Seeker

by Jack McDevitt

Other authorsJohn Harris (Cover artist), Rita Frangie (Cover designer)
Hardcover, 2005-11

Status

Available

Call number

PS3563.C3556 S44

Publication

Ace Books (New York, 2005). 1st edition, 1st printing. 368 pages. $24.95.

Description

Fiction. Science Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:With Polaris, multiple Nebula Award-nominee Jack McDevitt reacquainted readers with Alex Benedict, his hero from A Talent for War. Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, return to investigate the provenance of the cup. Alex and Chase follow a deadly trail to the Seeker - strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the very heart of danger.

User reviews

LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Seeker is a book of speculative fiction that will appeal to you if you're not into hard-core science fiction, and if you are a reader of mysteries. McDevitt has combined both into a story that begins with the discovery of a cup bearing some "English" letters, which antiquities dealer Alex Benedict
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and his partner Chase Kolpath trace back to a long-lost ship called Seeker. To be very blunt, Benedict and Kolpath plunder what we would consider archaeological sites and sell what relics they come across. Today that's illegal, but somehow in the future, there's no problem with this practice and there's a huge market, although a movement is afoot to stop the plundering.

What's special about this particular cup is that the ship Seeker, thousands of years earlier, took a group of about a thousand people away from earth, destined for a new world, Margolia. Since the ship left, no one ever heard from these people again, and legends began to flourish about the hidden colony -- rising to the level of our own fascination with say, Atlantis. But with the cup found, Alex and Chase now have evidence that someone out there knows something about the Seeker and quite possibly Margolia, and they begin a long journey to discover all they can, with the hope of picking up more relics and making a fortune. Along the way Alex thinks they can also solve the mystery of what happened to the Seeker and its passengers. But there are others out there who don't want Alex and Chase to succeed.

While parts of the plot and some of the characters are often just so-so, there are some good scenes. McDevitt's best writing shows itself when Chase ventures off into the home world of the physically repugnant Mutes (The Ashyyur -- a telepathic race with whom humans have a tentative peace), following a lead. McDevitt poses some moral questions in this novel while telling a good story.

The combination of sci-fi and mystery appeals to me when I'm in the "I need to relax my brain" mode. I would recommend it to readers of speculative fiction, and for mystery readers who don't mind leaving Earth for the duration of the read.
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LibraryThing member Isamoor
Nov11:

Characters: Really only the main couple. The rest are very transient this time. They're still hanging strong however.

Plot: The search for the missing colony. Really, it was done quite well. Kept me riveted.

Style: Still as good if not better. The writing style melded very well with the plot
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this time. (More a change of plot than a change of style)
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LibraryThing member clong
After being nominated for the Nebula many times, it's easy to see why McDevitt finally got his award with this book. This isn't a book about profound, earth-shattering issues. But Seeker offers all of the strengths of a typical McDevitt novel (i.e., an unpretentious, nicely paced, and intruguing
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mystery set in a well defined future). To this formula it adds a brilliantly moving conclusion.
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LibraryThing member BrowncoatLibrarian
The third installment in Jack McDevitt's "Alex Benedict" series of books, "Seeker" is best defined as an archeo-mystery novel - in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the fate of a centuries-old legendary starship, the novel travels to several exotic locations in search of (nearly) equally old
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clues. However, "Seeker" is a far cry from the standard of mystery novels; it is far superior.

The Seeker was one of humanity's first true interstellar "seed ships," a massive star-going ship designed to ferry people to a colony. Launched from a dystopian Earth more than a century before the beginning of the novel's narrative, the Seeker carried colonists to a fledgling community free from the global government's fascist policies. However, when the Seeker was lost without a trace, a legend was born. A legend which lay untouched for more than a century.

Alex Benedict, an antiquities dealer specializing in artifacts from alien civilizations and the ancient human space program, is shown a cup that, by all appearances, came from the vanished Seeker. This touches off a race to locate the Seeker, a quest which takes us across the stars to put together a centuries-old jigsaw puzzle of clues. The prize, however, could be much more than the Seeker itself - the colony to which the Seeker was headed has also never been found.

Filled with the a hard science fiction narrative that Jack McDevitt is so famous for crafting, "Seeker" is a story that is difficult to leave. Each step along the path opens a new question, and although the book suffers from a slow introduction, once the true plot begins, it is difficult to put down for any length of time.

Despite the fact that "Seeker" is actually the third in the series, new readers can easily pick up the storyline without any knowledge of prior events - although one should be warned that the conclusions of prior books are hinted.

"Seeker" is a prime example of the science fiction that only Jack McDevitt can write. Well worth the time of any true science fiction fan, "Seeker" is an excellent example of how science fiction - and mystery - should be done.
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LibraryThing member rameau
This is a solid space adventure that kept me turning the pages. But the Nebula for Best Novel of 2006? Really? We're a long way down from The Dispossessed and Timescape. The framework is routine. What happened to the lost colony? The characters are equally rote. Chase is your basic gumshoe, but in
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space, and Alex is just a guy who signs checks. The villain's motivation is ridiculous. When the mystery of Margolia is solved, I could only summon up a mild "hmm."
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LibraryThing member aulsmith
I have to say I too am surprised this won the Nebula. I thought the pacing sagged a little in the middle. Also, I found the resolution of the action-adventure part of the plot pretty contrived. However, it kept me reading to the end, and the end was beautiful -- real sensawonder stuff. Definitely
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worth reading to find out what happened to the lost colony.
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LibraryThing member SaintBrevity
Third in a series, following Polaris, this book is another "artifact leads to amazing discovery" with an odd rhythm to its pacing. There's a bit more action in this book than in previous books, as well as more plot. I read most of it standing in line to vote (three hours, le sigh), and it was
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entertaining enough, but it drags in the middle.

The better part of these books, I hasten to add, is that they're part of a series, but not a discrete trilogy, so none of them suffer the middle book syndrome, and all have self contained stories that at most barely reference previous books.

Still, I think I'm over my McDevitt phase, at least for a couple of months.
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LibraryThing member joeteo1
An excellent piece of speculative fiction that takes place thousands of years into the future. The story follows future archeologist/treasure hunters who are searching for the fate of an ancient earth colony who were lost and never heard from again. The ideas are thought provoking and novel, the
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characters are likable and the story is well-paced and engrossing. The story mades me wonder about the decal covered plastic cups that come with your child's happy meal. If it was found ten thousand years from now by an archeologist, how much would it be worth?
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LibraryThing member DaveFragments
They seek a world lost a thousand years ago.
And even though the villian is an asshole, it's a good book.
LibraryThing member NogDog
Interesting story and characters, though the characters were at times a bit unbelievable for me. I also didn't care that the author threw in a "red herring" character that had no actual impact on the story.
LibraryThing member amf0001
came highly recommended, wanted to like it but couldn't get into it. Never finished. :(
LibraryThing member jmourgos
Seeker


A decent novel by Jack McDevitt, won a Nebula and all that. But what about the story?

This is an Alex Benedict novel, the second in a series, which I started first. Yeah, that’s me. I completed the Hutch series of books and wanted to continue with McDevitt in a similar universe, but 9,000
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years later, when space travel is easy and “warping” (my word) to distant places is as easy as taking a boat across the Atlantic.

Plots and Contrivances:

Benedict is a treasure hunter and with his aide Chase, find archeological artifacts and then put them up for auction and use that money for further exploration. They consider they are explorers and if they didn’t put the stuff out for people to see, it would rot in an alien cave or be undisturbed or unknown for thousands of years. Can’t have that!

Some admire the team. Others hate them and call them “grave robbers” which is the main impetus of the tale.

Someone knows of Benedict’s expeditions. Someone looted an area that he had already discovered. Further, someone is trying to kill him and Chase!

But I digress.

The book starts with a man who is crushed under an avalanche and regrets it, since he made an amazing discovery, a major archeological find, and now he is going to die under tons of ice and snow, hoping against hope that someone finds what he found out.

Through pure luck, someone walks into Benedict’s offices and presents a cup that has no previous history. It’s from her ex, who is a robber, whose ex’s father (who has since been mindwiped and not a criminal anymore) had stolen the cup from a rich family, who happens to be related to the guy who was buried under the snow at the start of the story.

And someone is trying to kill Benedict and Chase to prevent them from further discovery as they trace the cup through some pretty unusual and frankly crazy coincidences.

Plot Points:

The girl who brought in the cup, not really smart and not bright in the ways of romance. Chase helps but ends up getting hurt in the process. The girl is not much of a character.

The adventure to the Mutes, the only other civilization they know of, that is a race of telepaths. Chase has a fun time with them – NOT.

The whole AI (artificial intelligence) angle, enjoyable.

The ending (no spoilers!) really wraps things up nicely and I was somewhat surprised who the true antagonist was.

Bottom Line:

Moral judgment and radical terrorism in the vein of archeology and grave-robbing, as well as civilizations old and new pepper this novel. Sometimes convoluted, but a fun read overall.

Still, not as good as his Hutch novels – so far.

On to “Polaris” (the first in the Alex Benedict series).

Recommended.
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LibraryThing member heradas
Extremely good far future science fiction. It feels grounded on actual science, and has a phenomenal ending.
LibraryThing member scottcholstad
This is the third book in Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series, although it should probably be called the Chase Kolpath series, as the story is told from her point of view, like all but the first book. They are antiquities dealers, selling extremely rare and often old artifacts for small fortunes
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to rich collectors. They often travel to distant worlds to find these items. In this book, they meet a young woman who has a cup she'd like to sell and they figure out it's from the legendary space ship Seeker, a ship that left Earth 9,000 years ago with colonists bound for an unknown planet that was never seen again. They become interested in finding, first, the ship, and then later, the planet, and so the mystery begins.

Alex sends Chase, his assistant and pilot, everywhere, including to a museum on an alien world where they're telepaths and they can all read her mind, and then to old Earth. They do ultimately find Seeker and its hidden contents, but discover there was a second ship as well, and so the search continues. Meanwhile, someone isn't too happy with their efforts and tries to murder them. When the identity of the person behind the murder plot is revealed, I was shocked. Shocked! And Chase is amazing. She can do practically anything, while Alex gets all the credit.

I'm not sure if this is a five star book or not. It's not the best book I've read and it may not even be the best Alex Benedict book. But after thinking it over, I can't come up with a valid reason NOT to give it five stars. It's a great mystery. It's got action. It's got history. It's got space. It's got sci fi. What more could you want? Recommended.
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LibraryThing member scottcholstad
This is the third book in Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series, although it should probably be called the Chase Kolpath series, as the story is told from her point of view, like all but the first book. They are antiquities dealers, selling extremely rare and often old artifacts for small fortunes
Show More
to rich collectors. They often travel to distant worlds to find these items. In this book, they meet a young woman who has a cup she'd like to sell and they figure out it's from the legendary space ship Seeker, a ship that left Earth 9,000 years ago with colonists bound for an unknown planet that was never seen again. They become interested in finding, first, the ship, and then later, the planet, and so the mystery begins.

Alex sends Chase, his assistant and pilot, everywhere, including to a museum on an alien world where they're telepaths and they can all read her mind, and then to old Earth. They do ultimately find Seeker and its hidden contents, but discover there was a second ship as well, and so the search continues. Meanwhile, someone isn't too happy with their efforts and tries to murder them. When the identity of the person behind the murder plot is revealed, I was shocked. Shocked! And Chase is amazing. She can do practically anything, while Alex gets all the credit.

I'm not sure if this is a five star book or not. It's not the best book I've read and it may not even be the best Alex Benedict book. But after thinking it over, I can't come up with a valid reason NOT to give it five stars. It's a great mystery. It's got action. It's got history. It's got space. It's got sci fi. What more could you want? Recommended.
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LibraryThing member BooksOn23rd
SEEKER, by Jack McDevitt, is a hard sci-fi story set in the very far future.
Chase Kolpath and Alex Benedict follow the trail of an ancient cup to try to find out what became of a colony that set out for new territory thousands of years ago, and was never heard from again.
I found the story
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predictable and some of the sentences unintentionally funny.
There are certainly plenty of sci-fi books that are written very poorly, and this one is better than most, but it just didn’t get me charged up enough to recommend it.
~Stephanie
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LibraryThing member majackson
Now I'll have to read the other books in the series. I'm impressed by McDevitt..this book, and "Infinity Beach", demonstrate him as a first-rate detective writer. With an entire galaxy to frame his stories he has enough room for creating some decently complex and intriguing tales. It's also
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interesting that he tends to assign fairly unprepossessing women as protagonists. A throw-away character asks for an estimate on an old mug and sets in motion a quest for a 9,000 year old utopian settlement deemed to have been lost in space. To add to the tension there's a group of anti-souvenir fanatics that are willing to kill in order to stop the poaching of historical artifacts. Clues and some pretty impressive deductions, and a few lucky guesses, guide the heroes to find the end of this multi-millennial mystery. Every time they find enough to end the search, they find a reason to continue beyond the end such that the story continues after some brief respites in the action.
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LibraryThing member TheCrow2
The third book of the Benedict series our heroes are after a colony ship lost 9000 years ago. And yes, they are not the only ones who want to find it... or prevent them finding it. Entertaining and exciting novel of a good series.
LibraryThing member lschiff
Very weak writing, a much weaker book than Chindi, despite Chindi's failure to deliver. This one fails to deliver too. The last 5 pages should have been at least half of the book. The female characters are ridiculous and the relations between men and women are silly.

Awards

Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2006)
Locus Award (Nominee — Science Fiction Novel — 2006)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2005

Physical description

368 p.; 6.36 inches

ISBN

0441013295 / 9780441013296
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