16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A long and winding star road to first contact, December 21, 2003
(***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.
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25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre sci-fi at its best, July 15, 2005
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.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Idea, but a Dull Book, April 22, 2004
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.
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