A three-year flight to Proxima Centauri. So we will be traveling faster than the speed of light in the 22nd century? Does the writer realize this or not? (Proxima Centauri is over four light-years away. Also it is a red dwarf, and one prone to flares, which I would think would mean it wasn't a likely place to find a convenient second Earth.)
To be fair to Baxter, the science seems reasonably robust - Proxima Centauri's flares are a key plot point, and there is a scientific school of thought that suggests that tidally-locked Earth-like planets (which is exactly what his invented planet is) might be possible around red dwarfs.
The lightspeed issue is slightly hand-waved away - there's a new fuel thing they've found on Mercury which nobody understands but which conveniently lets ships go really, really fast.
This sounds like one to avoid, yep.
The lightspeed issue is slightly hand-waved away - there's a new fuel thing they've found on Mercury which nobody understands but which conveniently lets ships go really, really fast.