Discount Price: $7.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780441002849
ISBN number: 0441002846
Label: Ace
Manufacturer: Ace
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: December 01, 1995
Publishing house: Ace
Sale Popularity Level: 53436
Studio: Ace
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
An unknown race called the Monument-Makers creates a stunning array of gorgeous statues, scattering them throughout the galaxy and encoding them with strange inscriptions that hold the key to the survival of humankind. Reprint. AB. K.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
The Engines of God is a fantastic read centered around a dynamic character named Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins who is the pilot of an expedition to far off planets where strange "monument makers" left cryptic monuments tens of thousands of years ago (mere minutes, by cosmic standards).*
There are two rival groups in this expedition: the side who wants to terraform planets for Human colonization and who seems to not care about the fact that there are incredible archeological, anthropoligical, and religious artifacts/structures; and the side who is trying to buy time so they can better understand why these artifacts exist because they feel they are warnings of apocolypitc doom.
I will not delve further into it for fear of spoiling the plot. However I will say this; Jack McDevitt has quickly become one of my favorite SF writers. In fact Seeker (the Alex Benedict series) was so damn good I had to email him to thank him for writing it (btw The Engines of God begins the Priscilla Hutchins series which culminates in Oddessy). I do have one gripe with this series, in that there isn't really enough character development for a dynamic character named Maggie Tufu. What I do like is that McDevitt creates stories about xenoarcheology brilliantly, and does so with the knowledge and descriptiveness of an archeology professor at the University of Cambridge. He also does so with more pinache and style than (gasp) Arthur C. Clarke does with Rama.** What I also like is that his heros are actually heroines, and that the one who "saves the day" is a strong female character (a rarity in the male dominated world of SF).
I highly reccommend this book, and others, by Jack McDevitt. I look forward to finishing this series.
RIP Michael Crighton - Thank you.
-Greg
*Sorry for the run-on sentance
**Sorry for the blasphemy
Rated by buyers -
Most of what the previous reviewers have written is true, even what the one-star guys wrote. True, the book is not perfect and the characters sillily behave from time to time. Yet, the concept supporting the plot line is mind-blowing, both monumental and awesome; one of the best I have ever read. Then, in spite of its flaws, this novel is clever and brilliant. There is so much junk SciFi around nowadays that reading The Engines of God is like drinking freshwater in a desert. This is really SciFi as it used to be a few decades ago. No cyberpunk stuff, no fantasy tale, no robot, no nanotechnology, no horror stuff, no time travel, no military stuff, just educated human beings at times faulty tackling wondrous mysteries in a vast universe. Thank you, Jack, for conceiving those stars, their cohorts of planets, and their civilisations. Thank you, Jack, for such a challenging story. Thank you, Jack, for letting me tour your creation.
Rated by buyers -
This just felt good to read, a little hard to pick up at first, and the rescue scene seemed unnecessary, but I enjoyed the Rare Earth theme that was depicted in the book. At some parts I had to suspend my disbelief, but the idea was so original that it was thoroughly enjoyable and I enjoyed the news the author sometimes places at the end of the chapter. One thing I had to suspend my disbelief (a lot) was the aliens, the inhabitants of Quraqua were described as looking like crocodile-head people and that bothered me, as did the crab-things at Beta Pac. Not really hard science fiction, while I read it I felt like I was ready a Clarke.
Another thing that bothered me was the way the Kosmic Corp. people acted and behaved: like stereotypical evil megacorp underlings. I fervently hope that McDevitt doesn't advance more things like Kosmic in his subsequent books.
Rated by buyers -
The end lesson in this book is the thought that "straight lines do not happen in nature." It has had me pondering if later books would show spacecraft and architecture with curves and the like (thus explaining why you sometimes see absolutely nonsensical shapes on alien spacecraft in SF movies...). Anyway, it was a good book (not GREAT) that left a lot of questions open for later books in the series. Hutch is a great leading lady - much like Chase in McDevitt's other books. The whole concept of archaeological SF is pretty cool. Certainly good enough a book to make me buy the other five or six books in the series!
Rated by buyers 
-
ENGINES OF GOD is an early novel by Jack McDevitt, a highly respected science fiction writer who's won the prestigious Nebula, John Campbell, and Phillip K. Dick awards. I must admit I found it somewhat disappointing.
To me, the fatal flaw of any novel is a lack of good characterization. That's the problem with this book in a nutshell. Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins is the book's protagonist, but I never felt like she came to life. ENGINES OF GOD features a multitude of supporting characters, but it was hard for me to tell most of them apart. Most of the dialogue is dull and merely designed to push the plot along. As a result, this novel lacks drama and didn't emotionally engage me.
There are some decent action scenes, but they felt kind of obligatory, and didn't really relate to the main story. Like many other reviewers, I also found the ending rather uninspiring and anti-climactic. Given the long, complex buildup, I was expecting something more profound than what I ultimately got.
ENGINES OF GOD deals with a lot of interesting ideas, but I just didn't find it very involving or suspenseful. I did admire McDevitt's command of the English language, as well as his obvious intelligence. In fairness, this is my very first McDevitt novel, so I will definitely try one or two of his later books before giving up on him.
Find other books like this one:
