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Quintaglios:
Far-Seer
Fossil Hunter
Foreigner

Analog Science Fiction and Fact: "Robert J. Sawyer has a way of taking familiar ideas, looking at them from new angles and in greater depth than almost anybody before him, and tying them together to create extraordinarily fresh and thought-provoking stories."

Bakka Books: "Sawyer returns us to the Science Fiction of ideas and does so with a clarity of prose seldom seen these days."

Barnes and Noble: "Robert J. Sawyer consistently makes intelligent, mind-blowing science fiction accessible to the mainstream reader with his efficient, easy-flowing prose, his exciting ideas, and his superior character development."

Booklist: "Sawyer has a gift for casting jarringly original ideas in lucid, sharp-edged prose that mainstream-fiction as well as sf readers should appreciate."

Booklist (again): "Sawyer not only has an irresistibly engaging narrative voice but also a gift for confronting thorny philosophical conundrums. At every opportunity, he forces his readers to think while holding their attention with ingenious premises and superlative craftsmanship."

Books in Canada: "A sense of wonder that hasn't prevailed in American SF since the days of Heinlein."

The Canadian Encyclopedia: "Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas; he prefers the label `philosophical fiction.' His mission statement for his writing is `To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic.'"

The Canadian Press: "Sawyer is a literary debunker of pseudo-science."

The Canadian Press (again): "Science-fiction author Robert Sawyer takes his science seriously. If he writes about it, it has either already happened or is theoretically possible given current scientific knowledge. Sawyer's novels are always part science and part philosophical exercise, raising questions of morality and ethics in the future that resonate in the present."

Orson Scott Card: "Sawyer writes with near-Asimovian clarity, with energy and drive, with such grace that his writing becomes invisible as the story comes to life in your mind."

Cinescape: "There's something special about Robert J. Sawyer's novels. You just can't put them down. Sawyer's novels are not, by any means whatsoever, 'beach reads.' On the contrary, they usually deal with pretty heady stuff: the conflict between science and religion, race relations, the biological factors behind behavior, etc. And yet, even though some deep thought is going on, the books are still simple, old fashioned page turners. The kind of books that keep you up at night, promising yourself you'll 'only read one more chapter,' then finishing that chapter and deciding to 'only do one more, for real this time.'"

The Denver Post (Denver, Colorado): "Sawyer writes books with truly original ideas. He is adept at presenting novel scientific possibilities that resonate with the lives of his characters."

The Davis Enterprise (Davis, California): "Whenever I hear the adage that science fiction one day will become science fact, I think of Sawyer's novels. He explores the hard science behind some of our most sought-after advances, and he also discusses what they'll do to our psyches and morals."

Prof. Paul Fayter (York University): "Sawyer is recognized internationally for his liberal humanity, his stimulating ideas, and his deft and sensitive characterization."

The Financial Post (Toronto): "Sawyer is preoccupied with momentous SF issues, albeit filtered through a modern lens."

The Gainesville Sun (Florida): "Sawyer is a brilliant stylist who depicts daily-life events with a shattered world view."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto): "What sets Sawyer's work apart is the rigour of his research, the shapeliness of his arguments, and the plausibility of his predictions and extrapolations."

Terence M. Green: "Robert J. Sawyer is a master at tackling the Fascinating Big Idea, shaking it, twisting it, and then extrapolating it into all its myriad tributaries. If you want a vision bigger than yours, bigger than your neighbor's, read Sawyer, sit back in wonder and pleasure, and enjoy the ride."

James Gunn: "Sawyer's work is sophisticated in SF terms because it displays an awareness of everything that has gone before while building engaging new scenarios with believable characters."

The Halifax Mail-Star: "Sawyer's novels — intelligent, literate, and immensely readable explorations of the biggest ideas there are — prove that science fiction is now literature."

LabLit.com: "If this doesn't sound like your father's science fiction, it isn't. Sawyer's novels are thought-provoking, literate, erudite and often thrilling. They manage to appeal to both the heart and the mind. Those are considerable accomplishments, and not something your average adolescent-aimed space opera or even Crichton-esque thriller can hope to achieve. This is lab lit writ large and executed with style."

Mystery News: "Sawyer is on a par with giants like Asimov and Heinlein — and, perhaps more than any other science-fiction writer working today, he understands that it's a genre about ideas."

New Scientist: "[Sawyer's work is] scientifically plausible, fictionally intriguing and ethically important."

The Ottawa Citizen: "The hallmarks of a Sawyer novel are the sheer fun and big ideas of the Golden Age of Science Fiction combined with modern, literate, flesh-and-blood characterization."

John Robert Colombo in The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature: "Sawyer binds together concerns about technology and compelling storylines in masterful ways."

Clifford A. Pickover: "Sawyer's books — always rich in science, action, and profound thinking — never fail to surprise, delight, and cause us to transcend our ordinary thinking. I've read Crichton, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, King, and Koontz — and Sawyer outdoes them all."

Publishers Weekly: "Sawyer's writing vies for timelessness by plumbing eternal philosophical and ethical questions, albeit in a futuristic setting."

Quill & Quire: "A polished, exciting writer. Sawyer writes with the scientific panache and grandeur of Arthur C. Clarke [and] the human touch of Isaac Asimov."

Quill & Quire (again): "Sawyer's strength as a science-fiction writer is the way he can synthesize complex scientific ideas in an accessible manner and extract philosophical meaning from them."

Quill & Quire (again): "A blurb on the jacket of Hominids, the latest novel from Robert J. Sawyer, suggests that he be considered 'Canada's answer to Michael Crichton.' Talk about damning with faint praise. While the financial implications of the comparison are attractive, Sawyer utterly outstrips Crichton with the richness of his imagination, the breadth of his research, and his skills as a writer."

Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado): "Here are a few of the things I like about Robert Sawyer: His novels are fast moving and tightly constructed; his characters are developed so that I care what happens to them; the science in his science fiction is intrinsic to the plot but not so arcane that readers have to be nuclear physicists to understand it; and he doesn't imitate others or himself."

Robert J. Sawyer, quoted in a cover-story profile in Quill & Quire, May 2007: "My job is to carve away the jargon and leave behind the awe."

Science Fiction Quarterly: "Sawyer's novels tend to address directly contemporary issues, and though he never shies away from controversy, his approach is never less than evenhanded."

Science Fiction Weekly: "Over the past decade, Robert Sawyer has developed into one of science fiction's most reliable authors, producing a long series of superior novels. His books generally feature compelling plots and likable characters in believable near-future venues, with interesting new technologies and engaging themes about what it means to be human, all written in prose of near-Asimovian clarity."

SciFi Dimensions: "Robert Sawyer's novels have always been accessible tales that deal equally with ideas and characters."

SFFaudio: "Sawyer is a fantastic structural writer, a craftsman capable of laying out the ideas in just the right order. We get meaty philosophical thought experiments and thus pure HARD SF."

SFFaudio (again): "Sawyer uses science fiction to create circumstances that make us readers think about important ideas in different ways and from different perspectives. That's exactly the kind of science fiction I love to read, and why I'll keep coming back to Robert J. Sawyer for more."

SFRA Review: "Sawyer writes sharp, clear, seemingly effortless prose."

SF Site: "When it comes to blending cutting-edge science with complex philosophical ruminations, there are few authors more talented than Robert J. Sawyer. Sawyer is one of those rare SF authors who is able to approach complex scientific concepts and humanize them with believable characters, rich dialogue and all too real moral and philosophical dilemmas. Sawyer's work is a rich, intelligent and entertaining form of contemporary literature."

SF Site (again): "Sawyer is one of a handful of Science Fiction authors working in the field today who is able to blend together a myriad of philosophical, moral, and even legal concepts, with futuristic extrapolations based on real scientific principles. In essence Sawyer's writing does what the very best Hard Science Fiction should do: it uses complex technological concepts to show us what it means to be human. In short, in all of Sawyer's vast body of work, the science — as entertaining, and thought provoking as it may be — is always a secondary consideration after his well crafted characters and careful study of humanity itself, and it is this purposeful balance that elevates Sawyer's work from Science Fiction escapism into the realm of high literature. In Hard SF in particular it is difficult to create believable characters that the reader cannot help but sympathize with, but Sawyer manages to do it yet again with a skill and clarity that most mainstream literary writers would envy."

SideTrekked: "Reminiscent of Heinlein at his best."

Talebones: "Robert J. Sawyer's books do what I wish all SF did: include good scientific extrapolations without sacrificing story."

Toronto Life (1997): "Robert J. Sawyer is very good at what he does. His novels, informed by a probing intelligence, are seamless blends of SF, mystery, and argumentative essay. He is right to demand serious attention to his work."

Toronto Life (2000): "Sawyer is a master of his craft. He's deft with the science, has a light touch with the big questions and is even occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. His books do what good science fiction should: force you to think laterally, abstractly — big."

Philip Marchand in The Toronto Star: "Sawyer knows what all sitcom writers and too few novelists know, which is that the interplay of plot and subplot provides half the spark of a good read. If an author is to present imaginative and speculative scenarios based on real science, he must convince the reader he knows what he's talking about, and this Sawyer certainly accomplishes. [Sawyer's work] demonstrates beyond a doubt that the human appetite for transcendence, for a way around our obvious physical and mental limitations, is as great among scientific rationalists as it is among traditionally religious people."

Henry Mietkiewicz in The Toronto Star: "Sawyer hasn't locked his gaze single-mindedly on the starships and aliens of the far future. For him science fiction is a practical, hands-on way of speculating about the way today's breakthroughs may affect us the day after tomorrow.

Henry Mietkiewicz in The Toronto Star (again): "It's hard to think of a modern science-fiction author with dreams as vast as those of the internationally acclaimed Robert J. Sawyer. He possesses an uncanny knack of injecting freshness into timeworn material."

Henry Mietkiewicz in The Toronto Star (again): "Sawyer compels us to think in a concrete way about concepts that we usually dismiss as being too metaphysical to grapple with. As he is clearly aware, the essence of science fiction isn't starships, robots or virtual reality, but a unique philosophical inquiry into the evolution of the human spirit."

Rodger Turner on SF Site: "Robert J. Sawyer writes my favourite kind of science fiction. Interesting characters, fast-paced plotting, science threaded elegantly into the prose — he does it all with grace and style. I am constantly amazed by the depth of Sawyer's characters — their humanity, their failings and their instincts."

Andrew Weiner: "Sawyer's strong grounding in science allows him to write convincing 'hard' science fiction in the classic tradition of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. At the same time, he writes fluent, literate prose about believable and interesting characters. There are many SF writers who draw on science, many more who write and characterize well. But the combination of the two qualities is extremely unusual in modern SF; in the Canadian SF field, it is unique."

A Reader: Here's what one reader had to say about Rob's books in an unsolicited e-mail in December 2002:

The last SF book I read was required reading in my college Popular Literature course. Whether because it was SF or just because it was required reading — I hated it and haven't read another SF book since.

I heard you a few months ago on CBC Radio discussing Hominids. It sounded interesting and since I live in North Bay, reading a book set in Sudbury made me even more curious. But what really got me was when you encouraged everyone, especially those who either had no interest in SF or had already decided they didn't like it, to pick up a book and read it. Not necessarily yours, you said, but any good SF book.

To put this to the test, I did not choose Hominids because it already sounded interesting. Instead I picked up Illegal Alien. Hell, Aliens are in the title so I knew I'd hate it. But you were right. I'm hooked. Hominids was next and I've read a couple of others since.

What I really like about your books is that they aren't really what I have always considered Science Fiction. They're fiction that happens to contain science. That may be only a subtle difference, but it's enough.

Now I've got my wife interested and she would never pick up a book that we would normally consider SF ("No really. You'll like it. It's not like it's all about aliens and stuff. Well, OK, there are aliens in one of them and Neanderthals in another ... no, it's not anthropology ... look, it's just like the thrillers you read ... and one of them is set in Toronto so it's kind of cool when he mentions streetcar stops we know ... except the streetcars hover ... and another is in Sudbury ... and another place that isn't Sudbury but is in the same location except in a parallel universe .... Look, just read it OK?).

Thanks for converting me.

  More Good Reading  

Humor in the SF of Robert J. Sawyer (MP3)

Robert J. Sawyer's awards and honors
Review index