Mini-review: Jack McDevitt, The Engines of God

Jack McDevitt The Engines of God (Voyager 1996; £5.99 pb, 419pp)
Or Engines of God as the cover has it. “Classic sense-of-wonder sf meets The X-Files” puffs the blurb, straining for a market, but don’t be put off: this intelligent, humane, and very readable book has little in common with either. Instead it’s an alien-contact mystery, with archaeologists as heroes. Why are various relics – seemingly purposeless sculptures – scattered round the nearer star systems, and why does dating place them alongside the extinction of various races? Reminiscent of Kim Stanley Robinson (Icehenge) and Paul McAuley (Four Hundred Billion Stars), this thoughful and somewhat bleak book is warmly recommended.
Amazon UK link: The Engines of God (Voyager)