This was a required read for a RL book group. I was dreading it because a previous encounter with the author was very frustrating. Another outing with alien archeology, but he took the whole book to set it up, rushed through the subject, never explored it, and seemed to leave it all for a follow up book.

I was expecting the same with this book (uneven pacing, and writing about everything but the subject). I was wrong and pleasantly surprised.

This book does deal with alien archeology. There are archeologists at a dig on a planet far away from earth. It was interesting, if a bit contrived - they have a deadline because a private company with government approval is going to terraform the planet and destroy the artifacts, and all lifeforms. Earth is crowded, hot and desperate.

The characters were rather superficial and seemed to be stock. It tried to be SF, a thriller and a disaster book all in one. In fact it seemed to be very TV-ish. The writing is a bit wordy, but it does flow, and it kept my interest.

The book also seems to be split into two different stories, the dig and then a group of characters follow a cosmic event that impacts the civilizations it passes by. They end up in place that has been more recently destroyed and go exploring. Bad things happen.

I guess I rated it as high as I did because it was so much better than I expected. Others may be less generous. It is supposed to be the first in the series, and I am still ambivalent about reading further.

Damning with faint praise I guess. ( )

The premise (from Barnes & Noble.com): Two hundred years ago, humans made a stunning discovery in the far reaches of the solar system: a huge statue of an alien creature, with an inscription that defied all efforts at translation. Now, as faster-than-light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument-Makers - each different, and each heartbreakingly beautiful. But except for a set of footprints on Jupiter's moon Iapetus, there is no trace of the enigmatic race that has left them behind. Then a team of scientists working on a dead world discover an ominous new image of the Monument-Makers. Somehow it all fits with other lost civilizations, and possibly with Earth's own future. And distant past. But Earth itself is on the brink of ecological disaster - there is no time to search for answers. Even to a question that may hold the key to survival for the entire human race...

My Rating

Wish I'd Borrowed It: there were just too many factors working against this book for me personally to really latch on. The sense of wonder element wasn't near strong enough to sucker me in, though it did keep me reading just to finish the book. I didn't connect with any of the characters, and despite the mystery uniting the overall storyline, it felt too episodic and too cluttered. In some ways, I think this book would translate well into a television series, but it didn't work well for me as a novel. Then again, I'm having more and more trouble stomaching science fiction lately, and every time I pick up an SF, I wonder if that book will be the one to break the streak of "meh" I've been feeling, but so far, no good. It's not to say I won't ever give McDevitt another shot ever again, but I won't be returning to the Priscilla Hutchins series, that's for sure. I'll have to try the Alex Benedict or one of McDevitt's stand-alones instead.

The full review, which does include spoilers, may be found in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Jack McDevitt's THE ENGINES OF GOD

Happy Reading! :) ( )

The story just wasn’t my cup of tea, although by the end I was really intrigued by the puzzle of the disappearing civilizations. On the whole, I felt that the narrative dragged--it took way too long to find things out and move on--and there was too much dry technical language. Interpersonal relationships and human emotions seemed like obligatory afterthoughts. ( )

The first step of McDevitt's "Hutch" series of books, "The Engines of God" is an outstanding achievement in the rapidly-dwindling pantheon of hard science fiction. However, it is perhaps most startling that the great achievement is due not to flashy technology or awesome starships, but rather the transplantation of the very terrestrial occupation of archeology to the stars.

Following Priscilla Hutchins, pilot of superluminal (faster than light) spacecraft, the story is told in, effectively, three acts; as are many of McDevitt's books. Although McDevitt is famous - or, perhaps, infamous - for slow introductions, the revelation of the details in an archeological dig on the distant planet of Quraqua immediately hooks the reader in. McDevitt is careful in his revelations, never giving the reader quite enough to believe that they understand everything - a very real simulation of true archeology.

However, when the essential villain steps in to disrupt peaceful academia, the introduction is not done with a sledgehammer. Rather than a clear-cut evil entity, the antagonist in the story instead becomes time itself - a deadline rather than an entity. While it is easy to lay blame on the corporation imposing the deadline, the justifications given are enough to plant the seed of doubt in the reader's mind.

McDevitt sets the tone for the rest of his works in the structure of the plot for this book. Just when the story seems concluded, it is revealed that the "concluding" events are actually just a segue into what could very well be the thrust of the story. Best of all, McDevitt does not achieve this effect through sudden introduction of plot or person, but rather by tying up loose ends introduced much earlier in the story. The evidence is always visible to the reader, and McDevitt masterfully ties the loose ends together into a hook for the second half of the book.

Filled with very real human moments and breathtaking descriptions of alien worlds, "The Engines of God" is a book for any hard science fiction fan. McDevitt does not "cheat" on his science fiction, and explains with open hands exactly how his universe works - a trait that has been vanishing from the genre in recent years. Science fiction fans will not be disappointed.

-BrowncoatLibrarian ( )

Intelligent Science Fiction with Action and Adventure to Boot

Jack McDevitt is a thinking man’s science fiction writer. With Engines of God, he introduces a new series and universe and a new hero in superluminal pilot Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins. In the second space age for mankind, exploration of our Solar System found little of interest – especially, it found no life on other planets or moons – Mars was lifeless with no evidence of eve having any, no life was found on the ice moons of Jupiter and Saturn – nothing. Just when humanity was about to turn inward again and abandon the cost of space travel, a shocking discovery was made: an ice sculpture of a strange, alien, winged creature on a pedestal with an indecipherable inscription was found on Saturn’s moon Iapetus; and a single alien foot print in the dirt. The space age was back on schedule as everyone wanted to know who the Monument-Makers (as they were dubbed) were. Soon after, FTL travel was made possible with the invention of the Hazeltine Drive that allowed the transition into another dimension where 1 light year could be covered in a little over an hour of time.

At the dawn of the 23rd century, human exploration of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way has discovered a total of twelve monuments, all built by the enigmatic Monument-Makers. Also discovered are a few dead civilizations and some false cities built on the moons of these now empty worlds that are constructed entirely of right angles with signs heavy bombardment. Also, Earth is struggling with centuries of environmental damage and there is a push to expand onto new worlds. On the planet Quraqua, all of these factors collide. It is a planet with one of these dead civilization, it has a monument, and one of the mysterious moon-bound fake cities that has been dubbed Oz; it has also been selected as a perfect candidate for terraforming and a new home to humans.

While the terraforming effort proceeds indifferently, the last archaeological expedition to the planet works feverously to extract what knowledge it can about the long dead alien world and the Monument-Makers who had obviously been there at the end. Hutch, the superluminal pilot sent by the Academy of Space and Technology to extract the expedition, must come to the rescue as the team of archaeologists struggle past the point no return to extract a large artifact trapped under the sea. Through her Herculean effort, she is able to save the team while also being the one to see the connection between the Monument-Makers and the false cities.

This discovery leads Hutch and the Archaeology team on a trek across light years as they piece together who the Monument-Makers were, where they came from, and the discovery of the reason for these false cities and dead civilizations that accompany them.

With equal parts adventure and intellectual thinking, Engines of God and the rest of the series (Deepsix, Chindi, Omega, Odyssey, and the soon to be released Cauldron) breathe fresh life into science fiction and take space exploration beyond mere space opera. ( )