The Devil's Eye (review)


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Redstar
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Joined: 25 Feb 2009 04:13

The Devil's Eye (review)

Post by Redstar »

Not a classic, but I picked it up because I liked the cover. Generally, I have never disliked a book where the cover intrigued me. I have also never enjoyed a book where the cover irked me. So I judge, whatever.

The book is by Jack McDevitt, and I believe it is in a series. I happened to grab the last one, though I think these are strictly episodic and have no continuity save the characters.

I was a bit confused for the first several chapters before I realized that it was in first-person narrative, yet the main character (Chase Kolpath) was following another character. I couldn't tell who was the main character, until I realized it was first-person in the style of detective novels. (Narrative tells the story, because it wouldn't be a surprise if they were also the narrative. Think Sherlock Holmes). I also didn't know what gender the main character was until about the second chapter. I'm sure this would have been a bit more obvious if I'd read the earlier books in the series, but it's something the author should make a point in subtly bringing up.

The story progresses smoothly and McDevitt only focuses on the scenes that matter, for as long as necessary. There was never a moment where I was forced to sit through and read a pointless chapter. Every chapter moved the story ahead with some realization or movement, no matter how minor. This is probably the best aspect of his writing.

Some characters have strange name, such as the main: "Chase Kolpath" The gender-neutral name probably had the most impact on me being unsure of gender, so I spent a lot of time waiting for a pronoun to show up. It didn't for awhile. This is also clear when they go to the planet Salud Afar, and though populated by humans, everyone seems to have an exotic name. Even the "core" worlds, such as the the president of the universe (:roll:), have fairly strange names. The president's name is "Ariel". And he's a man. Really unnecessary and pushing towards TV/film science-fiction.

The book moves as a mystery, with the characters trying to uncover the reason why a prominent writer (Vicke Greene) has contacted them for help and given them a substantial amount of compensation, only to wind up volunteering herself for a mindwipe. They travel to Salud Afar to see if they can find it out, and move deeper into a mystery that apparently has conspiracy-level proportions. The progress is quick and intelligent, as mentioned before, but at one point they toss us a red herring that doesn't last more than two pages. Later on it's mentioned as a minor detail, and could have been originally posited as one.

The mystery is finally solved a little past halfway through the book. At this point I feel it gets considerably weaker, as if McDevitt is trying to fill more pages. The story shifts from a mystery to a thriller, with the main characters and the planet of Salud Afar racing against time. Not only that, but we get a villain. It doesn't really seem to have a point. Not only that, but the story seems to shift towards a message of equality in peace (with an alien race, who are only vaguely mentioned in passing). There was no build-up to this, so it left me wondering where the direction was in the book. One could argue that there isn't.

The book would have sufficed as a simple light-hearted mystery if it only went further past the realization, but because it went on much longer my enjoyment of it dropped. The narrator/main-character becomes increasingly pressed to act emotional and intelligent, yet she describes herself doing so in a robotic manner. Remember, this book is in the first-person, and as Chase is telling her story I would expect some more personal story-telling. She doesn't. My only conclusion from this is that McDevitt is unable to properly develop characters, since Chase should have changed in some way. She doesn't. It appears like her feelings are exactly the same at the end of the novel as they are in the beginning. So what's the point? She didn't learn anything. Again, if the book ended at the conclusion of the mystery this character development wouldn't be necessary, but as it went on it was crucial. The lack of it just made the story weak.

I give this a 3 out of 5. For light reading and an occasional sympathetic look at other people, it's fine.
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