Customer Reviews

Deepsix

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

All in all, Deepsix is an entertaining novel. For me, however, it at times seemed rather flat, like a carbonated drink that has been sitting opened for a few hours. I think the pace of the book was too slow, given that the plot is a rather simple one. But let's start with some plus's.

I loved the extensive coverage of alien ruins and alien artifacts. These scenes -- and there are many -- were great fun. Whenever the adventurers entered a jungle clearing and found an alien temple or structure, surprises were many and the reader suddenly sat up on the edge of his (or her) chair.

One of the very most fun alien discoveries was the skyhook anchor, found circling the planet in a far orbit. And the flora and fauna of the planet "Deepsix" were great fun also. Encountering dangerous alien life forms while chopping through the rain forest -- this is great entertainment. Especially since McDevitt does a great job bringing it all to life.

But back to a few problems. The author creates a character named MacAllister, and seems to want us to dislike him. I mean, this guy is portrayed as a real jerk. Self-important, pompous, and continually abrasive with anyone who crosses his path. MacAllister is a journalist and writer who has attained a great reputation. He has come to feel he is beyond criticism, and has an unpleasant sense of his own superiority.

Well, you ask, 'what's the problem?' Lots of books have unattractive characters. Here's the problem. MacAllister dominates the book. Every -- yes, EVERY -- chapter begins with a lengthy quotation from MacAllister. These don't come to anything, and I began skipping them. Also, the author seems to push MacAllister forward to dominate so many scenes in the book. I asked myself, 'why do I need to continually cope with this unpleasant person?' MacAllister is not even interesting as a character. He is one dimensional -- a "one-note Johnny." He has no range, just being a crusty curmudgeon chapter after chapter.

As I said when I began this review, Deepsix needs major editing with respect to the element of 'pace.' It just moves too SLOW. too many chapters go by while the author is still introducing the setting and introducing a long string of characters, some of whom prove rather insignificant in the overall story.

Sub-plots that have little linkage to the main plot keep pulling us away from the main story, just when we are beginning to get highly involved. This 430-page book could easily shed 150 pages and be a better novel for it.

There are some well-drawn and interesting characters that help to power the book. These include the woman "Hutch" and the burned out aging explorer Nightingale.

One writer compared this novel to the best of Arthur C. Clarke. Well, there are some resemblances, especially the fascinating alien artifacts that excite the reader about extraterrestrial civilizations. And there is some hard science extrapolated, such as the skyhook technology that shows up in Deepsix.

But all in all, we are not talking the same level of quality. Comparing McDevitt to Arthur C. Clarke is like comparing vin ordinaire with the finest burgundies of France.

"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

Deepsix (2001) is the second novel in the Hutch series, following The Engines of God. In the previous volume, Hutch discovered the location of the Monument-Maker's home planet, Beta Pac III, which apparently had been evacuated. A few of their descendents remained on the planet living in primitive conditions, but most of the Monument-Makers seem to have fled the galaxy, probably to one of the Magellanic Clouds.

Refining her analysis, Hutch figured that the Omega Cloud wave should be approaching LCO4418. The rescued crew/passengers of the NCA Winckelmann took the ranger ship NCA Ashley Tee to that system and found two Clouds in transit. There they shaped some mesas into rectangles, which definitely attracted the attention of one Cloud. Despite being half way around the moon from the mesas, the Cloud even attacked their lander.

In this novel, the Nightingale mission gets in trouble on Deepsix -- Maleiva III -- losing several persons to carnivorous red birds and the Academy decides to abandon the planet. Twenty years later, the Academy sends a team of physicists and planetary scientists on the NCA Wendy Jay to observe the imminent collision of Jeremy Morgan's planet with Deepsix. Scanning the planet upon arrival, the team discovers signs of civilization upon the planet, including a tower within an icebound town.

Hutch picks up some homeward bound Academy personnel on Pinnacle, but her ship, the NCA Harold Wildside, is diverted to Deepsix. The Academy designates her as director of the Deepsix archaeology project to investigate the ruins on that planet. Of course, the planet will be swallowed by the gas giant Morgan's Planet within a few days and her passengers are not archaeologists. Yet Hutch is ordered to find out as much as possible before Deepsix is destroyed by the tidal effects.

One of Hutch's passengers is Randall Nightingale, director of the first Deepsix mission, but he is an exobiologist rather than an archaeologist. He knows more than he can tell about the aggressive red birds, but nothing about sentient inhabitants. Nonetheless, Hutch, Toni Hamner, and Randy prepare to go down to investigate the tower. They are joined by Kellie Collier and Chiang Harmon from the Wendy Jay.

While they are digging through the tower, Gregory MacAllister arranges for a lander from the tour ship Evening Star to take Casey Hayes, a young and attractive journalist, and himself down to the tower site. Hutch tries to wave them off, but MacAllister is a well-known and acerbic editor who uses his clout to pave his way. He ignores Hutch's warnings and the Evening Star lander sets down near the tower. After a short tour of the site, MacAllister arranges the use of the Wildside lander for a short interview by Casey.

Midway through the interview, an earthquake shakes down the tower and swallows the Evening Star lander and its pilot. Toni is killed in the falling tower. Casey tries to get the Wildside lander off the ground before it too falls down a crevasse, but her piloting skills are inadequate for the task and the lander crashes and burns. MacAllister gets Casey out of the burning lander, but she dies of her injuries.

Now the five survivors are stranded on the planet without any working lander. The Evening Star lander is jammed sideways halfway down the crevasse and the Wildside lander is burned beyond any chance of onsite repairs. The Athena Boardman is the only ship with a lander that is capable of reaching Deepsix in time.

Marcel Clairveau, Captain of the Wendy Jay, declares an emergency and asks the Boardman to divert for a rescue attempt. The Boardman is owned by Kosmic, Inc., the terraforming company, and it is carrying Ian Helm, new Director of Operations on Quraqua. The Boardman Captain, Eliot Penkavic, confirms his course change, but Helm sabotages the Boardman so that its lander is ejected into hyperspace. Now there is no rescue possible within the available timeframe.

Then Randy remembers that his mission had left a lander behind with communications problems. Since it is only 175 kilometers away on the map, Hutch decides to try for this lander. Randy and Mac are very tired and footsore for the first few days, but they become acclimated over time. The hikers discover some very interesting artifacts during their trip, including a hovercraft. Then the Wendy Jay team discovers a skyhook in orbit around the planet.

In this story, the author postulates a planet older than Earth, with highly developed fauna and flora. Some creatures attack the Terrans, but others sense that these aliens are more than they seem. The story uncovers evidence of possibly six different intelligent species and many semi-intelligent animals. Even the plants seem to have extensive sensory organs and possibly some intelligence. Of course, the upcoming collision precludes any deep investigation of these creatures.

This story keeps uncovering new mysteries about Deepsix, a planet that is originally declared to be uninhabited. Then everybody thinks that it only has the ruins of a primitive civilization. Later, signs of high technology and sentient natives are discovered. Why was the planet left untouched for twenty years when such discoveries were only awaiting a close scan of the planet? A thorough low level overflight would have discovered other signs of an advanced civilization and archaeological digs could have found some new technologies. Someone in the Academy goofed in a big way!

The cover states that this book is "a breathtaking chronicle of disaster and discovery". Disaster and discovery are common occurrences in this volume, but "breathtaking" seems to be a tall order for a book per se. Yet a theatrical motion picture based on this book could affect anyone's breathing. A good director and a large enough budget could allow this story to become a major science fiction film, full of action and suspense. It even has the love interests so demanded by Hollywood!

Highly recommended for McDevitt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of strange planets, alien fauna and flora, and high suspense.

-Arthur W. Jordin

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.

"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.

I'm impressed with McDevitt's ability to make each novel quite distinctly different from its predecessors. "Deepsix" continues that progression and even though it is broadly set in a timeline he has used previously (and from a few hints contained in Deepsix, may return to again).

Deepsix is a planet on countdown to annihilation by collision with a Galactic Wanderer in a matter of days. It provides the setting for a fast and furious story with a number of interesting twists along the way. It helps a little with the characterisiation if you've previously read McDevitt's "Engines of God" but you wont miss much if you haven't.

A motely group of space ship crew, scientists and a journalist are trapped on the planet when the only two available planetary shuttles are both destoryed while on the ground. McDevitt wonderfully captures the sheer frustration that all involved feel with their inability to adequately explore the things they discover while struggling to do their parts in organising an audatious rescue, using a leftover alien artifact that itself has only just been discovered.

My favourite "small details" from the novel were the names of the continents and the literary quotes from one of the novel's characters which formed a mini-preface to each chapter.

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!

I've read all of McDevitt's books... and find this one to be by far the least appealing. It'd be an OK book by someone else, but I expect more from McDevitt. It reads too much like a movie script (and would probably make a good movie) and fails to have the depth of character and science demonstrated in books such as: Engines of God, Infinity Beach and Ancient Shores.

This one book I truly enjoyed by the author. My issue is with Kindle. I do not know what they used to make the book into a digital book, but there are too many typo's, nonesense lines, and missed punctuation at key points that seriously detract form the reading pleasure. Such as the word "die" that shows up numerous times where the word 'the" should be. A whole sentence turned nonsense in a critical juncture. Substitutions of letters such as "fail" for "fall". Get a proof reader. The way this digital book was put together suggests it was done too quickly and without good editing. Definitely not worth the $8.99 kindle charges. Buy the print edition.

I am quite disappointed in the direction this book decided to go. I've read a lot of Jack's work, but had missed this one along the way. The premise for this book is very interesting. Here we have a extra-solar world teeming with life that is about to be destroyed. It has a mysterious race that may or may not be advanced.

Instead, Jack takes us on a "whatever can go wrong will go wrong" fest that, honestly, wasn't that exciting. To give you an idea without spoilers, it's like watching a movie where a couple is going on a romantic holiday except that they get a flat tire, then get lost, then get their car stolen and are sitting in the police dept for 10hrs. Not very interesting, is it? At some point, you want the protagonist to do something other than get food poisoning. Add to that, the lack of decent characters in this novel and you get a snooze fest.

I can think of a million different ways to play the plot and still have drama. Even keeping the majority of the book intact, but getting them to rescue far earlier then exploring the ruins and watching the destruction of the world would've been great! Instead...

Oh well, even authors I like have to screw up occasionally. However, if you haven't read this one - skip it! You won't lose anything for the future Hutch novels.