Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I've now read every book of Rob's that's available in print, as well as having met him and interviewed him for my website. He's a phenomenal writer. Anyone interested in science fiction should read his books to see how it should be done.Most SF books have two or three innovative ideas. Rob's is full of them. For END OF AN ERA (the first book the wrote, but the second published) it's sort of like THE TIME MACHINE meets WAR OF THE WORLDS. How he can weave as many creative concepts together, while still giving a strong sense of character and plot, is amazing to me. The basic plot is about 2 paleontologists who go back in time, through a very intriguing process called the "Huang Effect," in an effort to learn what caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. They land, discovering all sorts of unexpected things... gravity is less, the Earth has 2 moons, and ... aliens are on the planet.
Rating: 
Summary: Rollicking fun
Review: If you are looking for a entertaining "what if" type author, Robert Saywer is the author to buy. As for this book, I was quite happy with the idea behind it and the way the story was presented. The book is page-turner right from the start. The only problem I had was the length. I wish I could have had more time in the world that Saywer created. It felt like the story was over as soon has it started. It seems like this book could have had 100 more pages and added to the story. However, this is still a great book worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Alway Good Robert Saywer
Review: If you are looking for a entertaining "what if" type author, Robert Saywer is the author to buy. As for this book, I was quite happy with the idea behind it and the way the story was presented. The book is page-turner right from the start. The only problem I had was the length. I wish I could have had more time in the world that Saywer created. It felt like the story was over as soon has it started. It seems like this book could have had 100 more pages and added to the story. However, this is still a great book worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent light read
Review: Intersting premise, but not a serious sci-fi novel. Maybe I'm spoiled by the likes of "A Fire Upon the Deep," "A Deepness in the Sky," The Heechee books, the Ringworld books, etc. Nothing I have seem from Sawyer comes close to that type of scope, imagination, or style. If you're casting about for something to read because you've exhausted Frederick Poul, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, etc. then this might have to do. If you haven't exhausted those, do yourself a favor and do that first.
Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs and Fidelity ...
Review: Once again, Sawyer brilliantly melds a sympathetic character with an intriguing scientific premise. If you love time travel and dinosaurs like I do, then read this book. But, more than that, if you're interested in the plight of a man who's been wronged by his wife and best friend, who is torn over the dreadful decision about a loved-one, then you really need to read this book. And Rob's idea for the dinosaur extinction has to be one of the most fascinating and unique that I have ever read. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I do not have a problem with the small amount of quantum mechanical "hand-waving" that occurs. After all, if you know anything about quantum entanglement or superposition, then you'll realize that quantum physics isn't very far from hand-waving itself. Every time I see a picture of a triceratops now, I chuckle ... and wonder. Pick up this novel. You're in for one hell of a ride.
Rating:
Summary: Jurassic Sparks?
Review: Robert J. Sawyer sure has a thing for cancer, Canada and craters. All three figure prominently in both his Calculating God, the first of his books that I read and this one, the second, as do dinosaurs, mass extinction, paleontology and the Royal Museum of Natural History. I have seen him compared to some of the greats of hard science fiction but that is I think a big miscasting. There is precious little hard science in his fiction, but there are interesting premises. This one mixes up time travel, first contact, alternate histories and various theories about the cause of the Tertiary-Cretaceous mass extinction to a pleasant if not overly deep result. Like Calculating God, It was fun, it was short, it was not overly ambitious, and it was short on the kind of science that I usually like in my hard SF. But like the last book, I still liked it OK, and I will try one or two more looking for that big story that I have a feeling might be inside him somewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Tyrannosaurs and . . . Twinkies??
Review: Robert Sawyer restores the "science" in "S-F" as no other writer can. As he transports two men 65 million years into the past, he offers us a sampling of everything from the anthropic principle through geology to zoology. He's able to reconcile the paradoxes raised by time travel [including a nod to the most famous example, Ray Bradbury's "The Sound of Thunder"] and set them aside plausibly. Sawyer also illuminates the contribution of Canada's researchers in nearly all these disciplines with subdued fervour. And scourges politicians for their failure to support science. All this in just over two hundred pages is no small feat. The theme of End of an Era recounts the probable cause of the dinosaurs' extinction. Sawyer uses the story to review the thinking resulting from the Alvarez proposal that a wandering asteroid so disrupted the environment that all the large sauropods died out, leaving the planet an open niche for mammalian life. If an asteroid didn't kill off the dinosaurs, what did? The most discussed option is an era of massive vulcanism which would have the same effect. But Sawyer, with his gift of imagination, introduces a new option. Again, his concept has a sound scientific base and he describes it at some length. His presentation is impressive and well delivered. And a terrifying surprise. Along with his scientific foundation, Sawyer paints realistic characters. The protagonist is a paleontologist with the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto [Sawyer's lucky, he lives close to his sources], and one can't help but wonder who the model might be. Brandon Thackeray, in the midst of devastating mid-life crises, is chosen as one of the two time travellers. His team-mate couldn't have been a worse choice for such an assignment - he's taken up with Brandon's ex-wife. Miles Jordan might be forgiven that affair, but will never live down taking packages of Twinkies into the Cretaceous. Sawyer hints that Tory cutbacks have eliminated psychological testing for this unique journey, but still, this is some pair to cram together in a time machine. Sawyer's thinking challenges any reader unfamiliar with the science he introduces. His brief scenarios of research and theories cover much territory in a restricted space. While welcome and necessary, they don't leave enough room for plot in such a short book. Regrettably, his very skills in offering science force the story line over a bumpy path. There are parallel story lines in this book which take some unravelling. While his characters are realistically portrayed, the book might have been fleshed out a bit. Readers of Sawyer's other work know he's fully capable of expanding his persona. With a shade more depth, this book could have become a classic in speculative ["science"] fiction instead of just a very good read. Even if Sawyer's not at the top of his form here, his innovative thinking
remains captivating to the discerning reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book For Kiddies
Review: Robert Sawyer's books have featured an assortment of funny and entertaining cartoon characters-- alien scientists , talking dinosaurs and in this case destructive microbes. His book is really for children rather than intelligent adults.
Rating:
Summary: The best dino-hunt time-travel yet !
Review: The beginning started off kind of slow, but got amazing through the middle. The Dinosaurs as tanks, our second moon, talking dinosaurs. All of it was fantastic. I would suggest this book for eager sci-fi readers.
Rating:
Summary: Silly, silly, silly
Review: The book starts off poor and gets better as it goes. If you can get by main premis then you will love the book. Sorry it is a spoiler. For me the whole thing rang as ridiculous and the way they solved everything was absurd. The ending was absolutely fantastic though, it made up for everything else. Read it, its short, and then you'll love the end.
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