Review of Firebird by Jack McDevitt

note:  I experienced this in audiobook format, narrated by Jennifer van Dyck.

I came across Firebird while browsing some recent sci fi picks on Audible.com.  Mainly, I wanted to get a taste of what sci fi writers are writing about lately.  The genre seems to be in a bit of a decline in popularity compared to fantasy and paranormal, which is rather surprising if you consider all the fascinating sci fi ripe things happening lately, such as:  the Kepler telescope’s numerous new planet discoveries in the “Goldilocks” temperature zone (which suggests liquid water and the possibility of life), CERN’s recent OPERA experiment with its mind-blowing evidence that neutrinos travel faster than light, discoveries of “rogue” planets that wander the galaxy (perhaps outnumbering the stars) and Y-dwarf stars that are cool enough to touch; not to mention stunning and rather scary new observations of black-holes in action.  The jacket for Firebird described a mystery about vanishing interstellar space yachts and I couldn’t resist a look.  I picked up a couple other recently published sci fi books as well for a fair sampling but Firebird looked to be the most interesting so I started with that.

Firebird is actually the 6th installment in McDevitt’s Alex Benedict series, though it is the first one I’ve read and my first exposure to anything by McDevitt.  Alex and his female associate, Chase Kolpath, are basically a couple of antiquities dealers and finders of lost artifacts – a futuristic tomb-raider team.  They live in the far future, approximately 9000 years hence, on a planet called Rimway.  Earth has long since expanded into star systems throughout the galaxy and interstellar travel is accomplished by hyperspace jumps.  I was curious about what sort of drive system was allowing the jumps but this level of detail was skipped over.  McDevitt puts his story far enough into the future that such things are treated as ordinary and accepted.  The story starts off with Chase and Alex beginning an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a famous physicist named Christopher Robin some 40 years earlier.  He had some controversial theories about alternate multiple universes and black holes and some conspiracy related to that surrounds his disappearance/death.  Alex wants to dig around in Chris’s past a bit to stir up interest (and therefore prices) for Chris’s personal items.  Before his disappearance, Chris was doing experiments with a number of old space yachts.  Apparently, he was on to solving the long running mystery of lost space vessels that reappear and then fade out of existence again.  A few such sitings even described passengers pounding on the windows.

The investigation leads Chase and Alex to a dangerous planet called Villaneuva.  When first colonized thousands of years ago, Villaneuva quickly grew into an extremely popular spot based on its lush climate (think Flotsam Paradise in The Fifth Element).  However, a huge intra-stellar dust cloud passed through Villaneuva’s star system and despite plenty of advance warning, the bulk of the inhabitants decided to stay and ride it out.  Idiots.  Sadly for them, a cold darkness descended on the world and lasted 300 years.  After the cloud finally passed, the Artificial Intelligence units (bots and boxes) on the lifeless world looked for a way off.  But the planet was shunned.  Pretty soon these AIs – or most of them anyway – with nothing really to do, started going stir-crazy.  Later attempts to land on Villaneuva were met with intense hostility.  All this transpired 7000 years ago.  Apparently, the AIs are still there and more hostile than ever.  A search for Chris Robins’ notebook drives Chase and Alex to venture onto Villaneuva and risk dealing with these hostile AIs.

The story was well-paced and accessible.  Some sci fi writers tend to use too much technical detail and explanations of “projected science” that muddle a good story, but McDevitt handled this aspect well.  Unraveling the mystery surrounding the missing ships kept me turning the pages.  McDevitt also successfully interweaved the secondary Villaneuva story that asks the question on whether AI can advance into truly sentient life.  Should AIs be treated like real persons and have rights?  It’s a question that’s certainly been explored before, but McDevitt’s handling of it was even more engaging than the primary story.

I tend to enjoy good character development over plot.  McDevitt seems to focus more on plot in Firebird.  As a result, Alex and Chase came off as sort of mechanical to me.  It was hard to become emotionally invested in either one since McDevitt doesn’t really delve into their psyche’s.  Most of the narrative is from Chase’s PoV, but she never gets past her immediate thoughts and reactions.  Now, it may simply be that this is the 6th book in a series featuring well established characters?  Perhaps they’ve already been fully fleshed out and colored?  Or maybe McDevitt just doesn’t do a lot of character development?  In Firebird, Charlie, an AI box, had more personality than Alex.  Chase wasn’t much better – she actually seemed a bit aloof.

Overall, Firebird was a nicely constructed futuristic mystery and the ending was undeniably satisfying.  It glassed up my eyes and made me smile.  Despite my impression of shallow characterizations, McDevitt certainly seems a very capable writer in the genre and tells a good story.  I’m curious enough to read more of his work and I’ll surely have to start with the first book in the Alex and Chase series.

7/10