Customer Reviews

Chindi

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

(***1/2)
A white-knuckle rescue mission that gets its tail singed by a supernova introduces us (those who haven't already met her in McDevitt's "Deep Six") to the gutsy superluminal pilot Hutch. She promptly accepts another mission to nanny a crew of starry eyed, deep pocketed SETI enthusiasts. There's a mysterious signal emanating from an otherwise lifeless and undistinguised double neutron star system, and they mean to check it out. The signal beam, leading on to relays, becomes a thread that traces a labyrinthine interstellar trail, with surprises and dangers at each turning. Does the trail have an end? Will the Contact Society finally meet beings from another advanced civilization face to face?

The hard science on display, and the Clarke-like restraint in not showing us too much of either the creators of the signal or the primitive aliens met along the way, had for me a comforting old-timey sci-fi feel. The book is good journeyman sf, with a few breathtaking sense-of-wonder scenes, and quite a few bursts of suspense that will keep you turning pages briskly through several chapters at a time.

On the downside, it also presents a few dry stretches. The repeated "oh, please, don't tell me you're going into that basement alone" recklessness of the Contact fans begins to stretch credulity, not to mention stretching sympathy for the party members mighty thin. And except for the clever and spectacular final rescue scheme, there's little here that's completely new. Nor is there much that provides food for thought once you step off the roller coaster at the end of the ride.

Still, if you crave your space opera with a hard science edge, "Chindi" is more than good enough to stave off your hunger pangs. And if some studio with a decent effects department doesn't pick up the movie option, they're missing a bet on an action packed summer blockbuster with an above average IQ.

Have you ever read one of those books that, once you get about halfway through, you're not quite sure you really want to finish, but you slog through anyway, hoping against hope that there's a big payoff at the end? And when you finally reach the conclusion, you feel about as satisfied as if you'd been served a plate of rice cakes when you were expecting steak?

Well, that's what "Chindi" like. This was the first time I'd read Jack McDevitt, and I admit I had pretty high expectations based on what I'd heard about him. Indeed, "Chindi" is not all bad. The heroine, resourceful spaceship captain Priscilla Hutchins, is a compelling character with whom we can genuinely sympathize. It's also clear that McDevitt has put some good thought into the practicalities and challenges of space travel and xeno-archeology. The first fifth of the book starts out at a crackling good pace. After a mysterious explosion kills another captain and his alien-seeking passengers, readers are tantalized with the promise of an interstellar archeological mystery.

Sadly, the book devolves into a wild goose chase as Hutch and her team of amateur xenologists try in vain to track down the alien intelligence thought to be the source of the fatal blast. The crew jumps from planet to planet, stumbling across alien races that are either long dead or living but hostile and of murderous intent.

Apart from Hutch, the characters are as thin as the paper they are written on. The only promising character other than Hutch is the legendary captain Preacher Brawley, who is unfortunately killed in the blast that sets up the plot. The rest of the cast is embarrassingly laughable -- a brash billionaire CEO, his lackey bureaucrat, his movie star wife, a brilliant scientist, an artist. One reviewer aptly said this is "Gilligan's Island" in space. These people act in a totally unbelievable manner, too, more akin to clueless teenagers in a slasher flick than thoughtful adults with the benefit of two more centuries of scientific advances and collective wisdom. Most of these people meet grim ends, but they are so void of depth that we feel nothing except maybe a morbid satisfaction that they had it coming. In the case of one minor character, it is gratuitously noted that she worked as a stripper to put herself through college. Another character, a self-aggrandizing, scheming, two-time Nobel Prize winning physicist, put himself through college as a standup comedian. Incidentally, this character is entirely superfluous to the story, contributing absolutey zero to the development of the plot or the other characters.

Finally, there is no conclusion. The final quarter of the book is devoted to the rescue of a single character trapped on an alien vessel as it speeds away from his human companions. For a book that began with grand promises of humanity on the verge of meeting its galactic equal, of unlocking the mysteries of an ancient and wise race, this is an oddly mundane and confusing conclusion.

This 500-page novel could easily have been condensed to a 100-page novella. If it was even half its length, I might recommend it as a throwaway summer read. But as it stands I can only advise potential readers to seek sci-fi adventure elsewhere, perhaps in the military action pulp of Richard K. Morgan, or the transhuman punk epics of Alastair Reynolds.

Jack McDevitt's new book, Chindi, starts out with an interesting idea. What would happen if a group of armchair adventurers hired a spaceship and made first contact with an alien civilization? The idea is intriguing but the author is unable to pull it off. The characters are caricatures, the pacing of the story is off, and the climax feels like a let down. After reading 400 pages I wanted some answers about who (or what) the aliens were. All that I got was a brief epilogue explaining that we still do not know what is going on. Where Jack McDevvit really shines is his ability to imagine grand astromonical settings for his story. His descriptions of the newly discovered planetary systems manage to evoke a sense of awe. Unfortunately this was not enough to hold my interest. Chindi is an interesting idea, but a dull book.

I enjoyed Chindi. I've noticed a lot other reviewers hitting the book on poor characterizations or for an unimaginative plot. To say either I think is unduly harsh. Yes, McDevitt could have drawn a few of his more minor characters a bit better...but I thought even those characters were drawn adequately enough. The major characters were certainly drawn well enough -- one in particular provoked an extremely annoyed reaction from me at several points. As for an unimaginative plot -- Chindi apparently has some similarities to other works of scifi -- I don't think that this makes Chindi any less of an interesting story.

I found Chindi to evoke a strong sense of mystery and wonder in me...two traits a good scifi book should have. There's unquestionably a lot out there and McDevitt does a good job theorizing about some of the possibilites. Chindi is third of four in the "Hutch" series (Engines of God & Deepsix before it, Omega after it)...within the context of the series the book is certainly a must read.

I enjoyed the book. I'd probably rate it more like a 3.8 than a 4 star. It has that certain "golden age of sci-fi" sense of wonder of space, an optimistic desire to unravel the mysteries of the universe, that often I see in Arthur C. Clark's books and golden age sci novels and stories. I found this to be refreshing. Characters were a weak point, adequate but sometimes thier actions I found to be questionable. Throwing caution to the wind seems to be a popular motto in the minds of some of the characters, so it was not surprising to see some of them meet unfortunate ends. However, by the end of the book I really liked the main female protagonist, "Hutch", enough so that I'll read the other books featuring her. She's got enough sass, spunk and humor that I found to be a refreshing mix and very endearing.

The other gripe I had is that McDevitt's universe seems a bit too human in its view of the otherworldly. Aliens and alien worlds seem a bit too normal. Do all Alien's have bookshelves and tables and wear pants? This was OK to do for the 40-50's sci-fi and original Star Trek but seems a bit old-fashioned for today's audience, but again I guess its part of McDevitt's love for Golden Age of Sci-fi. This is not surprising since the books adheres to the the premise that all worlds that promote life would be similiar to Earth's evolution, so aliens would be of the humanoid type like walking gatormen, birdmen, etc, which may have some legitimate scientific backing but makes for less intriguing aliens. In anycase, there's enough mystery and a dash of good ole science to propel to the plot and make it a worthwhile read. The title and the use of the Native American folklore was a nice twist as well. This book is a Nebula 2004 Award nominee and on this year's Locus Magazine's recommended reading list.

The author assembles and launches the most , boring, meandering, ill-planned first contact story I have ever read. The first 100 pages!!! yes 100 pages is character development. NOTHING HAPPENS!! Its like a romance novel with no romance for 100 pages. Then the characters actually discover ancient civilizations and stomp around on valyuable archaeological sites time after time. Every other page filled my head with screaming thoughts such as, "Come on!", "These are the stupidest people!" and "This book would fit nicely in a fire." They bumble through first one contact with an alien species and then another. They dismiss the first one because they are supposedly primitive savages, and seem to act as if they warrant no further study (even though the "savages" have a city and obvious culture)(Their sole evidence that they are "primitives" is because they attacked the idiotic landing party. Then you might as well name me a primitive because if these buffoons landed near my house I'd gnaw on their asses too).
After that debacle, they continue following the bread crumbs to another contact. After massacring themselves during their first idiotic contact they should have been corralled by whatever passes for a government. BUT NO! They are allowed to fly on and blunder into another advanced species. When I wasn't thinking about how implausible the plot was and how foolish the thoughts of the characters, I was noticing that I was reading pages and pages of absolute NOTHING. This book is 500 pages and it serious was about 400 too long. No joke, 100 pages could have covered this mistake and saved me a few hours of my life.
Go to hell all you morons who gave this 5 stars which precipitated my purchase.

Chindi (2002) is the third SF novel in the Hutch series, following Deepsix. In the previous volume, Hutch steered the lander near the scoop end of the skyhook, but found that a rock shower had closed the opening and dislodged the rails. She couldn't fly the lander inside, so Hutch approached as close as she could and had the others jump to the net. Randy tied a tether to Hutch's wrist before he jumped. Since she was the last out, the lander had veered away and only Randy's grip on the tether kept her from falling to her death. Never Let Go became an immortal motto after the rescue of the Deepsix Four.

In this novel, the Benjamin L. Martin discovers a radio transmission coming from the vicinity of VV651107, a neutron star. The AI records the signal, but is not able to reacquire it after returning to that portion of its orbit. Another survey vessel later discovers a similar signal coming into the neutron star from an acute angle to the other beam.

Elsewhere, Hutch is diverted to a survey station located amidst a nebular cloud condensing into a star. The mission director is adamant that the mission is crucial to understanding the origins of stars and that the danger is minimal. Now he asks that a vessel be assigned to the station just in case an evacuation becomes necessary.

Needless to say, the star has already ignited its nuclear fires and a huge flare is approaching the station. Now the evacuation becomes not only necessary, but urgent. However, Hutch discovers that survey has only provided sufficient capacity for the staff; no one has considered the presence of station dependents.

Although another vessel reaches the station in time to take the extra people, Hutch is determined to submit her resignation. Then the Operations Chief who had failed to consider the presence of station dependents is being awarded a special honor for his foresightedness. Hutch is going to be out of there as soon as possible.

Nonetheless, Sylvia Virgil, the Director of Operations, talks Hutch into one last mission, taking representatives of the Contact Society to VV651107 to investigate the signals. The society will provide the vessel, the City of Memphis, if survey will lend them a pilot. Hutch agrees to this one last mission.

In this story, two parties are sent out on similar missions. The Memphis scans for more signals near the neutron star, but another group on the Condor investigates the destination of the outgoing signals. They find a world that had once held intelligent life before blowing themselves into radioactive ruin. The major find, however, is an active stealthed satellite orbiting this world.

The Condor party takes the satellite on board to examine it, but the ship soon is destroyed by an internal explosion. The Memphis quickly heads toward the other star and finds debris and bodies. However, they also discover another stealthed satellite and then a third in orbit around the planet. Later, they find another trio of satellites acting as a relay aimed at another star.

The Memphis follows the radio beams from star to star, discovering unusual situations and objects at each location. Other ships are dispatched to investigate their finds. Finally, they discover the end of their chase in the Chindi.

This story is a study in foolishness and death. Time after time Hutch tries to convince her passengers to wait, yet they charge out and some die. The next time Hutch tries to hold them back, the survivors insist that they must go on because the dead would expect it of them.

Highly recommended for McDevitt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, sudden hazards and frustrated lovers.

-Arthur W. Jordin

One of promo blurbs on the cover of Chindi compares it favorably to Arthur C Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama. It's been an awfully long time since I read Rama, but I remember one thing clearly. It was a disappointment. And so was Chindi

The central issue of the novel is never resolved - what is the Chindi? Who made it, where did it come from, what is its purpose? In real life the appearance of a huge unmanned ship traveling through space might play out exactly like this. We might never be able to do more than watch it pass through and guess at its origins.

But this is an unsatisfying conclusion to a piece of fiction.

Fortunately, author McDevitt deftly fleshes out a cast of characters that are as intriguing as the mystery they are investigating. As other reviewers have pointed out, they do in fact act foolishly, but I would add not out of character. The central cast are well-to-do members of a First Contact organization motivated to make something of their lives, something they see as more valuable and lasting than chasing after money or fame.

In the end it may be that McDevitt thinks the Chindi itself isn't important, that what the characters learn about themselves is far more meaningful than the object of their quest.

I'd have to say there's something that kept me reading this book, but I kept asking myself why. I guess I was waiting for something to actually happen. It's just more of the same over and over. One thing I don't understand about some sci-fi writers such as McDevitt is if you're able to imagine distant planets and new species, how come you can't push your mind past ridiculous gender-role stereotypes? It is just stupid to think that all species are going to be males and females and that females will be smaller. This is just one example of the stupid lack of imagination in this book.

CHINDI is part of a series of space adventures set in an Earth some 200 years in the future. All of these feature Priscilla ("Hutch"), a hardnosed by the book starship pilot and reluctant heroine. All deal in some way with alien contact but he the author is very careful not to descend to the typical close encounter of the third kind where strange creatures teach little ole' mankind great moral truths like "stop all war." No, his alien discoveries are furtive, accidental, perhaps even hopeless since a race may have decided to leave or has become extinct.

McDevitt's ideas about alien culture seem almost too "human". His aliens seem to operate under a similar evolutionary psychology of wants and needs aand that is quite impossible. Regardless, the story is about the discovery of a giant alien vessel along with countless "probes" whose task it to record events on other worlds, including our own planet.

Of course, they manage to enter the ship and discover that it contains actual footage of great events from other worlds, an endless history of intelligent life in the galaxy. Once inside there are problems and a brilliant rescue scene (another of the author's favorite things). Hutch falls in love, loses the man, then meets a man from the past who she discovers is her one true love.

Some reviewers complained that the ending falls short or is somehow diminuitive. But the quiet tone in which we finally learn about the purpose of the ship speaks louder than any shoot-em-up, kill the bad guy, laser-missle battle could ever say. Throughout it all the writing is intelligent and probing.

My main objection is the one I have to almost all his books - too many characters with little or no purpose. Why he feels the need to introduce a string of people who may have one or two lines and usually are simply "other captains" or "someone from the Academy" is unknown. The number of major characters should be whittled down to at most four or five. Doing that would yield a perfect book.