McDevitt, Jack. Omega. Academy No. 4. Ace, 2003.
Jack McDevitt has had a long career of writing very good science fiction. He creates nuanced and believable characters and puts them in a credible far future space-faring society. The Academy is a government-funded organization of scientists and spaceship crews that make first contact with alien species and explore astrophysical anomalies. Most of the books in the series deal with Fermi’s paradox as the Academy works to find out why technological societies are so rare. Omega offers a partial explanation, the eponymous Omega Cloud, a cloud of gas and nanoparticles thousands of kilometers long. It homes in on star systems with technological societies, destroying artificial structures. No one knows why. Now a newly discovered pre-industrial society is threatened, and an expedition is launched to warn the aliens and try some tricks to deflect the cloud. It is the sort of situation one might find in a Star Trek plot, complete with its own version of the Prime Directive, but McDevitt handles it more realistically than the usual Trek story. For one thing, space travel is expensive, starships are in short supply and the central characters of the series are aging. His early protagonist, Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchinson, is now an administrator struggling with funding and public relations. The expedition has trouble learning the alien language without violating its non-interference mandate. No Babel Fish or universal translators here. In sum, Omega is a well-told story with intriguing ideas, adequate action, and engaging characters. 4 stars. ( )

Typical McDevitt. On the one hand, life on Earth in the 23rd century seems identical to about 1990. I'm surprised characters don't read the morning paper and open mail. On the other hand, interstellar travel! Flight with little concern for fuel! Invisibility via lightbenders! You have to read McDevitt for the adventure story and the sympathetic if not very deep characters.

This novel features the planet-blasting Omega clouds introduced earlier in the series. They are attracted to and wipe out artificial structures like cities. Now one is bearing down on a planet with a just discovered race of aliens named Goompahs after a popular kids TV show. Wait. Did I say 1990s above. I meant 1960s. The Federation --I mean, Academy -- Protocol says to not interfere but the Goompahs are too popular so ships are sent to either destroy or distract the Omega cloud or convince the Goompahs to abandon their cities.

There's the unforgivable use of the old trope where someone says "I have an idea what those clouds are but let me work on it and get back to you in two days" and you know what happens next. Otherwise the book proceeds smoothly if slowly through various successes and failures in the rescue attempt. Though this is part of the Priscilla Hutchins series, at this point she is primarily an administrator who sets up the missions. She also gets to propose a solution to what the clouds are but you won't like it so don't read this for that.

Recommended for McDevitt fans. If you've not read him, start earlier in the series, like The Engines of God or Deepsix when Hutchins is more front and center. ( )

Overall good book. A little boring in places. I think it is because McDevitt shows a realistic world where space travel is just a job. There are heroics but they take place hand in hand with foul-ups and bad decisions. Nobody is "Spaceman Spiff - star explorer" they are just people. It is very much like real life and real life can be a boring slog to get through sometimes.

For anyone following this series, there is more information about the omega clouds that are causing so much trouble and wiping out civilizations. ( )

Omega continues on in much the same vein as the previous Academy books. Science fiction in a universe where life is remarkably rare and civilization even more so. This time though... we've found someone.

The Omegas (clouds coming in 8000 year waves from the center of the galaxy which have a tendency to seek out and destroy right angles) return in the book, pointing directly to a new civilization. It's thousands of light years away, so there are only a limited number of ships that can possibly get there in time.

Hutch takes more of a backseat role this time, opening the stage to a few new characters. And just when I was finally getting to know her too. I like the new characters well enough and the death toll is at least lower this time. We'll see if they stick around in the next two books.

Overall, despite an entire civilization at stake, this book someone doesn't quite get as intense as those before it. Perhaps just because I've now read five of these in a row, but I can see from the outset which solutions are going to fail, which will partially succeed, and how they're finally going to save the day. It's not a problem per say, but it's getting there.

Final oddity (and this might have had some impact on the previous paragraph): I've actually read this book before. I'm fairly impressed that I managed to pick up and read the fourth in a series without realizing it (even if this is one series where that's not necessarily a problem) and that I didn't notice I was rereading until about 20% of the way into the book. It must have been pre-GoodReads that I last read it. Amusing. ( )

Deus Ex Machima much??? Ug. What a thoroughly disappointing book. Written adequately, that's why the 2 stars. ( )