science fiction mystery which was pretty good. The thing I liked about it was that it did not end in a cliff hanger. ( )

OK, first off, know that I have a bias against science fiction stories that are set in the far future (in this case, 9,000 years from now) but the characters act and live just like late 20th-early 21st century middle-class Westerners. It's just not believable to me and I think it lacks imagination.

Setting that aside, it's a reasonably good yarn about a duo of antique dealers who make a living pillaging the ruins of civilizations on far-flung worlds, to the annoyance of archeologists, surveyors, and museum curators. They find something that sends them searching for a semi-mythological ancient civilization—kind of like Atlantis, only it's a lost planet.

The plot moves along OK, but don't read this book looking for character development.

Some interesting telepathic aliens.

Contender for the "Silliest MacGuffin" award (a 9,000 year old plastic coffee cup). ( )

The third installment in Jack McDevitt's "Alex Benedict" series of books, "Seeker" is best defined as an archeo-mystery novel - in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the fate of a centuries-old legendary starship, the novel travels to several exotic locations in search of (nearly) equally old clues. However, "Seeker" is a far cry from the standard of mystery novels; it is far superior.

The Seeker was one of humanity's first true interstellar "seed ships," a massive star-going ship designed to ferry people to a colony. Launched from a dystopian Earth more than a century before the beginning of the novel's narrative, the Seeker carried colonists to a fledgling community free from the global government's fascist policies. However, when the Seeker was lost without a trace, a legend was born. A legend which lay untouched for more than a century.

Alex Benedict, an antiquities dealer specializing in artifacts from alien civilizations and the ancient human space program, is shown a cup that, by all appearances, came from the vanished Seeker. This touches off a race to locate the Seeker, a quest which takes us across the stars to put together a centuries-old jigsaw puzzle of clues. The prize, however, could be much more than the Seeker itself - the colony to which the Seeker was headed has also never been found.

Filled with the a hard science fiction narrative that Jack McDevitt is so famous for crafting, "Seeker" is a story that is difficult to leave. Each step along the path opens a new question, and although the book suffers from a slow introduction, once the true plot begins, it is difficult to put down for any length of time.

Despite the fact that "Seeker" is actually the third in the series, new readers can easily pick up the storyline without any knowledge of prior events - although one should be warned that the conclusions of prior books are hinted.

"Seeker" is a prime example of the science fiction that only Jack McDevitt can write. Well worth the time of any true science fiction fan, "Seeker" is an excellent example of how science fiction - and mystery - should be done.

-BrowncoatLibrarian ( )

This is a solid space adventure that kept me turning the pages. But the Nebula for Best Novel of 2006? Really? We're a long way down from The Dispossessed and Timescape. The framework is routine. What happened to the lost colony? The characters are equally rote. Chase is your basic gumshoe, but in space, and Alex is just a guy who signs checks. The villain's motivation is ridiculous. When the mystery of Margolia is solved, I could only summon up a mild "hmm." ( )

Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath, antiquities dealers and sometimes amateur slueths of the distant future, are back, this time investigating the mysterious appearance of what seems to be a plastic cup from the ship that founded a legendary lost colony.

After being nominated for the Nebula many times, it's easy to see why McDevitt finally got his award with this book. This isn't a book that tackles profound, earth-shattering issues. But Seeker offers all of the strengths of a typical McDevitt novel (i.e., an unpretentious, nicely paced, and intruguing mystery set in a well defined future). To this formula it adds a brilliantly moving conclusion that brought tears to my eyes and one of the more intriguing lost colony concepts you'll ever run across.

Congratulations, Jack. ( )