Ambassador of Progress [Mass Market Paperback]

Walter Jon Williams (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (May 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812557913
• ISBN-13: 978-0812557916
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,283,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unlike nearly any Sci-fi novel I have ever read., August 7, 1999

By 

Greg Hallock (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ambassador of Progress (Mass Market Paperback)

But that is true of nearly all of WJW's work. There is sophisticated character developement, and some interesting plot twists. This book deals with racism and segragation in a fictional society, as viewed through the eyes of an outsider.

You are kept guessing through the whole book what the mysterious purpose of the outsider is, and whether the two groups of people are even truely Human. A good read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of Science Fiction, May 11, 2007

By 

Clayton D. Strand (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ambassador of Progress (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has been around for over twenty years. Read today, though, it remains to me what it was then, one of the half dozen greatest science fiction novels.

Williams, almost alone among those who have spent their careers as science fiction authors, is able to gift his characters with familiar adult feelings, responses which have the feel of maturity, not adolescence, which is much more prevalent. His characterizations, though perhaps unique for their skill in the genre, are only half the picture though, his stories can be, as they are here, absolutely delightful, entertaining, witty without pretense or arrogance. He manages, with all this, to give a little history lesson which you must find for yourself, and challenges the reader to consider the world we have, and why it is what it is.

This is this author's best work, and considering the fellow wrote Hardwired, that is the highest praise.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, July 23, 2007

By 

W. M. Shipman "Music Lover" (Gloucester, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ambassador of Progress (Mass Market Paperback)

A blend of fantasy and science-fiction, with an emphasis on fantasy, Williams spins a story involving war, politics and ethics set against a fascinating cultural backdrop. The various societies Williams develops in the novel are fascinating -- almost characters unto themselves. I've read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi over the years, and this is easily one of my all-time favorites.