Book Review: Firebird

Firebird, by Jack McDevitt, hits all the right notes in this sixth book of the series.

Chase Kolpath and Alex Benedict, antiquities dealers of a sort in the far future, come in to the belongings of a scientist that studied fringe topics and disappeared one day shortly before a terrible earthquake. That disappearance lead some to believe a conspiracy surrounds his death/disappearance. Alex decides to stir up the mysteries surrounding the scientist to enhance the value of those items before selling.

As is his MO, Alex needs to find out what really happened. On the way, Chase and Alex find a planet abandoned by humanity but with still functioning AIs, some that have been running since the humans left seven thousand years ago. Alex starts a movement to rescue some of the AIs and reintegrate them into society. As they seek out the answers to what happened to the scientist, they also discover a solution to a problem that was plaguing space travel for millenia.

This installment in the Alex Benedict series is much better than it's predecessor, Echo. Echo was dark, and kind of depressing. Alex and Chase are growing older and their attitudes and sensibilities are changing with them. That theme continues in Firebird, but it's not nearly as dark. Alex continues to be a sort of Don Quixote, frequently finding new causes célèbres that he feels necessary to represent or help promote or help solve. That usually goes well for him in the end, but lately has been causing some strife between Alex and Chase.

It's that strife that made me not really enjoy Echo as much, but seemed to work better in this book. Chase still doesn't like Alex putting his career (and hers) on the line for controversial causes, but she knows that's how Alex leads his life - and so far it's worked for him. They've lost some clients, but more often than not, earn them back in the end. Chase feels an attachment to Alex, she originally worked for his uncle. It seems to be that common thread that keeps them together. They're not lovers, but Chase and Alex are like an old married couple, comfortable in their relationship. Their love for each other is the love of old dear friends.

The planet with the AIs, some running amok, reminded me vaguely of Asimov's Robot City series. And of Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive. Some of the AIs wanted to kill them, others just wanted to be rescued from the monotony of their existence. What's an AI, programmed to serve humanity, to do when humanity has abandoned it yet left it operating for thousands of years? Keep on going, or become resentful and eventually go crazy? On a side note: this plot-line would make a great off-shoot story where these AIs band together, build their own starships, leave the planet and start a war with the humans. Someone should write that. I'd read it!

My only complaint with Firebird is that the prologue teaser didn't get a resolution or a revisit at the end. It gets mentioned in passing a couple of times during the book, mostly just a name on a list; but I would have liked to maybe see a different prologue featured that would have been easier to incorporate into the ending. The ending itself was perfectly executed... in fact, I think the entire novel was just about perfectly executed.

Reading this book, I found myself comparing Alex and Chase with the Boss character in Krisine Kathryn Rusch's Diving the Wreck and City of Ruins. I could see these series taking place in the same universe.(I'd read that too!)

Chase and Alex live in a far flung future, some nine thousand or so years hence. Humanity seems comfortable with itself. Their world seems like a nice place to live. It's definitely a great place to visit - every year in a new adventure!

My rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

Firebird, by Jack McDevitt, was provided to me by the publisher for review and is due to be released November 1, 2011.

Book Review: Echo

Echo is another excellent "Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath" book from Jack McDevitt. This one seemed a little darker, a little more uncomfortable at times than previous outings with the antiquities brokers/adventurers. But that didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. It made the world, the characters, all that more real.

As these characters grow older (which doesn't mean much in a future where most people live at least a couple of centuries), they are definitely experiencing character growth as well. Chase becomes uncomfortable with her seemingly stagnate unadventurous role as a glorified secretary/pilot and in dealing with the fallout of Alex's reputation in some circles. Though he is great at exposing mysteries and discovering answers, he's seen more as a looter or tomb robber - selling artifacts to the highest bidder.

Their investigations this time have disasterous implications for some people, opening up a can of worms that have been hidden for 25 years. Chase and Alex struggle to make it right.

I love the setting in these novels. Jack McDevitt tells the story (or rather, Chase does) as if the reader is intimately familiar with the world(s), the technology, etc. And makes the reader feel right at home, come in, have a cup of coffee. It's always good to get back to this world.

If your a fan of the Alex Benedict novels, read it! If you've never read one, I suggest you go start further back in the series and work your way to this one and get to know the characters before embarking on this adventure with them.

Echo was provided to me by the publisher for the purpose of review. Ace is awesome like that!

Book Review: The Devil's Eye

The Devil's Eye
by Jack McDevitt
Published by Ace Books (HC) ISBN 9780441016358

Another Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath novel. In the far future of Human civilization, Alex aquires antiquities. Chase is his assistant and pilot. She narrates the story. 

Alex receives an all-too-brief message from a horror writer he's never met asking for his help. But the message doesn't elaborate. When Alex finally catches up with her, she's had her mind wiped and is living a new life as someone else. Alex and Chase decide to find out why she needed help by retracing her last known steps in her previous life.  That path takes them to the most distant human colony, a month away from the nearest planet - and a war could be brewing between the humans and the Mutes. 

McDevitt spins a good mystery, good action and adventure - and he doesn't miss out with the personal element. Chase and Alex are real people. We feel Chase's anger and frustration as she deals with politicians, we feel her self-consciousness as her boss catches her sunbathing topless. Through her narration, we feel Alex's desire to know why. We feel his resignation as he realizes he might be stuck on a planet away from his home and business for three years. We are the Mutes overhearing all of her thoughts.

Eye is a mystery at heart, as are most of the Alex Benedict novels. All of the McDevitt books I've read have been good books. This one meanders down a path of mystery retracing the horror writer's last known locations on that far flung world. As it meanders, it keeps us interested with hints and tidbits of the paranormal, of what is transpiring elsewhere in the galaxy, and glimpses into the ongoing lives of our characters as they seek to find out why someone asked for their help and then had her mind wiped. I had no idea what the solution to the mystery was, and it took a wild turn from just being a reason why that writer needed help, to a major interstellar/interspecies event.

There are some authors whose new books I eagerly anticipate and always seem to enjoy. McDevitt is one of them and hasn't failed me yet.

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Book Review: Odyssey

Odyssey by Jack McDevitt.

I've liked just about everything I've read by Jack McDevitt.
His SF stories have action, suspense, mystery, intrigue, and most definitely character and heart. His characters are real, and we come to car about what happens to them.

This is one of the "Priscilla Hutchins" books, set relatively early in the exploration of the galaxy. Hutch is basically the main character of these stories, or at least the driving force behind the stories. In the "Hutchverse" the galaxy isn't teeming with life, but there is evidence of other civilizations. Man hasn't met a contemporary space-faring civilization yet. There have been hints - abandoned spaceships, monuments, etc. Odyssey features what may be the first evidence of another co-existent spacefaring race - and they don't like our science experiments!

The "Hutch" story line is apparently set to wrap up in a forthcoming novel called Cauldron.