Customer Reviews

Odyssey (Hutch)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Being a long time fan of hard science fiction I look forward to all of Jack McDevitt's books. Sadly, "Odyssey" is not one of the best but it's still a reasonable read.

This is the latest book in the Priscilla Hutchin's series or Hutch as she is more often known. Hutch has moved into an administration job at the Academy (a 23rd century version of NASA)and is not having a good time. There is strong pressure to cut Academy funding and concentrate on earthbound problems such as the greenhouse effect (sound familiar?). It looks as if many interstellar missions and projects will have to be severely cut. She also has to deal with a boss who is a very poor people manager.

At the same time there are increasing reports of "Moonriders", strange spherical objects possibly of alien origin that appear around interstellar sites. Partly as a PR exercise for the Academy, an expedition is organised to place sensors to study these objects if they really exist. Gregory McAllister, one of the Academy's critics and a character in previous books is part of the crew together with the space cadet daughter of a senator who is also highly critical of Academy policy.

Predictably, the moonriders turn out to be real and dangerous and the final part of the book centres around the interstellar "Origins" project, a hypercollider intended to investigate the Big Bang in much greater detail than before. There are the usual space rescues and brushes with death but everything basically turns out okay in the end.

The main problem with this book is that it is glacially slow moving and nothing much really happens until close to the end. There are tantalising hints about why no intelligent life has yet been found in the galaxy which I thought might be resolved by the moonriders but nothing happens in this regard. It's really quite a disappointing book and I was expecting much more. There are enough Mcdevitt touches though for it to be worth three stars but only just.

Ok...after taking a look at some of the other reviews, I have to say that I think that some people need to read Mr. McDevitt's other works extensively before they slam "Odyssey." A Jack McDevitt novel is not space opera. If you want Star Wars type of action read David Weber and John Ringo. I have nothing against the space opera genre by the way, but that is not McDevitt's style. There IS acton in "Odyssey," it is just that it is subtle and does not jump out and slam you in the face. McDevitt is a thinking person's writer and this book makes very pertinent statements about our world today. For instance, doesn't Orion Tours remind you of a certain company that Darth Cheney is involved with? He also tackles other issues, such as religious fanaticism, global warming, the underfunding of NASA and the logical reasons for having a space program.

Also, one reviewer could not see any connection with Homer's "The Odyssey." They are all through the book, go ahead and THINK and you'll find the connections. Hutch IS Odysseus; the weary wanderer who just wants the peace of home and the explorer, hungry to know what is beyond the horizon. Mr. McDevitt is subtle, NOT boring. His type of writing might not be for everyone: hell, musically I prefer the Byrds to the Beatles, but they both have merit. Different strokes for different folks, but at least be fair when you examine a work.

The "Hutch" series -- named for Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins -- began with the excellent "Engines of God", continued with the readable "Deepsix", staggered over the embarrassing "Chindi", and had presumably ended with the abysmal "Omega". At least, it was supposed to end with "Omega", touted (at the time) as the final book of the series. It should have, too: the mystery of the Omega clouds was insultingly revealed; Hutch had moved from the main character of the series to an unnecessary, minor character (and a beaurocrat, at that!); and the intelligent aliens that drive the action are green muppets... whose civilization and culture are taken straight from Plato, Aristotle, and Sophocles.

And now McDevitt returns to the once-concluded "Hutch" series with "Odyssey". My first complaint is that McDevitt based this novel in the Hutch universe. The major tropes of that series -- Hutchins herself, the Omega clouds, evidence of once-thriving alien civilizations now extinct -- are either underplayed (Hutch is a minor character who occasionally moves on-stage, usually to complain about something or follow someone else's orders) or unused (Omega clouds? The Monument Makers? Anybody care?). "Odyssey" would have worked better as a stand-alone title... or it could just as easily have been tacked on to the "Talent for War/Polaris/Seeker" series. Believe me, it would make as much sense in that series as it does in the Hutch series.

My second complaint is that the book is exceptionally dull. The plot is exceedingly thin: alien spheres called "moonriders" have been reported for the last twenty or thirty years (though never in any of the previous novels), and it's time to bolster public opinion of the Space Academy by dropping unmanned probes in high-traffic areas where moonriders are typically reported. If the dropping of unmanned probes doesn't scream "action," I don't know what does. (Apparently, neither does McDevitt.) Some stuff happens along the way... I guess the moonriders are throwing asteroids at planets and space hotels and whatnot. Which leads to my next complaint:

The obligatory "rescue." I'm not sure when Jack discovered that he could bulk up a novel by turning at least a third of it into a daring, seat-of-your-pants rescue. I suppose this is linked with my "dull" complaint, but really: does every novel require an elaborate, breath-taking rescue, with fingernail-biting drama? If that kind of thing is your bag, baby, then you're in luck. If not, flip ahead four or five chapters. At a time.

My final complaint is the inconsistency of the novel, as set in the "Hutch" universe. The whole point of having a series is to continue the adventures (or lives) of characters we know. But there's nothing recognizable of Hutch or Gregory MacAllister (introduced in Deepsix) in this novel. Hutch mopes around, blaming her boss and acting like a fairy-Godmother to a senator's daughter. MacAllister swoons around like a lovesick puppy, and his hellfire proclamations have been turned down to simmer... if that.

It's almost as if McDevitt needed a trustworthy-pilot-turned-pencil-pusher and a cynical newseditor to drive the action, but didn't feel like making up new characters. Whatever: Odyssey-Hutch and Odyssey-MacAllister are like pod people. They have the names and they look like the real thing, but I didn't recognize them in this novel.

Last word: Odyssey would have made a good short story set in an original universe. As it stands, it is a bloated piece of writing, forcibly rammed into what was once an enjoyable, intelligent series. I can only hope that this is the end of the Hutch-saga; maybe the obligatory rescue should be this series, from its author.

Yes, Jack McDevitt has pounded out a bit of a stinker here. I agree with most of the criticisms of this book: that it moves too slowly, that Hutch is consigned to a tertiary role, that it is too contrived in places, that McAllister resembles Alex Benedict too closely for proper series decorum...but I'm not going to pounce too quickly until I see how "Cauldron" turns out. And here's why:

For a first-time reader of Jack McDevitt, "Odyssey" would have been quite a let down, but for those who have followed the series since its inception, "Odyssey" wasn't really that bad. I have enjoyed everything I have read by Jack McDevitt, and so I have confidence in his ability to turn this around. It seems that there is always a transitional book in any long-running series, a book that doesn't have the same immediacy and weight of the previous books (think "At All Costs", David Weber), and we can hope that this is the case with the Priscilla Hutchins series.

McDevitt is trying to air out some legitimate concerns about human nature; our species' inability to remain focused upon long-term goals where instead we seem always to fall back upon self-serving hedonism and mysticism. The space agencies in the Priscilla Hutchins stories have actually saved the Earth, have discovered incredible wonders on distant planets--have laid bare a potential galactic threat exacerbated by ignorance, and yet people have returned their attentions to the silly and ludicrous. Those who are more far-seeing find themselves at odds with public attention and resort to manipulation and deflection to achieve their goals. There are real-world analogies: close-passing asteroids and the sure odds that one will hit us sooner or later, and yet NASA is sidelined into a menial agency, under funded and little appreciated. People debate religion while the Earth heats up, remain complaisant during a war defined as never ending, and allow media outlets to serve up emotionally distressed pop-culture stars instead.

McDevitt is arguing for rationality; this is why a central character is Greek, why there are references to Plato, and a condemnation of the hoi polloi in all but name. But skepticism is also essential--McAllister's character is a virtual Skeptics Society, slashing at frauds manufactured by well-meaning scientists and officials as well as those propagated by irrational belief. If Jack McDevitt is trying to turn from space opera toward deeper themes, I will give him that chance.

I must agree with reviewer, Duane R. Wirdel. I Have been reading the Hutch novels in order over the last couple of weeks, this after reading the action packed The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. Whoa! switch gears, slow down and think about what you are reading. Watch the miniseries Rome Gift Set (HBO Series) [Blu-ray] and then watch I, Claudius for a similar switch. Both approaches to literature are valid.

This book was billed as "flying off the shelves" and the author's books are said to be lapped up by eager fans. What's the attraction here? I sure don't know.

The writing is pretty decent; the plot is fine, but what suffers is the development. McDevitt sets out to discuss a project in space that has a small (just a small) risk of tearing the universe apart (blithely ignored by the scientists) and a space exploration/tourism industry that is under fire by an equally blase world. Meanwhile "moonriders"--UFO's we'd say, manifest themselves and scare the interstellar space travelers. What are they?

The author develops political intrigues and struggles fairly well, in fact, too well, as this takes up almost all of the action. If you remove this portion of the plot, you find that the story was pretty well covered by Isaac Asimov's The Gods Themselves Not enough to make me care about the new characters and the setting. The author should polish up his development skills and find a new plot --he can write well enough to do something a lot better than this.

I love McDevitt. I have everything he's written. Each time I see he has a new book coming out I jump for joy, especially one of his "Hutch" novels. The same happened with Odyssey. However, I was a bit disappointed. It did not hold me like Chindi, Omega, Seeker, and Polaris did. It was more predictable, perhaps because I am becoming familiar with the author's styles. Never-the-less, while being a good read, it was not a great read. The Moonriders just never grabbed me. Perhaps their ultimate mystery was their undoing for me. We are left knowing pretty much nothing about them. Maybe Jack is saving that for a future novel. If so, you can skip this one and wait for the sequel perhaps.
C'mon, Jack, kick it up a notch again.

About 350 pages too long. Slow, plodding, laborious, and in the end goes nowhere. I really hate wasting my time and money on short stories grossly inflated simply to make more money. McDevitt never really gives you much of any 'meat' in his perenially empty universe; just nibbles and bites of ancient civilizations and advanced aliens. But this book just gives you nothing at all! Old Jack must really have no respect for his readership. I slugged my way through his other books hoping against hope that something would come of all the thousands of pages of prose but I'm left feeling used. I'll never read another of his books again. Life is simply too short.

The book started out very promising, then turned into a major disappointment. McDevitt's knowledge of astrophysics and planetary science is excellent, and he weaves it into the story without "professorial stance" many hard SF writers adopt. That was the promising part. The disappointment is that various storylines and subplots are either left unsolved, or do not follow the logical conclusion.

Early in the book an FTL starship suffers an accident, which very blatantly tells everyone involved that the known (in the story) physics of FTL is incorrect, or at least incomplete. Its shock value should be about what would happen today if an old, reliable, commonplace airliner took off, spent an hour in flight with all instruments showing normal, then turned out to have hovered in place the entire hour. Yet nothing is ever made of that, or followed up on. The subplot serves no purpose except an excuse for some Congressional witch hunt - and ever that produces no consequences.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Major part of the plot is a mystery of alien sightings which turns out to be a hoax, yet real aliens show up at about the same time. Given the level of paranoid distrust in the society portrayed, many people should be convinced the real aliens are just part of the hoax - yet no one is. No one in power, and not even one of tabloids or talk shows, liberally quoted throughout the book (to provide general society mood, I assume).

A subplot involving a criminal assault trial runs through the book, and contributes nothing to the plot. As fas as I can tell, its only purpose it to keep one major character away from his love interest while she does something tragic. And one other subplot deepens the hoax mystery yet turns out to be nothing but a HUGE (as in 4 kilometers) and unlikely in the extreme coincidence. Again, no follow-up even though an awful lot of people would simply refuse to believe in coincidences on such scale.

I have never liked the Hutch series as much as the Chase Kolpath books (Talent for War, Polaris, Seeker), so I'm biased, but I just don't like this version of the universe...it's more of what we have, only with aliens. It doesn't seem as interesting, or possibly it's just that there are no real mysteries to solve as in the Chase books. The difficulties just seem like normal problems that some people want to solve and some don't. Added to which, I can't like MacAllister. And in this book, Hutch is no longer interesting. Mostly, I think it's that the characters are no longer telling the story. It's more like McDevitt is preaching his version of "what's wrong with the world" via flat characters. Boring, and almost insulting. I'd read Chindi again, but not this one.