Okay. Where do I begin? I mean, I'm not sure I can even begin to describe how large a disappointment this novel was for me. I feel bad for writing a negative review of anything, but this novel wasn't just dry, or uninspired, it brought out a rage in me that I didn't know was there. I was not pleasant to be around during this, I was, honestly, shouting as I made my way thought this book. This might be the most disappointed I have ever been in a novel that I managed to finish. 
 First off, I must say that I did not 'read' it, as it was an audible book that I picked up just before my trip to Nashville last week. I wanted something to listen to for my time in the car and was really looking for something safe and fun, that I knew I would enjoy. Kind of like McDonalds I guess, I didn't want a fine meal, just something familiar. 
 Now, I read several of his Academy books back around... um... 2003 or 2004 I think, I'm not sure, but my overall impressions of them back then were that I really enjoyed them as I was reading them, but they didn't really resonate with me afterwards. A few days after they were finished I'm not sure I could even have summarized the plot of the stories. They were fun, they were clever, they were page turners, and I enjoyed those adventures. I suppose I've since thought of Jack McDevitt novels as something I could count on for a fun time. 
 So, I must also mention that I have much more difficult time judging the story if I'm listening to it. The narrator is the person presenting the story after all, and if they aren't a great performer, then they can lessen the story. In much the same way, a gifted performer can make me enjoy something more than I might have otherwise. It can be tough separating the two facets of an audio production. 
 In the case of this particular novel, I have to again do my best to figure out what my problem was with the novel itself - and my problems with the narration, separate. 
 So, my thoughts. 
 1) This isn't a story. Period. It's more like a history textbook, complete with headlines of newspaper articles that have nothing whatsoever to do with the main plot of the novel. Well, that isn't fair to say really, as there was no real plot to the novel. There was a premise I suppose, but not a plot. The first two thirds of this book are where the people in this future world, a place where FTL travel is a reality, work to improve the efficiency of their FTL drive. Seriously. Then, once they get that incremental increase they make for a tour of mysteries introduced in previous books that were too far away to conveniently travel to, then the final portion of the book is a loose retelling of Star Trek V. Yes, the one everybody hated. I was incredibly frustrated by this. It's almost like the author let a young family member write the novel for him. Scenes, chapters, and more, were entirely unnecessary. It was just things like one guy going to the store, another guy selling real estate, a lady thinking about retiring. None of that stuff had anything to with anything. 
 2) The dialog is atrociously bad. I can't copy and paste portions of it, since I don't have the text to refer to. But with a *small* dose of hyperbole, let me give my impression of what a piece of dialog might be like: 
 "Matt, are you okay?" 
 "Hutch, I'm okay. Are you okay?" 
 "No Matt, I'm not okay. Okay?" 
 "Okay, Hutch, okay," Matt said. 
 So, what actually might have happened previously to give the reader context for the dialog almost doesn't matter, because the dialog is almost entirely made up of the word 'okay' with the person being spoken to's name being mentioned in every sentence. It really, really, became annoying after a while, even infuriating. Because this goes on every time anyone talks to anyone during the course of the novel. It was truly painful to sit through. 
 3) The narration. I'm sorry, because someone spent a lot of time doing a dramatic reading, but the narration made the flaws, especially the flaws in the dialog, even more noticeable than they should have been. The narrator did voices like they were doing a children's book - in this case, maybe they thought they were - and in situations where the scene should have been tense, it felt tension free and light hearted. Maybe they were bored with the story and were just going through the motions. 
 My hatred for this makes me wonder how I would feel if I went back and reread some of Jack McDevitt's other novels. I have Seeker in my tbr pile and it went from something I was excited about reading to something I'm dreading. 
 I'm sorry, but this was, without a doubt, my least favorite book read in 2011. It has almost ruined me for this author. I wish there was some way for me to unread this. If I could erase it from my memory then I would have fond memories of the previous books of his I've read and not all this conflict I feel now. 
 Sigh. I'm sure the author tried, he seems like such a nice guy, and again, I did like all the other novels of his that I read (well, except for the time travel one, I didn't care too much for that one). I now have to deal with my own guilt, for throwing an author under the bus this way, I hope I can be forgiven. But at the same time. I would hate for someone else to suffer the way I did here. Please skip this one.