiction landscape, although now most of our solar system's planets have been colonized to greater or lesser degrees, and most are undergoing some process of terraforming. Which is all fascinating. The characters are difficult and interesting, too. The plot is slim but fine (if a bit familiar from Blade Runner and Battlestar Galactica, among other sources). So I sh...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 30, 2013 Anne Charnock rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: art-in-novels, arthur-c-clarke-2013

I have to admit that I haven’t read Kim Stanley Robinson’s fiction before and on the strength of 2312 I’ll read his Mars Trilogy, which established him as a big hitter, with a literary bent, in the realm of hard SF.

Truth is, I don’t really gravitate to otherworld science fiction. I suppose because I’m mainly interested in social science fiction I’ve tended towards Earth-based scenarios. I’m now thinking I should reconsider this bias.

The main protagonist in 2312 is Mercury-born Swan Er Hong, a we...more I have to admit that I haven’t read Kim Stanley Robinson’s fiction before and on the strength of 2312 I’ll read his Mars Trilogy, which established him as a big hitter, with a literary bent, in the realm of hard SF.

Truth is, I don’t really gravitate to otherworld science fiction. I suppose because I’m mainly interested in social science fiction I’ve tended towards Earth-based scenarios. I’m now thinking I should reconsider this bias.

The main protagonist in 2312 is Mercury-born Swan Er Hong, a well-regarded designer of artificial worlds created in burrowed-out and terraformed asteroids. Of all Earth’s mammals, 92% are endangered and they mostly live in these off-planet asteroids, which conveniently double as interplanetary transport systems and food producers. Swan has shifted her career to landscape art with some performance art thrown in. I really dislike how Robinson gives generic terms for art installations (goldsworthies and abramovics) based on two current artists – Andy Goldsworthy and Marina Abramovic.

But putting that aside, Robinson has written a humungous book and it’s set, time-wise, at a point in human history when the balance of power is shifting from Earth to Venus and the big moons. I always like a novel that’s sited at a cusp. And the action kicks in when the city of Terminator on Mercury is destroyed. Swan is distraught at the loss of her home and joins forces with Inspector Jean Genette to investigate the catastrophe, which has shocked Earth and all the colonies. This disaster comes shortly after the death of Swan’s grandmother, Alex, who leaves secret messages for Swan to deliver to Earth and Venus. It seems Alex, aged 191 years at her death, was the linchpin of a conspiracy spanning the Solar System.

So what’s happening back home? Well, Earth is almost ice-free; sea levels are 11metres higher. Manhattan is the new Venice.

"No, Earth was a mess, a sad place. And yet still the centre of the story. It had to be dealt with, As Alex had always said, or nothing done in space was real."

And here’s Swan back on Earth:

"She moved into the sun whenever she could. That was the direct radiation of Sol, slamming into her naked skin. It was amazing to stand in the light of the sun without dying of it. This was the only place in the solar system where that could happen…"

Robinson has a terrific imagination and presents a range of worlds where gender is blurred and where individuals can chose to have brain implants – qubes – and all manner of add-ons. Swan is particularly addicted to these add-ons including one allowing her to trill bird-song. But I found her qube, named Pauline, quite irritating (as did Swan, for that matter).

I was surprised that Robinson left it quite late (20% into the ebook) to give a specific description of Swan, through the eyes of another character, Kirwan. By this point I already had a picture of Swan in my mind.

Robinson alternates chapters with short lists and extracts, a reasonable solution to the problem of giving readers the back story to the novel. I looked forward to these brief interludes and they helped to make the length of the book a bit more digestible. In parts, the novel is rambling, with lengthy and sometimes repetitive dialogue. But 2312 takes you on a fascinating journey all the same.(less)

like · see review

Apr 17, 2013 Chris Lemon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Who knows what the future has in store for us? Kim Stanley Robinson seems to have some good guesses in his latest novel, 2312. Already fairly well known for his realistic portrayal of the colonization of Mars in his Mars Trilogy, Robinson takes many of the ideas he developed in other books and spreads them across a broader canvass. 2312 is a look forward into what the solar system might look like in three hundred years. Is it fantastical or grounded in reality?

I must admit to being quite impress...more Who knows what the future has in store for us? Kim Stanley Robinson seems to have some good guesses in his latest novel, 2312. Already fairly well known for his realistic portrayal of the colonization of Mars in his Mars Trilogy, Robinson takes many of the ideas he developed in other books and spreads them across a broader canvass. 2312 is a look forward into what the solar system might look like in three hundred years. Is it fantastical or grounded in reality?

I must admit to being quite impressed with the universe Robinson has created. He certainly has a gift for creating realistic and believable worlds, as he has already proven in his previous novels. Generally, his settings have been confined to one planet, but in 2312 he hops his characters across nearly every colonizable planet and moon in the solar system. The result is a myriad of interesting and creative worlds, which are certainly the novel’s strongest assets.

Earth has become fallen apart by the twenty fourth century. Global warming has melted most of the ice caps and populations have scurried inland to avoid the rising waters. Unemployment is at an all-time high and without food shipments arriving from off world, Earth would starve. Thankfully, the rest of the solar system isn’t so depressing. In particular, Mercury really steals the show. Its population lives on a mobile city that is constantly outrunning the sunrise. Sun worshippers venture out into day light in special suits. The whole planet is wonderfully described and thought out. And that’s just one part of the solar system. Other stand outs include the terrariums, asteroids that have been turned into nature preserves.

Unfortunately, the plot fails to carry its own weight. While there are some interesting parts here and there, the overarching plot doesn’t really have a lot of substance to it. It seems to have just enough driving force to propel the characters across the solar system so that Robinson can showcase the incredible worlds he has created. The ending in particular is dealt with rapidly and fails to give any real satisfaction to the reader. Robinson also likes to jump forward in time without properly explaining how much time has elapsed. This leaves the reader feeling a bit disconcerted when a new chapter starts.

Robinson has created a few interesting characters, namely Swan (the protagonist) and Wahram (her companion for most of the novel). Their relationship is well paced and believable. Alas, the rest of the characters are two dimensional and underdeveloped. The writing, while technically solid, has a tendency to obscure important details in the middle of long paragraphs, meaning a careless reader might be left in the dark once in a while.

Ultimately, it’s an enjoyable novel. While the plot doesn’t hold up, the universe in which it is set is incredibly interesting and for that reason alone, the novel is worth a read. I, for one, hope that Mr. Robinson returns to this setting, because there is much left for a literary tourist to see. Anyone with a vivid imagination will find a lot to chew on.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 16, 2013 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

My first impression of this novel is that the author could use a good editor, or needs to take up short-form poetry to sharpen his descriptive skills. Much of the book is repetitive and does little to propel the narrative or bolster the main themes.

And yet...I haven't read a book in decades that reminds me of the best long-form science fiction of the Silver Age ('60's and '70's) like this book does. Robinson looks forward to an era when humans have populated and terraformed Mars, Venus, and the...more My first impression of this novel is that the author could use a good editor, or needs to take up short-form poetry to sharpen his descriptive skills. Much of the book is repetitive and does little to propel the narrative or bolster the main themes.

And yet...I haven't read a book in decades that reminds me of the best long-form science fiction of the Silver Age ('60's and '70's) like this book does. Robinson looks forward to an era when humans have populated and terraformed Mars, Venus, and the moons of Saturn, when space-flight within our solar system is common, and human lifespans have more than doubled. And, of course, the main theme of the novel is not just whether humanity can grow up as it grows outward, but what will humanity become--what will being "human" mean--when people can incorporate genes from animal species and alien bacteria into their bodies, and even implant quantum computers into their brains.

In one passage that falls in the center of the book, Robinson riffs on the similarity between a linked group of quantum computers and the human brain. He asks: "if you program a purpose into a computer program, does that constitute its will? Does it have free will, if a programmer programmed its purpose? Is that programming any different from the way we are programmed by our genes and brains? Is a programmed will a servile will? Is human will a servile will? And is not the servile will the home and source of all feelings of defilement, infection, transgression, and rage?...could a quantum computer program itself?"

The difference, of course, is that humans "programming" themselves with their own brains is how we might define "free will." But Robinson nicely illustrates that our free will is limited by physical externalities: our physical bodies, the environment around us, the society in which we live, and the deceptively remote influence of historical forces.

And so this big, sprawling work brings us back around to a question that lies at the heart of most American fiction: how self-reliant and self-actualized do you really need to be? In the end, don't you need other people--a connection to human society--as much or even more than your personal, individual freedom?

For that, the book is worth the time it takes to read all of its 560 pages. And Robinson does provide many beautiful descriptive passages like this one of Titan, the terraformed moon of Saturn: "True sunlight and mirrored sunlight crossed to make the landscape shadowless, or faintly double-shadowed--strange to Swan's eye, unreal-looking, like a stage set in a theater so vast the walls were not visible. Gibbous Saturn flew through the clouds above, its edge-on rings like a white flaw cracking that part of the sky." I just wish the book were as condensed and strking as this lively passage.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Science fiction - or at least, the smarter end of it - quietly surrendered the stars over the past decade or two. Space is just too fucking big. There's this for starters: http://www.distancetomars.com And despite the extraordinary rate at which exoplanets are being discovered, all the planets we've actually seen up close have turned out to be, well, a bit dull. It seems likely we can invent interesting worlds rather more easily than we could ever get to any that might be out there.

So - the sol...more Science fiction - or at least, the smarter end of it - quietly surrendered the stars over the past decade or two. Space is just too fucking big. There's this for starters: http://www.distancetomars.com And despite the extraordinary rate at which exoplanets are being discovered, all the planets we've actually seen up close have turned out to be, well, a bit dull. It seems likely we can invent interesting worlds rather more easily than we could ever get to any that might be out there.

So - the solar system is the new galaxy. And 2312, like a lot of recent sf (Jack Glass, In the Mouth of the Whale, etc) is set in a fairly typical example of this consensus future. Robinson deftly juggles the usual near future tropes: O'Neilled asteroids, bubble habitats, subspeciated humanity, rogue AI, genderbendering, etc - though frequently spinning a new gloss on them. And he revisits some locales from earlier work, eg. the great city of Terminator, trundling on rails across the surface of Mercury, forever fleeing sunrise. It's a pretty attractive future, one you wouldn't mind ending up in.

So what's different? Well, Robinson is a much better stylist than most in the field. He has a measured, spare tone which only very occasionally feels twee. There are some astonishing, beautiful sequences. Unfortunately in 2312 the writing is slightly spoiled by intermittent "experimental" passages. The same problem blighted Brin's recent Existence (another future solar system). In both, these passages are unsuccessful: jarring and a little embarrassing. I wonder what's going on here. Do the sf old guard, faced with a tide of self publishing rising more quickly even than other genres, feel the need to up their game somehow? Become more "authorly"?

Robinson can also be rather didactic. Unusually, he deals with the "Earth problem" without resorting to wiping out the existing population with a convenient plague, asteroid or alien invasion. But boy, he doesn't half lecture us along the way.

By contrast, he deals well with the topic of extended longevity. There's a leisurely pace to events in the book and to the way that his characters interact which feels very plausible. He doesn't explicitly talk about this, it simply informs the whole shape of the novel in a subdued way.

As for the actual plot: basically it's a love story, with a terrorist subplot thrown in to keep momentum going. There's a very finely drawn relationship here, much better than is usual in sf (though to be fair, it's not really what sf is about), between sensible, phlegmatic Wahram and impetuous, borderline-bonkers Swan. It did leave me wondering if Robinson has a thing for "difficult" women. Hopefully he's just channelling some younger experience. Bit depressing to think that you might live to be 130 years old or whatever Wahram is without growing out of that sort of thing.

(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2013 Nancy Brisson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some of the best science fiction literature has combined social commentary with spirituality to create futures that attempt to resolve the mistakes humans made in their past. Great sci-fi books like The Foundation Trilogy and the Dune books don’t come along every day. I count Kim Stanley Robinson among the great sci-fi authors and I find his commentary about Earth’s future as germane as any of the other great writers who combine their love of science with their love of fiction.

Mr. Robinson’s boo...more Some of the best science fiction literature has combined social commentary with spirituality to create futures that attempt to resolve the mistakes humans made in their past. Great sci-fi books like The Foundation Trilogy and the Dune books don’t come along every day. I count Kim Stanley Robinson among the great sci-fi authors and I find his commentary about Earth’s future as germane as any of the other great writers who combine their love of science with their love of fiction.

Mr. Robinson’s book 2312 builds on the vision that he gave us in his Mars trilogy. We find in 2312 a fully terraformed Mars with a well-established and reliable system of space elevators which has allowed humans to transform the solar system. Space “artists” have staked claims on asteroids and comets and have hollowed them out and turned them into terraria representing diverse biomes from Earth in order to preserve species that would have been wiped out as the poles melted on Earth and flooded the coastlines. Although many millions of humans have died, humans still populate the Earth in huge numbers. Many plants and most animals were impacted to the point of extinction, however. The “spacers” love their new planets but they also love the beleaguered Earth and hope to help Earth evolve. Right now Earth is, however, “the sad planet”. Spacers have found that they live longer if they return to Earth periodically so they find that these sabbaticals from space keep them involved in the fate of Earth.

Kim Stanley Robinson knows his cutting edge science and his interests embrace all of the sciences from physics to astronomy to biology to microbiology and more. In 2312 he gives us an entertaining dose of future science and pop culture in a story that includes both a mystery and a romance as his spacers continue to populate planets and moons all over the solar system, each new colony presenting its own problems that have to be addressed in order to make the environment livable. We already find people whose bodies have been evolved to match the conditions in their new celestial home. We have “smalls” and “talls”, we have “mercurials”, “titans”, and “saturnians”. We have citizens of the increasingly separate space colonies who have spent their entire lives on an asteroid or traveling among the terraria in space, except for their sabbaticals on Earth.

In terms of sexuality, Mr. Robinson gives us new choices that relegate the arguments about rights for LGBT’s to the bush leagues, but spacers are not fazed by sexual differences for the most part, however we may quail at some of the descriptions of futuristic sexual behavior. “[P]rincipal categories of self-image for gender include feminine, masculine, androgynous, gynandromorphous, hermaphroditic, ambisexual, bisexual, intersex, neuter, eunuch, nonsexual, undifferentiated, gay, lesbian, queer, homosexual, polymorphous, poly, labile, berdache, hijra, two-spirit” (pg. 205) “Deal with it,” the spacers say.

Kim Robinson really knows his planets. When he creates a colony on a planet or a moon we become chauvinistic citizens of that world and we travel out to see our favorite aspects of that world’s topography; its mountains, its vistas, its craters, and, always, its access to the sun or at least an artificial construct that resembles the sun. So he creates a Mercury colony named Terminator that can only exist in a bubble and that must slide on rails that limit it to a dawn view of the sun, but which never allow the city to be exposed to the actual light of day as that would fry the city. Mars is, at this time the only planet besides Earth with a breathable atmosphere although other settlements are working on this. Space suits are still very important and spacers don them whenever they travel to inhospitable spaces just as we would don winter clothing to go skiing. Mr. Robinson makes each of the space colonies he describes majestic in its own way so that we are on a tour of the wonders of the solar system as we pursue our mystery and our romance.

Swan Er Hong is a Mercurian born in the Terminator colony on Mercury. She has a bold personality which has led her to sample many of the most experimental delights of life that are available to a spacer in this newly expanded world. She is an artist who has expressed her art both in the terraria and on the landscape of Mercury. She is a Sunwalker, who walks across the surface of Mercury following the rising sun, never being caught out once the sun is risen. She takes chances and lingers until the absolute last second when a vantage point is too beautiful to leave.

Swan has just lost her grandmother, Alex, and it is a both a sad experience and a growth experience. Alex has been involved in system-wide politics and she was in the midst of a project. She was a very popular figure with lots of collegial friendships. What exactly was she involved in? Will Swan get involved in Alex’s project? What exactly is Alex’s project? These answers come slowly and are part of the mystery that Swan gets involved in with Inspector Genette and the Titan, Wahram. Part of the mystery involves qubes or machines that use artificial intelligence. Swan, our fearless cultural experimenter, has a qube named Pauline implanted in her head. She can turn her qube on and off but no one is sure if the off switch really works. Qubes seem to be “evolving” and no one is sure why. Solving this mystery takes us all over the solar system and as we follow the mystery we also follow a love story.

Wahram is a Titan, a frog man with a deep croaky voice and eyes slightly buggy. He is a calm man, a music lover, and a lover of order. He could not be more different from Swan if he was created to be her opposite. Wahram was part of Alex’s team and is also involved in the mystery that surrounds the “qube evolution”. Wahram and Swan keep getting thrown together in situations where they must rely on each other for survival, or situations where they are sort of working together. They are attracted to each other but 2312 is not a future in which couples thrive. They are each over 100 years old and it looks like they may have quite a bit of time left as spacers really do “live long and prosper”. It seems unlikely that they will stay together but, even so, we feel their attraction for each other and we get to enjoy their very bizarre “courtship”. You know I cannot tell you if there is satisfying a solution to the mystery or if Swan and Wahram are able to forge a lasting relationship without spoiling everything. It appears that the events of 2312 are against good outcomes for either of these story lines. However, as you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed living in 2312. I didn’t want to leave and I am no spacer.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 18, 2013 Leons rated it 4 of 5 stars

2132 is a sprawling solar system opera. In some ways it’s amazing that KSR’s managed to pack so much into a single novel, and in others it would have been preferable had he spread the material out over a trilogy. There are three viewpoint characters, which is not enough when you’re telling an epic at this scale. There ends up being a lot of fastforward and summaries of things that happened where the characters weren’t while the characters were busy elsewhere.

The setting is similar to his Mars bo...more

like · see review

Mar 12, 2013 D.L. Morrese rated it 3 of 5 stars

The world building in this novel is good. It is highly detailed, imaginative, and futuristically strange.

The charters are also well constructed. These are not like people of today who just happen to be living in the future with a bunch of high-tech gizmos. They have different attitudes, beliefs, tastes, and concerns. Many are physically different in strange and interesting ways. They are not us. They are our descendants, about as different from us as we are from Homo erectus—in some ways, more s...more The world building in this novel is good. It is highly detailed, imaginative, and futuristically strange.

The charters are also well constructed. These are not like people of today who just happen to be living in the future with a bunch of high-tech gizmos. They have different attitudes, beliefs, tastes, and concerns. Many are physically different in strange and interesting ways. They are not us. They are our descendants, about as different from us as we are from Homo erectus—in some ways, more so.

As science fiction, this book succeeds where many fail. It presents a fictional future that really seems futuristic. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed the book much, though.

The reason little to do with the futuristic setting, although I could not quite understand how any of the grand projects it mentions were being funded. But economics aside, it is the plot—or lack thereof that bothered me the most.

This 561 page tome shows us lovely and, I assume, scientifically reasonable views from various locations in space, sometimes in exhausting detail. It describes various interesting methods of terraforming and of creating habitable environments in space, but what it does mostly is document the existential wanderings of the main character, Swan Er Hong.

She (for lack of a better pronoun) is certainly an interesting character. We get to know her quite well, or as well as anyone can, but she’s not likeable. In fact, she should come with a warning label that says something like ‘Caution! Approach at Your Own Risk.’ Even in this strange world of the future, she’s a nut job, and her erratic behavior and self-absorbed musings become annoying in short order.

I appreciate the skill of a writer who can create a fictional character that can evoke an emotion in a reader, but I don’t think annoyance is the emotion one should probably be shooting for. That’s really the only one I personally felt for Swan, and her romance with a man (again, gender designation is only an approximation) she describes as looking like a toad is, at best, hard to imagine. I could believe that someone might find her interesting, maybe even fascinating, but I couldn’t understand how anyone could consider a long-term romantic relationship with her. It would take a special kind of masochist to do that, and toad-man wasn’t presented as such.

There was an effort at a plot stemming from a power play on Venus and even a bit of mystery about almost sentient androids, but it felt like these were tacked on almost as an afterthought in order to justify the lengthy account of Swan’s dysfunctional emotional journey.

Despite the excellent description of a believable future that this book provides, it’s not an enjoyable story. I can’t recommend it.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 04, 2013 Jon Stout rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: futurists and fabulists

Shelves: scifi

2312, three hundred years hence, is the most future of Kim Stanley Robinson’s alternate-history, scientifically realistic books. It’s lots of fun, more speculative than the others, yet gritty with pseudo-scientific extracts and trendy pop cultural detail. The action takes place across the solar system, although one always has the exuberant, upbeat feel of California hippie culture and outdoorsy ecotopia.

The central conceit is a love affair between a mercurial ecological artist from Mercury and...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 27, 2013 Paul Adams rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kim Stanley Robinson already has an impressive pedigree when it comes to the topics of climate change and colonisation of other planets. His Science In The Capital and Mars trilogies have gathered well-deserved acclaim and earned him a reputation of one of the best modern exponents of serious, hard sci-fi. In 2312 he tackles both of these subjects simultaneously in a sprawling epic which takes us to the farthest reaches of the solar system while stalking the corridors of political intrigue.

Set a...more

like · see review

Feb 20, 2013 Shoshana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, apocalyptic, lit-fic, science-fiction

I was afraid for a long time that all the literary crap in this book was covering up what was really an overdone, boring plot.

It turned out not to be true - the plot is cool - but the plot only inhabits about 100 pages of this monster 6 or 7 hundred pager of a capital-N Novel.

Really, Kim Stanley Robinson, did we need random-ish, unfathomable "lists" between each chapter? Actually, I can answer that for you. No.

And really, Kim Stanley Robinson, did you have to format your very cool, forgivably in...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Pam Frost Gorder rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction

"Complex characters populate a realistic future"

Kim Stanley Robinson excels especially at two things: creating plausible science-fiction futures, and populating his stories with characters who are at once deeply flawed and highly sympathetic.

The first he accomplishes by working with scientists, a long list of whom he thanks at the end of the audiobook. He weaves together science and technology with social, political, and economic aspects of our current society to create a very solid and multi-di...more "Complex characters populate a realistic future"

Kim Stanley Robinson excels especially at two things: creating plausible science-fiction futures, and populating his stories with characters who are at once deeply flawed and highly sympathetic.

The first he accomplishes by working with scientists, a long list of whom he thanks at the end of the audiobook. He weaves together science and technology with social, political, and economic aspects of our current society to create a very solid and multi-dimensional model of a possible future -- one where humans have filled every habitable nook and cranny in the solar system.

Humans must depend on technology to live in space, and Robinson portrays several instances where technology goes awry or is vulnerable to attack, and uses these moments to highlight the fragility of life to touching effect. The same holds true during his depictions of life on post-climate-change Earth. There are moments of peace and beauty, and also danger.

The main characters, Swan and Wahram, are so realistic in their flaws as to be frustrating at times -- just as real people can be frustrating. Readers will undoubtedly connect with Swan, even if they don't always agree with her or approve of her actions. Fans of Robinson's Mars series, meanwhile, will see shades of Frank, Maya, and even Hiroko in the characters of 2312.

As to the narration, Sarah Zimmerman does a remarkable job, considering that Robinson's sentence structure is truly complex. There are portions of the book that give only snippets of a historical text (as if someone were skimming a document), and others that simply list concepts or offer a character's train of thought, and reading these out loud in an understandable way must have been very difficult. Yet she made these passages easy enough to follow.

Finally, though 2312 leaves some of the plot points open-ended (thus making a sequel possible, though it's my understanding that there won't be one), it resolves the other aspects of the plot in satisfying ways. At the end is a lengthy denouement that makes the characters' long struggles worthwhile.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 27, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

2312 is the latest entry in the Kim Stanley Robinson universe spawned in "Red Mars" and continued through "The Martians." Being beyond even the super extended lives of the cross-book protagonists of previous volumes, we are introduced to an entirely new cast of characters. These center primarily on Swan Er Hong, granddaughter and heir to the latest and recently deceased Lion of Mercury. Primarily an artist and carefree spirit who previously worked on the many terrariums which now orbit the sun,...more 2312 is the latest entry in the Kim Stanley Robinson universe spawned in "Red Mars" and continued through "The Martians." Being beyond even the super extended lives of the cross-book protagonists of previous volumes, we are introduced to an entirely new cast of characters. These center primarily on Swan Er Hong, granddaughter and heir to the latest and recently deceased Lion of Mercury. Primarily an artist and carefree spirit who previously worked on the many terrariums which now orbit the sun, Swan is reluctantly drawn into the intrigues of her late grandmother. This small group of individuals, carefully avoiding the normal communications net, has begun to amass evidence of a conspiracy against the Mondragon (the very loose trading alignment of ex-colonies beyond Earth). Details are sketchy, but it appears to be connected to a highly unauthorized and highly dangerous number of agents who appear to be human, but are actually creations of and repositories for intelligent AI's -- the same kind of AI's that run so much of the day to day existence of humans across the solar system. Linked unexplained attacks on a terrarium and on Swan's home city of Terminator bring home the humanity's vulnerability and hone the group's desperation to unmask the conspiracy before larger havoc is wrought.

The many characters both major and minor slowly piece together this three dimensional puzzle, taking us literally from asteroids inside the orbit of Mercury to the frozen fields of Titan where even here, humanity is working epically to terraform a home. And, of course, much of the problem is connected to Earth. It's an Earth where the promise of reform and openness hinted at a century ago (@end of Blue Mars) has yet to be realized; an ecologically devastated homeworld groaning under it's teeming billions and 10 meter sea level rise.

There are flaws with this book - the economics of the solar system are still quite fuzzy, as are some of the particulars of the technologies and terraforming. Worse still, I don't actually *like* many of the characters featured - least of all the main protagonist - but she merely super-exemplifies the petulant, bohemian, self-absorbed, trans-gendered, labor-phobic extra-terrestrial humans that largely populate Stanley's 24th century. Lastly, the plot meanders often, taking more than a few detours and dead ends through duller spots.

Having said all that, the book is still marvelously engaging. Robinson shows us the "accelerando" from the end of the last trilogy here in full bloom: asteroid terrariums, hollowed out and spinning for gravity, each one a self contained biosphere and society ranging from the mundane to the exotic. Many of these terrariums are doing dual duty as travelling conduits between the various ex-colony worlds scattered from Mercury to the moons of Neptune, which are themselves exceedingly diverse and fascinating in their detail. Even Venus at last is being changed to habitable under dueling and simultaneous terraforming strategies (fast and friendly enough to get more people off the Earth quicker, or slower and more drastically/thoroughly to make a more Earth-like planet). It is perhaps only because the settings become so vivid that I find myself wanting to know more of the hows and whys and thus finding a few loose ends.

All in all, anyone who either enjoyed Robinson's 'Mars' trilogy, or appreciates SF where an author creates a vivid and different universe for their characters to inhabit should enjoy the book.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 25, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

I had to force myself to read this book, enough pages a day to finish it in a week. This was not unexpected; Robinson's Mars books were a similar chore and, as with them, I knew it would be worthwhile. And the later part of the book went faster.

2312 has a lot of elements: world building (with all the history), a detective story with action and danger, characters with a love story, political/environmental intrigue, and a possible singularity in AI. They all fit together well and come to a somewh...more I had to force myself to read this book, enough pages a day to finish it in a week. This was not unexpected; Robinson's Mars books were a similar chore and, as with them, I knew it would be worthwhile. And the later part of the book went faster.

2312 has a lot of elements: world building (with all the history), a detective story with action and danger, characters with a love story, political/environmental intrigue, and a possible singularity in AI. They all fit together well and come to a somewhat satisfying conclusion, though I felt a bit let down by the resolutions of the detective and love stories--both more conventional than innovative.

Of course, there is plenty of innovation. The moving city on Mercury, on tracks, always running at the brink of sunrise, which would melt it. The protagonist, Swan, who still acts like a hormonal teenager well into her second century (she's from Mercury, mercuriual, get it?). The diversity of human forms, in size, shape, and especially gender--there are very few old-fashioned males and females. (I would have liked to read more about the smalls, about a meter tall and very nice looking, including Inspector Jean Genette and much--most?--of his forces.) The hollowing out of asteroids for habitats, and the preservation of Earth's extinct organisms and habitats in them, as well as development of new ones. Terraforming and other ways of living on planets and moons. The method used for the destruction wrought by the villains. The exciting space surfing on tidal interplanetary (intermoon?) ice.

But it's all so serious, so intellectual, so complicated. I did not like all the references to the eighteenth through twentieth century. Because eighteenth century music is considered classical music two or three centuries later does not mean it still will be three centuries hence; I think it's more likely that it will be eclipsed by later work. Same with philosophy and other disciplines. Maybe I'm just anti-intellectual. The author is writing for today's readers, and of course all the future stuff is allegorical to some extent, and of course he's allowed to reference things that seem relevant to him. But it jars me and makes me less able to suspend disbelief and engage with the characters in the future. Which, well, I never did particularly like or believe any of them. Maybe Swan, if you write off her immaturity to her brain modifications and the aliens she ate.(less)

like · see review

Dec 15, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

What a mixed bag this book is!

Robinson is often preachy and his character dialogue often seems arranged "just so" in order to convey some Robinsonian moral.

There was also too much neat arranging of circumstance. An entire subplot, returned to periodically, exists for the sake of a ridiculous deus ex machina moment at the end. Many of the major strands of the plot seem just as clearly arranged.

The tunnel sequence is probably both the best and worst part of the book.

The extracts and the lists, tho...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Trip Maus rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. The two main characters are strong and empathetic, and every page has at least one startling image or idea. I didn't like his last couple of books very much, but I really enjoyed this book thoroughly.

Here's an excerpt from a far-superior writer's review:

2312
By KIM STANLEY ROBINSON
Reviewed by Paul Di Filippo

"The sun is always just about to rise."

So begins 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson's gloriously real, demi-far-future, Solar-centric space opera. It's something of a radical depa...more

like · see review

Sep 19, 2012 Paper Droids rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book’s main character, Swan Er Hong, was once a world designer, and she designed many of the asteroid worlds that dot the solar system. But for now she lives on Terminator, the main settlement on Mercury, which runs on a set of tracks to perpetually keep it away from the scorching rays of the sun. She has been there since the beginning of that city’s founding, and her grandmother was even the defacto mayor of the planet. But she has recently died, under rather mysterious circumstances, and S...more

like · see review

Sep 08, 2012 Chad Peterman rated it 1 of 5 stars

I tried to read this book. I really tried. But after fighting to get halfway through this book without even being able to figure out what the plot was, I gave up.

I had read a lot of positive reviews for this book, so I decided to give it a read. Now I wonder if these reviewers read the same book I tried to read. The plot, at least up to the point where I gave up, hadn't progressed (in fact, I don't even know what the plot was). And I really wasn't invested in the characters.

Now this book did hav...more

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 28, 2012 Alice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Alice by: Lockhart Steele

Shelves: sf

I don't read much hard SF, but this book certainly fulfilled my desire for world-building, because it is virtually all world-building (a LOT of worlds) and not much interesting plot. In 2312, the entire solar system has been colonized by humans, terraforming everything from asteroids to the rings of Saturn. Each of these little worlds-- and many of the crafts that flit between them-- has a specific and particular environment and social system, and Robinson takes a great deal of time explaining t...more

like · see review

Aug 04, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Choire Sicha's review of this book for Slate posited a split between science fiction books where something happens and those where nothing happens, and said this book falls on the side of the latter. I'm not sure I agree-- there are two attempts to destroy all life on two separate planets, for example, one mostly successful and one only foiled at great cost to.... stuff. But it's true that between these events, there are these quiet lulls where in a more predictably plotted work, there'd be othe...more Choire Sicha's review of this book for Slate posited a split between science fiction books where something happens and those where nothing happens, and said this book falls on the side of the latter. I'm not sure I agree-- there are two attempts to destroy all life on two separate planets, for example, one mostly successful and one only foiled at great cost to.... stuff. But it's true that between these events, there are these quiet lulls where in a more predictably plotted work, there'd be other elements connecting one to the other. I disagree with Sicha that there's not much happening here by design; I think it's a fault of the book that it's interested in bookending things with these action set pieces but doesn't seem all that interested in doing the work to set them up.

That said, there is so much else happening here, on the level of language, character, and world-building that picking on kind of underdeveloped plotting seems unfair. This book is structurally really interesting, alternating sections of narrative with either "Extracts" (kind of like wiki entries, or maybe more academic writing about some aspect of the culture-- history, sexuality, science) or "Lists" which are just what they seem, so you'll get a list of place names on Mercury or mood disorders or whatever, arranged kind of like a poem, and sometimes or at least on occasion, arranged for sonic effect. There are also occasional, though less frequent, "Quantum Walks," which are kind of like stream of consciousness for andriods. It's intriguing, to me at least, how Robinson strips the expository dialogue out of what usually really hobbles some other science fiction and sort of segregates it, but also draws attention to its status as text and therefore its potential for manipulation. In other words, this is smart and sophisticated and bookish stuff. I wanted to say Bravo, because I think it really works.

The novel poses a whole bunch of interesting thematic questions, but the big one is what does it means to be human-- this reflects on the AI characters in the book, but also on subject-object Swan, who is either Nick Carraway or Daisy Buchanan, depending on which eye you've got closed. I mean, the novel at least implies that it is her humanity that make Swan kind of hard to get along with. I really liked this, thought it was bold of Robinson to let her be kind of as asshole, but still totally worthy of love from other-character Wahram.

I liked, too, a lot of the small touches: though it's never overdone, there are subtle differences in the way the thoughts of different characters sound-- so Inspector Jean Genette, for example, appears in sections that maybe aren't fully hardboiled but definitely evoke, say, Maigret novels.

There's a lot of sex here, which I think is good news about the future, though maybe not good enough to counteract all the other terrible things we'll do to ourselves in the 300 years this novel imagines as water under and over the bridge. (less)

2 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
abduction	1	7	Jun 14, 2013 09:18am
Sci-fi and Heroic...: 2012 Nebula Awards Winners announced	19	62	May 20, 2013 04:28pm
Undead & UnRe...: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson	3	15	Mar 12, 2013 10:12am
Who-Weird: Science fiction	1	2	Dec 04, 2012 03:31am

combine
Other Editions (8)

More editions...

Genres

Science Fiction

292 users

Science Fiction > Space Opera

17 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

16 users

Speculative Fiction

15 users

Fantasy

14 users

Adult

5 users

Novels

5 users

Mystery

4 users

Politics

4 users

Science Fiction > Dystopia

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Intrusion
by Ken MacLeod
Existence
by David Brin
Blue Remembered Earth
by Alastair Reynolds
Arctic Rising
by Tobias S. Buckell
The Hydrogen Sonata
by Iain M. Banks

About Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer, probably best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy.

His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the 15 years of research and lifelong fascination with Mars which culminated in his most famous work. He has, due to his...more

More about Kim Stanley Robinson...

Books by Kim Stanley Robinson

Forty Signs of Rain (Science in the Capitol, #1)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About 2312

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from 2312

“We are here to inscribe ourselves on the universe, and it is not inappropriate to remind ourselves of this when blank slates are given us.” — 4 people liked it

“The command to be free is a double bind” — 3 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: 2312
avg rating	preview: 2312 Goodreads rating: 3.39 (2402 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11830394-2312?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1334784013l/11830394.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11830394-2312?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson[/url]

2312

Win a Copy of This Book

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website