I am a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson’s writing – see my reviews of Aurora and 2312. His habit of pushing the envelope regarding the structures of his novels, as well as his intelligent take on what is going on, and what is likely to happen, makes him required reading. I have included the complete blurb, even the hype which I normally delete, because it makes it clear what this isn’t, as much as what it is. For this isn’t some disaster, post-apocalyptic adventure. It’s far more original and thought-provoking…
BLURB: Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization was simple: To advocate for the world’s future generations and to protect all living creatures, present and future. It soon became known as the Ministry for the Future, and this is its story. From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined.
Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry For The Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us – and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.
It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.
REVIEW: I initially struggled with this near future, cli-fi novel – I’m all too aware of what we’re not doing and where it’s likely to lead. So at times, the first quarter of this hefty tome made for harrowing reading – especially the terrible heatwave in India. Fortunately, Stanley Robinson isn’t interested in depicting apocalyptic outcomes – he’s far more interested in exploring ways Humanity can find ways out of the crisis we’ve boxed ourselves into. And this book, discussing our broken global fiscal system and uncontrolled capitalism, brings into being a Ministry For the Future, headed up by a gutsy lady, Mary Murphy.
She is the main protagonist in this sprawling, multi-viewpoint book that jumps across the globe, looking at a wide variety of possible fixes to sequester carbon, get our global temperatures headed back downwards, repair our eco-systems and rewild swathes of the world. While it doesn’t tip into a horrorfest of a destroyed civilisation, neither is it some wafty, unrealistic take on human nature – the bankers running the world’s finances are all but frog-marched into doing the right thing, for instance.
And if you’re wondering how the above turns into a tight, pacey story the keeps the pages turning – it doesn’t. Stanley Robinson doesn’t subscribe to providing the usual ingredients – while I quite like Mary, she isn’t innately appealing – too driven, self possessed, and frequently angry. But there’s no real overarching narrative, as the story keeps jumping from one scenario to the other and a few sections are just pure self indulgence – nope, I don’t want to read a first-person narrative from anything at a cellular level…
So why didn’t I hurl this one across the room for such nonsense? Partly, because the man can write. The prose is always punchy and readable. But mostly because the ideas he posits for possible fixes just keep coming… and coming… and coming. I’m fervently hoping that right now, there are committees not dissimilar to The Ministry For the Future – with futurists providing all sorts of ideas, scientific, sociological and societal to get us out of the looming climactic and environmental catastrophe we’re heading for. And that Kim Stanley Robinson is a member of at least one of them. Because if we are to get through the rest of this century as a species, we certainly need the kind of encompassing raft of changes Stanley Robinson advocates in this ambitious, thought provoking book. Highly recommended for anyone interested in looking at how to get the world out of the mess we’re in… While I obtained an arc of The Ministry For the Future via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10
efreshingly short and to the point… As you may have gathered, this is a generational ship adventure in the closing stages of its long, long journey. I was impressed at the strength of the characterisation of the main protagonist, Freya, who is the daughter of the main engineer striving to keep Aurora, their ship, in one piece long enough for the arrival at Tau Ceti. Roberson writes on the harder side of science fiction, so there is a fair amount of technical detail regarding keeping the ship and all the systems running. I found a lot of the problems thrown up by trying to keep a small biome running really fascinating – of course, this is fiction rather than science, but many of the issues Robinson raises did sound scarily plausible.
This edition was produced by Bantam in July 1999. First the good news. I like the eye-catching font, which works well in giving a clue as to the genre. But other than that, I think the artwork is dreary with a muddy colour palette – not what I associate with a snowscape. And I thoroughly dislike the chatty textbox in the middle of the cover – why isn’t that on the back cover, where it belongs? Overall, this is a lacklustre, charmless effort – this interesting, memorable book deserves better.
Published in September 1999 by Voyager, this is a definite improvement on the previous effort. Again, I really like the punchy font with the 3-D effect and the artwork is far more satisfactory than the previous effort, clearly indicating the futuristic timescale. This one is so nearly my favourite…
This edition, published by Voyager, is my favourite. That might have something to do with the fact that this is the cover of the edition that I’d read and thoroughly enjoyed. It’s something of a surprise that I like this one so much, given my general dislike of textboxes and most of this cover features the two chunky textboxes, with the artwork almost an afterthought. However, I really like the frosted effect on the textboxes that give this cover a bright, icy feel missing from most of the offerings.
This Finnish edition, produced by Otava, also has a nifty title font. I really like the way it is reflected in the icy foreground, though I am underwhelmed by the author font which looks odd tucked away in a thin strip across the top of the cover. The colours are far more appropriate for a snowscape – that cold blue and the white foreground works well.
This French edition, published by Presses de la Cité, is a rather lack-lustre affair. The picture of a random series of ice floes, with a font slapped across the front, looks like someone’s effort with Adobe Photoshop, I think. Which is your favourite?
books of Agatha Christie
down the face, at about the same rate of speed, so that she is both hanging there and flying along; that moment is astonishing, she is still laughing at it when the wave tips more vertically and she slides abruptly down to its bottom and plows into the flat water that is not the wave, the wave catches her as it breaks, flips her in a somersault that shoots water up her nose and into her throat and lungs, she gags but is still in the tumble of the broken wave, she can’t get to the surface, doesn’t even know which way is up, bumps the bottom and finds out, shoves upward, bursts through the surface of hissing bubbles and gasps in, chokes, coughs, snorts, breathes cleanly in, gasps in and out a few breaths, starts to laugh. The whole event has lasted about five seconds, maybe.
China’s Lunar Science Foundation. But hours after his arrival he witnesses a murder and is forced into hiding. It is also the first visit for celebrity travel reporter Ta Shu. He has contacts and influence, but he too will find that the moon can be a perilous place for any traveler. Finally, there is Chan Qi. She is the daughter of the Minister of Finance, and without doubt a person of interest to those in power. She is on the moon for reasons of her own, but when she attempts to return to China, in secret, the events that unfold will change everything – on the moon, and on Earth.
The death, quite suddenly, of Sir Charles Baskerville in mysterious circumstances is the trigger for one of the most extraordinary cases ever to challenge the brilliant analytical mind of Sherlock Holmes. As rumours of a legendary hound said to haunt the Baskerville family circulate, Holmes and Watson are asked to ensure the protection of Sir Charles’ only heir, Sir Henry – who has travelled all the way from America to reside at Baskerville Hall in Devon. And it is there, in an isolated mansion surrounded by mile after mile of wild moor, that Holmes and Watson come face to face with a terrifying evil that reaches out from centuries past . . .
friend Jude to come along. Although they haven’t met for twenty years, Jude is not surprised to find that St Clair hasn’t changed, with his towering ego and somewhat shaky relationship with the truth. What Jude hadn’t been suspecting however was that the evening would end in sudden, violent death. More worrying, from Jude’s point of view, is the fact that the investigating police officers seem to be convinced that she herself was responsible for the crime. With the evidence stacking up against her, Jude enlists the help of her neighbour Carole not just to solve the murder but to prevent herself from being arrested for committing it.
Brainfluff 