Starplex

Robert J. Sawyer won the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year for HOMINIDS. That win was well-deserved but I got to wondering how far back in his career he was writing award-caliber books before he snared the "Big One." The answer is: at least THIS far back. STARPLEX was the only 1996 novel to be both a best-novel Hugo Award finalsit and best-novel Nebula Award finalist (and it won Canada's Aurora Award and the Compuserve HOmer Award). Sawyer's aliens are every bit as good as those of James White, Larry Niven, Hal Clement and Robert Forward, and his people are infinitely more complex and believable than any written by those writers. This book tackles just about every problem in astrophysics ... and solves them all. No wonder its on numerous university astronomy reading lists, and endorsed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. A terrific book well worth tracking down.

Robert J. Sawyer's book "Starplex" was one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, and mind-twisting books I've read in a long time. To begin, Sawyer is an excellent writer. Plotting, dialogue, and human drama aspects are all well-represented here. He also never loses sight of using humor, awe (in its truest sense), human limitations, and philosophical twists to create realities that are at once far, far away, yet understandable.I'm sure Robert J. Sawyer has his critics - every writer does. Bottom line here, though, is that Sawyer has created his own voice with which to tell great stories (science fiction and otherwise), and Starplex is one of his best.

Frankly, I'm surprised at some of the reviews of this book. It looks as if some people just want to attack this poor man. This book is great! The aliens are very original, and their physical appearances differ more from humans than a couple of forehead wrinkles(a la Star Trek). Also, their personalities are different enough from humans that you can tell they are aliens, but not so different that you can't identify with them. The book is well written, and the plot is very good. It has multiple twists and turns that leads to a surprising ending. Trust me, if you see this book and like good science fiction, BUY IT! You're doing yourself a favor.

I have enjoyed a few of Sawyer's later works(Frameshift,Factoring Humanity)but this earlier work was far better. The characterizations are good which is the usual for Sawyer. But more than that, I enjoyed the background of the alien races and found the story intiguing. My only complaint was that I thought the end of the story was a little too much; Sawyer didn't need to make the events of the story to be THAT important. It was already a good enough book, it didn't need any more.