Seeker
by Jack McDevitt
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Book Reviews of Seeker
Book Review: What is it about McDevitt?
Summary: 4 Stars
Seeker is one of Jack McDevitt`s Alex Benedict stories. SF archaeological mysteries.
But in this review I want to talk about the author rather than just this particular book.
Just what is it about McDevitt that makes his books so hard to put down once you get started on one?
He is a good writer, but not outstanding by any means. Nor does he seem to inject much passion into his stories.
His stories and plots are solid and well thought out, but not terribly original nor all that creative. I had the ending of this one
figured out before the half way point in the book. His stories, while good, are pretty predictable.
The type of stories he comes up with are not the type that normally grab me. They are a bit tame and slow by the standards of what
I generally like to read. But still, dispite all of this, when I start one of his books I`ll be up half the night to finish it.
So the question remains, why?
I think the anwser is much more basic than anything that I`ve outlined above. I think McDevitt`s true talent is that he is a
natural born story teller. I`m sure everyone has run into a few of those. But McDevitt is one of the rare ones that can do it in
print instead of just in person.
So there you have it. My opinion, for whatever it may be worth.
Book Review: Another Solid Sci-fi Mystery from McDevitt
Summary: 4 Stars
SEEKER is the third novel in the "Alex Benedict" mystery series and won the Nebula Award for best SF Novel of 2006. I found it an enjoyable read.
The "Alex Benedict" novels are essentially mysteries that take place thousands of years in the future. Benedict is a for-profit antiques dealer, along with his incredibly competent assistant Chase Kolpath (who serves as narrator). All of the novels begin with Benedict discovering a long-forgotten artifact, which opens up a mystery about the past that both he and Chase must solve. These novels are formulaic, but extremely well crafted. Mcdevitt is releasing a fourth novel in this series in late 2008.
McDevitt writes these novels in a low-key style, and the pacing is relatively slow. There are many scenes involving the characters having dinner, watching movies, and having philosophical conversations. Most of these scenes are well written, and provide insight into the day-to-day life of Mcdevitt's futuristic society. I found them quite fascinating, but some readers will no doubt be bored with the lack of action or intense drama.
Overall, SEEKER was a fine read and I look forward to the next entry in this series.
Book Review: Good sci-fi mystery
Summary: 4 Stars
"Seeker" is basically a sci-fi ancient mystery, part of a series of books McDevitt has written using the same central character. While this one is written from a first person perspective of a different character than previous entries, nothing is lost in this approach. The story is well structured and keeps you interested as details are revealed regarding the central mystery.
There are only three downsides that keep this from being a five star story. First, McDevitt isn't very good at characterization. Nobody stands out in a really detailed way. This has been true of all McDevitt books I've read so far. Second, there is an unnecessary subplot involving murder in "Seeker" that does not serve any purpose other than to theoretically heighten the tension. It could have been completely removed without changing the story one bit. Third, McDevitt is just too fond of "deus ex" moments (where something unlikely happens that nobody has any control over that signicantly impacts the story) in his books and we have one here as well.
All that said, "Seeker" is definately worth picking up.
Book Review: Predictable But Enjoyable
Summary: 3 Stars
The third novel in the Alex Benedict series "Seeker" once again sees Alex and his faithfull assistant Chase Kolpath hot on the trail of a lost colony. While I did enjoy Seeker, and love the Alex Benedict books especially I am finding them a little predictable now, as the author basically has his characters doing the same thing over again with only a slightly diffirent objective each time.
It also bugs me a little that the last two novels, Seeker and Polaris have been told from the viwepoint of Chase, and Alex himself, the main character of the superb "A Talent For War" is little more than a background character. I find Alex to be the most interesting thing about the novels themselves so it's hard having to see everything through the eyes of his offsider. It's also obvious that the "female" character of Chase is written by a "male" author as her thoughts and actions are a little to male most of the time. I look forward to the next book in the series where hopefully Alex will get back into the major role where he belongs instead of just lurking in the background. A good book, but not a great one.
Book Review: Chase is good!
Summary: 5 Stars
As ever, McDevitt's gotta twisty plot, which kept me up past my bedtime. I finished the second half of Polaris, the second in this series of (so far) three and made the mistake of picking up Seeker at 11pm then staying up reading it all night, taking a break only for an appointment I seriously considered canceling so I could finish the book.
I felt really weird thinking of a coin from 2006 with an eagle on the back and "In God We Trust" being "...the second oldest coin" known to man about 12,000 years from now. Even weirder to think that Chase's (the narrator's) version of Atlantis, the lost city, is supposed to not even be formed until four or five hundred years in our future! This book, like most of Jack McDevitt's books, have a lot of sparks to get you thinking.
I've bought all of McDevitt's books but one, and read all but two, and I'm sorry I can read faster than he can write. I don't know what or who I'll find to read next, but the last couple weeks have been a rare treat with 'my McDevitt' books to help me escape from the pressures of real life.