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Foreigner (The Quintaglio Ascension Book 3) by [Robert J. Sawyer]

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Robert J. Sawyer

Foreigner (The Quintaglio Ascension Book 3) Kindle Edition

by Robert J. Sawyer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 3 of 3: The Quintaglio Ascension

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In Far-Seer and Fossil Hunter, we met the Quintaglios, a race of intelligent dinosaurs (evolved descendants of dinosaurs rescued in prehistory from Earth), and learned of the threat to their very existence. Now they must quickly advance from a culture equivalent to our Renaissance to the point where they can leave their planet. While the Quintaglios rush to develop space travel, the discovery of a second species of intelligent dinosaurs rocks their most fundamental beliefs. Meanwhile, blind Afsan — the Quintaglio Galileo — undergoes the newfangled treatment of psychoanalysis, throwing everything he thought he knew about his violent people into a startling new light.

Booklist: “Deftly combines well-reasoned hard-science speculation with psychology, imaginative alien anthropology, and even linguistics to produce a fascinating and memorable adventure that’s not just for dinosaur lovers.”

NorthWords: The Journal of Canadian Content in Speculative Literature: “Like a fine chef, Sawyer takes all the necessary ingredients needed for effective world building and delivers a gourmet’s delight on a silver platter. It’s a true feast to indulge yourself in Sawyer’s world. As the mysteries unfold, you will be kept turning pages well into the night and perhaps into the next day.”

The Toronto Star: “Fresh; exhilarating. A rousing conclusion" to "a dynamic and inspiring trilogy. Highly recommended.”

Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell Memorial, Seiun, and Aurora Awards, all for best science fiction novel of the year. Sawyer’s 25 novels include the #1 Locus bestsellers The Oppenheimer Alternative, Quantum Night, Triggers, and Calculating God, plus FlashForward, basis for the ABC TV series of the same name. The first person ever to be inducted into The Order of Canada — his government’s highest honor — for work in the science-fiction field and Guest of Honor at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon), Rob is also past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Book 3 of 3

The Quintaglio Ascension
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325 pages
Language

English
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Publication date

Feb. 26 2017
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Product description

From Booklist

The final episode in Sawyer's popular chronicle of the Quintaglio race, an evolved dinosaur species occupying the moon of a gas giant known as the Face of God, reveals some surprising secrets about the race's origins and brings the trilogy to a suspenseful close. Still suffering the punishment of blindness for declaring the Face of God a planet and the Quintaglio world doomed to destruction in 100 years, the famed astronomer Afsan undergoes a revelatory new therapy for restoring vision to his regrown eyes. Meanwhile, on an ocean voyage, Afsan's son discovers another intelligent saurian race, which provokes violence from the Quintaglios that leads to an interspecies war, and the exploration of a ruined alien spacecraft by Afsan's ex-mate Novato triggers the automated construction of an awe-inspiring space tower that may provide the Quintaglios the means of escaping their world before it breaks apart. Sawyer deftly combines well-reasoned hard-science speculation with psychology, imaginative alien anthropology, and even linguistics (the book includes a Quintaglio glossary) to produce a fascinating and memorable adventure that's not just for dinosaur lovers. Carl Hays --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for Foreigner:

A fine end to a brilliant series."--Quill & Quire

"Sawyer deserves a round of vigorous applause."--Analog

"A rousing conclusion to a dynamic and inspiring trilogy. Highly recommended."--The Toronto Star

"A fine end to a brilliant series." (Quill & Quire)

"Sawyer deserves a round of vigorous applause." (Analog)

"A rousing conclusion to a dynamic and inspiring trilogy. Highly recommended." (Toronto Star) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Robert J. Sawyer was born in Ottawa and lives just outside of Toronto, Canada. He has won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel. Visit his website at www.sfwriter.com.

Oliver Wyman (Born April 30, 1964) is an American voice actor who has worked on many animated features and television shows. He has won many awards for his work as a narrator of audio books as well. He is sometimes known as Pete Zarustica. His best roles are Drew from Pokemon, Morty from Shaman King, Bigs the Cat from Sonic X , and Aster from Yugioh gx

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Afsan couldn't see the sun, but he felt its noontime heat beating down. With his left hand he held the harness attached to Gork, his large monitor lizard. They were moving over paving stones, Afsan's toeclaws making heavy clicks against them, Gork's footfalls echoing that sound with a softer ticking. Afsan heard metal-rimmed wheels rolling over the roadway, approaching from the right.

Afsan had been blind for twenty kilodays. Det-Yenalb, the Master of the Faith, had pierced Afsan's eyeballs with a ceremonial obsidian dagger. The priest had rotated the blade in each socket, gouging out the empty sacks. Afsan didn't like thinking about that long-ago day. He'd been convicted of heresy, and the blinding had been performed in Capital City's Central Square in front of over a hundred people, a mob packed with as little as three paces between each of its members.

The city had changed since then. The landquake of kiloday 7110 had destroyed many roads and buildings, and the replacements were often different from the originals. The growth and redevelopment of the city had left their marks, too. Still, Afsan always knew where he was in relation to the Central Square. Even now, having to walk through it made him anxious. But today's journey would take him nowhere near---

Roots!

Suddenly Afsan felt his middle toeclaw catch on something---a loose paving stone?---and he found himself pitching forward, his tail lifting off the ground.

Gork let out a loud hiss as Afsan, desperately trying to right himself, yanked hard on the lizard's harness.

From ahead, a shout: "Watch out!"

Another voice, a different passerby: "He's going to be crushed!"

A loud roar---a hornface?---dead ahead.

Afsan's chest scraped across the pavement.

The sound of cracking leather.

The hornface again.

A snap from his shoulder.

A jab of pain.

His muzzle smashing into the ground.

Blood in his mouth.

Two curving teeth knocked loose.

And then, an explosion within his head as something heavy kicked into it.

His head whipped sideways. His neck felt like it was going to snap.

Crunching sounds.

More pain.

Indescribable pain.

A scream from the roadside.

More teeth knocked out.

Afsan was unable to breathe through one nostril. He felt as if that whole side of his upper muzzle had been crushed.

Running feet.

Afsan let out a moan.

A stranger's voice: "Are you all right?"

Afsan tried to lift his head. Agony. His shoulder blade was a knife, slicing into his neck. His head was slick with blood.

The high-pitched voice of a youngster: "It's Sal-Afsan!"

Another voice. "By the Face of God, it is."

And a third voice: "Oh, my God. His head---Sal-Afsan, are you all right?"

More running sounds, toeclaws sparking against paving stones.

Agony.

"You ran right over him!"

"He stumbled in front of my chariot. I tried to stop."

Chariot. The wheels he'd heard. The hornface must have been drawing it. The kick to his head---a hornface's forefoot. Afsan tried to speak, but couldn't. He felt blood coursing out of him.

"The left side of his face is smashed," said the youngster. "And look---there's something funny about his shoulder."

Another voice. "Dislocated, I'm sure."

"Is he dead?" called a new voice.

"No. Not yet, anyway. Look at his skull!"

Afsan tried to speak again, but all he managed was a low hiss.

"Someone get a healer!"

"No, it would take too long to fetch a doctor; we've got to take him to one."

"The palace surgery isn't far," said one of the voices. "Surely Sal-Afsan would be a patient of the imperial healer, what's his name..."

"Mondark," said another voice. "Dar-Mondark."

"Take him in your chariot," shouted a voice.

"Someone will have to help me," said the charioteer. "He's too heavy for me to lift on my own."

Silence, except for Afsan's labored breathing and, nearby, Gork's confused hissing.

"For God's sake, people, someone help me! I can't do this alone."

An incredulous voice. "To touch another..."

"He'll die if he doesn't get medical help. Come on."

A new voice, from farther away. "Make room for me to pass. I'm just back from a hunt. I suspect I can touch him without difficulty."

Shuffling feet. Afsan moaned again.

The charioteer's voice now, close to his earhole: "We're going to touch you, Sal-Afsan. Try not to react."

Even in agony, even with a broken skull and dislocated shoulder, instinct still reigned. Afsan flinched as hands touched him. Fingerclaws popped from their sheaths.

"Careful of his shoulder---"

Afsan howled in pain.

"Sorry. He's pretty heavy."

Afsan felt his head being pulled out of the thickening puddle of blood. He was lifted up and placed facedown in the back of the chariot.

"What about his lizard?" said the charioteer.

"I'll take him," said the youngster who had first identified Afsan. "I know where the palace surgery is."

The charioteer shouted, "Latark!" His hornface began to gallop along the road, Afsan's head bouncing up and down, the sound of metal wheels over the stones drowning out his moans.

After an eternity, the chariot arrived outside Dar-Mondark's surgery, a typical adobe building just south of the palace. Afsan could hear the charioteer disembark and the sound of his fingerclaws clicking against the signaling plate set into the doorjamb. The door swung open on squeaky hinges, and Afsan heard Mondark's voice. "Yes?"

"I'm Gar-Reestee," said the charioteer. "I've got Sal-Afsan with me. He's hurt."

Afsan heard Mondark's heavy footfalls as the healer hurried to the chariot. "God," he said. "How did this happen?"

"He tripped and fell into the roadway. My hornface kicked him in the head before I could stop my chariot."

"Those are massive wounds." Mondark leaned closer, his voice reassuring. "Afsan, you're going to be all right."

The charioteer's voice, incredulous: "Healer, your muzzle---"

"Shush," said Mondark. "Help me bring him inside. Afsan, we're going to pick you up."

Once again, Afsan was carried. He felt cold in the side of his head. After several moments, he was placed face down on a marble tabletop. Mondark had treated Afsan kilodays ago on a similar table after Afsan had plummeted to the ground from the top of a thunderbeast's neck. The surgery chamber, Afsan knew, was heated by a cast-iron stove burning coal. He also knew that the roof above the table was made largely of glass, letting in outside light, illuminating the patient.

"Thank you, Gar-Reestee, for bringing Afsan in," said Mondark. "I will do everything I can for him, but you must leave. The physical contact for treating his injuries is something you shouldn't see."

The charioteer's voice was full of sorrow. "Good Sal-Afsan, I'm terribly sorry. It was an accident."

Afsan tried to nod, but daggers of pain stabbed through his muzzle.

The charioteer left. Mondark went to work.

"Land ho!"

Captain Var-Keenir stopped pacing the deck of the sailing ship Dasheter and tipped his muzzle up to the lookout bucket, high atop the foremast. Old Biltog was up there, his red leather cap and the green skin of his head and shoulders stark against the purple sky. Keenir's tail swished in sadness. He'd seen it happen before on long voyages, and lookout officers, who spent inordinate amounts of time in the sun, were particularly susceptible to it. Biltog was hallucinating. Why, Land---the single known continent---was half a world away.

"Land ho!" called Biltog again, his green arm extended toward the northeast. The red sail attached to the foremast snapped in the wind. Two Quintaglios moved to the starboard side of the vessel to see what Biltog was pointing at.

Keenir looked up again. The sun, brilliant and white, was climbing in front of them. Behind, covering half the sky between zenith and rear horizon, was the Face of God, its leading edge illuminated, the rest of its vast bulk in shadow. Also visible were three moons, wan shapes in the sun's glare. But along the northeastern horizon there was nothing but waves touching sky.

Near Keenir was a ramp leading below. Kee-Toroca, a young Quintaglio male, came up it. He moved closer to Keenir than Keenir was comfortable with and said, "Did I hear a shout of 'land ho'?"

Keenir had known the young savant all his life; indeed, Toroca had taken his praenomen syllable in honor of him. "You've sharp hearing indeed, to have heard that below deck," he said in his gravelly voice. "Yes, Biltog shouted it, but, well, I think he's had too much sun. There can't be any land out here."

"Ah, but undiscovered land is exactly what we're looking for."

Keenir clicked his teeth. "Aye, the final stage of the Geological Survey. But I don't expect to find any, and doubt very much we have now."

Toroca was carrying the brass far-seer his mother, Novato, had given to his father, Afsan, the day after he had been conceived. It glinted in the fierce sun, its green patina counterpointed by purple reflections of the sky above. Toroca scanned the horizon once with his unaided eye.

Nothing.

Or was there something?

He brought the far-seer to his face and slid the tube's components apart until the horizon was in focus. There was a slight brown line dividing the waves and the sky.

Keenir could see it, too, now. Biltog's greater height had let him spot the land sooner than those on deck.

"Will you look at that?" said Toroca softly, passing the far-seer to the captain.

"An unknown country," said Keenir, head shaking in disbelief. Then, rotating on his heel, he shouted, "Starboard ho! Turn the ship!"

An ark.

A space ark.

Wab-Novato leaned back on her muscular tail, placed her hands firmly on her slender hips, and looked up at the vast blue structure protruding from ... --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06XN5BZB3
Publisher ‏ : ‎ SFWRITER.COM Inc. (Feb. 26 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1353 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 325 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 198841539X

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Customer Reviews:
117 ratings

About the author

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Robert J. Sawyer

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Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).

Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

117 global ratings

5 star		68%
4 star		24%
3 star		7%
2 star		1%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Jeff Terrell

Fantastic... But I want more!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 3, 2017

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Incredible journey... Do yourself a favour and read this series. Epic in scope. Well thought out. Well planned. Beyond creative!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 24, 2017

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love the story

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helena tremblay

Best Sci-Fi author EVER!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 13, 2015

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Completing my collection of Robert Sawyer's science fiction books. Fascinating reads.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 4, 2015

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Just great.

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MR RJ Vipers

Good, but feels incomplete

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 23, 2018

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Really enjoyed the majority of the series. But at the end feels like it's incomplete. Would be better if there was a final instalment.

One person found this helpful

Peter Eerden

I am a new Robert Sawyer fan

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on December 17, 2018

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Book three of the Quintaglio Ascension is also the best of the three and hopefully not the last. I will miss Afghan and assorted Quintaglio very much. It was a series to savour and a delightful reading experience. Nicely done and hopefully a sequel series will soon be offered.

Vincent A. Mazo

Great Book, sad it's over

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2013

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The final book in the trilogy. I really hope he writes another trilogy to carry on the story but he probably won't which is too bad. I think it would be great! Better than great!

But about the book, of course it's the third in the series. You get more insight into the Quintaglio race in this book and delve deeper into the psyche of the characters. I found myself really loving the main characters and caring what happened to them.

There were a couple spots here and there where I wish things could have turned out differently, or other aspects could have been more fleshed out. But I guess that's a testament to the author's ability to spin this amazing story and draw you in. I want more. More, more, more.

Anyway, I read this book over the course of a week do to work. But about half way through I couldn't put it down anymore and blazed through it, which is always bittersweet. Some parts were really suspenseful, and other parts I shed a few tears.

I read a lot of books and authors and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. I'm glad I have it on my kindle because I'll probably revisit it at some point. Thanks to the author for sharing his gift of story telling.

One person found this helpful

Old Steve the Magician

Steady development as a writer

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 27, 2015

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By the time Sawyer got to writing this third and final book of the Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, he had grown as a writer. It is so much better than book one (Far-Seer) and a steady improvement over book two (Fossil Hunter). I wonder what he might have achieved if he'd written the three books now, more than 20 years after they were published.

I'm glad I persevered with the series. I was a little doubtful at first. The idea for the trilogy was startling but, in the first book, its development was slow, repetitive and predictable, and the leading character lacked depth and dimension. By the end of Foreigner, however, that character was no longer milquetoast, and there were quite a few surprises in the plot.

Would I recommend it? If you've read books one and two, you're going to read book three anyway. If you're looking at this review wondering whether to start at all on the trilogy, then I repeat the advice in my review of the first book: "Buy it, but buy it cheap." And then persevere. Eventually, you'll find it all worth it.

the gunner

What is that Blue Stuff,Anyhow?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 13, 2007

Verified Purchase

Foreigner

Foreigner (1994) is the third and final book of Sawyer's Quitaglio Ascension trilogy, following Far-Seer: Book One of the Quintaglio Ascension , and Fossil Hunter: Book Two of The Quintaglio Ascension (Quintaglio Trilogy) .

In Foreigner Sawyer borrows elements from real Human History to add bits and pieces to his characterizations. In this one he borrows bits and pieces from Guy de Chaulia, Sigismund Schlomo Freud Also; there is a little Japanese Kamikazes. There that's enough clues. Go out and get this book!

If you enjoyed The Fossil-Hunter and the Far-Seer as much as I did, you'll want to read this concluding book.

Next comes... nothing. Oh, well, I'll check out his short stories in Iterations: And Other Stories maybe read Calculating God again. Or possibly the Hominids
Sawyer does let his Liberal leanings peek out at you in this book, but not terribly so. The nose of the camel does get snuck under the tent.

All in all this is a delightful ending to a very pleasant trilogy.

Gunner May, 2007

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Foreigner (The Quintaglio Ascension Book 3) Kindle Edition

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About the author

Robert J. Sawyer

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