Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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Tom Easton in Analog (New York): "I enjoyed it, and I think you will too."

Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Star Wars "Jedi Academy" series: "End of an Era is a haunting collage of complex storylines, exciting ideas, and good old-fashioned action-adventure SF."

The Bakka Bookie Sheet: "Sawyer's skill lies in his ability to bring science to his fiction with apparently effortless ease. Sawyer's most ambitious work to date; an excellent read."

Booklist: "Sawyer parlays his enduring enthusiasm for dinosaurs into refreshing fun and thought-provoking entertainment. He'll satisfy his own fans and those of dinosaurs and old-fashioned time-traveling yarns, too."

John Robert Colombo, Canada's best-known collector of Canadiana and the country's premier SF anthologist: "Consummately Canadian! Even I was reeling."

Allen A. Debus in Dinosaurs in Fantastic Fiction: A Thematic Survey: "Superb."

The Denver Rocky Mountain News: "In the past decade, Robert Sawyer has become one of the most popular writers of science fiction. Many of his fans, though, haven't read some of his early work. Now's the time, as the author has revised End of an Era, a novel that shows the originality and talent obvious in more recent titles like Calculating God and FlashForward. This isn't the first science fiction novel to take readers back to the time of the dinosaurs, but with Sawyer, you expect something unique. And you won't be disappointed."

The Edmonton Journal: "Audacious — Sawyer has reached far beyond the grasp of the standard SF time-travel story. End of an Era would have to rank as one of the finest Canadian or American science fiction novels I have read in the last 10 years. Definitely a better book than Jurassic Park — faster paced, avoiding the expository dumps that Crichton uses, and supplying us with much more believable characters. Faced with a staggering amount of possible loose threads, Sawyer manages to tie things into one of the tightest knots possible."

Charles de Lint in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: "A wonderful evening's read. Sawyer tells his story with that same sense of fun and adventure that sf had in its so-called Golden Age. The difference is he writes from a modern sensibility and his speculations are based on solid research rather than making things up as he needs them, so really, what we're getting here, is the best of both worlds."

David Langford in The Guardian (London, England): "A fast-moving gallimaufry of time travel, palaeontology, visiting aliens and interplanetary strife. The book's virtue is its unboringness, its headlong rush from one outrageous twist to the next. A rattling yarn."

Geolog (newsmagazine of The Geological Association of Canada): "What can I say? This is a great book. A science-fiction book that is set in Canada, involves Canadian scientists, is written by a Canadian, has a great plot, and on top of all that has the science and the geological inferences right! Naturally, I ended up buying this book in the United States, but as we all know, success in Canada is only recognized after it is recognized in the States. A great read and, although improbable, one of the better dinosaur extinction models."

The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper: "An old-fashioned time-travel adventure; a fast-paced, funny romp."

Glenn Grant in The Montreal Gazette: "A time-trip to a previous age when science fiction was young and brash and just plain fun; an inventive, wonder-filled adventure novel."

Jack McDevitt in The New York Review of Science Fiction: "Works extremely well — three-dimensional characters, an extensive bag of tricks, and the man can set a scene. When the prehistorical pollen flies, the reader will sneeze. By the way, the title refers to something altogether different from the disappearance of the lizards. Sawyer keeps several balls in the air, and does it with éclat."

Quill & Quire (starred review): "Audacious, informed, and compelling — displays the author's breadth of imagination and humanity. It's not too much to say that this is one of the most accomplished SF novels of the last 10 years."

James Schellenberg from the Crystalline Sphere web page: "End of an Era is a relatively short novel, but it makes up in audacity of content for what it lacks in length. Sawyer has always favoured the Big Idea approach to science fiction, and this particular book is probably one of his best in that regard. I would recommend End of an Era to everyone, and if you haven't read any novels by Sawyer, it's one of the best of his books to start with."

Science Fiction Chronicle: "Sawyer has captured many of the best aspects of SF adventure here: wondrous events, weird aliens, a scientific puzzle to be solved, a neat solution, and a likable protagonist to conduct us on the tour."

SFRA Review: "End of an Era seems at first a lightweight tale, but Sawyer is very deft at tossing in surprising insights that widen the novel's scope while darkening and deepening its texture. End of an Era turns out to be a surprisingly character-driven novel for all the sf themes spinning like a tableful of Battling Tops. At the same time, the action moves along rapidly, vividly, and reasonably; Sawyer plays fair in setting up a problem and its solutions."

Spider Robinson, Hugo- and Nebula-Award winning co-author of Stardance: "End of an Era is one of those rare sf novels that should bring equal pleasure to a `hard-science' fan, a `rousing good yarn' reader or a `lit'ry' type."

The Toronto Star: "Leading the pack, as he often does, is Robert J. Sawyer with a delightful time-travel romp. Lean writing, strong characters, and a firm basis in hard science make End of an Era a superlative adventure."

Under the Ozone Hole (Victoria, British Columbia): "A fast, furious read — and great fun. Go buy it, already."

Andrew Weiner, author of This Is The Year Zero: "An exhilarating romp, full of that old-time sense of wonder. Exciting, touching, and at times hilarious. It shows Sawyer's strength — unusual in a hard-SF writer — in creating believable characters. I enjoyed it immensely."

More Good Reading

More About End of an Era
Robert J. Sawyer's awards and honors
What's a Rob Sawyer novel like?
Review index

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