Seeker
by Jack McDevitt
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Book Reviews of Seeker
Book Review: Love McDevitt's books with just one minor quibble
Summary: 4 Stars
McDevitt's books, in general, are great and I've read most of them. I won't repeat what many others have said and should think that the four stars I've given this book speak for themselves.
There is one, admittedly minor, detail which the author has blown in two of his books, though: the nature of a maglev train. In both "Seeker" and an earlier unrelated book, "Eternity Road", he describes a maglev doing something quite impossible: soaring high through the sky with no hint whatsoever of track directly beneath it. Magnetic levitation trains, by definition, require opposing magnetic forces on the underside of the train and on some sort of track directly (inches at best) below it. The magnetic forces repel, thus giving the train lift. It simply wouldn't work without the track! Sure you could have flying trains in a society which can obviously manipulate gravity, but they wouldn't be "maglev."
Book Review: The Sherlock Holmes of Science Fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
I love how in this future the past is the big unknown. In our world we want to unravel the future and the stars. In Alex's world it is discovering the past and their journey that is the great mystery. A mystery that some are willing to kill for to keep buried. Alex with his intellect and deductive reasoning puts me in mind of Sherlock Holmes. He can resist a challenge and hates not knowing. Meanwhile, Chase is the loyal yet daring female Watson. Penning the truth of their adventures and how often it is the truth that keeps their lives in danger. The characters are very well developed and each brings their own traits and quirks to the reader. The clues lead you on a wild chase across the universe and the findings will astound the reader just as they do the main characters. If you like adventure, mystery and a thrilling space battles and exploration you need to become a fan of Alex Benedict.Book Review: Twist near the end saves this from 3 stars
Summary: 4 Stars
I have to say this novel is not very interesting due to flat characters and uninspiring plot (at least in the first 2/3 of the book). The writing leaves a lot to be desired, reading it is like reading guidebook to a RPG game, and apparently investigating a lost ship involves talking to a lot of people and asking endless questions.
It also unnerves me that human civilization 10,000 years in the future remains essentially the same as today's US society, that's just not believable. Usually I can suspend my belief in such matters, but unfortunately this book is about archeology so time is a factor here.
However, the author did pull of a twist near the end which, unlike early attempts, caught me by surprise. There're also some interesting knowledge about astronomy and some light humor, which makes the reading bearable.
Book Review: Enjoyable space mystery
Summary: 3 Stars
A reasonably entertaining light beach read. The characters are two-dimensional, but I'm a fan of lost colony mysteries and this one kept me engaged. The author did a good job of creating a sense of long history between the reader's time and the novel's era, in which many human civilizations have risen and fallen, and the records of the older ones have become sketchy (including that of the United States, which apparently declined into a theocratic dictatorship with a Fox News-like media). It makes me wonder how much of today's recorded information will be lost under the torrent of noise that following centuries will probably unleash. I also enjoyed the author's ideas on what an alien race might be like and his creative use of astrophysics.Book Review: Fascinating idea
Summary: 3 Stars
(***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad)
McDevitt is more of an idea-guy than a writer: his characters are flat and his descriptions employ so little sensory information that he manages to make scenes like an apartment break-in by a vengeful man and a fight for survival outside of a spaceship seem boring.
BUT -- his ideas such as a journey among a telepathic alien species among whom lying is unknown, and (especially) what happened to the lost colonists of the Bremerhaven and the Seeker) are absolutely breathtaking.
Reading Seeker was sometimes a slog, but I was entertained and glad I'd read it in the end. Longer review at ImpatientReader-dot-com.