End of an Era

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: David Marantz

Paleontologist Brandon Thackery and his rival, Miles "Klicks" Jordan, fulfill a dinosaur lover's dream with history's first time-travel jaunt to the late Mesozoic. Hoping to solve the extinction mystery, they find Earth's gravity is only half its 21st-century value and dinosaurs that behave very strangely. Could the slimy blue creatures from Mars have something to do with both?

©1994, 2000 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Amazing plot mixes dinosaurs and astronomy

What did you love best about End of an Era?

It had such plausible and creative explanations for the demise of dinosaurs and I say this as a skeptical paleontologist. All the pieces of the plot line led up so amazingly to this novel explanation in lieu of the comet at the end of the Cretaceous.
The aliens were an incredibly clever construct. First time ever to see this kind of alien.
Human characters were very well drawn, too.
Fabulous world-building.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot. Several interwoven highly imaginative concepts. Very well paced and conceived. I was sorry the book ended.

Have you listened to any of David Marantz’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. No idea. But he did amazing narration of the dialects/accents of the humans and of the voices of the aliens. Also, great expression. Very gifted performance. I can't imagine reading the book, after hearing this narration, as he brought it to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me want to time travel so badly to see extinct animals and plants. What a ride. Of course, a paleontologist dream has come true, now that we know birds are the living group of therapod dinosaurs that did not go extinct. And there are lots of living fossils, like dragon flies and monkey puzzle trees. But still, time travel to eons past is every paleontologist's fantasy.

Any additional comments?

Robert Sawyer is such an amazing and creative author. It was great to find one of his books that I had not already read. Our library doesn't carry much of him. Before Audible, I used to have to hunt the used bookstores.

Twists and Turns, Lots of Unexpected things.

There were a lot of unexpected things in this book. I think the author did a good job of portraying his overall ideas. He did well with moving the story along and keeping the reader interested and on track. I liked the ending. I'd like to say more but I don't want to introduce spoilers.

Another reason to love RJ Sawyer

Another great addition to the body o fwork of this canadian gem of an author. Not his best but very imaginative and enjoyable. Th eonly downside is the highly unlikely premise for funding of the experiment the story revolves around, otherwise good RJ Sawyer fare prone to less vacilations between preachy lets-all-get-along with coexisting pinings and atheist manifesto than some of his other works too.

Fascinating!

Boy do I ever enjoy Robert Sawyer's imagination!

There is nothing I can tell you about this book without giving away the plot, other than I was riveted and could not put it down.

Another fantastic (fantastical) adventure… KEEP ‘EM COMING!

One of my favorites

A great and creative sci go book, one of my fav RJS books he’s written