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carriethis's review
3.0
Not his best. But McDevitt is McDevitt and I revel in sci fi with character driven story. You go, Jack. Even when you phone it in, I still enjoy the call.
twstdtink's review
3.0
One of the main complaints about McDevitt is that he drags a story out. Generally, this doesn't bother me, as long as the content is good/interesting. But, this book took a REALLY long time to get to the point, making the end rather anticlimactic.
Still, it was a good read. I always enjoy his clever play on religion and morality. The scientific jargon seems legit. What would I know, though? Lol. Space is infinitely fascinating and I always enjoy reading what McDevitt paints in that open space.
Still, it was a good read. I always enjoy his clever play on religion and morality. The scientific jargon seems legit. What would I know, though? Lol. Space is infinitely fascinating and I always enjoy reading what McDevitt paints in that open space.
fxp's review
2.0
I got to page 50 and then gave up. I was intrigued by Stephen King's endorsement of the book but couldn't relate to the slow narrative style.
upbeatmetaphor's review
5.0
Everything you'd expect from Jack McDevitt, with the usual warm cast of believable and emotive characters. Occasional confusion over who was exactly where with who, and it feels a little random to suddenly include a new narrative concept three books into a series.
[Hi! It's 2020 and honestly I don't have a clue what I meant by a "new narrative concept" nor why that would be a bad thing to introduce into a new series, particularly when you look at the book-on-book escalation I enjoy in the work of someone like Jeff Somers. Bye!]
Nick
xx
[Hi! It's 2020 and honestly I don't have a clue what I meant by a "new narrative concept" nor why that would be a bad thing to introduce into a new series, particularly when you look at the book-on-book escalation I enjoy in the work of someone like Jeff Somers. Bye!]
Nick
xx
mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
Powells Beaverton SF group selection for January 2012. Part 4 of a 5 part series. Pretty good space based sf. First Contact, Prime Directive, Invisibility Cloaks - all handled pretty well and actually adding to the story. And a contrived but interesting alien race. A pretty reasonable description of learning an alien language. A good solid read - though not particularly high-brow - kind of what I expect from a McDevitt book.
majkia's review
5.0
I sooo enjoy this series. Lots of science, lots of action, intelligent and daring characters, and well written.
ncrabb's review
3.0
Interested in some science fiction that features a killer cloud, a race against time, an almost-human alien race, and a romance that is both sweet and memorable? This fourth book in McDevitt’s Academy series may be exactly what you’re hoping for. It’s pretty important that you read the first three books in the series though.
An Omega cloud appears to be inexorably headed for earth. Granted, it won’t arrive for a thousand years, and the politicians are eager to kick the can down the road. But Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins is certain that putting off finding a solution is a terrible idea. Once a memorable character in earlier books in the series and a pilot who figured high in the series, Hutch has now become a bureaucrat, and that’s an unfortunate drawback to the book.
Scientists at the Academy nervously watch the killer comet draw closer to Earth. The clouds aren’t simply nonliving collections of materials. They appear to be able to focus on civilizations with technology, and they have a frightening record of destroying every technically advanced civilization they encounter.
One of these clouds seems to have discovered a humanoid civilization on a world light years from Earth. The civilization has pre-industrial-revolution technology, but that’s enough to draw attention to the killer cloud. Academy members like Priscilla Hutchins realize that studying this cloud and perhaps figuring out how to distract it from its mission to destroy the almost-human civilization will help as a similar cloud draws near to Earth in coming centuries.
But the cloud draws closer to its target, and the unsuspecting humanoids have only days to live. Scientists must find a way to rescue the humanoids without violating the protocol not to interfere with the civilization.
It turns out that convincing the humanoids to move to higher ground in order to save themselves just can’t be done without interfering in their civilization, and it’s up to Digby “Digger” Dunn and his wife, Kellie, to both find a way to contact a civilization that is petrified of humans and help its members survive. Other members of the academy are engaged in diverting the cloud if at all possible.
This book mostly gets kicked to the curb by sci-fi readers on Goodreads. I guess I’m a bit more forgiving than the average thoughtful science-fiction reader. Granted, the book moved slowly in places, but the romance between Digger and Kellie is sweet and kind of charming. After all, how easy can it be to engage in sexual experiences while cloaked in invisibility light-bending technology. Additionally, McDevitt creates female characters who are always interesting, often enigmatic, and worth the time you invest in getting to know them.
The world building the author does is excellent and memorable. The humanoid aliens to which he introduces readers of this series in book four are a fascinating lot, and you ultimately feel to congratulate Kellie and Digger for finding a way to communicate with them in as unobtrusive a manner as possible.
An Omega cloud appears to be inexorably headed for earth. Granted, it won’t arrive for a thousand years, and the politicians are eager to kick the can down the road. But Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins is certain that putting off finding a solution is a terrible idea. Once a memorable character in earlier books in the series and a pilot who figured high in the series, Hutch has now become a bureaucrat, and that’s an unfortunate drawback to the book.
Scientists at the Academy nervously watch the killer comet draw closer to Earth. The clouds aren’t simply nonliving collections of materials. They appear to be able to focus on civilizations with technology, and they have a frightening record of destroying every technically advanced civilization they encounter.
One of these clouds seems to have discovered a humanoid civilization on a world light years from Earth. The civilization has pre-industrial-revolution technology, but that’s enough to draw attention to the killer cloud. Academy members like Priscilla Hutchins realize that studying this cloud and perhaps figuring out how to distract it from its mission to destroy the almost-human civilization will help as a similar cloud draws near to Earth in coming centuries.
But the cloud draws closer to its target, and the unsuspecting humanoids have only days to live. Scientists must find a way to rescue the humanoids without violating the protocol not to interfere with the civilization.
It turns out that convincing the humanoids to move to higher ground in order to save themselves just can’t be done without interfering in their civilization, and it’s up to Digby “Digger” Dunn and his wife, Kellie, to both find a way to contact a civilization that is petrified of humans and help its members survive. Other members of the academy are engaged in diverting the cloud if at all possible.
This book mostly gets kicked to the curb by sci-fi readers on Goodreads. I guess I’m a bit more forgiving than the average thoughtful science-fiction reader. Granted, the book moved slowly in places, but the romance between Digger and Kellie is sweet and kind of charming. After all, how easy can it be to engage in sexual experiences while cloaked in invisibility light-bending technology. Additionally, McDevitt creates female characters who are always interesting, often enigmatic, and worth the time you invest in getting to know them.
The world building the author does is excellent and memorable. The humanoid aliens to which he introduces readers of this series in book four are a fascinating lot, and you ultimately feel to congratulate Kellie and Digger for finding a way to communicate with them in as unobtrusive a manner as possible.
squirrelfish's review
4.0
Riveting, interesting, technical and world building. I like that you don't know how McDevitt's books will turn out and can't even predict the climax some of the time.
empheliath's review
3.0
Basically a "disaster movie" type book, except the disaster is happening to another lower tech civilization, and we from Earth on on the rescue. Good fun science fiction, which is what I like out of my Jack McDevitt.
jpv0's review
4.0
Omega continues on in much the same vein as the previous Academy books. Science fiction in a universe where life is remarkably rare and civilization even more so. This time though... we've found someone.
The Omegas (clouds coming in 8000 year waves from the center of the galaxy which have a tendency to seek out and destroy right angles) return in the book, pointing directly to a new civilization. It's thousands of light years away, so there are only a limited number of ships that can possibly get there in time.
Hutch takes more of a backseat role this time, opening the stage to a few new characters. And just when I was finally getting to know her too. I like the new characters well enough and the death toll is at least lower this time. We'll see if they stick around in the next two books.
Overall, despite an entire civilization at stake, this book someone doesn't quite get as intense as those before it. Perhaps just because I've now read five of these in a row, but I can see from the outset which solutions are going to fail, which will partially succeed, and how they're finally going to save the day. It's not a problem per say, but it's getting there.
Final oddity (and this might have had some impact on the previous paragraph): I've actually read this book before. I'm fairly impressed that I managed to pick up and read the fourth in a series without realizing it (even if this is one series where that's not necessarily a problem) and that I didn't notice I was rereading until about 20% of the way into the book. It must have been pre-GoodReads that I last read it. Amusing.
The Omegas (clouds coming in 8000 year waves from the center of the galaxy which have a tendency to seek out and destroy right angles) return in the book, pointing directly to a new civilization. It's thousands of light years away, so there are only a limited number of ships that can possibly get there in time.
Hutch takes more of a backseat role this time, opening the stage to a few new characters. And just when I was finally getting to know her too. I like the new characters well enough and the death toll is at least lower this time. We'll see if they stick around in the next two books.
Overall, despite an entire civilization at stake, this book someone doesn't quite get as intense as those before it. Perhaps just because I've now read five of these in a row, but I can see from the outset which solutions are going to fail, which will partially succeed, and how they're finally going to save the day. It's not a problem per say, but it's getting there.
Final oddity (and this might have had some impact on the previous paragraph): I've actually read this book before. I'm fairly impressed that I managed to pick up and read the fourth in a series without realizing it (even if this is one series where that's not necessarily a problem) and that I didn't notice I was rereading until about 20% of the way into the book. It must have been pre-GoodReads that I last read it. Amusing.