Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy
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The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy is a series of novels written by acclaimed Canadian science fiction author, Robert J. Sawyer. The books depict an Earth-like world on a moon which orbits a gas giant, inhabited by a species of highly evolved, sentient Tyrannosaurs, among various other creatures from the late cretaceous period, imported to this moon by aliens 65 million years prior to the story. The series consists of three books: Far Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner.
Contents |
[edit] The Trilogy
The following are brief summaries collected from the back of each book in the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy.
[edit] Far-Seer
Far-Seer is the first book in the Quintaglio Ascension.
Sixty-five million years ago, aliens transplanted Earth's dinosaurs to another world. Now, intelligent saurians -- the Quintaglio -- have emerged. Afsan, the Quintaglio counterpart of Galileo, must convince his people of the truth about their place in the universe before astronomical forces rip the dinosaurs' new home apart.
[edit] Fossil Hunter
Fossil Hunter is the second book in the series.
Toroca, a Quintaglio geologist (and son of Afsan, from the previous book), is under attack for his controversial theory of evolution. But the origins of his people turn out to be more complex then he ever imagined, for he soon discovers the wreckage of an ancient starship -- a relic of the aliens who transplanted Earth's dinosaurs to this solar system. Now Toroca must convince Emperor Dybo that evolution is true; otherwise, the territorial violence inherited from their Tyrannosaur ancestors will destroy the last survivors of Earth's prehistoric past.
Meanwhile, Emperor Dybo's rule is challenged by his brother Dy-Rodlox, lord of Edz-Toolar.
[edit] Foreigner
Foreigner is the final book in the series.
In Far Seer and Fossil Hunter, we met the Quintaglios, a race of intelligent dinosaurs and learned 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 world.
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 people into a startling new light.
[edit] The Quintaglios
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It has been suggested that Quintaglio be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
The namesake of the trilogy, the Quintaglios are a sentient race of carnivorous dinosaurs evolved from Nanotyrannus or Tyrannosaurus rex. More detailed information on the species can be read in the main article.
[edit] Character histories
The following is a list of the main and secondary characters featured in the books.
[edit] Main Characters
- Sal-Afsan: The Main character of the series.
- Tak-Saleed: Afsan's mentor and the former court astrologer under Empress Len-Lends. He is a gruff, crotchety, ancient Quintaglio, and creche-mate of Var-Keenir. He went through seven apprentice astrologers before he took on Afsan.
- Dy-Dybo: Former prince, now the Emperor of all of Land, and Afsan's close friend. Despite not being the fastest or the strongest of Lends' egglings, he nevertheless became the greatest ruler the Quintaglio race has ever seen. He has a good sense of humour, and a legendary appetite.
- Wab-Navato: Inventor of the Far Seer, she and Afsan mated and laid eight eggs together.
- Pal-Cadool: The palace butcher- also a Lubalite and, later, an aide to Afsan.
- Var-Keenir: The captain of the Dasheter. He starts off as a cold, Captain Ahab-like character, obsessed with hunting the Elasmosaur Kal-Ta-Goot. After this event he mellows and becomes a warmer character and a close friend of Afsan.
- Det-Yenalb: The Antagonist of the first book. He attempted to have Afsan executed, for he saw him and his ideas as a threat to Quintaglio civilisation. Yenalb dies in battle against Pal-Cadool.
- Kee-Toroca:
- Wab-Babnol:
- Dy-Rodlox: The antagonist of the second book. The lord of Edz'Toolar, he is powerful and aggressive, and is the strongest of Lends' offspring. He believes he was meant to be the true emperor, not Dybo, and challenges him for his right to rule. He might have very nearly defeated the Blackdeath and become Emperor of all the land, if not for his own arrogance causing him to make a fatal mistake...
- Nav-Mokelb: An important character in the third book, she is the inventor of psychoanalysis, and her studies eventually reveal the startling truth behind the Quintaglio territorial impulse. She is also noteworthy for being one the minority of females constantly emitting sex pheromones, though she was ineligible to be a huntress (the usual profession of such females) due to a debilitating childhood injury.
- Den Garios:
[edit] The World of the Quintaglios
[edit] Geography
The Quintaglios live on a moon, that orbits around a gas giant called "Galatjaroob", which means "The Face of God". The moon is mostly covered by water, but has a single huge continent on the far side, a small archipelago of islands on the other, and a southern and northern ice cap. The continent the Quintaglios live on is called simply called "Land", and is split up into provinces. There are eight provinces, and they are called, (from west to east)
- Jam'Toolar
- Fra'Toolar
- Arj'Toolar
- Chu'Toolar
- Mar'Toolar
- Edz'Toolar
- Kev'Toolar
- Capital
Capital City lies on the far eastern end of land, in the shadow of the Ch'Mar volcanoes. It is where most of the action takes place. Arj'Toolar is Afsan's home province.
[edit] Featured Dinosaurs and other Creatures
In addition to Quintaglios, many other creatures inhabit the Quintaglio Moon. All originally came from earth. Some have remained pretty much unchanged since the cretaceous period, whereas others have evolved since then into completely new species. There are no mammals on the Quintaglio moon, and no birds either. Following is a list and a brief description of creatures known to inhabit the Quintaglio moon, first with the Quintaglio term and then the human one.
- Shovelmouth (Hadrosaurs): Large, duckbilled dinosaurs, they are hunted as food by Quintaglios and occasionally used as beasts-of-burden. Despite having stringy meat, they form the staple of the Quintaglio diet. Corythosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Lambeosaurus are seen (although the latter is apparently extinct) as well as completely new varieties of shovelmouth/hadrosaur, including one with a three-pointed crest and a breed from Arj'Toolar that is orange with blue stripes, and reportedly the tastiest kind of all.
- Armourback (Ankylosaurs): A few Armourbacks are seen and mentioned in passing. They are noted as being extremely difficult to kill. The Lubalites and Palace staff use a few Armourbacks as riding mounts during the final battle in Far Seer, and the Quintaglio version of the Turtles all the way down story substitutes turtles with armourbacks. Mekt, one of the Original Five and the first bloodpriest, apparently killed an Armourback.
- Hornface (Ceratopsians): Hunted as food and occasionally domesticated by Quintaglios. Three species are confirmed to exist. The most commonly seen variety are "Triple Hornface" (Triceratops), but "Spikefrills" (Styracosaurus) and "Boss-Nosed Hornface" (Pachyrhinosaurus) are also depicted. Einiosaurus is also mentioned but like the Lambeosaurus is apparently extinct. A Triple Hornface apparently killed Lubal, one of the Original Five. Det-Yenalb rides a Spikefrill in the final battle in Far Seer, and Lub-Galpook (Afsan's daughter and hunt leader) brings along a caravan of Boss-Nosed Hornfaces to act as beasts of burden during the capture of a Blackdeath.
- Thunderbeast (Sauropods, possibly Alamosaurus): Thunderbeasts are the biggest herbivores living on the Quintaglio Moon. Afsan's hunting party went after a staggeringly huge one on Afsan's first hunt, and he made a big impression by being the one to actually kill it, by climbing all the way up its neck and biting out its throat.
- Runningbeast (Ornithomimus): The fastest creatures in all of land, they are used by Quintaglios like horses. Two varieties exist; a green type and a beige type. Afsan rides one on his trip back to the capital.
- Fangjaw: Fangjaws are unique to the Quintaglio moon, a fleet footed, quadrupedal, carnivorous dinosaur that evolved from an unspecified theropod species. They have elongated jaws with two big teeth sticking up from the lower jaw, and apparently hunt Thunderbeasts, Shovelmouths and Runningbeasts. Afsan killed one on his last hunt before being blinded, impressing everybody by managing to bring one down on his first try.
- Wingfinger (Pterosaurs): Since no birds exist on the Quintaglio Moon, the Pterosaurs (which were in decline at the end of the cretaceous) were able to rule the skies of the dinosaurs' new home unchallenged, and evolved into a huge variety of new species. The Quintaglio's southern ice-cap is inhabited exclusively by Pterosaurs, which have evolved since then into completely new creatures, such as "Divers" (pterosaurs similar to Penguins) and "Stilts", (a bizarre Pterosaur derivative which uses its long arms like legs.) It is the Pterosaurs of the South Pole that give Toroca his idea of evolution.
- Fish Lizard (Ichthyosaurs): Fish lizards inhabit the seas of the Quintaglio moon. Baby ones are often hauled aboard and eaten on sailing trips, (the dorsal fin and the tail are apparently the best parts). Toroca fights an adult Fish Lizard when swimming back to the Dasheter from the Others' archipelago.
- Kal-Ta-Goot/Water Serpent (Elasmosaurus): A single Elasmosaur is seen the first book, Far Seer. Its name is Kal-Ta-Goot. In a sub-plot remarkably similar to (and probably a reference to) Moby-Dick, Captain Var-Keenir is obsessed with killing it after it bites off his tail in an encounter prior to the story. Afsan is the one who kills the creature in the end. As Kal is the only Elasmosaur seen or referenced to in the book, it is unknown whether Kal-Ta-Goot is the name of the species or the individual elasmosaur Keenir was obsessed with killing. If not for Keenir's obsession with Kal, the Dasheter never would have gone out of sight of The Face of God, and Afsan would never have been able to sail across the entire ocean and prove the world was round.
- Terrorclaw (Deinonychus): They are never seen, although an event mentioned in-passing has Novato apparently having a kill of hers stolen by a pack of Terrorclaws and she escapes from them by climbing up a tree.
- Blackdeath (Tyrannosaurus rex): The Apex predator on the Quintaglio Moon, they are named so after their pitch black hide. The males possess a dewlap sack, same as Quintaglios do. Blackdeaths are impossible for a Quintaglio to kill without the aid of weapons, which Quintaglio custom forbids, thus they are completely inaccessible as prey. However, Lub-Galpook's hunting party is able to capture one alive. Emperor Dy-Dybo, Dy-Rodlox and the other apprentice governors are forced to fight the same Blackdeath in an arena at the end of Fossil Hunter, to repay their exemption from the culling of the Bloodpriests, where it manages to kill all of them except for Dybo and Spenress. A Blackdeath also takes the place of the Giant in "Rewdan and the Vine", the Quintaglio version of Jack and the Beanstalk.
- Lizards (A goanna named "Gork" becomes Afsan's pet and "Seeing Eye" lizard after he is blinded by Yenalb.)
- The Others. A race of sentient dinosaurs discovered in "Foreigner", similar to the Quintaglios, though of a different species.
- Jijaki. The Jijaki are an advanced alien species descended from Opabinia, transplanted to another world. The Jijaki spread life throughout the universe, seeding many species, including the Quintaglios themselves. The Jijaki went extinct millions of years prior to the story.
[edit] Themes and Allegory
The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy is intended to be an allegory to our own Age of enlightenment. Each book features a Quintaglio equivalent to a prominent human thinker. Sal-Afsan is a Quintaglio version of Galileo, his son Toroca is the Quintaglio equivalent to Charles Darwin, and Mokleb is a Quintaglio Sigmund Freud.
The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy has an underlying theme of standing up for the truth in the face of overwhelming opposition, of dedication to a cause no matter what. It champions new, innovative ideas overcoming fundamentalist dogma, of rationality overcoming mysticism. These themes are explored in other books by Robert J. Sawyer.
[edit] Reception
The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy has generally been very well received; the Toronto Star called Far Seer "One of the year's outstanding SF books", Far Seer, Fossil Hunter and Foreigner consistently receive four to five star ratings in user reviews on amazon.com, and both Far Seer and Fossil Hunter received Homer awards for "Best Novel" during their initial release dates. The books have been praised for their creativity, endearing characters, and social relevance. Sawyer has remarked in his short story anthology "Iterations" that the Quintaglio Ascension has generated the most fan-mail for anything he has written.
However, the series has received some negative criticism. Some reviewers have said that the Quintaglios act too human, while others point out the implausibility of a technological civilisation developing from a nomadic hunting society. Sawyer defends his work by stating that the human-like behavior of the Quintaglios was necessary for readers to connect with the characters, and that agriculture isn't necessarily a pre-requisite for a developed civilisation, (a point that he goes into greater detail with in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.)
[edit] A New Trilogy?
Robert J. Sawyer has contemplated ideas for more Quintaglio books. He has stated if he ever does another Quintaglio trilogy, it will deal with The Others, and be a parable about the Civil Rights struggle in the U.S. Whether he'll ever get around to actually writing this book, he does not know.
