Reviews

Chindi by Jack McDevitt

thekingbee's review against another edition

2.0

I should have stopped with the last book, so many repeated ideas, people running with the stupid ball and missed story opportunities.

chessakat's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this book in that it made me ponder the cosmological mysteries that never get boring - how stars are born and die, long-term events in space...But otherwise it's a straight 3-star book - not bad, not life-changing, but enough that I would most certainly read the author again. The main characters were all drawn very well, particularly the protagonist, Hutch (and I would also add that I was particularly happy to see a woman in the role she was in). But something about the sequence of events of this novel remind me of an almost-awesome action movie with sci-fi elements thrown in for the background. It was exciting and a page-turner, but ultimately I felt like I'd binged on too many cupcakes - sort of hollow and bloated. But again, I'd definitely revisit the author for other stuff. It had potential for me, but something just wasn't quite wrought the way I would have liked.

mckitterick's review against another edition

4.0

This is a novel about the kinds of people who explore the unknown, who push the boundaries of the human world. The true believers and fanatics fund and design their missions, and other brave souls go along for various reasons: It's a job, one of their best friends or loved ones is going, or they just think it'll be an adventure. George and Nick are the fanatics, and without them, humanity never would have discovered the interestellar, alien communications network, the various rising and fallen civilizations, the retreat, the chindi, or their own lost vessel. So heroics arise naturally, because if someone needs saving and A) it's your job, or B) it's someone you care about, you just do it. So it's also a novel about what people will do for one another, even those they've just met but with whom they have gone through adventures.

Again, this feel like the script for a movie Hollywood should make. McDevitt's novels are always full of great dialogue, daring rescues, and awe-inspiring settings. But this novel is satisfying in many more ways. Another thing that McDevitt always does so well is give us insight into what it means to be human; perhaps more specifically, how humans treat one another, how we become better people through our interactions with worthy others. And I always end up marking a few passages that seem to really stand out, such as these:

" had taught Hutch a long time back about the vagaries of human conversation, the things that really mattered, which were not at all the words, or even the tones, but rather the moment-to-moment reactions people had to one another, the sudden glitter of understanding in the eyes, the raised hand that accompanied a request for additional explanation, the signal of approval or dismay or affection that a given phrase might induce."

"Embrace your life, find what it is you love, and pursue it with all your soul. For if you do not, when you come to die, you will find that you have not lived."

Good stuff.

Finally, any book that makes me spend the wee hours of the morning after having finished it writing story notes and ideas has got to be good! I finished this novel at 3:30am (a real page-turner) and couldn't get to bed until after four because I was full of revision ideas (for my own work) inspired by this book.

Definitely recommended!

apostrophen's review against another edition

4.0

As always, a great book from McDevitt, this one returns Hutch to us as protagonist.

When signals and strange - and ancient - sites start to show a pattern in the vast reaches of space, Hutch and a small crew under the flag of finding extraterrestrial life - finally - go out seeking what might finally be a friend out there... and may find much more danger than they ever imagined.