Chindi
by Jack McDevitt
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 258)
recommends it for:
Glorious readers of Science Fiction
Up there in the Asimov realm... not quite Asimov, but great. Trust me.
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A couple of hundred years from now, a routine survey mission to a neutron star picks up a few seconds of what seems like a transmission of alien origin. The reception wasn’t long enough to determine where it came from or where it was going. The next step for the neutron star is to turn into a black hole, so there shouldn’t be anyone or anything in the vicinity. After probes again pick up the signal, a special mission is sent from Earth to investigate.
With pilot Priscilla "Hutch"...more
With pilot Priscilla "Hutch"...more
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Read in May, 2008
Another Library of Babel recommendation; I'd never heard of Jack McDevitt before. The one line review is "Indiana Jones, in space, no Nazis."
This is not the first book in this series; it appears that Deepsix chronologically precedes this one. That said, as only passing reference to the first book is made (and if I hadn't noticed it on the shelf at the library when I got this...more
This is not the first book in this series; it appears that Deepsix chronologically precedes this one. That said, as only passing reference to the first book is made (and if I hadn't noticed it on the shelf at the library when I got this...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of hard SF
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 eve...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
First-time hard-SF readers
Formulaic, predictable, bland and unambitious. (** Some spoilers ahead **)
If this was the first "hard" science fiction book I'd read, the thought of a massive self-directing artifact whose job is to collect a pan-galactic zoo and was built by a long-vanished uber-race whose mere detritus exceeds man's tiny grasp might indeed make for "an ambitious, exciting, big-idea hard-SF novel".
When we finally do encounter the mother-lode of alien treasure, it turns out to be a s...more
If this was the first "hard" science fiction book I'd read, the thought of a massive self-directing artifact whose job is to collect a pan-galactic zoo and was built by a long-vanished uber-race whose mere detritus exceeds man's tiny grasp might indeed make for "an ambitious, exciting, big-idea hard-SF novel".
When we finally do encounter the mother-lode of alien treasure, it turns out to be a s...more
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Read in November, 2008
Not an unpleasant book, but one that dwells too much on rescues and stupid people fumbling around on alien planets given some of the high-brow ideas that get thrown around.
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Read in September, 2004
recommends it for:
People who like sci-fi to be real, and very human.
Interestingly, this was the first Jack McDevitt book I read. It's short on action, but very strong on characterization. And to this day, three years later, I can still "feel" the ending of this book. For as slow as the story can sometimes be, it absolutely drew me in and made me want to read another one. I have now read almost all of McDevitt's books and he has become one of my favorite authors.
"Chindi" is a tough one to start with if you haven't read McDevitt before. I wou...more
"Chindi" is a tough one to start with if you haven't read McDevitt before. I wou...more
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The best in the series, and one of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read.
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
Neal, Rebekah
This is my second read of this book (I'm rereading all the Priscilla Hutchins ones), and I like it even more the secon time. McDevitt is a very engaging writer, who writes about humanity and human emotions in the setting of a future where spacetravel is routine. I highly recommend any and all of his books for anyone who enjoys a bi of suspense and pondering about the human condition
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Read in January, 2008
Another epic-ly awesome book by McDevitt. Follows a few of the same characters, especially Hutch, but appears to be the last time we see her (I've started reading the next one, "Omega").
Has all the characteristics of the other books, but done, somehow, better than before, with THE BEST encounters with alien races (both dead and alive) that I've ever read on in SciFi.
There's no more to say. Just read the book.
Has all the characteristics of the other books, but done, somehow, better than before, with THE BEST encounters with alien races (both dead and alive) that I've ever read on in SciFi.
There's no more to say. Just read the book.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
no one
Why do I get sucked into poorly written Sci Fi...
This book was so much of the same over and over and over again. Look at this new thing, make bad decision, have heroic rescue to make up for bad decision.
The book was such a stinker that I am avoiding all discussions of space and space travel.
This book was so much of the same over and over and over again. Look at this new thing, make bad decision, have heroic rescue to make up for bad decision.
The book was such a stinker that I am avoiding all discussions of space and space travel.
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