Aurora (Kim Stanley Robinson)

This is a massive, richly detailed, comprehensive science fiction story with an almost anti-SF theme. It begins on a generation ship that's almost reached its target planet, Aurora, which has enough similarities to Earth that it seems a likely place for humans to create a viable colony.. The ship is fascinating, a character in its own right, and the people living aboard are a complex set of people with a wide range of motivations and perspectives. Robinson does a great job representing the ethnic diversity of humanity in this miniature world. Of course, people face a spiraling series of cascading technological challenges before the story finally ends. The final scenes are as warm and uplifting as one could want, but the overall message is far from encouraging. This book does not flinch from the really hard challenges of life in space, and does not gloss them over with an ad astra! (to the stars!) optimism. There is also a deep and thoughtful consideration of questions relating to artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness.