The Engines of God
Two hundred years ago, humans made a stunning discovery in the far reaches of the solar system a huge statue of an alien creature, with an inscription that defied all efforts at translation Now, as faster than light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument Makers each different, and each heartbreakingly beautiful But except for a set of footprints on Jupiter s moon Iapetus, there is no trace of the enigmatic race that has left them behind Then a team of scientists working on a dead world discover an ominous new image of the Monument Makers Somehow it all fits with other lost civilizations, and possibly with Earth s own future And distant past But Earth itself is on the brink of ecological disaster there is no time to search for answers Even to a question that may hold the key to survival for the entire human race Free Read [ The Engines of God ] By [ Jack McDevitt ] – kino-fada.fr McDevitt s first Priscilla Hutchins novel is a sturdy, nicely paced archeological mystery Scattered throughout the galaxy are alien relics left behind by beings known only as the Monument Makers, and the secret of their origin may herald a terrifying future disaster for mankind.Personal relationships are not McDevitt s forte, as his clumsy handling of Priscilla s romantic life can attest Thankfully, the search for the Monument Makers is a fascinating one, and the outcome offers sufficient spec McDevitt s first Priscilla Hutchins novel is a sturdy, nicely paced archeological mystery Scattered throughout the galaxy are alien relics left behind by beings known only as the Monument Makers, and the secret of their origin may herald a terrifying future disaster for mankind.Personal relationships are not McDevitt s forte, as his clumsy handling of Priscilla s romantic li...This is a hard science fiction novel, with a well defined plot and set of characters The best thing this book has going for it, is its focus on archaeology, and the deciphering of clues from ancient alien artifacts The entire story is a mystery, and even by the end of the book the puzzle is only partially solved This, of course, allows the author to extend the story into sequels So, this is the...Xenoarchaeology On a grand scale McDevitt really does a fantastic job with vast worldbuilding and mystery when it comes to dead alien races, exploration, and working through the questions.I m particularly fond of all the expeditions None of them are nuts but quite plausible and dangerous and deadly And not everyone comes back from them The realism is very nice.Fortunately, however, this and the plotting and the focus on discovery is usually good enough to carry the tale over the characters Xenoarchaeology On a grand scale McDevitt really does a fantastic job with vast worldbuilding and mystery when it comes to dead alien races, exploration, and working through the questions.I m particularly fond of all the expeditions None of them are nuts but quite plausible and dangerous and deadly And not everyone comes back from them The realism is very nice.Fortunately, however, this and the plotting and the focus on discovery is usually good enough to carry the tale over the characters The chara...Archaeology in space Archaeology in space Yup, that topic never fails to get me excited in my very nerdy defence, that s what I got my BA in, and while I ended up working in a completely different field, I never lost my enthusiasm for it So if you tell me there s a book about archaeologists in space, and you sprinkle some mystery about the lost alien civilization being studied, you check a lot of my give this book to me now boxes.Set in the not so distant future 2202 , The Engines of Go Archaeology in space Archaeology in space Yup, that topic never fails to get me excited in my very nerdy defence, that s what I got my BA in, and while I ended up working in a completely different field, I never lost my enthusiasm for it So if you tell me there s a book about archaeologists in space, and you sprinkle some mystery about the lost alien civilization being studied, you check a lot of my give this book to me now boxes.Set in the not so distant future 2202 , The Engines of God opens with the kind of enigma nerds like me salivate all over humanity has started to explore space, and has discovered, scattered around a few planets and moons, statues and monuments left behind by a now probably extinct alien species While each of those structures is different, and inscribed with a unique form of language, they are all believed to be the product of the same civilization An ...Rating 2.5 starsIs there a requirement that a hard SF author can t write believable characters or dialog to save their life Or, rather, considering the general level of education and IQ among that crowd, is it a conspiracy so that they can chortle over the nearly inevitable comment in any review of their books about the simplistic characters and amateurish dialog Well, no matter I picked up a copy of The Engines of God at a library booksale for 50 cents so I can t complain too vociferously Rating 2.5 starsIs there a requirement that a hard SF author can t write believable characters or dialog to save their life Or, rather, considering the general level of education and IQ among that crowd, is it a conspirac...I asked for recommendations for good sci fi and this was on the list I can t say I agree.Partly it s the setting two hundred years in the future, but that odd sort of future which is just like 1995 with a couple of future y things added The telephones have video and there are faxes, but now they go faster than light Are there really science minded writers w...Quite a cool book, and it s only just the beginning of a series I am excited to read It s an interstellar archaeological mystery, but also a futuristic procedural novel following the working lives of archaeologists, scientists, and auxillary crewmembers I love this kind of thing see also Julie Czerneda s Species Imperative trilogy, which follows future biologists through their working lives The future McDevitt invents for humanity feels rather realistic, with tons of problems still existing Quite a cool book, and it s only just the beginning of a series I am excited to read It s an interstellar archaeological mystery, but also a futuristic procedural novel following the working lives of archaeologists, scientists, and auxillary crewmembers I love this kind of thing see also Julie Czerneda s Species Imperative ...This one is frustratingFirst of all.i hate it when when a male writer tries to decipher the female psyche.how would she translate the subtle hints and looks and touchs.unless he took it to street and made an a extensive survey.I won t buy it ,and I don t like itAnd that is mainly why I don t like female lead Written by maleSecondly.some assholes out there finds ok to summarize the fate of the entire cast of the book in half a page.to show us that in the grand scheme of things.all what you hav This one is frustratingFirst of all.i hate it when when a male writer tries to decipher the female psyche.how would she translate the subtle hints and looks and touchs.unless he took it to street and made an a extensive ...What bugs me about this book is that I read the sequel, Deepsix, first That pretty much kills the mystery that unfolds in this book McDevitt s greatest skill is his ability to weave a mystery into an action novel The characters aren t stock, but they aren t outstanding either the main character developsin later books , and the point is really to experience alien cultures and try to work out what happened to the ones that disappeared or died out This isn t just space adventure, it s ar What bugs me about this book is that I read the sequel, Deepsix, first That pretty much kills the mystery that unfolds in this book McDevitt s greatest skill is his ability to weave a mystery into an action novel The characters aren t stock, but they aren t outstanding either the main character developsin later books , and the point is really to experience alien cultures and try to work out what happened to the ones that disappeared or died out This isn t just space adventure, it s arc...Reread for the first time since God knows when Very impressive book, better than I recalled This was the first of the Academy series, and introduced Priscilla Hutchins, starship pilot, who loses two beaux in this book, one to a gruesome but valorous battle with alien fauna.ENGINES gets mixed reviews, here and elsewhere I liked it a lot I m going to borrow a bit from Russ Albery s review of CHINDI Academy 3 One of the tricks that McDevitt uses to great effect is to break the reader s e Reread for the first time since God knows when Very impressive book, better than I recalled This was the first of the Academy series, and introduced Priscilla Hutchins, starship pilot, who loses two beaux in this book, one to a gruesome but valorous battle with alien fauna.ENGINES gets mixed reviews, here and elsewhere I liked it a lot I m going to borrow a bit from Russ Albery s review of CHINDI Academy 3 One of the tricks that McDevitt uses to great effect is to break the reader s expectations around pacing Most novels have a predictable tension structure, where suspense builds up to discovery that s always significant McDevitt s books sometimes feel slow paced to start with, partly since he doesn t always follow this structure Instead, his suspense sometimes leads to nothing, and the timings of discoveries can be ...
- English
- 18 December 2018 Jack McDevitt
- Mass Market Paperback
- 419 pages
- 0441002846
- Jack McDevitt
- The Engines of God