Search - Chindi (Engines of God, Bk 3)

Apparently, 'Chindi' is part of a series of books all set in the same universe by McDevitt, but this is the first book I've read by this author. A wealthy group devoted to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations gets an experienced pilot assigned to their mission. Although they're widely regarded as being a bunch of kooks, the mission is more successful than anticipated: a network of broadcasting satellites is discovered, all circling planets which have signs of now-dead civilizations - and they lead to a mysterious, gigantic alien spacecraft which seems to be an unmanned craft, creating a museum of alien civilizations.
The book is written reasonably entertainingly - in that it's got decent characterization, a constant flow of mystery, romance, action, and a near-constant death toll, but the problem was that I kept waiting for the big revelation that was going to reveal why all these alien civilizations seemed so remarkably and unbelievably HUMAN - I mean, one place they find is a near-exact simulacrum of a 19th-century European sitting room, just a little bit bigger - and no one even thinks that that is odd. But nothing of the sort ever came up in the book, and all I can attribute it to is a remarkable lack of imagination in describing possible alien cultures.

If you like wordy science fiction in the vein of the masters Asimov and Clarke then this will be a delight to read. Humans finally find out if there is other life in the universe. But maybe they don't want to have the answers to all the questions they want to ask?

I am anxiously waiting to read the sequel, Omega. This book has made me request other books by Jack mcDevitt.

Well I tried not to like it! His style really doesn't suit me because of his fantastic unrealistic story lines and exceptionally detailed narrative, but damn it - I really enjoyed it. Fast paced (most of the time) and a real page turner. I get really annoyed with McDevitt every time I read one of his books, but still I come back.

Even though I read this book thinking it was the first in the series, I enjoyed Hutch's travels. I'm glad that I was able to get the earlier books to catch the back story through the club as well. While the books are somewhat long-winded, I enjoy them as a means of telling a futuristic story through the eyes of a believable personality. I do wonder why trouble of this magnitude keeps following her around. I would think that management would ground her.

Wonderfully imaginative and exciting !!