jkusters's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a long time fan of Jack McDevitt's. I've been reading his work since his first novel, The Hercules Text back in the late 80's. I just finished Thunderbird, a recent work, and I was sincerely disappointed.
This novel is a followup to his novel, Ancient Shores, which was published in 1996. I quite enjoyed Ancient Shores, a combination of xenoarcheology mystery story and thriller, pitting scientists up against the overwhelming odds of the federal government, with science winning the day.
Thunderbird does not live up the the legacy of its predecessor. While the pacing in Ancient Shores was a race down an ever-steepening hill till you finally reached the bottom, the pacing in Thunderbird was uniformly flat. It was never really boring, but it never really got exciting. Instead of a pace that increased the closer you got to the climax of the story, it was a story that moved steadily forward at a constant pace. Because I was reading it via my iPad, I didn't even realize I was getting close to the end of the book until I looked down and realized I had less than twenty pages to go. This was disappointing because one thing I came to love about McDevitt's writing in the 90's and early 2000's was his mastery of pacing.
On top of that, the ending was perplexing, disappointing, and abrupt. Here there be spoilers:
This is the third book of McDevitt's recent releases that I've been rather disappointed by. I hope that this is a temporary lull in the author's skill in writing exciting, engaging, and satisfying books, and that in the near future, I'll look forward to his name appearing on the shelf on a new work. But with the current trend, I'll probably be a lot less inclined to pick up his next novel.
This novel is a followup to his novel, Ancient Shores, which was published in 1996. I quite enjoyed Ancient Shores, a combination of xenoarcheology mystery story and thriller, pitting scientists up against the overwhelming odds of the federal government, with science winning the day.
Thunderbird does not live up the the legacy of its predecessor. While the pacing in Ancient Shores was a race down an ever-steepening hill till you finally reached the bottom, the pacing in Thunderbird was uniformly flat. It was never really boring, but it never really got exciting. Instead of a pace that increased the closer you got to the climax of the story, it was a story that moved steadily forward at a constant pace. Because I was reading it via my iPad, I didn't even realize I was getting close to the end of the book until I looked down and realized I had less than twenty pages to go. This was disappointing because one thing I came to love about McDevitt's writing in the 90's and early 2000's was his mastery of pacing.
On top of that, the ending was perplexing, disappointing, and abrupt. Here there be spoilers:
Spoiler
The book takes us to so many interesting places, and introduces us to many, many enigmas. We meet three different alien races, start building relationships with one of them to the point where we were exchanging books and cultural artifacts, find alien worlds, and even a future version of Earth. All of these situations hold the promise of interesting discoveries and conflict, and we just barely start scratching the surface of many of them. And then, out of the blue, Chairman Walker decides to pull out the metaphorical spark plugs and dump them into the depths of Lake Michigan. No discussion, no desperate pitch to save the day, and absolutely no closure for any of the intriguing possibilities that had been brought up. It made no sense to end the book this abruptly, and with so little sense of drama. I get that the chairman was scared out of his wits, but and this was an easy way to end the book, but it really didn't give me much satisfaction.This is the third book of McDevitt's recent releases that I've been rather disappointed by. I hope that this is a temporary lull in the author's skill in writing exciting, engaging, and satisfying books, and that in the near future, I'll look forward to his name appearing on the shelf on a new work. But with the current trend, I'll probably be a lot less inclined to pick up his next novel.
keross72's review against another edition
2.0
Woosh. I normally like jack Mcdevitt, but i wasn't a fan of this one. Not interested in the series.
mohawkmary's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the descriptions of the other stations and thought he could have elaborated on them quite a bit more. Towards the end of the book there becomes a lot of momentum in the storyline that was disappointingly cut short. I feel like they could have continued for even another book.
aphelia88's review against another edition
This was my first McDevitt and unfortunately - due to it not being mentioned anywhere in the cover copy - I didn't realize this was a sequel (to [b:Ancient Shores|535315|Ancient Shores|Jack McDevitt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348140360l/535315._SY75_.jpg|1270270]).
DNF around halfway mark. I loved the idea of the Stargate - which leads to three different seemingly abandoned worlds - but the focus wasn't on the technology, it was on the politics of different factions - the natives who own the land, the US government, scientists, journalists, fringe groups - who want to either use it or destroy it.
Also, I don't think it's very plausible that they'd send journalists and any friends who have an in through first, before the scientists go there? Or that exploration groups would be unarmed and not to a tight timeline? The writing is very choppy and terse.
DNF around halfway mark. I loved the idea of the Stargate - which leads to three different seemingly abandoned worlds - but the focus wasn't on the technology, it was on the politics of different factions - the natives who own the land, the US government, scientists, journalists, fringe groups - who want to either use it or destroy it.
Also, I don't think it's very plausible that they'd send journalists and any friends who have an in through first, before the scientists go there? Or that exploration groups would be unarmed and not to a tight timeline? The writing is very choppy and terse.
jamesx's review
2.0
I like Jack McDevitt, I really do. I've read most of his novels and enjoyed them, but this one was really pretty bad. Wooden characters with shallow motivations and an almost non existent plot combined with groan inducing dialog, this book was near unreadable. The only reason it gets 2 stars is that I really like the stargate science fiction trope.
jgolomb's review
4.0
Originally posted at fantasyliterature.com
When we last left Jack McDevitt’s North Dakota in 1996’s Ancient Shores, the U.S. Government had failed miserably and embarrassingly to wrest control of an alien stargate from the Spirit Lake Sioux, rightful owners of the land on which the alien artifact was found. Thunderbird, a sequel Ancient Shores, picks up several months after the showdown, which also saw fictional poet Walter Asquith shot dead.
The world of Grand Forks, North Dakota, with its brutal winters and routine working days, had been replaced by a cosmos that was suddenly accessible.
The story in McDevitt’s Ancient Shores orbits the discovery of seemingly alien artifacts – a futuristic sailboat buried deep within the plains of North Dakota, a stargate transports explorers across vast distances to an Eden-like world, a malfunctioning space station, and a maze; a telepathic ghost-like being followed some of those explorers back to North America. But none of those mysteries were explained. McDevitt left us semi-satisfied with the ending in Shores, but he sure did leave a lot of story left to tell. McDevitt never explained the reason and motivation behind these discoveries, and almost 20 full years later, fans of the Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel will have a chance at those answers.
Characters are enablers in this world of Jack McDevitt…not in the psychoanalytical way (although I’m sure some are of that ilk as well), but in a literary sense. Characters facilitate the story McDevitt wants to tell, which is not exactly hard scifi, but I’d characterize it as exploratory science fiction. McDevitt’s most interested in poking and probing at a future of world of discovery, how it influences today’s society and what it means to come into contact with something new. And it was the same way in Ancient Shores. Characters exist to further plot, and to advance McDevitt’s thematic notions.
The government was forced to back down after their failed attack and left the reservation and the Roundhouse in the charge of James Walker, Chairman of the Sioux tribe. Walker is left in full care of the Roundhouse and the stargate within it. He plans and coordinates all missions agendas and attendees.
April Cannon returns as the scientist-turned-explorer, leading missions to several of the worlds discovered in Ancient Shores, and a few news ones as well. Brad Hollister, Grand Forks morning radio talk show host is a fringe character in the first book gets more of a spotlight in Thunderbird, and rounds out the characters of note.
Several key narratives drive Thunderbird. The first is the further exploration of the world named “Eden”. The first world discovered by the users of the stargate consists of jungle and beach nestled on the shores of a large lake. On one journey, the scientists come across a man-man bridge. They follow a path that connects to a house, and April has humanity’s first otherworldly sentient contact:
Three wooden steps led up onto the porch. She climbed them and faced the door. It had a lever. She paused and listened. Something was moving around inside. The branches moved in the wind. She knocked. Softly.
The human-alien relationship develops throughout the book, but I fear describing too much further without drifting into ‘spoiler-land’.
The second key plot narrative is one which started in Ancient Shores – the political overtones of the existence of aliens and superior alien technology. The President of the United States, who ultimately approved the disastrous attack on the Sioux site at the end of Ancient Shores, builds his relationship with Chairman Walker and continually pushes for the complete shutdown of the site. He’s worried about alien attack, economic collapse driven by the new technologies, and the unyielding pressure from pretty much everywhere for the government to take over control of the Roundhouse. The President becomes a bit of Walker’s ‘devil-on-his-shoulder’ while continuously in his ear with caution after caution.
The political and economic influences aside, a friend of Walker highlights the cultural impact of the alien discoveries:
I'm not just talking about the potential for invaders. Or the possibility of economic collapse, which I’m sure you’ve thought of. But, as a result of what you find out there we may experience a total cultural shift… Historically, anytime a technology-advanced culture has connected with a relatively primitive one, a lot of things change. Values, for example. Perception. We could encounter an advanced society that laughs at religion. Or whose individuals have IQs at around two hundred. Or who live for centuries.
This exemplifies what McDevitt does well… cover the ground of the issues that surround the discovery while continually teasing us with incremental revelation. The societal issues are always humming in the background, while the scientists continue to plug away at exploring the different worlds: Eden, The Maze, A malfunctioning space station, a high-tech advanced city, and a world beaten down by a blazing sun, barely survivable by the explorers, but inhabited by other beings.
The clues continue to mount but the answer to the key question of where these places are and who provided this technology remain always just out of reach. Tantalizing hints drive Walkers’ internal debate around the Sioux’s opportunity to influence the future with their stewardship of the Roundhouse. The most enticing clue – a flag found, frozen stiff in the deep vacuum of a malfunctioning space station. Emblazoned is the stylized design of a Thunderbird… sky sprit of Sioux legend.
One of the most interesting plot elements also stems from an unfinished plotline of Ancient Shores – the alien ‘ghost’ that crossed over into the Roundhouse from the Maze world. The ‘ghost’ continues to haunt Fort Dixie and the surrounding areas. It seems to pull people’s consciousness out from within. It’s benign and often helpful: A old man falls in the snow in a frigid cold evening and the ‘ghost’ projects an image of the helpless man to a neighbor. A severely mentally handicapped girl has her first moments of full lucidity when in the presence of the being.
The fun of this book is the journey of exploration… McDevitt’s exploration of what the discovery of alien existence means to individuals, and humanity as a whole. His journey takes readers on a fun mystery ride of who these aliens are and what motivation and purpose they had for leaving the Roundhouse. And yes, we do find out who created the technology… and we mostly learn why.
When we last left Jack McDevitt’s North Dakota in 1996’s Ancient Shores, the U.S. Government had failed miserably and embarrassingly to wrest control of an alien stargate from the Spirit Lake Sioux, rightful owners of the land on which the alien artifact was found. Thunderbird, a sequel Ancient Shores, picks up several months after the showdown, which also saw fictional poet Walter Asquith shot dead.
The world of Grand Forks, North Dakota, with its brutal winters and routine working days, had been replaced by a cosmos that was suddenly accessible.
The story in McDevitt’s Ancient Shores orbits the discovery of seemingly alien artifacts – a futuristic sailboat buried deep within the plains of North Dakota, a stargate transports explorers across vast distances to an Eden-like world, a malfunctioning space station, and a maze; a telepathic ghost-like being followed some of those explorers back to North America. But none of those mysteries were explained. McDevitt left us semi-satisfied with the ending in Shores, but he sure did leave a lot of story left to tell. McDevitt never explained the reason and motivation behind these discoveries, and almost 20 full years later, fans of the Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel will have a chance at those answers.
Characters are enablers in this world of Jack McDevitt…not in the psychoanalytical way (although I’m sure some are of that ilk as well), but in a literary sense. Characters facilitate the story McDevitt wants to tell, which is not exactly hard scifi, but I’d characterize it as exploratory science fiction. McDevitt’s most interested in poking and probing at a future of world of discovery, how it influences today’s society and what it means to come into contact with something new. And it was the same way in Ancient Shores. Characters exist to further plot, and to advance McDevitt’s thematic notions.
The government was forced to back down after their failed attack and left the reservation and the Roundhouse in the charge of James Walker, Chairman of the Sioux tribe. Walker is left in full care of the Roundhouse and the stargate within it. He plans and coordinates all missions agendas and attendees.
April Cannon returns as the scientist-turned-explorer, leading missions to several of the worlds discovered in Ancient Shores, and a few news ones as well. Brad Hollister, Grand Forks morning radio talk show host is a fringe character in the first book gets more of a spotlight in Thunderbird, and rounds out the characters of note.
Several key narratives drive Thunderbird. The first is the further exploration of the world named “Eden”. The first world discovered by the users of the stargate consists of jungle and beach nestled on the shores of a large lake. On one journey, the scientists come across a man-man bridge. They follow a path that connects to a house, and April has humanity’s first otherworldly sentient contact:
Three wooden steps led up onto the porch. She climbed them and faced the door. It had a lever. She paused and listened. Something was moving around inside. The branches moved in the wind. She knocked. Softly.
The human-alien relationship develops throughout the book, but I fear describing too much further without drifting into ‘spoiler-land’.
The second key plot narrative is one which started in Ancient Shores – the political overtones of the existence of aliens and superior alien technology. The President of the United States, who ultimately approved the disastrous attack on the Sioux site at the end of Ancient Shores, builds his relationship with Chairman Walker and continually pushes for the complete shutdown of the site. He’s worried about alien attack, economic collapse driven by the new technologies, and the unyielding pressure from pretty much everywhere for the government to take over control of the Roundhouse. The President becomes a bit of Walker’s ‘devil-on-his-shoulder’ while continuously in his ear with caution after caution.
The political and economic influences aside, a friend of Walker highlights the cultural impact of the alien discoveries:
I'm not just talking about the potential for invaders. Or the possibility of economic collapse, which I’m sure you’ve thought of. But, as a result of what you find out there we may experience a total cultural shift… Historically, anytime a technology-advanced culture has connected with a relatively primitive one, a lot of things change. Values, for example. Perception. We could encounter an advanced society that laughs at religion. Or whose individuals have IQs at around two hundred. Or who live for centuries.
This exemplifies what McDevitt does well… cover the ground of the issues that surround the discovery while continually teasing us with incremental revelation. The societal issues are always humming in the background, while the scientists continue to plug away at exploring the different worlds: Eden, The Maze, A malfunctioning space station, a high-tech advanced city, and a world beaten down by a blazing sun, barely survivable by the explorers, but inhabited by other beings.
The clues continue to mount but the answer to the key question of where these places are and who provided this technology remain always just out of reach. Tantalizing hints drive Walkers’ internal debate around the Sioux’s opportunity to influence the future with their stewardship of the Roundhouse. The most enticing clue – a flag found, frozen stiff in the deep vacuum of a malfunctioning space station. Emblazoned is the stylized design of a Thunderbird… sky sprit of Sioux legend.
One of the most interesting plot elements also stems from an unfinished plotline of Ancient Shores – the alien ‘ghost’ that crossed over into the Roundhouse from the Maze world. The ‘ghost’ continues to haunt Fort Dixie and the surrounding areas. It seems to pull people’s consciousness out from within. It’s benign and often helpful: A old man falls in the snow in a frigid cold evening and the ‘ghost’ projects an image of the helpless man to a neighbor. A severely mentally handicapped girl has her first moments of full lucidity when in the presence of the being.
The fun of this book is the journey of exploration… McDevitt’s exploration of what the discovery of alien existence means to individuals, and humanity as a whole. His journey takes readers on a fun mystery ride of who these aliens are and what motivation and purpose they had for leaving the Roundhouse. And yes, we do find out who created the technology… and we mostly learn why.
sheltzer's review
4.0
The problem with reading sequels written so long after the first book is that it's hard remembering the first book. However, I think McDevitt did a good job of helping those of us with less than perfect memories.
This book discusses the social ramifications of First Contact. Errr... wait. This book is a novel about First Contact. I enjoyed it. As with most of McDevitt's books, the subject matter is presented in a way that makes you think and has a gotcha at the end (have to admit... didn't see this particular twist coming, I had a different one in mind).
This book discusses the social ramifications of First Contact. Errr... wait. This book is a novel about First Contact. I enjoyed it. As with most of McDevitt's books, the subject matter is presented in a way that makes you think and has a gotcha at the end (have to admit... didn't see this particular twist coming, I had a different one in mind).
fredmalone's review against another edition
3.0
definitely not a bad book but not as great as some of his others.
hexie88's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
For me, it was a sad ending to the story McDevitt began with “Ancient Shores.”