Written largely from the viewpoint of Freya, daughter of the ship's current chief engineer, Devi, the novel starts in the final deceleration phase of the multi-generational voyage to Aurora, a habitable moon of the "nearby" star, Tau Ceti. While her mother nurtures the ship's AI to deal with the ecological difficulties of the journey, Freya's early life is occupied by the traditions and culture that have risen up to cope with its parallel sociological pressures. Arriving at Aurora is an exhilarating - if alien - experience, with the first batch of colonists having to adjust to its empty beauty and challenging climate. However, Aurora is not as lifeless or as habitable as it appears, and a prion-like disease quickly kills these pioneers, forcing Freya and her remaining fellow travellers to reconsider their plans. After an acrimonious and violent dispute, quelled by the AI, they split into Remainers and Returners, with Freya choosing to return to an Earth she has never known. But the ship's ecological problems continue to mount, forcing an emergency adoption of new cryogenic technology from Earth to hibernate its crew. On the long journey back, the AI keeps a careful watch, reflects on the voyage, and plans for a complex reentry to the solar system, largely unassisted by a disinterested Earth. The novel closes with Freya, having survived the return voyage, adjusting to the rest of her life on Earth, with its boundless sky and ocean.
While not a sequel in a straightforward, continuity way, Aurora's story of interstellar colonisation aligns with KSR's Mars trilogy and Icehenge novels which, while not following this path, clearly allude to it. In these other novels, the venture appears as pioneering, future-facing endeavour, but Aurora instead explores the hubris of the idea, and the consequences faced by those caught up in it.
Overall, while I enjoyed completing and reflecting on Aurora, it's a long and occasionally frustrating read. Freya can be annoying, and I was actually quite furious with her when, after the (admittedly crushing) setback on Aurora, she decided to give up and return to Earth. At that point, which is a fair way into the novel, I wanted to know more about the new solar system, and not just head back to Earth, which, in any case, had already lost interest in the colonists. However, KSR's choice to have her return really makes the novel. It takes it from a detailed tale of the technology and challenges of travel and arrival, and adds a consideration of the motivation of the voyage's instigators, and their lack of consideration of the lives of those consigned to live out their pipe dreams. It also brings the ship's AI to the fore, as it picks up the narrative for almost all of the return journey. Easily my favourite character in the whole book, it was a joy to read its thoughts on the endeavour, and I was gutted by its heroic end ensuring that its human charges are safely delivered to Earth (its self-sacrifice softened by its knowledge of a job well done).
