Far-Seer

Title: Far-Seer

Author: Robert J. Sawyer

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Quintaglio Ascension #1

Pages: 277 pages

Synopsis:

Sixty-five million years ago, aliens transplanted Earth’s dinosaurs to the moon of a gas-giant world. Now, intelligent saurians—the Quintaglios—have emerged. The Face of God is what every young saurian learns to call the immense, glowing object which fills the night sky on the far side of the world. Young Afsan is called to distant Capital City to apprentice with Saleed, the court astrologer. But when the time comes for Afsan to make his coming-of-age pilgrimage and gaze upon the Face of God, his world is changed forever—for Afsan is the Quintaglio counterpart of Galileo. He must convince his people of the truth about their place in the universe before tidal forces rip the dinosaurs’ new home apart. 

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

So what do you get with a story that is a retelling of Galileo’s discovery that the world is round and revolves around the sun but takes place on a different world where dinosaurs dominate? Well you get Far-Seer by Robert J. Sawyer. Where yes, all the characters in this story are dinosaurs.

I liked a bit of the lore and worldbuilding in this novel. There’s a mythology in the religions of this world. There are unique creatures that inhabit this world. The country is governed by a monarchy but there are 8 governors in each region in this world. I do also have to give credit for the uniqueness of this novel by having dinosaurs be the main characters on a different world.

The first issue I have is that for a 277 page novel, it takes over 60 pages for the actual story to begin. Now this would be fine if the book was a) Longer. b) There were interesting characters introduced at least. c) Or something interesting happened. And speaking of characters, there aren’t that many interesting characters in this book. They are almost all flat and just serve whatever their purpose is in the story, and not much else. The only character that stood out to me was the religious extreme priest. Which is not really good considering I’ve read a lot of novels with religious extreme characters.

I also hated how they use the Chosen One trope in this book. For one thing, the Chosen One isn’t even mentioned until the last 43 pages of the book. And it doesn’t really add or change anything. When it’s revealed that our main character is “the one”. I literally shouted: What? What?! The only thing the Chosen One explains is how our main character is so good at everything (which is also why I’m not into our main character). I am getting tired of reading Chosen One’s where they are just good at everything. It does not make your Chosen One interesting or compelling. It’s one of the reasons why I like the Wheel of Time’s Rand Al Thor. As Rand has flaws, and he earns his victories and that’s part of the reasons why I think he is one of the best Chosen One’s out there.

This novel to me was a disappointment. It had a slow start, pretty bland characters and plot. And one of the worst uses of the Chosen One trope I’ve ever seen. This is one trilogy that I am going to pass on. I think you can do better with Science Fiction/Fantasy novels.

Rating: