Village in the Sky

I’m completing this review a couple of years after reading it, and to be honest I can’t remember much about this (this is why I’m doing the reviews. I did try asking Copilot for a plot summary but all it did was regurgitate the blurb from the back , only adding a few more details when I asked it for a breakdown of the significant events. If nothing else, it would suggest that these large language models are not trained on works currently still in copyright!

I did consider starting a reread, as I do enjoy Jack McDevitt as a warm comforting experience that doesn’t challenge the reader too much (which perhaps explains why not much sticks in my memory!) not really sure I’m going to do that, but yes, I did read this all the way to the end, the only thing that does stick is that I recall that contact was made with another intelligent civilisation, for only the second time after the telepathic “Mutes”, however, the whole thing seem to be incredibly low-key on both sides with just an exchange of cultural artefacts and then moving on as if nothing had happened.

Interestingly, I just tried the same query of ChatGPT, which did provide a little bit more depth but did also note that many viewers found the book quite slow and also described it as “a low stakes mystery“, with which I would entirely agree. Not what I can really recommend as a life changing experience but a useful comfort read all the same.