2312 (novel)

Novel by Kim Stanley Robinson

2312

First edition

Author| Kim Stanley Robinson
Cover artist| Kirk Benshoff
Language| English
Genre| Science fiction
Publisher| Orbit

Publication date

| May 23, 2012
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardcover and electronic book) and audio-CD
Pages| 576
Awards| Nebula Award for Best Novel
ISBN| 978-0-316-09812-0

2312 is a hard science fiction novel by American writer Kim Stanley Robinson, published in 2012. It is set in the year 2312 when society has spread out across the Solar System. The novel won the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel.[1]

## Plot summary

[edit]

The novel is set in the year 2312, in the great city of Terminator on Mercury, which is built on gigantic tracks in order to constantly stay in the planet's habitable zone near the terminator. Swan Er Hong, an artist and former asteroid terrarium designer, is grieving over the sudden death of her step-grandmother, Alex, who was very influential among the inhabitants of Terminator. After the funeral procession, a conference is held among the family and the close friends of Alex, some of whom Swan has never heard of. This includes Fitz Wahram, a native of the moon Titan, and Jean Genette, a police detective who has been exiled from Mars. Following the conference, Swan decides to head out to Io to visit another friend of Alex's, called Wang, who has designed one of the largest qubes, or quantum computers. While Swan is visiting Wang on Io, an apparent attack of some sort fails. An attack on Terminator shortly follows; a meteorite of artificial origin destroys the city's tracks, stopping the city and exposing it to sun, essentially cooking it. As Swan travels, she learns more of the mystery surrounding her grandmother's death and the destruction of her home-city of Terminator. With Wahram and Genette, Swan travels throughout the Solar System and investigates an escalating series of conspiracies.

Inspector Genette eventually discovers how the artificial meteorite that destroyed Terminator was created: someone launched a large number of smaller objects on trajectories that would eventually cause them to coalesce above Mercury, but low enough that the planet's defense system could not destroy the now large object in time. The complexity of the attack leads Genette to determine that quantum computers must have been used.

Meanwhile, Swan and Wahram become involved in restoring and rewilding the climate-change-ravaged Earth by returning thousands of species from space-based temporary environments to their home environments on the Earth. Swan and Wahram fall in love over the course of the novel, marrying at the end.

## Characters

[edit]

* Swan Er Hong. An artist and former asteroid terrarium designer
* Fitz Wahram. Diplomat from the moon Titan
* Jean Genette. A "small" who was a close friend to Alex
* Alex. Influential and deceased scientist and diplomat. Swan's step-grandmother
* Mqaret. A scientist and Alex's partner
* Kiran. A young Earth boy who saves Swan from some trouble in his slum-like hometown. In thanks, Swan gives him a job off-planet.

## Themes

[edit]

### Science and technology

[edit]

In the world of the novel, the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars are inhabited by humans, as are the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. Humans have a presence or are building a presence on all the inhabitable surfaces within the Solar System (including moons and satellites). Almost all of the Solar System's largest asteroids have been hollowed out to form "terrariums", which include interior artificial environment designed to mimic various biomes found on earth or combinations of different biomes. Some of these serve as animal reserves or farms for endangered or underproduced flora and fauna. Humans take shuttles to these asteroids and use them as transportation around the system. Some of these terraria fail, such as one where a mistake in programming led to the near-destruction of the asteroid, and another where a small crack in the terrarium's ice wall destroyed most of its population.

In the novel, scientific and technological advances, such as human enhancement, settlements on other planets, and terraforming, have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. One major innovation are the qubes, which are quantum computers possessing artificial intelligence, often small enough that the wearer can have one implanted into their head or attached to their person, like one might wear a watch or carry a phone. Digital, as opposed to quantum, AI is still in use but is being supplanted by the smaller and much more powerful qubes.

Capitalism has been replaced by a planned economy described as based on the mondragon concept controlled by the quantum computers, but on Earth there are still remnants of the market system.

### Sex, sexuality and gender

[edit]

Gender and sexuality within this world is fluid and expansive, with the principal categories of gender and sexuality listed to include feminine, masculine, androgynous, ambisexual, bisexual, neuter, eunuch, nonsexual, undifferentiated, gay, lesbian, queer, invert, homosexual, polymorphous, poly, labile, berdache, hijra, and two-spirit.

As part of a lifespan extending process many people exhibit intersex or "gynandromorphous" sex characteristics, including both penises and vaginas.

## Development

[edit]

Robinson has said that the novel began with the idea of a romance between two characters from Mercury and Saturn ("mercurial" and "saturnine" in temperament, respectively), with the broader setting developing later.[2]

Terminator, a city that slowly drives around Mercury to stay out of direct line from the Sun, first appeared in Robinson's earlier novel The Memory of Whiteness,[3] as well as appearing during a brief mention in his Mars Trilogy. Terminator is also briefly mentioned in Robinson's 2015 novel Aurora.

## Reception

[edit]

Critical reception for 2312 has been mixed to positive,[4][5] with Strange Horizons saying that "readers must make up their own minds".[6]

Slate Magazine and the Guardian both reviewed 2312, with Slate praising the book as "brilliant" while the Guardian criticized the book's ending as "contrived".[7][8] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Jeff VanderMeer called the book a "treasured gift to fans of passionate storytelling", writing that the book's "audacity" was an asset.[9] James Nicoll, however, called it a "dreadful" book, in which the "science is so terrible as to be painful to read", and stated that he was "astonished that [it] was not intended as parody".[10]

The book won the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel,[1] was nominated for the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel,[11] was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel[12] and the 2013 Arthur C. Clarke Award,[13] and was honor listed for the 2012 James Tiptree, Jr. Award.[14] It was nominated for the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for science fiction.[15]

## See also

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* Space colonization § Mercury

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "2012 Nebula Award Winners," Locus Magazine, May 18, 2013.
2. ^ Martín, Sara. "A Celebration of Mature Love: Posthuman Sexuality, Gender, and Romance in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312." Science Fiction Studies, vol. 49 no. 3, 2022, p. 459-475. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sfs.2022.0047.
3. ^ Geek's Guide to the Galaxy (June 13, 2012). "Kim Stanley Robinson Sees Humans Colonizing the Solar System in 2312". Wired. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
4. ^ Kaveney, Roz (June 12, 2012). "2312, By Kim Stanley Robinson". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
5. ^ Canavan, Gerry (June 14, 2012). "Struggle Forever". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
6. ^ Yanarella, Ernest J. (June 4, 2012). "2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson". Strange Horizons. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
7. ^ M John Harrison (June 14, 2012). "2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson – review". The Guardian. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
8. ^ Sicha, Choire (June 1, 2012). "What Will Be". Slate. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
9. ^ VanderMeer, Jeff. "Review: Kim Stanley Robinson's '2312' a masterful, moving vision". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
10. ^ Heard It All Before, by James Nicoll, at James Nicoll Reviews; published February 18, 2025; retrieved March 19, 2025
11. ^ Hugo Award Finalists, LoneStarCon, March 31, 2013, archived from the original on February 21, 2012, retrieved April 2, 2013
12. ^ BSFA Shortlist Announced, British Science Fiction Association, January 18, 2013, archived from the original on May 24, 2018, retrieved May 30, 2013
13. ^ 2013 Shortlist, Serendip, April 4, 2013, archived from the original on January 3, 2014, retrieved May 30, 2013
14. ^ Kiernan and Salaam Win Tiptree Awards, Locus Magazine, March 5, 2013, retrieved May 30, 2013
15. ^ "Best Science Fiction 2012 — Goodreads Choice Awards". Goodreads. Retrieved January 10, 2021.

* v
* t
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Kim Stanley Robinson

Bibliography

Novels|

| Standalone novels|

* Icehenge (1984)
* The Memory of Whiteness (1985)
* A Short, Sharp Shock (1990)
* Antarctica (1997)
* The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)
* Galileo's Dream (2009)
* 2312 (2012)
* Shaman (2013)
* Aurora (2015)
* New York 2140 (2017)
* Red Moon (2018)
* The Ministry for the Future (2020)

|

Three Californias|

* The Wild Shore (1984)
* The Gold Coast (1988)
* Pacific Edge (1990)

Mars|

* Red Mars (1992)
* Green Mars (1993)
* Blue Mars (1996)
* The Martians (1999)

Science in the Capital/Green Earth|

* Forty Signs of Rain (2004)
* Fifty Degrees Below (2005)
* Sixty Days and Counting (2007)

Collections|

* The Planet on the Table (1986)
* Escape from Kathmandu (1989)
* Remaking History (1991)
* Vinland the Dream (2001)
* The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (2010)

* v
* t
* e

Nebula Award for Best Novel

1965–1979|

* Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
* Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany / Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1966)
* The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany (1967)
* Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1968)
* The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
* Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)
* A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1971)
* The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972)
* Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
* The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
* The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1975)
* Man Plus by Frederik Pohl (1976)
* Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1977)
* Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1978)
* The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (1979)

1980–1999|

* Timescape by Gregory Benford (1980)
* The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1981)
* No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop (1982)
* Startide Rising by David Brin (1983)
* Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
* Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
* Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986)
* The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1987)
* Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1988)
* The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1989)
* Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (1990)
* Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1991)
* Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1992)
* Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993)
* Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1994)
* The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer (1995)
* Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1996)
* The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre (1997)
* Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman (1998)
* Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler (1999)

2000–2019|

* Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (2000)
* The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro (2001)
* American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2002)
* Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2003)
* Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2004)
* Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2005)
* Seeker by Jack McDevitt (2006)
* The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (2007)
* Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin (2008)
* The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2009)
* Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (2010)
* Among Others by Jo Walton (2011)
* 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (2012)
* Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)
* Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (2014)
* Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015)
* All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (2016)
* The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin (2017)
* The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (2018)
* A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker (2019)

2020–present|

* Network Effect by Martha Wells (2020)
* A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (2021)
* Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R. F. Kuang (2022)
* The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (2023)
* Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (2024)

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