Science fiction review: Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312. - Slate Magazine:
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Illustration by Dan Zettwoch for Slate |
A very few writers can at length sustain both the nothingness where characters, where lives, happen and also the tech and thrill where adventure occurs. Iain M. Banks, yes, almost always. And then there's Kim Stanley Robinson, whose new novel, 2312, is his boldest trip into all of the marvelous SF genres—ethnography, future shock, screed against capitalism, road to earth—and all of the ways to thrill and be thrilled. 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.
I'm going to re-read it before writing up a review of my own, but I couldn't resist posting this one because it captures the same enthusiasm and reverence for Stan's talents I share.