END OF AN ERA – Robert Sawyer

End of an Era is a novel variation on a time travel yarn (although I guess every time travel yarn is a novel variation). Thanks to a vaguely described scientific principle and an even more vaguly described time travel macine, the central characters are thrown back 60 something million years to the Mesozoic period, complete with Tyrannosaurs, Triceratops, Brontosauruses et al. But when they get there, things are a bit different than history (or pre-history) had led them to believe. SLIGHT SPOILER: The dinosaurs may have had compay before our visitors.

This is the first Robert J Sawyer book I’d read. It’s fairly short and reads like an extended short story. Like Asimov, he likes to get straight into the storytelling without a lot of character development or scene setting. After reading some lenghty yarns recently, I enjoyed the change of pace but it also limits the attachment you develop to the characters and therefore the story. It’s a great “what if” with some clever scientific theories and a clever twist. I’m keen to read more by this author now. I’d give it three and half stars if the system allowed, but three stars since it doesn’t.