Quantum Night, by Robert J. Sawyer comes with a full freight of compelling ideas, one after another, and an intriguing set of twists and reveals. Excellent reading. Robert J. Sawyers always make me think, and in this novel, Mr. Sawyer deploys a modified narrative style to convey a densely-packed series of ideas. He’s cut down on the number of “info dumps” that often put me off hard science fiction. Instead, as he discussed at a recent book launch event in Waterloo, he’s content to let the reader put the book down and delve into the ideas in more depth on their own. It’s a concession or accommodation to the way most of us are a few taps away from Google on our mobile devices. This both speeds the narrative along without a break for a lecture and allows for him to pack in a greater number of ideas.
The editor in me spotted only 1 typo, which is really clean for a first edition (or I missed others in reading it so fast). There were really only two issues I had with the book: one was the number of pop culture references I thought Jim Marchuk had that didn’t fit with his age and year of birth (but that’s subjective); the other was a plot thread that seems to have been left hanging. However, again in my rush through the novel, I might have missed its resolution. I’ll need to check back into the book to be sure.
My high esteem for the book comes from the book speaking to my conscience as a Q3. Or maybe, as a Q2, I’m rating it highly to try and get something in return from the author. Maybe still, as a Q1, I’m merely providing a response to a stimulus. Read the book for yourself and find out what the hell I’m referring to.
Dispatches from Obscurity 