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kevinwkelsey's review against another edition
4.0
If you've followed the Engines of God series, this is a must read. It's pure space exploration suspense and mystery, with a huge payoff.
nakedsteve's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this one up because it was nominated for the 2008 Nebula Award for best novel. (It didn't win.) I was impressed. This is the first novel of McDevitt's that I've read, and now I've got another author whose works are going to wind up getting added to my "should read" list...
This was a novel of spaceflight in a post-spaceflight world, which is an interesting environment to explore, especially as it correlates strongly to the current (early 21st century) public disinterest in advancing space technology. This was a fun theme to explore.
McDevitt also has (nearly-so if not outright) sentient AIs running a lot of life; the plight of their kind is also a background theme in the story, done nicely, if mildly.
There's a bit of action as well, both on the pulp-ish "monster on frozen world" formula, and in the "speak to a intelligent gas cloud" style. It was fun to read.
It was also interesting to hear McDevitt's thoughts on "first contact" and establising a common language with an alien intelligence; the parallels with Robert Sawyer's Rollback, which I read only two months ago, were striking. Both authors probably used the same source material while authoring their books; the parallels were striking.
This was a fun fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This was a novel of spaceflight in a post-spaceflight world, which is an interesting environment to explore, especially as it correlates strongly to the current (early 21st century) public disinterest in advancing space technology. This was a fun theme to explore.
McDevitt also has (nearly-so if not outright) sentient AIs running a lot of life; the plight of their kind is also a background theme in the story, done nicely, if mildly.
There's a bit of action as well, both on the pulp-ish "monster on frozen world" formula, and in the "speak to a intelligent gas cloud" style. It was fun to read.
It was also interesting to hear McDevitt's thoughts on "first contact" and establising a common language with an alien intelligence; the parallels with Robert Sawyer's Rollback, which I read only two months ago, were striking. Both authors probably used the same source material while authoring their books; the parallels were striking.
This was a fun fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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