Foreigner

Alternative Worlds

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Foreigner
Robert J. Sawyer
Tor, Jul 2005, $13.95
ISBN 0765309726

Afsan’s Saurian punishment for declaring that the Face of God is a planet that the Qintaglio home sphere orbits as its inner most moon was being blinded. His related theory that their “orb” will be destroyed in about a century is met with mixed results. Those who believe the astronomer ponder how to go off planet when ocean voyages are difficult enough while Afsan negotiates a fee with therapist Mokleb to help him mentally “see” how to overcome his natural irrational behavior and adapting to using his new grown eyes.

Meanwhile Afsan’s spouse Novato studies an alien spacecraft found in the southwestern Frahtoolah Province. At about the same time that Novato nervously evaluated the craft, her son Toroca, while on geological survey aboard the ocean going Dasheter, meets a second sentient saurian race on a small archipelago. This shakes the Qintaglios more than Afsan’s “taking God out of our skies” with a biological blow to the belief they are the superior race of God. These scientific advances, instead of saving the race from the breaking up of their moon, lead to war.

This reprint of the final tale of the Qintaglio Ascension is a fabulous science fiction story that makes the saurian races seem real as the audience will obtain a historical, anthropological, and psychological perspective especially of the Qintaglio culture. The three prime well written subplots tie together in a delightful climax. Fans of the series will appreciate the dual first contacts by Novato and Toroca, but especially enjoy Mokleb getting Afsan on the couch to psychoanalyze him so that he can understand the irrationality of the species (move over Freud). It is best read this novel after the first two books in the series to fully savor the saurian culture but FOREIGNER can definitely stand alone.
 

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