Deepsix

Rating:
Summary: When worlds collide
Review: Jack McDevitt's fiction always reminds me of what I was reading back in the '50's, because I think he may have been reading the same stuff back then. What he's managed to do is take an old idea from SF and make it new again. A rogue planet - this time a gas giant - is passing through another solar system and is going to make hash of the system and swallow one of its planets.
The question is, who cares? Well, the Academy cares, and sends a crew of people to take a last look at the ill-fated world before it gets swallowed up. When the crew goes down to the surface to take an even closer look, bad things happen and they get stranded. Rescuing them - and seeing how they behave in trying to assist the rescue from their end - is what makes the story move forward. Seeing the world on which they are stranded, and trying to get a handle on the mystery they uncover is what makes the story fun.
Does McDevitt write old-fashioned hard SF? Of course, he does. Does he deliver the kinds of scenery and events that appeal to the reader's sense of wonder? You bet, he does. And that's what makes Deepsix worth the ride. Good hard SF is all too rare in a StarWars/StarTrek dominated medium, and finding someone who is willing to write hard SF - where the reader has to think about things like mass, momentum, and how the heck does an e-suit work? - is a rare treat. If the rivets slow the story down now and then, well, it's a price I'm willing to pay for the pleasure of sailing through another of Jack McDevitt's imaginary worlds.

Rating:
Summary: When worlds collide
Review: Jack McDevitt's fiction always reminds me of what I was reading back in the '50's, because I think he may have been reading the same stuff back then. What he's managed to do is take an old idea from SF and make it new again. A rogue planet - this time a gas giant - is passing through another solar system and is going to make hash of the system and swallow one of its planets.
The question is, who cares? Well, the Academy cares, and sends a crew of people to take a last look at the ill-fated world before it gets swallowed up. When the crew goes down to the surface to take an even closer look, bad things happen and they get stranded. Rescuing them - and seeing how they behave in trying to assist the rescue from their end - is what makes the story move forward. Seeing the world on which they are stranded, and trying to get a handle on the mystery they uncover is what makes the story fun.
Does McDevitt write old-fashioned hard SF? Of course, he does. Does he deliver the kinds of scenery and events that appeal to the reader's sense of wonder? You bet, he does. And that's what makes Deepsix worth the ride. Good hard SF is all too rare in a StarWars/StarTrek dominated medium, and finding someone who is willing to write hard SF - where the reader has to think about things like mass, momentum, and how the heck does an e-suit work? - is a rare treat. If the rivets slow the story down now and then, well, it's a price I'm willing to pay for the pleasure of sailing through another of Jack McDevitt's imaginary worlds.

Rating:
Summary: Successor to Clarke
Review: Malieva III or Deepsix is a world parrallel to earth in many ways and therefore an attractive world to explore. But the first team sent to explore it was slaughtered the only survivor a man labeled a coward by some. As it becomes apparant that it will face disaster and extinction a second team led by Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins who soon become stranded and a desperate rescue mission/plan is launched.
McDevvit is extremely good at painting extraterristial worlds. The scenery of the planet is lush as are the descriptions of the wildlife as the team tries to escape the doomed world. Hutch is contrary to fellow reviewers opinions an excellent lead sci fi character smart gutsy and likable.
This really is one of the best of this generations science fiction novels storytelling at its finest and Mcdevvitt creates worlds in the mold of Clarke and Asimov, and I would claim along with Baxter one of the finest writers in genre today.
Overall Deepsix was a very satisfying read, my one critique would be could have been little shorter. Definitely otherwise a soon to be landmark in the field if enough fans discover McDevitt.

Rating:
Summary: Another in a Long Line of Winners
Review: McDevitt is reaching for the apex of hard science fiction writing. No wizards, time travel, goblins or transport devices - just engaging stories and even more engaging characters. Deepsix is an Earth-like planet discoverd 20 years previously and abandoned after a disastrous visit. A unique cosmic event, a planetary collision, is days away when the planet will be consumed by a gas giant. Scientists and media gather to study/entertain when a building is detected on the surface - intelligent lfe. A search is undertaken and the fun begins.

DEEPSIX is a morality story on several levels. The first is the decision whether to rescue the group stranded on the planet. Another is the interaction and reaction of the trapped group of people as they face inevitable doom. The last and the greatest is the discovery that 3,000 years earlier a heroic race of aliens attempted to rescue the local sentient beings from the Omega cloud (see OMEGA).

Hutch, my favorite pilot/explorer/scientist, is in charge. The way this character has grown and evolved over the course of several books is wonderful. The other main character is an older cynical writer who surprises even himself at the last. There are lots of adventures, a great rescue and a powerful epilogue.

The writing is always literate, sometimes almost poetic. The small quotes from the cynical reporter for each chapter are perfect. My one gripe is the same as I have for all the novels in this series - too many characters. You cannot appreciate someone who shows up for three pages and then vanishes. It detracts from the story without adding anything substantial. Why, for example, are there FOUR ships taking part with FOUR crews and FOUR sets of passengers? A reduction in quantity will produce an increase in quality. Still it was a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better.
Review: The first half was wonderful for me. The second half was more of a labor. Too many unbelievable 'Hollywood Action Flic' style scenes, and too many characters. At times you weren't sure which character he was talking about.

I wanted more about the planet and the adventure. I wanted more about the main characters. I was left wanting more from this book.

Rating:
Summary: An above-average sequel to "Engines of God," Grade: B-
Review: There are some valid complaints about this second book in McDevitt's "Hutch" series, and most have already been voiced. I agree that one of McDevitt's cardinal sins is too many characters with poor characterization. More aggravating (to me, at least), is the plot device of the weird, elaborate, page-consuming rescue. It's been done, Jack, it really has.

This whining out of the way, you might want to know why "Deepsix" deserves a good review. It is a fairly intelligent novel about a rare, habitable planet that is about to be destroyed. Just days before the planet will collide with a rogue gas giant, observers notice ruins on the planet's surface. An expedition is sent, and subsequently stranded.

Now, this may not sound like an especially new plot, but let's face it: Jack has to get someone down on the planet to solve the mystery he's created, and he has to make sure they stay there. (That is, after all, how mysteries work.) And mystery it is - Deepsix (that's the name of the habitable planet) has evidence of both primitive and advanced civilizations. The explorers find more and more ruins, encounter strangely intelligent animals (an undeveloped plotline is that Deepsix developed life two billion years earlier than Earth; therefore, the animals are considerably more advanced and almost sentient), and wander around in a melancholy, haunted landscape. Great stuff.

Consider this sample passage (not a spoiler):

"There was snow on the tower roof. Hutch wondered who had lived in the building, how long ago, where they had gone."

"It was possible that the tower marked the site of a climactic battle, or a place where opposing forces had come together to establish an alliance. A Plato might have conducted discussions on this hillside, in warmer times. Or a Solon laid out a system of laws."

"Who knew? And no one ever would, except for what little she could salvage."

***

It's almost impossible to write a sequel that rivals the original, and "Deepsix" is no exception. Taken as a sequel, "Deepsix" is somewhat disappointing - but consider the scale! "Engines of God" has a mystery that spans the galaxy; poor old "Deepsix" must content itself with a mystery of planetary proportions. But try reading "Deepsix" as a separate, unique book - you'll find it satisfies.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing new here
Review: This book starts strong. Pricilla Hutchins is a character that McDevitt readers know; she was the heroine of the "Engines of God". Once again, she is forced to get a team off a planet before it gets destroyed. McDevitt uses our familiarity with Hutch to add to the tension of the moment. We know that she failed before in getting everyone out. We feel the tension as the team goes through one dangerous situation after another.

The problem is that there is nothing new in this book. McDevitt did the trek across a new land better in "Eternity Road". He created more tension and concern for the team in the "Engine of God". Although entertaining, "Deepsix" is not the strong follow-up to "Infinity Beach" that I expected.

I was also disappointed with McDevitt's development of Deepsix. I wanted to know more about the people and the life forms of the planet. We see glimpses, but no detail. McDevitt simply skims the surface of the planet. But that is the problem with the book; it just touches on everything and leaves the reader wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: C++
Review: This was the first McDevitt novel I read, and I must say that I enjoyed it at the time - and, if it wasn't for fact that I'm doing this review after having read the last 3 books (Deepsix, Chindi, Omega) out of the "Hutch Series", I would have given it 4 stars. However, after you've read more than one book from the series, there is just too much similarity between them to give any of them more than 3 stars. The biggest complaint I've got are the appearance of multiple "last second cliffhangers" involving ropes and/or nets. I can count at least five of these things - it gets a little annoying. The books are pretty good otherwise, and if some other trick could be used instead of the ropes and nets, and last-second cliffhangers, it wouldn't be so bad... also, I'm starting to see why some of the folks have been complaining about the way the characters get killed of indiscriminantly - it wouldn't be so bad if it just happened in one book, but this is the pattern in all the Hutch novels, and you feel you are reading the same book all over again. Sorry about the venting, but these books could have been so much more, if these "cons" could have been ommited for more original content.

Rating:
Summary: It missed the point
Review: When I found out about Deepsix I was very intrigued. A life-supporting planet about to be destroyed by a collision with another, a trace of alien civilization, a countdown until the mystery will be solved. The whole premise was great, I could not wait to start reading.

Unfortunately, while many science fiction writers are good at coming up with interesting ideas they plain suck as story tellers. McDavitt is no exception. The book was boring pretty much from start to finish. There were interesting moments once in a while but reading five hundred pages or more to get to them was not worth it.

Among the things that make a good story are well developed characters and interesting character interactions. McDavitt failed to deliver strong, likable characters except for one, MacAllister. As for others I did not care whether they would die or not. What irritated me the most about the book is that it went on and on and on about something I was not even interested in reading about. Literarily, half of the book is dedicated to how a rescue team was trying to construct a device to save the explorers. The description was filled with technicalities that were simply useless and needles boring filler.
To me, the most intriguing aspects of the story had to do with finding out the clues to an alien race that previously occupied the planet. That part of the plot should have seen more elaboration.

Rating:
Summary: Sleep Six
Review: Yawn.... sorry, nodded off there for a mo. This book is the worst kind of science fiction - it promises a lot, but delivers nothing but yawns and frustration.

The yawns come from characters which you find hard to tell apart as there is little or no real characterisation. The story lurches from one set piece to another, with additional disposable characters and/or events being mixed in as necessary. These disposable story elements are normally resolved within a couple of pages. A good example is the "rock shower" as an army of amateur space welders attempt to construct a huge artifact in space that no humans have ever constructed before, using alien materials that outperform anything our technology can create, against an absolute deadline of the impending destruction of the world beneath them. Now you would think that that would provide all the drama you'd need, but no. It's actually hideously boring. So Jack throws in a random rock shower, which lasts about a paragraph to add a little "excitement". Were any of the random characters created for this part of the story hurt? Do we care?

There are also gaping holes in this story as presented: an initial mission to this planet shows that it's got an ancient biosphere. Unfortunately during that mission, a few of the explorers die at the hands of the local wildlife. So humans decide to basically leave it alone for the next twenty years, even though life supporting worlds are incredibly rare in Jack's universe. Really? We just don't go back? I don't think so.

The real story kicks off twenty years later when a large gas giant out of nowhere is threatening to destroy the world, so we go back, to have a look at the fireworks, and apparently for no other reason. No one seems to think that preserving any of the alien biology might be worthwhile or interesting. I guess humans are dramatically different in this future. In a very short order, the humans who go to have a look around discover the remains of an alien civilisation, and huge orbiting facilities beyond anything humans have ever constructed. People are literally bumping into alien cities and buildings wherever they go. Excuse me? This wasn't noticed on the first mission? Hmmm...

Enough about the weak story and characters. The frustration comes from the weak science and culture imagined. The science is phony - a few technical buzzwords thrown around with no real insight or explanation. We have SuperLuminal ships, but not even a hint of how they operate. We have "e-suits" - some kind of force field that you can use as a space suit, based on the weak-nuclear force. Or something like that. That's all you get.

Jack throws some hints of things that are much more exciting, for example, The Omega Clouds - strange alien things that emerge from the galactic centre perodically to wipe out things that look like they're the product of industrial civilisation - but these are only mentioned in passing to give a false sense of wonder to what is otherwise an utterly mundane and boring rescue story of unsympathetic and unimaginative people.

It's indicative of the book that an entire world containing intelligent alien life is destroyed, but this is given no emotional significance in the book. Let's just get our boys off the planet. I'm alright, Jack.