Infinity Beach
Review
by: Li
Rapkin 
Written
by: Jack McDevitt
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Scientists
have been searching the universe for signs of intelligent,
extra-terrestrial life for several hundred years at the opening
of Jack McDevitt’s new novel. Having been unsuccessful in
all that time, a group of researchers has decided to take
drastic, and controversial, action-deliberately inducing several
stars into supernovae in order to announce the presence of
the human race. The project draws criticism from galactic-minded
environmentalists as well as security-minded scientists who
question the wisdom of announcing the presence of the human
race to a completely unknown entity or entities. The general
public of the future is at least as unconcerned as the general
public of today, if not more so. The main character, a publicist
and fund-raiser for the institute responsible for the project,
has her hands full. In the course of the story, Dr. Brandywine
becomes increasingly obsessed with a previous mission to search
for intelligent life, mostly because her cloned sister disappeared
shortly after the ship returned to their home planet of Greenway.
Unable to cope with her sister’s mysterious disappearance,
she begins investigating the mission and the remaining survivors.
Her search leads her to a conclusion that is guaranteed to
set the scientific community on its ear…which needs doing
every once in a while anyway.
McDevitt
has written about intelligent alien species in several of
his other novels, although we rarely get to see anything other
than archeological evidence of their presence. Most of the
time, the characters are left with a frustrating inability
to comprehend their finds. This time, he’s taken both his
characters’ and his reader’s Star Trek/Star Wars
preconceptions about aliens and given them a clever twist.
As always, McDevitt’s prose is well paced and easy to read,
without being dumbed down in the slightest. “Brandywine’s
Corollary” particularly stuck with me, and I must admit, it’s
a brilliant summation of humanity.
What are
you waiting for? Go read it.
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