Sunday, September 05, 2004
Chindi by Jack McDevitt
Chindi is a scifi thriller. A ship stumbled upon a message being transmitted from an invisible thing. Research shows that the message is being relayed but from where and to whom? Priscilla Hutchins is handpicked to Captain a vehicle to trace the messages and perhaps find sentient aliens. When the chindi is found, the seekers are baffled by its cargo. Who gathered these things and why?
This novel is fast paced and exciting. One after the other there are exciting and horrifying discoveries. Mistakes are made. Things that look harmless turn out to be deadly. There are cool math problems that I couldn't begin to solve but I felt a certain satisfaction when the scientists or AI's worked the problems of acceleration, fuel, etc.
Most of the characters feel substantial (Nick seemed a little thin to me) and even central characters are at risk so that until the last page my throat was clenched.
Have I said before that I know very few people who read science fiction or even fantasy? Well, I know very few, few men and even fewer women. I cannot think of anyone I know who would be interested in Chindi so I will throw my recommendation into the web and hope that it reaches someone.
This novel is fast paced and exciting. One after the other there are exciting and horrifying discoveries. Mistakes are made. Things that look harmless turn out to be deadly. There are cool math problems that I couldn't begin to solve but I felt a certain satisfaction when the scientists or AI's worked the problems of acceleration, fuel, etc.
Most of the characters feel substantial (Nick seemed a little thin to me) and even central characters are at risk so that until the last page my throat was clenched.
Have I said before that I know very few people who read science fiction or even fantasy? Well, I know very few, few men and even fewer women. I cannot think of anyone I know who would be interested in Chindi so I will throw my recommendation into the web and hope that it reaches someone.
# posted by JJ @ 7:16 PM 
