SF. 3rd I've read by this author and I have liked them all. This one about a strange arifact dug up in North Dakota that may lead to ancinet ETs.

Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt

This 1996 novel by Jack McDevitt is an epic story of big ideas. The premise immediately captured my imagination. An alien artifact is found buried in North Dakota, and provides a clue which prompts the protagonists to excavate in another area where they uncover a portal leading to alien worlds. The first half of the book recounts the discovery and subsequent use of the portal and is permeated by a compelling sense of wonder, while at the same time being firmly grounded in a realistic setting. In the second half, the tension is maintained, but the focus is shifted to problems and conflicts caused by the psychological, social, economic and political ramifications of the world-changing find.

Readers who enjoy more action-oriented science fiction may find Ancient Shores a little slow, but I must say that I did not find it hard-going or plodding at any point, and I was always eager to get back to my reading of it.

As the plot builds to its climax, there are some slightly unlikely occurrences, but I am not inclined to find fault with these since they are, on the whole, woven seamlessly into a sufficiently strong story.

McDevitt writes quite succinctly, expresses all main points clearly, and succeeds in producing a modern story infused throughout with a Golden-Age ambience. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I am now tempted to move directly on to reading the sequel, Thunderbird, which was published nearly twenty years later in 2015.



( )

Two things surprised me about this book: that it was Nebula nominee, and that the sequel didn't come out for 9 years. I usually enjoy McDevitt in novel form, but this was pedestrian and only seemed to exist to set up a new series. Unlike most of his books, it's not far future space travel, but basically present tense. A boat is found buried on a farm in North Dakota, and it quickly becomes clear it's at least 10,000 years old and of alien origin. What happens next -- an abandoned alien portal -- is no surprise, nor are there any surprises for the entire book. Everything plays out just every other version of this story you've seen, just more slowly, with Native American rights thrown in. McDevitt apparently wanted that story to be the focus, but since he never gets inside his Native American characters, there's no story there. He spends more time inside the head of a TV evangelist for a thread that goes nowhere.

Move along. There's nothing to see here. ( )

This novel is a realistic look at what might happen to our world when an ancient but highly advanced alien technology is unearthed and made public. It addresses political and economic crises, religious issues, and the problems confronting the Sioux tribe on whose land it was discovered. All of this is perfectly legitimate, but I guess I was hoping for more exploration of the alien worlds (the artifact turns out to be a hyper-spatial gateway.) The ending feels a bit hokey and contrived. It's not a bad read; it just wasn't really what I was looking for. ( )

Good ideas in this novel about proof of alien existence, but it reads more like an outline than a fleshed-out book ( )