Myke Edwards's Reviews > Cauldron

I love Jack McDevitt's work. I really do. Much of his writing, style and story, has been a massive influence on my own science fiction writing. Cauldron, however, was tough to read.
It's a great idea, and felt like the culmination of the Academy series in an organic, perfect way. A new type of star drive is created, and several of the Milky Way's mysteries can now be answered, or at least addressed. So why did it take so damn long to get there?
Too many chapters of bland, boring white guys getting together to discuss things. And then discuss more...and more...and when the hell are they going to do anything? Jack's chapters are typically long enough to make you feel satisfied that you finished a chapter before heading to bed or work or wherever, but many of these were only two or three pages. Some could have been eliminated altogether.
In fact, this was the shortest Academy book I've read, unless I'm mistaken. It felt like to me there was an idea but not enough of one to execute, so a lot of filler material was shoved in here and this book was born.
However, it wasn't all bad. I like Hutch and she's the same old Hutch in here. I can picture Cobie Smulders portraying her in movie versions of these books, but there would not translate well to the screen! Just who I saw in that role.
When he puts action in, watch out! It's engrossing. The test of the Locarno was as breath-baiting as the characters in the book felt, and the stairway scene was one of the most incredible action scenes I've ever read in my life. I love Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, and this put many of those to shame!
All in all, it's a decent send-off for Hutch and the Academy series. I'd love to read more, but I think this gives a good opportunity to hang it up. (I'm aware there is another book in the series, but I'm almost 100% certain it's a prequel.)