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)

Big idea, Clarke-like SF

The Earth is facing environmental catastrophe in the 23rd century. Humans have spread to other star systems, but generally not found a lot of Earth-like planets, and those they have found are already inhabited. A handful of intelligent alien races have been discovered, but all are primitive compared to humanity. Most alien races discovered, however, are long dead, and the most prominent is one that apparently traveled to other stars, as their monuments have been found across the galaxy.

Earth has generally taken a "hands off" approach to living natives, but as pressure mounts to begin terraforming habitable worlds as an escape plan, this "Prime Directive" morality begins to seem less desirable. There is an interesting reversal of the classic sci-fi trope, and subtle commentary on colonialism and how we might justify it in the future, when an argument is made to colonize an inhabited planet "for the natives' own good." They are in the middle of a savage global war, and it is claimed that some of them have become aware of the existence of their alien watchers, and are begging for intervention. That technological aid and imposed peace would incidentally involve Earthlings resettling on their hosts' planet would be only a logical extension of a benevolent intervention...

This is a fairly hard SF novel that will appeal to fans of "big idea" SF, particularly if you like academic/scientist protagonists. Jack McDevitt gets compared a lot to Arthur C. Clarke in the blurbs for this book, and that's a fair comparison. Also an unfortunate one as far as I'm concerned, because like Clarke's science fiction, The Engines of God did little to stir any passion in this science fiction fan. It was a perfectly well written book, it was just dry and flat and even the high stakes did not truly engage my interest.

Great SF!

Solid and engaging SF. One of the things I respected about this book is that it shows the future as a messy place. Sure, they have FTL travel and communications but everything is not hunky-dory at home. Earth is a messed up place that seems only to be getting worse, science is still operating on a shoestring budget, the military/government is still stepping on peoples toes and the universe is a big scary place.

Spanning 5 separate planets, this tale is good (generally what I have come to expect from Jack McDevitt). We have the stars but they are a fairly lonely place. Only one alive race has been found (the are technologically around the WWI level), another never got off their planet and died out and a third was engaged in a game of clue, placing structures near all three races (they left a statue near us an weirdly empty city on a moon of another race).

The main characters are mostly archaeologists, who only seem to have exciting jobs in the stories that are written (like Indiana Jones) who are trying to put all the pieces together. There is action scenes scattered all around story as well as high tech action. I am really looking forward to the next book!

Dual Engines?

The story structure is divided into two halves, each of which feels completely different in tone and pacing. While each holds the attention, they are so stylistically divergent that one may even forget they share an author.

The first half of the book is a satisfying salute to the archeological profession, and primarily takes place on a planet named Quraqua, the site of an ancient civilization which has mysteriously disappeared. The methodology and techniques used by the archeologist, linguists, and other scientists seem quite believable, and one comes to appreciate the painstaking manner in which they reconstruct a forgotten culture. Many intriguing mysteries about alien origins and interactions with galactic history are opened, and the reader will come to feel (incorrectly) that the answers will be their reward for finishing the novel.

However, in the second act of the story, the thoughtful pursuit of answers goes out the window as a rapid succession of breakthroughs and timely hunches bring the characters from one planet to another. With unrealistic abandon, these archaeologists set aside their jaw-dropping finds to pursue the next thin lead. Each stopover is accompanied by a tense, life-or-death scene, which all have clever resolutions, but are examples of action unseen in the first half of the story.

Each of these two plot halves are entertaining in their own way, but are jarringly uncharacteristic from one another, and would benefit from a stylistic synthesis. The cliffhanger ending, presumably setting up the subsequent book, deprived me of the satisfaction of solving most of the open mysteries, but that can be forgiven if further books in the series provide this.

Finished out of spite

This book is basically a fictional documentary. It reads like a high school text book mixed with dialogue from entirely one dimensional characters.
I finished it completely just to write this review.
Gave the narrator five stars for not quitting half way through.

OK story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Probably a different narrator

Would you be willing to try another book from Jack McDevitt? Why or why not?

Yes, the story was well enough written

What didn’t you like about Tom Weiner’s performance?

I kept falling a sleep

What character would you cut from The Engines of God?

None, I think they all had a purpose in the story

Any additional comments?

No

Great Book, Horrible Reading

I’ve read this book, and it’s great, but this narrator is pretty bad. He reads everything in a flat tone that’s unpleasant to listen to for long. There are also format issues - the book includes things like long lists of newspaper headlines, which when read off just don’t work. There are even straight up editing errors like leaving in the repetition of lines in different styles.

Narration not so good

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better narration. I really struggled to identify the different characters in this audible book. It was quite frustrating to the extent that I needed to stop and replay several times to determine who was who. In the end I have given up finishing this audible story. I have nearly all the other Jack McDevitt books and have not had this problem before. So definitely down to the narrator.

Terrible Narrator, Weak Story

I regret I did not read the reviews, worst purchase yet. Should rate with a zero. The readers low scratchy voice was very difficult to listen to for any length of time.

Thumbs down

No plot; nothing happens. One-dimensional, unsympathetic characters. Everything that might've been a surprise is telegraphed ahead of time. NO answers are provided, just wild speculations… but that isn't TOO surprising, as that's how the characters do all their own thinking, despite the fact they're supposed to be scientists. What little tension exists is drawn out so long that it wouldn't hold a rolled-up newspaper together. The only aliens that show up onscreen are a rampaging horde of stupid critters that seem added only because someone said there should be action in the book SOMEWHERE.

It's too late for ME to get this time back, but YOU still have time! Shields up! Warp speed! RUN!

Not quite interesting enough.

This book is unfortunately not what I was hoping for, if this is the best book about the discovery of artifacts of alien intelligence since Rendezvous with Rama then keep artifacts of alien intelligence away from me please (I thought Rama was a masterpiece by the way). I thought Engines of God was rather boring and things did not quite add up for me. To be fair I really enjoyed the last hour or so but that leaves 14 hours that I did not particularly like. This could have made a good short story or the slow start of a long space opera. I would like to see somebody with firepower take on these Omega-clouds but I don't think I'll stick around, I just didn't like the characters well enough. Too slow and not interesting enough.