Odyssey, Jack McDevitt
Reading McDevitt is something akin to going to a favorite restaurant. You won’t really be surprised, since you know both the menu and the kitchen well, but you’re always leaving with a satisfied grin. “Odyssey” is no different. We’re getting book five in the Hutch series and we’re getting a well-set universe. In a sense it’s like meeting old friends again and I’m quite surprised in that I find myself still enjoying their company. But, well, I do.
McDevitt never was, and never will be, a Gaiman. You’ll never read his stories and marvel at the language itself. It never stands out on its own but dissipates into the background like a light mist. This leaves the entire weight on his work on the stories told, it’s people and it’s implications. And, to be perfectly honest, this is exactly what makes his works enjoyable.
“Odyssey” in particular draws on “The Engines of God”. You’ve got a lot of the same suspense that leaves everything hanging in the balance and your point of view takes you just deep enough into the people involved to keep you guessing. At the same time it leaves many doors open and keeps you faithfully turning pages. “The Engines of God” is one of my favorite books by McDevitt, so it’ll be no surprise that I find “Odyssey” to be good story telling.
There are questions raised that never quite leave humanity. Who do you trust? Why? When? To what limits? Choices are made, faith is challenged. In the end we’re left with a bit of a void, as good and bad may be valid qualifiers for individual acts, but the individuals performing both ends of the specter leave you hanging. McDevitt lets Gregory MacAllister presents it as such:
There is no justice. There are occasional acts of vengeance, or regret, but there’s no real justice. In the natural scheme of things, it is not possible.
Let me also point out that McDevitt does something else well. He knows to quit while ahead. Yes, I’m saying this about someone who’s written six (“Cauldron” has been released as of the writing of this entry) books set in the same universe, but their average length is around the 400 page mark. They’re self-confined and pretty darn readable each and every one of them. Add another hundred pages and this might not be the case.