Customer Reviews

Ancient Shores

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The initial premise of this book, the discovery of a 10000 year old sailboat in North Dakota constructed from materials that cannot be manufactured with current technology, is excellent. The story starts as a sci-fi mystery with the possibilities of encountering ancient extraterrestrials and/or lost civilizations. As the story progresses though, it becomes less about exploration, and more about petty political machinations of factions on Earth. In the end, the central theme of the story becomes simply a question of who controls the alien artifacts. I can only characterize this book as disappointing: a great idea that went nowhere. If you are looking for a hard sci-fi novel about exploration of lost civilizations or alien technology as the cover of this book suggests, this isn't it. There are also far too many peripheral characters introduced that have little or nothing to do with the plot. More than 1/3 of the text is spent describing little sideplots that are largely irrelevant. The main characters completely disappear for large stretches of the book. Finally, the ending is incredibly presumptuous and unsatisfying. I got the impression that Mr. McDevitt threw this book together in a short period of time without much thought or effort. Not a total waste of time, but not a book I would recommend you spend your money on unless you are a fan of Jack McDevitt.

A seemingly normal day out working on a North Dakota farm that turns up the tip of what turns out to be a perfectly preserved ancient sailboat buried for 10,000 years is just the beginning of this classic-style but fresh and inventive science fiction novel. The Laskers' farm where the boat is found is, as it turns out, on the precise location of what was thousands of years ago Lake Aggasiz, and the discovery prompts media curiosity followed by widespread media coverage, rumors of an elaborate hoax, carloads of excited sightseers - and shortly thereafter, much, much more. It's not until samples sent away to a lab indicate that the material the ship is made of is a transuranic element - an element Way up on the periodic table (No. 161 in this case), that's not found in nature and therefore apparantly artificially created, despite the fact that nobody on Earth has the technology to do so - that the find goes light years beyond being an object of passing curiosity on the global public's radar. A search is launched along other land that was once part of the vanished lake, and something is indeed found; not a sailboat this time. This isn't even a third of the way through the book and the twists have just begun. And unlike some books, it doesn't start to run out of steam once time for revelations approaches.

Mixing science, wonder, adventure and mystery; and drawing on everything from international politics, UFO theories, contemporary Native American socio-cultural conditions, military applications of new technologies and a ton of other diverse fields, "Ancient Shores" brings it all together wonderfully. Perhaps best of all, the characters are vital and interesting; this is not a novel where astounding discoveries are being made and those making them go about it all mechanically and virtually without emotion. There's real feeling here: excitement, passion, fear, jealously, nobility, pettiness, love, yearning and intrigue; each of the wealth of major characters has their own personality and their own lives outside of the mysteries of the prehistoric lake, which makes the book both more enjoyable and more believable. Add to this an unpredictable, one-of-a-kind ending and you've got a classic. I agree with others who say there should be more. If only one out of, say, fifty, science fiction novels were to be sequelized this should be in that two per cent, without question. An excellent novel.

Imagine you find a sailing ship burried on your land --- except there's no ocean around, and hasn't been one for tens of thousands of years. Then imagine that the metallurgists can't identify the material the sailing ship is made from. That's the beginning of this Jack McDevitt novel ... the first McDevitt novel I've read (I'd seen his short fiction before). It won't be the last. In the best SF style, McDevitt just keeps asking question after question after question, and the answers get bigger and bigger and bigger. A really first-rate book, despite the terrible cover art.

Great fun from cover to cover! McDevitt takes a classic SF premise and from a dozen angles develops it into a tale rich with credible insights, ideas and details, all of which give a good and gritty feel to his wonders, life to his characters, and a reigning believability that dramatically heightens the suspense. And though the finale is full of tension, the surprises of its resolution put a HUGE grin on my face. Superb SF entertainment.

It was a page turner that kept me guessing not sure what to expect next. As you may have read the ending gets pretty bad. I felt that there were too many loose ends and they way things are "resolved" (if you can call it that) was a cheap, hokey way to do things. If you can have that expectation going into the book vs. being suprised by it (like I was) then you might give this a higher rating.

Fast paced and "Clean" with real world consequences and reactions to the discovery of Alien Artifacts! I Loved this book! This book was A one night read which gets you 5 stars from me almost every time! My only gripe (very small one) is the ending of the book where a group of "friends" get in the act! I would have liked it much better if "they" were involved earlier!

This is My favorite Book By McDevitt! (so far I've Read "Moonfall", "Eternity Road" and "Engines of God" which are definite buy recommendations from me!) All in all you can not ask for much better in a Science Fiction Novel and I hope Mr. McDevitt will write a sequel because I am dying to find out about the other "destination" possibilities!

`Ancient Shores' is only the second novel by Jack McDevitt that I have read. The first was `Engines of God' which was a far superior work. `Ancient Shores' is by no means a bad novel. It's just not science fiction. While there is plenty of fiction there is next to no science. Which is fine - the novel is more than entertaining as it is.

Two alien artifacts are discovered in North Dakota and the novel follows a large cast of characters as they deal with the repercussions of such a momentous find. This is hardly a new twist in the First Contact genre but McDevitt's story is full of a vibrancy often lacking in other attempts. The plot is mostly character driven - a good thing given the authors adept skills in drawing characters that are at once believable and almost archetypal.

The intriguing aspect of `Ancient Shores' is McDevitt's pessimistic take on how mankind (or, more specifically, white North American mankind) would react to the discovery of alien machines of incalculable value. Let's hope he is wrong.

McDevitt has been described by Kevin J. Anderson as `one of the best hard SF writers in the business.' I look forward to reading more.

This is one of those novels that seemed to have been written in a single burst of creative energy. It is much simpler than his later novels (particularly the "Hutch" series) but in its way it is also much better. The writing seems more focused, the characters seem more "real" and the scientific explanations are as compelling and literate as ever.

McDevitt's specialty is first contact and that is what this is all about. In a way, it's a lot like the fulfillment of the fantasies of any sci-fi enthusiast - run across an ancient, buried object that happened to have strange powers. Great story and great ending...

The Cover quoted the New York Daily news "...[and] a nailbiting ending." I skipped over this book dozens of times. A boat in North Dakota--the plot just didn't move me. Then I read "Moonfall" by the same author so I gave "Ancient Shores" a try. And found that the plot did move me...from one page to the next. Ohh and the Daily News was right--the ending is nailbiting. This was one of those books you hate to have end because you know you're going to miss the characters.

This is an early McDevitt work, and it shows. It takes too long to determine who the main characters are and who's just a spear-carrying extra, the dialogue is a little stilted and artificial, and the ending is simple deus ex machina, and an an unconvincing one even for a DEM. Reading it wasn't a waste of time, but I'm sure glad it wasn't the first book of his I'd ever read. If it had been, I might never have picked up another.