Critical Reception
Besides winning the Nebula Award, The Terminal Experiment won the Prix Aurora Award for Best Best Long Form in English of 1995. It also earned one of the nine HOMer Awards that Sawyer has won. The novel was a Preliminary Nominee for the Bram Stoker Award, for Superior Achievement in a Novel, and was nominated for the Science Fiction Chronicle Award.
Brian Stableford wrote in an overview: "Sawyer's work became conspicuously more ambitious in the late 1990s. The Terminal Experiment (1995) has a murder mystery subplot, but foregrounds an enquiry into the roots of ethical philosophy, employing three artificial 'clones' of its protagonist's personality as subjects in an elaborate thought experiment."
Steven H Silver wrote, "Sawyer is writing a mystery with this book, and, to a certain extent, succeeds. The pace is good, keeping you turning the pages, and the characters are likeable, even the libidinous Hans and the un-enlightened Rod. However, because of the way Sawyer creates his mystery, there is no real chance of figuring out who is responsible."
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