Chindi - Jack McDevitt

Publisher:	Ace
Date:	2002
Size:	511 Pages
Format:	Paperback
Price:	$7.99 (bought in Waterstones, Bolton for £6.99)
ISBN:	0-441-01102-0
Reviewed by:	Rod Cameron
Review Date:	January 2007

I had not come across Jack McDevitt before. An American author, he has published quite a few hard SF novels. This is the third in a series about the heroine Hutch (Priscilla Hutchins). As such, I would not have bought it, but the book is less than helpful about Jack McDevitt’s previous works in general, and the Hutch series in particular. But, as it happens it doesn’t really matter.

The heroine Hutch is captain of a small space ship, and becomes involved in an alien contact saga. Humanity has expanded out from Earth, but there appears to be only one alien race out there, with the rest being extinct. She is persuaded to carry a crew of eccentric “First Contacters” to chase a signal sent from an alien satellite across the galaxy. The chase turns dangerous as they discover a huge alien artefact – the Chindi. Apparently a chindi is a Navajo Indian term for a Spirit of the Night – “Do not use driftwood to make a fire because it may have been cast on the waters by a chindi, who will then track you by its light.”

Chindi is a hard SF novel of exploration. The hero of the book is not so much Hutch, as the strange, beautiful and deadly worlds that she discovers. The theme of the book is close to Arthur C Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, but Chindi has a different slant on it. I found it to be quite enjoyable, if not very taxing. Anyone who enjoys exploration of alien landscapes, and hard SF will find this an easy but engaging read.