The Sparrow
- 448
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- Arthur C. Clarke Award
- Otherwise Award
- BSFA Award for Best Novel
- Kurd Lasswitz Award for Best Foreign Work
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About the book
The Sparrow (1996) is the first novel by author Mary Doria Russell. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, James Tiptree Jr. Award, Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis and the British Science Fiction Association Award. It was followed by a sequel, Children of God, in 1998. The title refers to Gospel of Matthew 10:29–31, which relates that not even a sparrow falls to the earth without God's knowledge thereof.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 462 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 75% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 29 | 6% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 433 | 94% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“To those who are offended by profanity, I suggest you ignore the next sentence and proceed to the rest of the review. Honestly, for most of this book, all I could think was “come the fuck on?!” Not, mind you, because I was really impressed…”
“Religious people of all faiths eventually ask one (or both) of the following questions: “What is God's plan?” and “Why does God allow suffering?” And religious or not, I'd wager that more people than we would ever imagine have been faced with a personal existential…”
Frequently asked
How long is The Sparrow?
It has 448 pages — longer than 52% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 8.0, the closest to this book.
