Seeker

An Alex Benedict Novel

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck, Jack McDevitt (Introduction)

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Thousands of years after an entire colony mysteriously disappears, antiquities dealer Alex Benedict comes into possession of a cup that seems to be from the Seeker, one of the colony's ships. Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, follow a deadly trail to the Seeker, strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the very heart of danger.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Jack McDevitt.

©2005 Cryptic, Inc. (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Nebula Award, Best Novel, 2006

"Ideas abound in McDevitt's classy riff on the familiar lost-colony theme. The novel delivers everything it promises with a gigantic whallop." (Publishers Weekly)
"The logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke." (Stephen King)
"Jennifer Van Dyck keeps the story exciting as she recounts each find, telling of artifacts that are much older than anything Indiana Jones ever got his hands on. Jack McDevitt himself reads the introduction." (AudioFile)

Looking forward to his other books!

Science fiction without being weird. Really enjoyed the story, the characters were well conceived and developed. Interesting astronomy and not too technical

Well worth the listen.

This book is refreshing; to dare to believe that we may not kill ourselves with the bomb or pollution; we just may survive and thrive. A positive projection is lovely. Chase; she is a free spirit, is smart, beautiful, enjoys her life and the men in it without apology. It's great that her private life is alluded to but not used for prurient appeal. A great book; I will listen to more of Alex Benedict. The narrator is first rate; perfect for this book.
I listened to this with my husband; he says that he closes his eyes and feels a part of the adventure; "you are there".

SRR

Loved the story, and narrator. And the performance was Great!
I love all of Jack McDevitte's books.

Enjoyable read, but hampered by bad character choices.

I’ve enjoyed all of the books in this series so far, and this one the most. However, each book suffers from the same flaw that really reduces the quality of the story for me. They each have moments where the characters are in danger or peril, and you the reader can think of several obvious solutions to the problem. In each case, the characters will instead make a really stupid choice that makes the situation worse. I know the author is trying to build the drama and tension, but it’s frustrating as the reader to see otherwise intelligent characters doing something stupid. It’s like watching those dumb horror movies where a group is exploring a haunted house and they decide to split up for some reason. SO DUMB!!

credit worthy

Just finished listening to this a second time and enjoyed it just as much. Jennifer Van Dyck is the perfect narrator for Chase Kolpath.


If you want non-stop action, you are probably best off watching an action movie while sitting on your couch instead of listening to an audiobook while operating a moving vehicle. The suspense in this book builds up slowly and with convincing detail so that by the time Chase is fending off the villains, you are right there with her. And while the narrow escapes keep you on the edge of your seat, the actual puzzle that Benedict is solving (with Chase's sometimes reluctant help) engages your attention.


***A note on listening order*** There are currently 5 books in this series. Jennifer Van Dyck is the audio narrator for three of them: Polaris, Seeker, and The Devil's Eye. The order doesn't matter for Polaris and Seeker, but you should listen to Seeker before starting The Devil's Eye. All three are good listens, as is Omega from the McDevitt's other series.


Also, while the last book, Echo, has another narrator, McDevitt's website has the following information:
"The Tantor audio edition of Echo was inadvertently recorded using a male voice. It will shortly be available with a female narrator from Audible.com."

Millenial Fun

This book stays close to the true flow of the growth and fall of knowlege in society over many millenia. Every time man thinks he is great he falls flat on his face. This is a fun romp through time and the galaxy. It does venture into real physics but sticks to what a layman can understand. A who-dunnit with some reverence to what would life be like if?...
It is an enjoyable listen.

like the book, really like the reader

there seems to be a total disagreement regarding Jennifer Van Dyke (reader)- let me vote. I like her and I like the book. And I am ever so critical.

Looking forward to her other reading in the series.

Slow start, great finish

The first half of the book was a bit slow and almost rambling. As the story progressed, though, the pacing sped up and the book really started to shine. Some very interesting ideas in this one, and recommended for scifi/mystery/adventure fans. Good stuff.

Predictable space opera.

Written as though all the changes in the future will be technological and none sociological. The farthest out the author goes is giving us a female protagonist who is permitted to be sexually promiscuous despite harboring hopes she will find Mr Right and settle down. Which, let's be honest here, has been going on at least since the early 70s. We're shown that 9000 years from now people will still be reading "books" and using hard copy paper while whizzing around in Hyperspace.Not a lot of imagination went into writing this.

Great mystery, inconsistent worldbuilding

I really enjoyed the mystery of the Seeker and the final resolution.

I didn't enjoy listening to the main character fumble her way around the attack by the misogynist jerk. Nine thousand years into the future and women are still clueless and helpless in the face of violence? I found it very frustrating. If it had been presented as just so new and outside her experience, it might have been better, but it wasn't.

The future in this series can be summed up as "The best of times and the worst of times." It's either awesome, with all the FTL travel we dream of and a charming naivete (No surveillance at the shuttleport? Really?) or it's pretty bad, with Earth STILL overcrowded, underfed and disease-ridden and the general population (not make clear which general population, as most of the setting doesn't involve Earth at all) getting obese from watching too many "sims." Seriously, a setting where someone can say (with amused condescension) "Back then 7 weeks to go 4 light years was a long time" and yet there's no evidence of any particularly advanced medicine or even cosmetics, let alone the societal changes that come with such things.

Peter F. Hamilton's "The Great North Road" did a much more complete job of envisioning the future.