Far-Seer

Dinosaurs in Space! Okay, not really. Its more like Dinosaurs Discover the World is Round! and other stories.

Essentially, we have an intelligent dinosoar society living on the moon. They are, science wise, in the age of telescopes and the beginning of astronomy. When a young saurian named Afsen goes on a pilgrimage to gaze upon the face of God, he doesn't see something holy, but another object in the sky. With this knowledge, he changes his world, possibly saving it from the gravity of the planet his world rotates around that threatens to destroy his home.

My thoughts. I liked it. Where this book excels is how the author creates a truly dinosaur society. It is not human, nor do the characters think human. A lot of thought went into how this society works. ( )

Together with _Fossil Hunter_ (1993) and _Foreigner_ (1994), an early trilogy by the Canadian SF phenom -- something to read while waiting for the third volume of his _Hominids_/_Humans_/_Hybrids_ trilogy.

http://bookramble.blogspot.com/2006/09/2-reviews-of-science-fiction-and.html

Far-Seer is the story of a sentient dinosaur race, called Quintaglios. It seems like a "rite of passage" type of book at first: apprentice astronomer Asfar has conflicts with the Master Astronomer, goes on his first hunt, and then on his first pigrimage. But it's actually a much bigger story than that, as what Asfar discovers on his pilgrimage is definite science fiction in the very best traditions of world-building and what-if'ing.

Probably the main criticism I have is towards the beginning, Sawyer doesn't handle the "how are Quintaglios different from me" bits of description. There's a bit of "as you know, Bob" in the descriptions, but it's not too bad, and disappears almost completely by the middle of the book. Unfortunately, there are some things that seem odd. For instance, in a culture of powerful predators, there are strictures against weapons use, and yet the idea of weapons isn't foreign. So where did the idea even come from? If you have teeth and claws-- both of which regenerate quickly-- who would need a dagger in the first place? Who would even think to make one?

My other criticism is that Asfar discovers in a few weeks what took humans about 500 years to learn about the stars. A little... unlikely, I think. Perhaps if Sawyer had had Asfar base a lot of his theories on those written by the astrologers who came before him, it would be more plausible. As it is, though, the explanation in the book is simply that he is "The One," which is just a little too convenient and religious/prophecied for my personal preference in a science fiction novel.

Anyway, I originally bought this book because I intended to write a novel in which sentient dinosaurs take to the stars. I'm glad Sawyer has tread this path before (he also tread the path I was on with my other sci fi novel, which just tells me to keep reading his stuff). I enjoyed the read, and I'll definitely go on to read the sequels, Fossil Hunter and Foreigner. ( )