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Coming Home

Coming Home - Jack McDevitt DISTANT FUTURE... FAMILIAR ATMOSPHERE.

I love this series. Precisely because there aren't many out there like it. In general, my science fiction needs tend to wade in the "big dumb object", exploration, space travel and some military action waters. You can see that in the books I've listed as "read".

But this style of science fiction interests me the most. Lost civilizations, xeno-archeology, ancient space ships... exciting stuff. Nothing needs to blow up, though some times it does so and rather well. Entire galaxies don't need to be in peril, though people often are, and that's just fine with me. Political commentary need not apply, and, frankly, I prefer it that way.

Just good, old fashioned space mystery. Add to that, the fact that, even though the series takes place in the distant future, the settings, the language, everything, is very accessible. I like that. The author didn't go out of his way to invent some strange dialect (which works in some cases like the belters in the Expense series). I'd rather not read an entire book, where I don't understand every third word. There's an easy, almost an offhand, way to explain that these characters are no longer speaking the language we speak now, on Earth. You go, hmm, and move on, not giving it a second thought. Perfect.

And to be clear, I'm reviewing the entire series here, not this particular book. Coming Home was quite serviceable. It did it's job for me. But it wasn't as interesting as McDevitt's other books.

As a whole, however, the series is worth it. It may dip and rise with each release, but generally speaking, it works more often than not. So if your preference, when it comes to science fiction, tends to run a little more on the academic side, give this series a read. It's not as dry as I make it sound, to be sure. It's just... well, you'll see.

-D