Fossil Hunter (The Quintaglio Ascension book 2) by Robert J. Sawyer
01/01/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR. 299 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $21.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30973-4. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out websites: www.tor.com and www.sfwriter.com
The first book in this trilogy dealt with a population of sentient dinosaurs on a moon around a gas giant who were originally sourced from Earth coming to grips with the fact that superstition didn't bear up to facts. 'The Face Of God' wasn't some deity but the gas giant itself. Astronomer Afsan lost his eyes before the priest order was denounced for not taking into account the facts. There was also a secondary problem that the moon and home was also unstable with a need to leave before it got destroyed.
This second book covers a lot more ground than the first. There is Toroca, one of Afsan's sons, who is running an archaeological expedition to inventory the moon for its resources. Along the way, he and his team discovers a hidden derelict spaceship as well as the principles of evolution. The Emperor Dybo is also facing a rebellion to the death from his brothers and sisters who see him as weak. Normally, only one child is kept from every litter to ensure population control and space between individuals to avoid territorial fighing, the others are eaten by the blood priests. The exception to this rule is the Emperor and the Chosen One, Afsan, but then someone starts to kill off the latter's off-spring as well. Afsan, despite his blindness, is determined to find his children's murderer. Throughout all of this, there is a need to keep things on track to develop space travel.
With all the groundwork done in the first book, author Rob Sawyer has a lot more freedom here to develop and embellish his reality here and why I'm at a loss as to why there was a need for additional commentary from something purporting to be what delivered the population to the moon in the first place. As the Quintaglios have to work out things for themselves, I would have thought there was enough information for any reader to put things together.
Saying that, this is only a minor blemish. With evolution not quite finding the same path of disbelief as Darwin, the revelation is likely to be sinking in to the population before book 3. This is quite a delightful read and nary a worry that there aren't any token humans here to spoil the fun. This is still a rather bloody-thirsty moon and vegetarians might not appreciate it here. If you're a little more open-minded about different societies then this makes for an interesting read.
GF Willmetts |
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