Deepsix

Rating:
Summary: Lackluster follow up to "Engines of God"
Review: "Deepsix" is the second novel in the Priscilla Hutchins series. Priscilla has once again found herself in an archaelogical mystery that must be solved before a cataclysm befalls the world she is on.

Scientists and tourists have converged on Maleiva III, aka Deepsix, to witness the destruction of the world by a rogue gas giant. The gas giant, nicknamed Morgan, is on a collision course with Deepsix and will tear it apart just as comet Shoemaker-Levy was torn apart by Jupiter. But as the scientists are awaiting the event, one of them discovers what appears to be a tower, sticking out of the ice. Deepsix has been locked in an ice age for centuries. A previous expedition failed to find any signs of civilization, though the mission ended abruptly when the local wildlife attacked the landing party. The mission was aborted and no one had returned to the world in the two decades since.

"Hutch", as her friends call her, while en route to Earth, is detoured to Deepsix. The Science Academy wants her to investigate the tower and discover everything that she possibly can about the builders of the tower and what their fate may have been. While she and a handful of volunteers are exploring the tower, another shuttle, carrying a pilot and two journalists (one rookie and one obnoxiously famous), has landed to conduct an interview with the tower as a backdrop. Shortly after their arrival, a massive earthquake hits. In the aftermath, both shuttles are wrecked. Hutch and the survivors have to figure out a way to get off the planet before it is destroyed as none of the ships in orbit have any shuttles capable of landing on the surface!

While the premise may be a bit of a stretch, it doesn't sink the story. Overall I found the book to be ok, but it fell way short of the previous Hutch novel, the excellent "The Engines of God". Deepsix got off to a slow start, taking over 100 pages (paperback) to really get going. The main characters took even longer to develop, but McDevitt eventually develops them and even has a couple of them overcome their flaws. The story dragged on and off until near the end when Morgan's gravitational pull starts to wreak havoc with the planet. If McDevitt had found a way to cut out some of the filler, like the scenes with the forgettable minor characters, it would've made for a quicker paced and more enjoyable story.


Rating:
Summary: A fresh and worthy SF thriller...
Review: "Deepsix" sets up a fairly plausible premise: a world with biological life will be "swallowed" in a collision with a gas giant that will occur in about 20 years from the time a small exploration mission lands on the planet. Disaster strikes that small mission, some die, and they leave the planet behind. The head of the exploration mission, a man named Nightingale, is left in disgrace. Twenty years pass, and the impact will happen rather shortly, and so, a scientific mission of observers arrive to watch the fireworks...

And spot a building on the planet. Then ruins of a city. Suddenly, the planet that has been ignored for nearly twenty years is a planet that once supported intelligent life, and a ship is diverted to send a landing craft to see what they can see before the grand impact. A cruel twist of fate lands Nightingale on the diverted ship, and when the group reach the ground, the disaster begins in earnest: they're stranded there.

McDevitt has a real knack for using science fiction as a setting for character development, and for further jacking up the tension notch by notch with believable accidents, twists of fate, and general human-error. This book was no exception, and as always, with McDevitt, you have no idea who will make it to the last pages of the book.

A sequel of sorts to "The Engines of God," some characters carry over from "Engines," but there'd be no real loss to not have read the earlier novel before reading "Deepsix."

High tension fantasy, a rolicking good cast, and a strength of plotline worthy of the greats of Science Fiction, this book had me gripped from start to finish. The only real annoyance to the book was the continuous attacks by random alien lifeforms - it got frustrating to see yet another attack by yet another different sort of strange creature, and as another reviewer pointed out, almost "movie-like." McDevitt has the ability to jack up the tension already, he didn't need to resort to the blunt tool of "bad critters."

Best, though, I don't think we're done with the character of Priscilla Hutchins, and there are a few hints of a further book in this "series."

'Nathan

Rating:
Summary: Like Clarke...on a Bad Day
Review:

Okay. I grew weary of all of the plot devices and the torturous machinations necessary to strand the people on the planet and to ensure that they could only escape via the Celestial Sky Scoop. Also, practically everyone seemed to be dumber than a box of rocks. I mean, at one point, one of the ship captains literally and seriously suggests that they could dangle a big rope from orbit to pick the people up. What the--? I know this preposterous notion was put in there so someone could smack their head and say, "Hey, let's use the remains of the space elevator!" but--really, man. I just...I dunno.

Moreover, the author is still busily introducing new characters even in the last 50 pages, and almost any time someone new does show up, it's so they can be made fun of, or so they can reflect on how worthless and weak everyone else is. Everybody on the ground seems to hate each other, and ditto for the groups in orbit. And most people divide their time between preening and posing, sniveling about how the rescue is a real burden on them because they have other places to be, or trying desperately to get some air time in front of the media. No firm POV character emerges, and of the handful of men and women that receive the most attention, none are very compelling or in any way admirable. It's a secondary character who finally emerges from the fray as the closest thing to a hero, and in the epilogue, it's revealed that he was pretty quick to take advantage of his new fame to land a high-paying gig and make some money, giving up the Academy and space exploration to become a desk jockey.

Hey, I expect a little more of my SF. I want to read about at least a few heroic people, or at least flawed people who rise to the occasion. I'd like to think that the folks of 2300 would be a little more excited about exploration and science and would be driven by something a little more noteworthy than the desire to be on a talk show or to get a pay raise. Out on the frontier, I want to see unique individuals who are there for fun and glory and for the thrill of it. I...eh, the heck with it. This book is weak.

Rating:
Summary: Solid writing, good plot and interesting speculations
Review: A surprisingly good read dealing with a fairly depressing end of the world scenario. The adventure of the explorers stranded on planet "Deepsix" forms the core of the story, with plenty of support given to the innovative rescue efforts. In truth, the most fascinating topics are archaeological- dealing with the intelligent species that lived on the planet.

The final revelations are somewhat unexpected and well thought out. Jack McDevitt always delivers in this aspect.

Definitely worth reading, and sure to keep you thinking long after you close its pages. Solid writing, good plot and interesting speculations make for a most satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Formula for a Jack McDevitt novel.
Review: Archaeological discovery plus disasters plus bureaucratic machinations. Throw in an individualistic hero, preferably a steak eater. I thought this was less good than some of McDevitt's other outings. The Hutch novels that bookend Deepsix were much better. A survey team have only three weeks to explore a world heading for destruction, then get stuck on it. I didn't find the plot particularly captivating, and was sort of annoyed by the cynical Mark Twain-esque demagogue character.

Rating:
Summary: Formulaic, but mildly entertaining
Review: As one reviewer mentioned, Deepsix does read like a movie script: action takes precedence over character, and it's really hard to identify with characters whose interior lives are sketchy at best. Perhaps the best proof of this is the perfunctory way in which the story is wrapped up (no spoilers). I also found McDevitt's attempt to create an alien ecology not entirely persuasive (the critters seemed biologically inconsistent with one another), though at least he gave it a good shot. Finally, I didn't much care for the fact that we were expected to come by the end of the book to admire MacAllister, who was depicted through the first part as a misogynistic creep, and did little to change that view afterwards. Still, I got through the book while I was sick at home from work, and the fact that I was able to finish it despite all is a definite mark in its favor!

Rating:
Summary: Book was OK
Review: Book was ok, would wait for the paperback. It's very similar to his book Engines of the Gods - lot of the same characters, same pace, even refers to events in previous book.

Rating:
Summary: Cliff Notes McDevitt
Review: Deepsix contains all of the elements of a great Jack McDevitt book: A central mystery concerning non-human intelligence, well realized characters that you care for, and a fascinating background Universe. My problem with the book, is that it felt like the author was just going through the motions constucting the outline of a more engaging book that he ran out of time to complete (Damn those deadlines!). I've read all of his books starting with The Hercules Text, and the man can tell a tale! Unfortunately, this effort doesn't rank with his best, but any McDevitt is better than most of the stuff out there!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Sequel to Engines of God
Review: Deepsix is a rather pale reflection of "Engines of God" a book from about 10 years ago set in the same universe. This universe has very planets with sentient species. The one that currently co-exists with spacefaring humans is an early industrial species that has been mired by incessant wars, including an ongoing WWI style conflict. Engines of God was driven by the discovery of a recently extinct race where understanding the cause of destruction could provide information crucial to saving Earth from similar disaster. The race to discover the secrets of the planet before it is terraformed for human use makes exciting reading. Deepsix carries over one of the protagonists, Pricilla Hutchins, but has none of the tension of the original. The team lead by "Hutch" is marooned on a planet newly found to have an extinct civilization. However, there is no more to the story than the desparate effort to save the six or seven people on the mission. None of the characters is well-developed so the gripping interest in whether they get off the planet or not is missing. Without a world to be saved or interesting characters to be saved, the book is left flat.

Rating:
Summary: Jack McDevitt, Planet Smasher!
Review: Deepsix is the latest novel from Jack McDevitt, the master ofhard science fiction best known for his novel Infinity Beach.

Theyear is 2223. Mankind has mastered faster-than-light travel. Hugepassenger liners called "superluminals" ply the emptiness ofinterstellar space. Twenty years ago, a research expedition wasdispatched to Malieva III, an earth-like planet teeming with life,which is on a head-on collision course with Morgan, a rogue gas giantwhich will soon tear Malieva apart before consuming it in its clouds.The expedition ran afoul of the local wildlife; several were killed,and the survivors barely managed to escape, having to abandon one oftheir landing craft.

Now, two decades later, scientists and touristsconverge once again on Malieva III, (nicknamed Deepsix). Thescientists want to study this rare planetary collision. The tourists,including a contingent of media hounds, just want to watch thefireworks.

When the orbiting starships discover irrefutable evidencethat intelligent life once existed on Deepsix, they risk sending downa landing party to gather as much data as possible before thecollision. The hastily dispatched group includes no-nonsense veteranpilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins and a reluctant RandallNightingale, the leader of the original ill-fated researchteam.

Soon, the new expedition is joined by pompous media mavenGregory MacAllister, a universally famous journalist who helpedunfairly pin the blame on Nightingale for the mission two decades ago.MacAllister doesn't want to miss the opportunity to insert himselfinto the "event of the decade."

While on the ground, theexplorers are struck by an earthquake - a harbinger of Deepsix'sultimate fate, and severe enough that they lose both their landers!With the clock ticking and no other landers available, the strandedteam is forced to trek across kilometers of hostile wilderness to findthe craft abandoned twenty years ago, not knowing if it will beoperational when they get there. Meanwhile, the orbiting starshipsare largely helpless, but they soon concoct a harebrained backupscheme to rescue the folks on the surface - before Deepsix is rippedapart!

McDevitt sets the tension from page one, and keeps ratchetingit up as the story progresses. We simultaneously root for the groundteam as they struggle to survive, grieve for the strange creatures ofDeepsix who will soon be destroyed, and wonder as to the ultimate fateof the sentients who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Andall the while, anxiously anticipating the imminent "cosmic trainwreck" in which Morgan will swallow Deepsix.

Deepsix isreminiscent of other "voyage of discovery" books like ArthurC. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, or the recent novels of Ben Bova -yet it stands as its own achievement. Jack McDevitt has delivered arousing tale of adventure, disaster, ingenuity and courage.

JohnC. Snider, Editor

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