Yuri Eden, a man literally out of his time, finds
himself on a ship bound for the third planet from red
dwarf star Proxima. He and thirteen others are slated to
go to the planet's surface to colonize the planet, as one
of a dozen splinter groups. This colonization effort is
not voluntary on any side of the equation, but all the
same it has to be done if humanity is ever to survive in
the stars. Mardina Jones is an astronaut forced to the
planet by her comrades after a riot. She has no desire to
be there, but her faith in her organization is solid.
Stef Kalinski is a scientist back on Earth whose father
launched one of the most controversial programs in all of
space flight history. One trip to Mercury and a
mysterious door called "the Hatch" later, she finds
herself with a sister she never knew she had. With the
threat of interplanetary warfare looming, these three
find themselves fighting for something much bigger than
the people involved: Proxima and her future colonies.
Steven Baxter's PROXIMA starts off very slow but
picks up toward the middle of the book. In the first half
there are many branching pathways and points of view, but
it never stays on one long enough to really invest
oneself in the story. The narrative jumps from one person
to another, often without any inside insight or
commentary. I couldn't bring myself to care about the
main characters except for Yuri, and he only drew me
because he was Obviously The Hero. I knew when the story
picked up it would be with Yuri, and I was completely
correct. Around the time his daughter is born, I start
feeling for this guy. Once you get some inside
information, some personal details, the character of Yuri
Eden becomes easily the best part of the book. He is
dynamic, clever, and just a touch bitter, what you'd
expect from a man who had been cryogenically frozen for
decades.
Another great part of the book is the ColU. He
might not have been intended as comic relief but he is by
far the funniest thing in the novel. He is a robot, a
scientific advancement with curiosity and an almost
parody-quality amount of sass. ColU stays with us from
the moment he's introduced to the final chapters of the
novel, so you'll never miss him and you'll never want to.
ColU is a great addition to the world of PROXIMA and the
technology. While Yuri is by far the best part of
PROXIMA, I absolutely love the technical world building:
space flight, cryogenic freezing, artificial
intelligence, hologram programs. It all speaks to me and
I really love what Baxter has done with his world. While
some things are quite uncomfortable and somewhat
confusing (the focus on international politics was
somewhat bothersome in particular) I love the idea that
humanity spreads out in the stars. Really good sci-fi has
the ability to immerse you in the world even if you're
not that fond of the characters. PROXIMA does that, it
gives you the beauty of space exploration in spades
without so much science that it's easy to get lost.
On the whole, PROXIMA is a great book. It does
start slowly but after a while you will love it. Yuri
Eden, Stef Kalinski, the beautiful world building, and
the wonderful tech make this a really great novel. If you
read this for nothing else, read it for Yuri and ColU. If
you are looking for gentle sci-fi with a pretty intense
set of circumstances, PROXIMA might be the one for you.
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....
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