Deepsix (Priscilla) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jack McDevitt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Priscilla | Publication Date: January 8, 2002

In the year 2204, tragedy and terror forced a scientific team to prematurely evacuate Maleiva III. Nineteen years later, a rogue moon hurtling through space is about to obliterate the last opportunity to study this rare, life-supporting planet. With less than three weeks left before the disaster, superluminal pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins -- the only even remotely qualified professional within lightyears of the ill-fated planet -- must lead a small scientific team to the surface to glean whatever they can about its lifeforms and lost civilizations before time runs out. But catastrophe awaits when they are stranded on this strange and complex world of puzzles and impossibilities. And now Hutch and her people must somehow survive on a hostile world going rapidly mad -- as the clock ticks toward apocalypse for a doomed enigma now called...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Deepsix is concerned with the motivating force that drives all scientists--the quest for truth, for expanding the limits of human knowledge. How much are we willing to risk for that moment of discovery, of knowing what no other soul yet knows? Our time? Our reputations? Our careers? Our lives?

The premise is this: just weeks before the planet Deepsix will be destroyed by a collision with a gas giant, ruins are detected on its surface, suggesting the presence of civilization. The Academy diverts scientists from the nearest spaceship to go down and explore, and they are joined by their century's Ellsworth Toohey: a misogynistic, sanctimonious gadfly who has never before been off of Earth's surface. The party's landers are destroyed in an earthquake induced by the approaching gas giant, so now they must find a way to get off of Deepsix before it is destroyed by the collision. Needless to say, their excavations are placed on the back burner.

The physics describing the space travel and the archeology used to reconstruct the lost culture of Deepsix are interesting and explained well. There is plenty of action and suspense--will the party survive? And the evolving characters and group dynamics are more complex than those usually found in science fiction books, making Deepsix a worthwhile read. --Diana Gitig --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Those who like their science hard and their alien adventures bloody will enjoy this latest from Philip K. Dick Award runner-up McDevitt (The Hercules Text). In the 23rd century Deepsix is a planet in deep trouble. In about three weeks a Jovian-sized world will collide with it. Although Deepsix is a treasure trove of life, it has been left unexplored for the last 20 years because hostile animals slaughtered most of the first human landing party. Now, with the discovery of traces of an advanced civilization on the planet, a new expedition hastily sets out to rescue bits and pieces of the culture before they are lost forever. To find the lander that was abandoned two decades earlier, the disgraced commander of the original expedition must make a deadly trek across Deepsix with (among others) two feisty women and a misogynistic celebrity writer who once pilloried the team leader in the press. Goaded by their off-planet superiors, they also have to solve the mystery inherent in the disappearance of Deepsix's civilization. McDevitt puts his characters into predictable jeopardies while methodically solving the conundrum of the missing aliens. Though the rigorous scientific explanations of the techniques used in the rescue are absorbing, the huge, mostly two-dimensional cast slows down the action. Sadly, McDevitt's world building is frequently sketchy and his otherworldly animals too terrestrial, although the sexual Venus's-flytrap segment does have its creative and amusing moments. 3-city author tour. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; First Edition edition (January 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061020060
• ISBN-13: 978-0061020063
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good story, but a bit long-winded . . . ., October 10, 2005

By 

Patrick J. Callahan (La Crosse, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deepsix (Priscilla) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fresh and worthy SF thriller..., January 19, 2002

By 

Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deepsix (Priscilla) (Mass Market Paperback)

"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

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rescue of the Deepsix Four, September 25, 2006

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deepsix (Priscilla) (Mass Market Paperback)

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