Aurora
Kim Stanley Robinson (Little, Brown)
*****
Book fiend
“Science” and “fiction” are stretched to their limits in this huge novel of ideas, interstellar outreach and human relations. The first half tells of the flight of some 2000 humans in their great starship to attempt a settlement on the moon Aurora. The main narrator for much of the story is the ship’s chief computer: a dry, techno-driven voice but one which becomes increasingly “human”. The second half deals with what goes wrong and the soul-shaking events that follow. The novel is epic in every way, stunningly imaginative, yet strangely intimate as well. A towering achievement.
- David Pike @pikedavey
Heartbreaker
Tania Carver (Sphere)
***
Book thrill
British women authors have a reputation for writing gory, excellent thrillers — and Martyn Waites joins them with a series of bloody crime novels under the pen name Tania Carver. Heartbreaker is the seventh in the series featuring DI Phil Brennan and his estranged criminal-psychologist wife, Marina Esposito. Abused women are abducted en route to the Safe Haven shelter, tortured and their hearts removed. With an ambitious female constable acting as bait, the police catch the killer — who turns out to be exactly whom most people suspected from the start. An enjoyable but unsurprising read.
- Aubrey Paton
The Seed Collectors
Scarlett Thomas (Canongate)
****
Book buff
The author of The End of Mr Why delivers another contemplative yet readable novel. This time her metaphysical and philosophical flick-flacks are toned down. It’s centred on the Gardener family, who are named after plants — Ash, Holly, Briony, Plum, Fleur — about 20 characters in all. There’s a useful family tree at the beginning of the book which one can look at to remind oneself of who is who. This eccentric, dysfunctional, middle class family has to deal with the death of their matriarch, Aunt Oleander. She has bequeathed them all a seed of what could be the plant that decades ago may have killed three members of the family. What’s revealed are tangled and thorny family secrets.
- Jennifer Platt @Jenniferdplatt
Paradise City
Elizabeth Day (Bloomsbury)
Book buff
***
In this tale set in London, Day shows that no matter who you are, you are susceptible to emotional harm and pain. But it’s a difficult book to get into as the author introduces too many characters who are sort of interesting but who do random things — why would a wealthy man masturbate in front of a hotel maid? — thereby failing to get into the marrow of loss. Howard, a self-made billionaire whose only daughter is missing, fails to deal with this loss. He lives a strange life that crosses paths with a Ugandan lesbian emigrant named Beatrice, who is hoping her girlfriend will show up one day at the appointed place. And then there’s Carol, who has lost her husband. Their stories intertwine and we are made to believe that they are healed.
- Kgebetli Moele
Book details
- Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
EAN: 9780356500478
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- Heartbreaker by Tania Carver
EAN: 9780751557886
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- The Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas
EAN: 9781847679215
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- Paradise City by Elizabeth Day
EAN: 9781408855003
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