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Review Excerpts
Robert J. Sawyer's Starplex
About Books: "Very, very cool. This is a book not
to be missed."
Asimov's Science Fiction: "Sawyer's latest should
gladden the hearts of readers who complain that nobody's writing
real science fiction anymore, the kind of story that has
faster-than-light spaceships and far-off planets and interstellar
combat and all the neat things they gobbled up so greedily when
`Doc' Smith was dealing them out. Here's a story with plenty of
slam-bang action but no shortage of material to attract thinking
readers, either. Sawyer deftly juggles half a dozen sweeping
questions of cosmology (not to mention everyday ethics and
morality) while keeping the story moving ahead full speed. His
scientific ideas are nicely integrated into the plot, yet they
also hint at larger metaphorical levels. Enjoy."
Analog Science Fiction and Fact: "Mind-boggling. A
complaint often heard these days is that there's not enough
`sense of wonder' in today's science fiction. Robert J. Sawyer's
Starplex ought to lay that complaint to rest for
quite a while."
Bakka Books: "Big-Screen SF.
Sawyer's new book is a fine example of the unlimited scope a good
writer can show. He goes after nothing less than the origin of
the universe, and comes away with as good a piece of speculation
as you'll get in the genre."
Gregory Benford, author of Furious Gulf:
"Complex but swift, inventive but real-feeling, with ideas coming
thick and fast. For big-time interstellar adventure, look no
farther."
Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, Foothill College, co-author
of Voyages Through the Universe:
"Complex hard-science novel by a Canadian amateur astronomer
with intriguing ideas about the nature of dark matter and even
dark matter life forms. Includes more cosmological concepts than
any novel we have seen."
The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper (2010):
"Sawyer is well known these days as the author of FlashForward,
inspiration for the TV series of the same name. But his reputation
was already growing in 1996, when he published
Starplex,
an old-fashioned science fiction novel with aliens and spaceships,
and not afraid to deal with big issues."
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald:
"Starplex appears to
be traditional science fiction it takes place aboard a
spaceship, and several characters are extraterrestrial but
it's actually a rumination on several very deep questions,
including: Where did we come from? Where are we going? And the
deepest of the deep, Is there a God?"
Library Journal: "An epic hard-science adventure
tempered by human concerns. Highly recommended."
Jack McDevitt, author of Ancient Shores:
"Starplex takes us on the ultimate grand tour: an elegant
intergalactic ride with Sawyer's signature mix of cosmic concepts
and solid characterization. This one is a treat for the mind;
I enjoyed it thoroughly."
The New York Review of Science Fiction: "An
enormous grab bag of ideas and a whole lot of fun."
Quill & Quire: "A swift, inventive, enjoyable
book. Unexpected twists keep the plot moving briskly, but Sawyer
is able to do this while raising intriguing philosophical
issues."
James Schellenberg from the Crystalline Sphere
web page: "Starplex is an
astonishing novel, hard science fiction with heart, with
a grand overarching vision. This book contains many of Sawyer's
trademarks addictive readability, a frank engagement with ethical
questions, and a fondness for Canadiana. The grand sweep of the story
and Sawyer's graceful manipulation of the reader's sympathies combine
to make this a fine book. Starplex outdoes any book in Sawyer's
oeuvre, and the majority in the field of science fiction. Sawyer uses
a heady mix of big ideas and crafty storytelling, and he challenges the
reader intellectually while grabbing their emotional sympathy. Quite
the accomplishment."
Science Fiction Chronicle: "Excellent hard SF,
with Sawyer tossing stars, people and time travel around with
reckless abandon. One of the best SF novels of 1996."
Sci-Fi Weekly: "An audacious engineering effort
that makes Larry Niven's Ringworld look like a high-school
science project."
SF Site: "Big spaceships, alien civilizations, the
mysteries of the cosmos, and a story that roams through the vastness
of time and space. All of the elements of a big-scale, hard science
fiction adventure story are present right from the start of
Starplex,
Robert J. Sawyer's 1996 novel, now back in print from Red Deer Press.
In that way, Starplex is the very model of a modern
hard science fiction novel."
The Toronto Star: "Here, at last, is an ambitious
attempt to exploit the possibilities that the genre is capable of."
Andrew Weiner, author of
Station Gehenna: "Mind-blowing! Who says there are
no more big ideas?"
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