Proxima

Stephen Baxter

Nov 2014 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

“Stephen Baxter has been heralded, with some merit, as Arthur C. Clarke’s literary heir, and Proxima certainly reinforces this accolade in spades.”—Concatenation

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, nor is there the ease of becoming a citizen of an already-tamed world. There is only hardship...loneliness...emptiness, even as war brews in the solar system.

But that’s where Yuri comes in. Because sometimes exploration isn’t voluntary. It must be coerced.

Ratings and reviews

Long on words, short on character, and at an unsatisfying point , like I had waded through the whole book to be told anything interesting wasn't coming until the sequel. Likes to wallow in misery as well. The sci fi might have been interesting, it kept promising to be, but never delivered.

This is one of the most juvenile attempts at science fiction I've read. The characters are poorly developed stereotypes, the plot line is 8th grade, at best. I'll not be buying anymore of this author's books!

The story is interesting ad is the science but the writing was weak and the character development pretty stunted.

About the author

Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. He holds degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University; engineering, from Southampton University; and business administration, from Henley Management College. He’s a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

His first professionally published short story appeared in 1987. He has been a full-time author since 1995 and is currently Vice-President of the British Science Fiction Association.

His science fiction novels have been published in the UK, the US, and in many other countries including Germany, Japan, France. His books have won several awards including the Philip K Dick Award, the John Campbell Memorial Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, the Kurd Lasswitz Award (Germany) and the Seiun Award (Japan) and have been nominated for several others, including the Arthur C Clarke Award, the Hugo Award and Locus awards. He has also published over 100 sf short stories, several of which have won prizes. He can be found at stephen-baxter.com.