Re: Happy belated 90th, Jack McDevitt!

Default User wrote:

Lynn McGuire wrote:
 
 

And the book is out already in 2023: "Village in the Sky (9) (An
Alex Benedict Novel)":

 
That wasn't a strong one in my estimation. He needed to split that
apart, and either be about running across an alien civilization, or
about the (different) aliens coming to visit. As it was, both were
really rushed at the end. Especially the latter, which was kind of,
"Well, this was fun, Bye-ee!"

I located my old review, and rather than a GG link, I will just paste
it again for everyone edification and amusement:



Recently read: Village in the Sky by Jack McDevitt
May 9, 2023, 2:15:32 AM


This is the latest in the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath adventures taking
place in America in Space. I was a bit surprised when this popped up in
the library's ebooks, as I wasn't sure there ever be any more.

Anyway, the "Visitation Project" has been scouting for alien
civilizations, because we're kind of lonely with just billions of
humans on a bunch of planets. Oh, and the Ashiyyur AKA The Mutes, that
we almost went to war with. But those guys are pretty weird, what with
the telepathy instead of talking and us not being able to lie to them
and all, so nobody likes them much.

Then huzzah, the VP has found a world with aliens! Well, a few. Like
one little town. But hey, green-skinned aliens hanging out on the
porches. They head on back home, in spite of several of the crew
wanting to immediately violate the no-contact mandate law and go try to
talk to them. Not to worry, they'd planned to bring weapons!

So a new bigger expedition is formed, along with a news guy, and they
head back for a better look. Except, there's no town! Hmmm. Well,
that's a bummer. They do find a satellite in orbit now, so they snag
that. They poke around a bit on the planet, but don't find anything but
a creepy feeling like someone's looking at them.

Meanwhile, the folks back on Rimway get a message. "Hey there, we're
some aliens, coming for a visit!" Huh. Do they have anything to do with
the other aliens? Nope, just a coinky-dink. In fact, these aliens kind
of look like spiders. But they're bringing some books, and they'd like
to get some in return.

So interest in the green alien expedition plummets and the project crew
mopes back, bringing the satellite.

After the new aliens arrive, swap books, get some tee-shirts at the
gift show, and high-five all around, they head back home. "We'll
probably be back!" Everybody decides that the first alien business is
of no interest, so let's all just drop that investigation. And in fact
nobody is allowed to go there or even know where the place is.

However, Alex decides they might find some artifacts that they can
sell, because that what he does. Eventually the pilot from the first
expedition, Robbie Jo, decides to show them where it is anyway, so off
they go to investigate. What will they find? Were there really aliens
there? If so, where did they go?


In general, I have enjoyed this series. It's always had some troubling
aspects, and this book seems to have doubled-down on some of them.

1. The setting has the problem that any of us could be scooped up and
dumped on Rimway 9000 years or whatever in the future, and need about a
30 minute orientation to feel right at home. I wasn't kidding about
America in Space. Like Chase finishes up her volleyball game and heads
over to her boyfriend's classic bookstore. Go to a restaurant and have
spaghetti and meatballs, or chicken strips with honey-mustard.

2. This book was almost ridiculously padded. There were so many
pointless scenes, especially in the early going. That includes, on the
way to investigate, Alex and crew deciding to stop off for a beach
vacation.

3. The pacing was not great. It took over half the book for Alex and
Chase to launch their journey. By the time the real events get going,
all that has to be packed into the last third or so, with some lucky
events to make it even plausible that they accomplished anything.

4. What was the point of the spider aliens? Other than eating up a
bunch of book space. I guess it was supposed to make the decision to
drop the other investigation plausible, but it didn't make sense to me.

I assume there's supposed to a follow-up book, otherwise we have quite
a few hanging chads here. Still, if you like the series, you'll
probably want to read it. If you aren't familiar with it, don't start
here.


Brian