Fossil Hunter
Book Two of the Quintaglio Ascension
In this trilogy, the Quintaglio race discovers that their world is a spherical moon orbiting a Jupiter-like planet, and that the tidal forces resulting from their proximity to the planet will break their world apart in a few hundred “kilodays” (a mere 4-5 generations). This forces them to figure out how to advance from a Rennaisance-like culture to a space-faring population capable of inter-planetary travel, before their world is destroyed. In book one, we encounter Asfan, the Quintaglio equivalent of Galileo with a bit of Copernicus thrown in, who discovers the true nature of their world and throws the religious order into a tizzy.
In book two, Asfan’s son takes on the role of Darwin, exploring the southern pole and discovering a plethora of life forms that lead him to a theory of evolution. He is also an archaeologist, discovering an ancient spaceship that may hold the secret to developing space travel. This second book is much richer than the first one, introducing a “Watcher” who is apparently responsible for transplanting the dinosaurs from earth millions of years earlier to help ensure their survival while permitting mammals to develop on earth itself. There is also a battle for leadership, a murder mystery, and a population control problem threatening to lead to all-out territorial war.
It’s a real pleasure to read this series. I love how Sawyer has created his characters taking into account likely dinosaur characteristics such as regeneration of extremities, territorial-ism and how that impacts personal space and carnivorism (to rashly make up a word). Brilliant.
Rating: I’m starting to think you should just buy the whole trilogy.