The Engines of God

I enjoyed this first book in the Academy series. At first, the narrative of the planet archaeological exploration seemed a little slow, but as it continued and as the characters faced obstacles both personal and alien, my interest increased. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Deepsix.

Crabs, waves, cloud missiles
the highlight of your career
dying for a cause.

Great fun, this is the kind of sci-fi I like, not too tech heavy, an adventure into the unknown with lots of unexplained stuff, and the promise of lost alien civilizations. Ending was a bit naff to be honest because we never quite found out who was responsible for those strange monuments. Somewhere between a 3 and 4 but I always go up.

A book that seemed to promise big ideas, left me completely cold and a little bored.

If one is dealing with the creation and destruction of civilisations, does one really need to know that two characters ordered meatballs in a restaurant?

Oh, tip for all budding civilisation builders - avoid right-angles! (Perhaps the meatballs were a clue?)

I've just finished Jack McDevitt's Engines of God... it's such a remarkable book (and the first installment of Priscilla Hutchins book series) and I was appalled from the beginning to the end, especially the finale. I came across a list of books similar to the Mass Effect series and was extremely interested in the work of McDevitt. It predates Mass Effect in so many years and it's quite intriguing.

Xenoarcheologie, hoezee. Het doet wat denken aan Ringworld en aan Rama (toen dat nog goed was) en aan veel andere dingen, en McDevitt wordt beter in zijn volgende boeken, maar toch: leutig.

Een betere editor toegewenst wel: het kon in zeker honderd pagina's minderd.