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Title: Deepsix |
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Review of Deepsix
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...
Product Description
- 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
Amazon.com
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Comments for Deepsix
- Posted on 2007-09-24
Not Free SF Reader
This is another Priscilla Hutchins novel. She had previously discovered the existence of the Monument Makers and a probably location for their homeworld.
This is more of a rescue mission book, as an orginal Deepsix mission gets into trouble with dangerous alien lifeforms, and then again, when Hutchins is involved another pull out is needed.
The planet is of interest because of signs of past life that had not been noticed before.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2007-08-26
Continuing the story of Hutch and the search for an understanding of the Omega Clouds
Though not quite as good as its predecessor, *Engines of God*, *Deepsix* continues the exploits of Superluminal pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins as she is diverted to the planet Deepsix, which is weeks away from being swallowed whole by a gas giant on a collision course. With a Gore Vidal-like passenger in Gregory MacCallister unwillingly in tow, Hutch must meet with a science team to help them solve the recently discovered mystery of Deepsix's dead advanced civilization before the clues are lost forever.
Twenty years earlier, a science party was mostly slaughtered by hostile life on the planet, and the only available scientist nearby to lead this new expedition is the disgraced commander of the first, lost expedition. To make matters worse for the party, oil and water collide as the commander holds a grudge against MacCallister for lambasting him publicly after the loss of the first crew.
The adventure really heats up though when a tidal earthquake caused by the impending destruction of the planet tears the ground asunder and the party's lander is lost. With time running out and helpless sightseers in the system to witness the planet's demise, the team must trek across a dying planet to find a lost lander from the first expedition and hope that it will provide them a way off in time.
But, this book is not all adventure, as we get a dose of McDevitt's intellectual science fiction as we also have opportunity to learn a little more about the Monument-Makers and Omega Clouds introduced in the first book set in this universe.
>>>>>>><<<<<<<
A Guide to my Book Rating System:
1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2007-08-20
Riveting hard sci-fi/outdoor survival/archaeology tale
In the second novel in Jack McDevitt's Academy series, Prisilla Hutchins (Hutch) is back. Twenty years after the discovery of the home world of the Monument Builders in `The Engines of God', Hutch is sent to Maleiva III to perform a quick archaeological survey of the planet before it is destroyed by a collision with a gas giant. Remnants of an now vanished civilization are discovered there, and Hutch and her friends must find out as much as they can about them as quickly as possible. They have only three weeks to perform the survey before the planet and all traces of the indigenious civilization are destroyed. Things get real interesting when Hutch's ride off the planet is destroyed . . .
I'm surprised at the wide range of Amazon reviews for this novel. A few liked it, many thought it was a middlin' work, and a few hated it. I was absolutely riveted by this and read the entire book in two days, I couldn't put it down. I found the story to be compelling, the characters well developed, and much of the science plausible. This story is partly hard sci-fi, partly outdoor survival on an alien world, and partly an archaeological dig. The mystery of the natives is slowly revealed as Hutch and her stranded companions search for a way off the planet. This is much better than `The Engines of God' in my view. The interplay between the characters is more complex, and the characters themselves are better developed. There are a few places in the plot where things are just too coincidental, but this is a minor complaint. An engaging read, and one of the best in the hard sci-fi genre of the last decade that I've read.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-07-31
Unengaging, Poor character development, Unsatisfying
This is one of the worst science fiction books I've ever finished. Because I finished it, I'm giving it a second star. But really, the characters are boring, the story is boring, the writing is horribly boring, and the ONLY thing worth reading this book for, answers to the questions about life on the planet, becomes a letdown at best. Points that I hated:
1. The characterization, if you want to call it that, of Macallister. Honestly, ALL of the characters in this book are incredibly, and shallowly, drawn. The "transformation" of Mac was laughably grade school. High school writers could manage to write something less sophomoric.
2. The parallel story in space was INCREDIBLY boring. It drug on forever. Zillions of characters were introduced that meant nothing to me. I began quickly scanning those pages about 2/3 of the way through. I should have began the book doing that.
3. The journey across the planet surface was tedious and boring and repetitive. And repetitive.
Honestly, I could name many more things. But the book isn't worth any more of my time reviewing it here. Stay away from this one.
I will say this -- I loaned two of Mcdevitt's books from the library, and the second book (Polaris) seems more engaging, so far (I'm about 50 pages in). The writing seems better, at least. Not sure about the storyline yet.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2006-12-24
Confusing
I received this book recently as a present and sat down and read it. The only reason why I completed the book was because the basic story line was excellent. I was thirsty to find out about the history of the planet that seemed to be unfolding. The discovery was being made by a group of people who were stranded on this planet, Deepsix, soon to be destroyed by a gas giant. Many spaceship were close by to see the event of the planet being pulled apart by this gas giant, but weeks before the event it was found that the planet had a historical past. McDevitt established a story that was interesting, but kept going in and out of it, like he was on medication. Two stories unfolded, one of, which was the discovery of a civilization that was three thousand years old, and another, which was distracting. The other was the creation of a device to save the group from death. In the end, the discovery of the civilization was incomplete, the rescue was totally confusing, and the lack of establishment of all the characters drove me crazy. Thank God there was a glass of water nearby to quench my thirst. It sure was not this book.
Score: 1