The Engines of God

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Humans call them Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues scattered on distant planets throughout the galaxy, encoded with strange inscriptions that defy translation. Searching for clues about the Monument-Makers, teams of 23rd century linguists, historians, engineers and archaeologists have been excavating the enigmatic alien ruins on a number of planets, uncovering strange, massive false cities made of solid rock. But their time is running out.

Earth's ravaged environment is quickly making it unlivable, and colonizers want to begin terraforming these abandoned worlds for human habitation. Only interstellar archaeologist Richard Wald and starship pilot Priscilla Hutchins are convinced that uncovering the secrets of the monuments may hold the key to survival for the entire human race.

©1994 Cryptic, Inc. (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Splendid. Not since Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama has the discovery of artifacts of alien intelligence been treated so skillfully." ( Baltimore Sun)
"McDevitt is at his best award-winning style in this intelligent and wide-ranging novel." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"With plenty of startling plot twists, a heavy dose of intrigue, and an unusual amount of character development for science fiction, McDevitt holds us fast right through to a thrilling finish." ( Booklist)

Excellent Book

The story was excellent- great pacing, intersting and well-developed characters, and a mystery. I love the narrator; he does an outstanding job of handling multiple characters, both male and female.

Terrible Reading Tom Weiner should be ashamed

What would have made The Engines of God better?

The narrator destroys this book

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm going to finish the series because i liked the story

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Tom Weiner?

anyone else ... my 9 year old could have read this book better..

Working Title

First audiobook, very impressed. It got me through two workdays and commutes. It leaves you feeling vulnerable and aware of your own mortality, but wanting more.

Great story!

A mastery of mystery and science, and heroism. Well-built characters and with politics and romanticism.

Great SciFi story

Great SciFi story for anyone who dreams of space travel with a flair for history

Good sci-fi book.

Would you try another book from Jack McDevitt and/or Tom Weiner?

I've read several of McDevitt's books though this is the first audio version. Yes.

Would you recommend The Engines of God to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I like the archaeological aspects of solving the mystery of the abandoned cities, etc.

good sci fi

starts a bit slow, but has good mystery, pacing and character development...narrator does mostly a good job, but I did get a couple of the characters confused

Enjoyed it.

Interesting characters and great plot along with informed science. Loved the narration very well done.

Alien Archaeology

Earth is set to teriform a world where The Academy is working to extract the remains of alien artifacts before they are lost. Just before the deadline, a new find is made that changes everything.

What a fun read. Just the sort of book I like. No laser wars, no crazy manic madmen, just scientists trying to figure out the strangeness of what they find.

Definitely continuing this series.

Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style

The basis premise concerns 200 years in the future where faster than light drives have allowed some exploration of our galaxy. The startling discoveries have all been related to a mysterious alien race referred to as the Monument Makers (MM) from their habit of leaving gigantic sculptures scattered around including our solar system. At the same time evidenced is found of alien civilizations past and present, although none even at our technological level.

The major thrust is to understand what happened to the MM. This leads to archeological investigations that form the bulk of the action which in turn leads to solar system hopping. The plot twists are fascinating and unexpected.

Unfortunately there are several aspects that really detract from the overall story. The characters are largely forgettable. Most of their actions come off as a high school theatrical production. At the same time, the injected elements creating drama are forced, seem arbitrary, and aren't necessary to drive the plot forward. Finally, the authors drags out certain sections with too much detail that becomes dull and boring. The ending is satisfying up to a point, but leaves open much of the opening questions.