Rating: 
Summary: Much deeper and darker than "Contact"
Review: I found the mixed reviews of other readers intriguing. I don't know who is right from a literary standpoint, but I found myself so engrossed in finding out what had happened to Sandoz that I listened to the unabridged tape at every oportunity. I agree with the readers who said that this is what SF should be.
Rating:
Summary: What a great book
Review: This book exceeds all my expectations. IT has a wonderfully complicated plot and everything comes into focus as you read it. Russell does a great job of tying in allthe loose strings at the end.This book is wonderful and a joy to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Heaven-sent, i think!
Review: I was moved to tears after reading the book.
This is the book that:
You just can't put down so you bring it to the bathroom with you.
Steals your sleep, eg: I stayed awake from 4pm till 6am the next day.
Does not attempt to be too clever and pulverise you with too many technical jargon that fills up half its pages.
You're so excited about that you try to tell the whole plot to your uninterested friends as vividly as you remember it, during one of those boring gatherings.
Where you laughed and cried along with the characters.
Makes you hunt for similar books by the author except that this is her debut novel.
Gives you that feeling that you've read a good book.
Well I have that feeling now.
Rating:
Summary: Must be read by any who have ever questioned God's plans.
Review: I found this book one night as I was just surfing and I am so glad I bought it. It is one the best novels I have read in a long time. The book is compelling and runs the you up and down the emotional roller coaster. Ms Russell has done an excellent job. It will be a long time before I forget Emilio Sandoz. Her dialogue was wonderful and towards the end her description of what Fr. Sandoz endured brought tears to my eyes and I have not done that in a long time - had a book bring tears. I loaned the book to my daughter. She liked it so much she went and bought her own copy and now I am re-reading it and am enjoying it as much as I did the first time. Edward James Olmos would make a wonderful Fr. Sandoz. I look forward to the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Oh know, Jesuits in outerpace!
Review: A friend commented to me how sad she was about the difficulties encountered by the main character. My response was by asking how was his any different than what the Jesuits encountered when they came to explore the Americas. THE SPARROW is interesting enough to read even if it is unbelieveable in parts.
Rating:
Summary: Moving. Disturbing.
Review: The other reviewers were correct when they pointed out the flaws in this book. In some places it is poorly written and disjointed. Many characters seem shallow and many descriptions such as those of locations are superficial. What I can't understand is why this book is so damn good. It has haunted me and everyone else I know who has read it. Perhaps some ideas are so profound that their communication, no matter how flawed, will stun the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Theology or science fiction?
Review: It is interesting reading all of the controversy surrounding this book. I read it and liked it but it is not good science fiction. The science and some of the story lines (the Jesuits sponsoring the first interplanetary flight to an alien world!) seem ludicrous to sci-fi fans (myself included). The story seems really just a vehicle to talk about the conflicts, difficulties and ambiguities surrounding faith and the life of priests. I think it must be difficult to find readers that can embrace both themes. It succeeds better as a book about the struggle for faith and the loss of faith and the bitterness surrounding that than as science fiction. Many if not most readers don't really care or are attracted to the jesuit mystique but Ms. Russell obviously is and manages to make the fathers seem interesting and charming which many are. Unfortunately, it is a shallow sort of charm with little depth as the jesuits will be the first to admit. They are discouraged from intimacy with others and this superficial charm, while attractive, is not much to build a relationship on or for that matter, a book. Good luck with the next one, Ms. Russell.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting idea, flawed execution
Review: This book suffers from an all too-common affliction of SF and mystery novels: characters that are more caricatures than fully-realized creations. Ms. Russell tests her readers credulity in the service of her thesis. The ideas driving the novel are admittedly interesting ones, particularly the age-old question of why God, if He exists, allows bad things to happen to good people. The plot in this novel is so preposterous, however, that it becomes an irritant that obscures the ideas it tries to convey. Add to this a continuing string of anachronisms and unbelievable references made by the characters. Will people in the middle of the next century still be attuned to references to TV shows, grade-B movies, and pop culture of the 1960's -90's. The self-referential interview at the end of the paperback adds insult to injury.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely disapointing...a real let-down
Review: I was quite disapointed given all the praise heaped on this book and its author. It seemed stale, overly long, derivative, weak charactizations and poorly written. Obviously I'm in the minority (given all the "10's herein), but I think it has greatest appealwith those who are not normally science fiction fans (Star Trek novelizations don't count!), and aren't put off by the clumsy science and poorly developed alien culture. I think the appeal is of a "Thornbirds" nature...something to do with the sex appeal inherent in the character of a very handsome, but celibate, priest faced with sexual temptations and homosexual (alien) rape.The part that bothers me the most is the idea that the VATICAN of all places would send an untrained group of Jesuits -- a group of friends no less-- to another planet, at the kind of enormous cost that one can only imagine could be better spent on religous problems closer to home. Isn't the point of any Christian religious mission to eventually CONVERT the natives/aliens from their OWN religion -- no matter what that is -- to the spiritual beliefs of the missionaries? Ms. Russell doesn't deal with this question much....the Jesuits and their secular buddies just seem to be on a benevolent mission of secular humanism/social work. The real history of Christian missionary work in foreign countries over the last couple of centuries is not very benevolent, and has often resulted in the destruction of native cultures. I can't say I entirely don't understand why some of these natives have killed or tortured missionaries. A more interesting book could have been written about ALIEN missionaries landing on Earth and trying to convert us to THEIR religion! At least it would have been more original.I am also put off by the lengthy bio and "question and answer" pages at the back of the book (paperback). Why treat this like some kind of college text book? Is there a test? The hype and promotions seem awfully centered on Ms. Russell, rather than the qualities of the book. Granted, she is an appealing and intelligent interview, but I am wary of the "cult of personality" that dominates the marketing of books in the nineties. She is being lavishly promoted as a kind of moral authority, and therefore the book must be a culmination of her moral (not literary) accumen. (This does NOT speak well for the future of the truly brilliant novels written, perhaps, by sullen homely writers). I think some of the attention has been drawn by the purchase of the book (with a major Hispanic part) as a vehicle for the actor Antonio Banderas. How many really brilliant science fiction novels -- by established authors like Ursula LeGuin or Orson Scott Card -- have NEVER been made into movies? (Or even the works of James Tiptree, Jr...namesake of the Tiptree award that Ms. Russell has been given?)Generally, this is a sad commentary on the state of science fiction and publishing today that this very slight work has been so relentlessly and successfully over promoted. Maybe someday Ms.Russell will find a good editor and develop into a passably decent science fiction writer...not yet.
Rating:
Summary: Superior SF
Review: One of the finest science fiction novels in years. For those who prefer SF that actually has something to say.
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