Customer Reviews

Aurora: A Child of Two Worlds

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Well-known for his artwork, non-fiction space and art related books, Dave has achieved another long-standing ambition with the publication of Aurora from Cosmos Books.

It starts in the Blitz one night over London or maybe not... depending on how you look at it. The main story is written in three sections: 1940, 1970's and and the near-future of 2018 with another underlying story thread.

It deals with the attempt of a doomed civilisation to save humanity from its own mistakes as well as the uncontrollable external forces of a careless universe. If the attempts are successful then those who initiate the rescue will never know of the success for it will either change history so they never existed or cause a new branch of the timeline and possibly bring a happier, parallel Earth into existence. Dave neatly sidesteps the how and why of time travel by the simple expedient of pointing out that it makes absolutely no difference to the originators of the attempt to change history... they either continue as they are if time branches or they never exist if history changes.

In the Blitz, a few lives change to no effect but a new life is started to great effect while the 70's will bring fond memories to those of us who were old enough to appreciate the times. The near future brings hope for the space exploration aficionado with a real Martian exploration attempt... and some amazing discoveries.

Dave has produced an entertaining first novel with an interesting slant on a traditional SF theme combined with some serious ethical and moral views and questions together with some well-rounded characters that involve the reader in their lives. If it has any flaw then maybe he is a little too expositional in a couple of places.

I just finished reading AURORA, & I must say I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I have been a science fiction fan for over 50 years, but recently have found very little science fiction I thought was worth reading. AURORA is the first Sci-fi novel I have read in a very long time that I thought had an original plot - and one that I did not guess the outcome by the end of the first chapter.

This book is also relatively "hard" science fiction, meaning it obeys the basic laws of science (with one possible exception), & the author does not cheat in his plotline by using magic or some other nonsense to get his characters out of their problems. I was especially impressed with the vivid descriptions at the beginning of the book, of London during the Blitz, as the author's word-pictures reminded me of the master of all word-pictures - Ray Bradbury. His main character, Aurora, also comes truly to life as he paints her image & character in words. The author, David A. Hardy, is a highly-respected long time British space artist, with the book's cover being a piece of his own artwork. In fact, the cover was one factor that convinced me to buy his book.

Aurora is just a good old-fashioned story; not one loaded down with political-correctness as seems to plague much of today's Sci-Fi novels. The characters are interesting, with straight-forward personalities, & the book is an easy-read, meaning not full of convoluted plot-twists & secondary characters that are incidental to the story. I will give no summary of the story, which would certainly spoil the ending, so you will just have to read it on your own.

This is a wonderful book that just wouldn't let me put it down. Beautiful imagery, a great story well told. As with all good stories the characters came vividly to life particularly Aurora herself who is portrayed with a deep sensitivity.Mr Hardy obviously has a deep insight into the science and apperarance of our universe and I have no reservations about recomending this novel to anyone.