Octavia Gone

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

After being lost in space for 11 years, Gabe finally makes his triumphant return to reunite with Alex and Chase and retrieve a possibly alien artifact - which may lead them to solve the greatest archaeological mystery of their careers, in the eighth installment of the Alex Benedict series.

After his return from space, Gabe is trying to find a new life for himself after being presumed dead - just as Alex and Chase are trying to relearn how to live and work without him. But when a seemingly alien artifact goes missing from Gabe's old collection, it grants the group a chance to dive into solving the mystery of its origins as a team, once again.

When a lead on the artifact is tied to a dead pilot's sole unrecorded trip, another clue seems to lead to one of the greatest lingering mysteries of the age: the infamous disappearance of a team of scientists aboard a space station orbiting a black hole - the Amelia Earhart of their time. With any luck, Alex, Chase, and Gabe may be on the trail of the greatest archaeological discovery of their careers.

©2019 Jack McDevitt (P)2019 Recorded Books

Alexa anyone

How is it that these books take place 9000 years in the future and the narrators A.I. voice sounds like an audio processor that Hawking rejected?

Great performance, interesting moral tale

What happens when someone returns from what we thought was the grave? How does that affect the status quo?
Mr. McDevitt explores this in this latest episode of life with Alex Benedict (but really, Chase Colpath).
Not only that, our heroes uncover a horrible secret.
What to do?

Love Jack's story's and his writing

I haven't found one of Jack's books that I don't like. I think I've read them all and they've never run dry. With most authors a person gets bogged down about half or three quarters of the way through. It feels too repetitive and the reader gets bored. For me that doesn't happen with Jack McDevit.

another installment, nothing really new

I've enjoyed these stories, but maybe they are becoming repetitive. Expect pretty much the same kind of story as the previous, though I wouldn't rate this as one of the best.

Alien artifact / missing space station

Octavia Gone is the latest offering in the Alex Benedict franchise. Following on the last installment, Alex's uncle is now reunited and some of the familial differences come out: his uncle is an academic archaeologist and Alex's business doesn't sit well with him. Octavia is a space station once orbiting around a black hole, but missing for over a decade with the search having run into dead ends. At the same time, his uncle searches for a potential alien artifact that he was working on when he went missing. Naturally, these activities converge and Alex solves the mystery of the disappearing station.

McDevitt continues the general features of this futuristic universe, but offers a unique perspective where complacency, at least scientifically has developed. After 9000 years, there is a noticeable lack of advancement in terms of fundamental basic science. At the same time, he uses the alien situation as a warning for our current civilization. Furthermore, while there are plenty of overlaps, it is the AIs of the two species that make first contact and form the basis for communications.

Jennifer does another admirable job of narration with excellent character distinction as well as AI rendering without simply resorting to flat affect. Pacing is well aligned with the plot making for an easy listen.

Gabriel, Alex, and Chase work together

I both read and listened to this book because it can double the enjoyment when you can move seamlessly from one to the other. This book was written just as well as all the others before it, with the characters as well defined as they have always been. The new character is still a little less defined than some but good enough for how long he has been around. The visuals make this very good because you can see what he wants you to as far as the surroundings both on the planet and in space. The story is relayed by Chase as she writes the account of what happened during that time in her life and the lives of her bosses as they work to solve historical mysteries.

Alex and Chase are still getting used to the return of Alex's Uncle Gabe after an 11-year absence after he and other passengers were saved from the Capella before it went back under. Gabe is trying to integrate himself back into their lives with an adult Alex as well as Chase who now works for him. Gabe had procured an alien artifact before he left on the Capella which belonged to someone who had been on the Octavia, a station that went missing just before he did. The artifact has gone missing and he wants to uncover the mystery of its origins.

While enjoyable I found the first few chapters a bit dull and lackluster. There was no real appeal and even Alex came off as being pretty boring. This was an Alex Benedict novel but it was mainly about Gabe and Chase for the majority with Alex thrown in here and there. I like Alex and he is the main reason I read the novels so I am going to have to get used to the addition of another Benedict male who is going to draw attention.

I also need to voice another thing I did not like about this which is an issue with the narrator of the audiobook. It annoys me when I am running the audio with my book and the narrator decides that they want to rewrite what is written. This particular narrator changed the order in which quotes were written when voicing them. The narrator also changed the dialogue in places by omitting or adding words and sentences. It's no big deal when you are just listening because you have no idea if it is done or not.

But on the whole, I enjoyed the book and give a big thumbs up.

Continuity errors?

Did the author re-read the series before writing this book? Even if he simply stated (maybe he did and I missed it?) since this book is from Chase's memoirs it veries slightly from reality it would explain the differences. Ending of last book account of Gab's return is different than the start of this book. Did I missed something obvious? Still was enjoyable, just less then rest of series.

Great book

l a male have always enjoyed his stories from a female point of view. thanks

So glad they're back!

When I purchased this, I really didn't care whether or not it was a good story. I just love the Alex Benedict series, especially when Jennifer Van Dyck is the lector. I love the world that McDevitt has created for this series, and frankly, would have been transfixed even if it was just 11 hours of Chase Colepath flossing her teeth.

Fortunately, it was more than that. A nicely crafted story that continued and advanced the "universe" from the previous books.

And, it was nice to catch up on "old friends" like this.

Another good Chase and Alex story!

The heart of any Alex Bennidct novel is the mystery and chasing down clues and this story is no different. It almost reads like a police proceedual except that Chase and Alex are amateurs sluths with their humanity in the forefront. They are both real and likeable. The mystery is great and the story interesting. It's a good read!