Seeker/Jack McDevitt

The semester is coming to an end and I mean to make up for much lost time in the Cannonball Read. To that end, I made a stop at the library on Sunday and came home with four novels I know not one thing about. Except, I've finished Seeker so I guess I know something about it now.

Many of the reviews of this book say something like: McDevitt creates a world that structurally or texturally much like ours only on epic/interstellar/universal (I'm not sure which is the right word - they all seem pretty vanilla to me) proportions. I don't disagree, but ultimately, I think that might be what disappointed me a little. I honestly got a little bored by then end. The lead characters starting seeming far too much like people I know and who sometimes annoy me. Thirteen thousand years into the future not much has changed.

However, I read this book in just under 48 hours and I have a full time job and teach so that's something of a compliment. Clearly, it drew me in. I have to want to get through a book to get through one that fast these days. Seeker is part mystery, part crime novel, part social commentary. The mystery part is strong enough in the opening chapters to have grabbed me. I should say I'm not much of a mystery reader so in this respect I may be an easy lay. The story then evolves around a pair of "tomb raiders" who aren't completely without appreciation for the treasure they seek, even if they do it mainly in the name of profit. They are some 13000 yearsish in the future seeking archaeological artifacts across a variety of universes to which the human race has spread. Some of these artifacts are as simple as t-shirts and tea cups some less. They also, a la antique roadshow, value people's stuff for them from time to time. This is where our story takes off.

An artifact that sounds an awful lot like a coffee mug finds it 's way into their office via a tacky, low-rent, abused ex-girlfriend of a thief. Turns out said cup might be much more. At this point the reader can go ahead and read in as many holy grail comparisons as they like, or not. Holy grail or not, the race is on. There is a fair amount of rushing around getting the heavy detective stuff concluded in order to propel the story, with a few twists, that you would be hard pressed not to see coming. I don't mean to suggest that it wasn't enjoyable, but having finished I still feel like I just got the broad strokes of a much more nuanced story.

Ultimately, there are two larger theoretical debates taking place in the novel. First, who owns what and what does it mean? Should history belong to everyone equally, has it ever? Does it make a difference? And, what ultimately most influences human evolution? Ambitious questions. I realized about 50 pages short of the finish that there was going to be no way for this novel to end satisfactorily for me. I'm sure it does for many, but I was left feeling kinda...what's the word?