Discovered this author while on holiday in Cairns. The entire detective series was a superbly great read.. Each book was better than the last and I look forward to another story with Chase and Alex!!

I read all of the books in this particular series, and this one has to be the biggest disappointment. Chase and Alex seem to be losing a bit of their personality here - they seem a bit shallow, two-dimensional. The story itself is very anticlimactic (as one of the other reviewers noted). There were so many possibilities, so many different things he could have done with this - instead? Well, I won't blow it for you. Let's just say that McDevitt seems to be running out of ideas. Reminds me of Harry Turtledove's alternate series on the Civil War.

I have liked others in the series better. It is a bit hard to believe that the two lead characters aren't unbelievably famous. They have saved or discovered billions of people. The statements about them being the equivalent of tomb robbers rang false. This made other actions in the book equally unbelievable. The biology is also a bit hard to believe. That said, I still like the characters. I still enjoy a future filled with notes about an artistic past almost independent of current earths. Skippable, but fun enough.

An entertaining read but not quite up to his usual standards. The problem with writing amazing books is that if you write one which is very good instead of brilliant everyone says how disappointed they are! It was a good read, definitely worth the money and the time.

Alex and Chase are off on another great adventure and we are along for their rather bumpy ride!

I've become a fan of Jack McDevitt's unique blend of space opera and archaeology. It's such a rich niche in the genre and he's done so well with it in "Engines of God" and "Ancient Shores." But this is a colossal disappointment. Three quarters of it is empty dialogue on a search that ultimately leads to an anticlimax that wouldn't rate a first-act vehicle in his other novels. I remain a fan and appreciate the pressures of publishing deadlines. But, damn. There isn't a developed character, the plot is thin and the writing reads like typing. Ultimately, it's well titled. This is an echo of his other work.