I just finished "Calculating God" by Robert J Sawyer, best known for the Neanderthal Parallax and The Terminal Experiment. Normally I absolutely adore his writing. Common themes are atheism, rationalism and logic, and social change. If I ever was able to hone my writing skills in science fiction, I hope my works would read like his.
Calculating God, however, was painful to read. It starts out as a brilliant science fiction, but suddenly takes a turn for the fantasy with the introduction of theistic alien species and even a special guest star: god.
Check out this quote:
Quote:
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A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.
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Calculating God - Google Book Search
That sounds like.... intelligent design!? My hope was that this theme was intended as satire, but really his timing couldn't have been worse. That point is central to the plot and ruined the whole work for me.