Rating: 
Summary: Masterful, thought provocing and very spiritual
Review: I am astounded at the variety of literary disciplines that Russell is able to merge together in this masterfully told story. She writes with an insight into spiritual concerns that after 25 years in the Religious Life, I am only now able to articulate. To be able to combine theology with science fiction and mystery, all the while couching the story in the flavor of an epic romance novel, makes me anxious to read more of her work.
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Summary: Excellent "First Contact" with superior plot and people.
Review: I've been a hard-core science-fiction fan for 32 years, and this is certainly one of the best stories ever told. The characters are far more deeply developed than those found in all too many science-fiction novels: multi-dimensional in strengths, weaknesses, skills and errors. They came off the pages as real people, not as characters which are posed as plot devices. Despite other reviewers' impatience with plot, timing, and trans-time jumps, I found the plot satisfyingly complex and the timing devices kept me turning pages every night. One of the best aspects of this book is the questions it poses about mankind and our approach to other lives, to the role and even existence of God, to self-inflicted horror and tragedy, to the ethics of interference v noninterference, to the question of can one remedy an innocent mistake with horrific conseqences, and do well-intentioned acts leading to tragedy negate God or speak to a hidden purpose? This story has action, but it is a thinking person's novel with layers like an onion to it, and raises questions of faith and meaning in the context of human and nonhuman survival. The writing is exquisite: if you are familiar with and love the complexity of Dorothy Dunnett's writings (The Lymond books) you will love this. I gave this book the highest compliment I could give any book--I ran down and bought the sequel in hardcover at full price prior to finishing the first book. In 32 years, I've only done that once before.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, thought-provoking, unusual!
Review: The Sparrow fascinated me. I had a hard time putting it down and even took it to work to read during breaks. I found the characters, especially Sophia, Emilio, and Anne, interesting and well-developed. Emilio's "dark night of the soul" as he perceives himself betrayed by the God he professes, drove the story as we discover the "truth" behind his experiences. ONe of the fascinating aspects of the novel was the gradual illumination of the reality behind the perceptions. The Society of Jesus sees one "truth" behind Emilio's actions/experiences but as the story unfolds Emilio's truth emerges. Perception is everything.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic writing style!
Review: This book has kept my interest from start to finish. Touching on a myriad of subject within life and religion it draws you into the story and leaves you wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: An emotional test of one faith.
Review: I have read many thought provoking and deeply philosophical scifi novels. This ranks near the top with The Star by Clarke and The Dispossed by LeGuin. Having been raised a Catholic and attended a priest run secondary school, the issues of faith and church politics hit home. Fr. Sandoz's personal nightmares and dilemmas of belief were all too real. My brother lent me the book and, while I can not disagree with some of the citicisms by other reviewers on character development, the suspense and moral questions presented kept me riveted to the last page. I also recommend the sequel because it enhances these moral questions by showing that there is no "right" answer for all situations.
Rating: 
Summary: A bone to pick with the church, perhaps?
Review: Ms. Russell has a fantastic gift for writing intelligent, witty and entertaining dialog. That talent alone makes this an exceptional book. So what if real people don't talk like this? Her style is much more interesting. All her characters-- priests and prostitutes and aliens-- seem like people you would want to be friends with. Perhaps it is her training as an anthropologist that gives her the ability to present so many different points of view so sympathetically. However, I found the repeated jumps between the scenes of the mission and its aftermath to be jarring and confusing and eventually just plain heavy-handed. Likewise, I found the repeated ad infinitum not-so-subtle hints that HORRIBLE SECRETS are about to be revealed tiresome after awhile. I found myself saying out loud "Oh! Just get on with it!" The author's technique gets in the way of telling her story, which is a shame because it is a fascinating story. Also, the end gets VERY preachy, and I suspect that Ms. Russell has at some vulnerable point in her life been terribly hurt or disappointed by the catholic church or God or both. She seems angry at God over the basic theodicy question: if God is good, why do bad things happen to good people? All who have struggled with faith have had to ask that question at some point. At least Ms. Russell has found a creative outlet for her faith growing pains, one that is moving and entertaining for the rest of us. I hope she keeps searching for an answer she can live with, and keeps turning her struggle into quality sci fi.
Rating:
Summary: Don't assume things.
Review: I'd just like to say the author of this book won an award for best new science fiction author so don't assume "science fiction people are impatient dolts who won't understand it". For good or ill they apparently liked it. (note this doesn't sound like my kind of book)
Rating:
Summary: When academics go native; situational ethics and finding God
Review: Strangers in a strange land -- with all the best intentions. Mary Doria Russell uses this basic storytelling convention to give us tell a riveting though ultimately frustrating examination of just which moral rules apply across the board. Frustrating because by the end we can't say for sure which choices were right and which were wrong -- just as we can't quite pinpoint the exact moment when it all slips into tragedy. For this handful of believers in the Christian God, plus their athiest and agnostic companions, the Law of Unforeseen Consequences rules over every choice they make, regardless of their personal faiths and educated attempts to foresee those consequences. The result is a fine adventure story, good enough to carry me past the few times the characterizations bottomed out, even for some of my best-liked expedition members. As antidote to that I found the Jesuit interrogators/caretakers back on Earth a consistently fascinating group. Father Emilio Sandoz is a marvelous character, ethical, loving, smart, sexy, and ultimately too proud of his victories over his pride to anticipate one of the most horrible physical and spiritual trials I've ever read or heard about. In addition to the questions about God that can only be asked and not answered, there is so much to ponder in this novel I easily forgave it for Russell's few rookie flaws. The momentum of the story, propelled by the convention of showing us at the very start the horrific outcome on the main character (think Kipling and "The Man Who Would Be King")kept me turning pages -- I just HAD to know what happened to these people and why. Russell raises issues across the board, but she does so by making sure the questions spring naturally from the characters' choices; how are we supposed to live sustainably, how does enviroment shape culture/religion/societies? How blind are we to our own cruelties simply because they are common, can good intentions and good education make the historic tragedies of first contact between alien races painless and positive? Is such contact right, wrong, or just inevitable? This book begs for a sequel like few others I've read, and if someone doesn't make it into a movie or a mini-series it'll be a crime. So little thoughtful sci-fi gets to the big or small screen, and this is one story Hollywood wouldn't be able to drown in special effects.
Rating: 
Summary: OK
Review: Russell's story of the first human voyage to an alien planet is absorbing and difficult to put down. The eight humans start out thinking Rakhat is an idyllic world; by the end, the catalog of horrors they have endured is so greusome that it begins to push at the limits of the reader's guillibility (certainly holds your attention, though). But in spite of the unthinkable monstrosities described, and even the dark night of the soul Sandoz endures, this novel still somehow manages to come across as glib and contrived. In the early days, the characters spend countless hours wiping tears of mirth from their eyes from jokes that aren't funny, unable to believe how lucky they are to have found such funny, lovable friends. Believing they are stranded on Rakhat, they have a "Barney" moment where they realize we have each other and IT'S OKAY. you practically think they are going to burst into the Barney theme song. And even Sandoz, who endures far more than any of the others and like Job's servant, lives to tell the tale, has his cathartic moment and comes out right at the end. Russell raises many ancient, important questions, but by the end, all the characters seem the same, everything is resolved, and nobody seems to have learned a thing. I kept waiting for one character to say, "You know, we got blinded by the glory of what we were doing, and we made some major mistakes out of innocence and stupidity and naivete," but it never happens. The questions all seem to revolve around where is God when bad things happen? Don't get me wrong--this novel is well worth reading, and would make a great book for a reading group or book club. I just thought the lack of depth and complexity was disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Grippingly Wonderful
Review: Even though The Sparrow is some what a slow starter, it is a page turner until the end. I found myself transported to another planet, with people I'd be proud to have as friends. I loved the concepts of the book. Read it, then Read the seqeal, it's even better
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