Book of the Week

Ark by Stephen Baxter
Recommended by Ryan Ko

In Ark, an inescapable, global flood wipes over this earth, taking entire civilisations and people with it. Billions of people begin migrating towards higher ground, climate refugees known as ‘eye-dees’, sparking global chaos as governments battle for mountain territory and begin to look to alternatives for their future.

LaRei is a community of the world’s richest - together, they create three separate ‘Arks’, each a self-sustaining vessel in itself designed to carry the people inhabiting it to another destination. Ark One has one mission: to carry eighty ‘Candidates’ to another planet outside of this solar system so that they can continue the human race there.

The Candidates, many children of the LaRei members, grow up in intensive training programmes, fighting to be part of that 80 and aiming to prepare them to be able to sustain themselves for over a decade trapped in the Ark, headed for Earth II. They are sheltered from the horrors of the outside world, only ever coming into contact with reality when the eye-dees revolt in a bid to take money, resources and fuel from their training centres.

In 2041, the Ark takes off for Jupiter, where it collects radioactive antimatter for fuel to create a warp bubble which allows the ship to travel light years to another solar system. While collecting antimatter, they are also able to decide their destination, something not possible on Earth I as they simply didn’t have the telescope capacity to do so.

However, when they approach Earth II, one thing is certain - although it is similar to Earth I inhabiting it will be impossible. Therefore they make a decision to split the ship into three: one headed back to earth and led by the overthrown leader Kelly, one determined to land on Earth II after more than a decade cooped up in the Ark, and one set on staying another 30 years in the ship moving towards a possible Earth III.

The narrative divides to focus on the third; the crew face endless challenges, especially when one of their shuttles is lost in a coup, meaning that not everyone can make it down to Earth III.
The novel embodies science-fiction, referring to hypothesised and theoretical technology in this current century. However, Ark offers a shocking possible future due to the impacts of climate change. With rising sea levels and climate migration happening right now, the novel gives insight to what could be in this world if climate denial in our governments isn’t conquered and if sustainable action isn’t taken.