Kim Stanley Robinson is probably my favorite living author; I don’t think anyone does setting and worldbuilding better than he does, yet his stories are largely character-driven.

Here’s my favorites of his that I’ve read:

  • Aurora, where a generation ship is on it’s way to Tau Ceti
  • The Years of Rice and Salt, an alt-history where most of Europe perishes in a great plague in the 14th century
  • Shaman, a fictional narrative about the people who painted Chauvet Cave

I love how his stories are about being optimistic in times where that’s a hard thing to be. I like the focus on environmentalism and the sublime (Ministry for the Future is basically a solarpunk novel). He mostly writes hard sci-fi, which is my favorite genre, but also spins off into history and philosophy like in Galileo’s Dream.

I think most people know his writing from his Red/Green/Blue Mars series, which I love, but he’s done so much more than that.

So what’s your favorite of his books?

  • dkppunk@lemmy.world
    0·
    12 days ago

    Red Mars, but not for the reason you are asking.

    My mom bought the paperback edition for me when I was 9 years old, when I was first started reading sci-fi books (thank you Animorphs for that intro). It was my first real “adult book” and it’s been knocking around in my collection for 32 years, moved with me across the US, and various other moves. It’s probably the one book that has been in my collection the longest. I didn’t read it until I was in my early 30s and I enjoyed it. I read Green Mars too, but I need to finish the trilogy.

    I am interested in his Ministry of the Future book and I’ll read it at some point.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      11 days ago

      The first few chapters of Ministry are one of the hardest things you will ever read in your life, but the rest of the book will slowly lift you up out of that dark place and give you a spark of real and genuine hope for the future.

    • k48r@lemmy.world
      0·
      12 days ago

      He tends toward extreme optimism about humanity which can be a nice change from constant doom but also rings hollow and feels trite sometimes, depending on my mood.

        • gazter@aussie.zone
          1·
          11 days ago

          There’s a section in the Mars trilogy where several pages are given over to describing how a farm is laid out, with the wind coming over this rise and hitting this rock, which means a little pool of moisture forms in this particular spot, making a little ridge in the soil that shelters a bit of grass. Oh and someone blew up a space station with a missile.