Odyssey

Academy series

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam, Jack McDevitt

To boost waning interest in interstellar travel, a mission is sent into deep space to learn the truth about "moonriders," the strange lights supposedly being seen in nearby systems. But Academy pilot Valentina Kouros and the team of the starship Salvator will soon discover that their odyssey is no mere public-relations ploy, for the moonriders are not a harmless phenomenon. They are very, very dangerous-in a way that no one could possibly have imagined.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and read by author Jack McDevitt

©2007 Jack McDevitt (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Really Slow Start

I generally like Jack McDevitt's books, but this one spent a great deal of time on politics, especially at the beginning. I'm used to more scifi in science fiction books. The second half of the book was much better. It was more like his other books.

The narrator was very good.

This one was a miss Jack

I love Jack’s work normally but one had lots of issues for me. The religious plot was ham fisted and pointless and the antagonist in the book not communicating with anything other than violence is just not believable.

The early Hutch books were great but this one was a miss.

Could have been so much better.

This book reminded me of trying to start my lawnmower in the spring. It would putter and almost start but never quite got there. This book was the same thing. This story could have been so much better if they had cut out the filler and focused more on the aliens. Save your credit. I love this authors other books but this one falls flat on its face.

Needs an editor

This book was full of unprofessional errors. Boring, unimaginative, rambling plot, uninteresting characters, subplots that randomly went nowhere, astronauts who repeatedly demonstrated that they had no understanding of basic science, pointless conflicts, unimaginative and repetitive character descriptions, unnecessary dialogue…ugh, what a slog. It sounded like it was written by a 16-year-old boy with no friends. Crap like this getting published is why nobody takes science fiction seriously.

Mostly Filler

A great deal of filler material mostly dealing with politics and public relations, rather than anything involving space. The actual mission doesn't take place until 5 hours into the story in chapter 18. Anything relevant prior to chapter 18 could have been put in a single chapter. I ordinarily love McDevitt's work, but his last few books have been lacking.