A Talent For War
by Jack McDevitt
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Book Reviews of A Talent For War
Book Review: A Great Man of War
Summary: 5 Stars
A Talent For War (1989) is the first SF novel in the Alex/Chase series. It has been two hundred years since the war between the Confederacy and the Ashiyyur and hostilities have begun once more. At home, the Capella failed to appear at Saraglia Station and is presumed lost without any survivors; while other liners have been lost in the past, the Capella is one of the largest and best equipped ships in the merchant fleet.
In this novel, Alex Benedict hears about the official loss while haggling over a collection of four thousand year old ceramic pots. About ten days afterward, Alex learns that Gabe Benedict, his uncle and foster father, was lost with the Capella. Alex receives two sponders from the law firm of Brimbury & Conn; playing the devices, he learns that Gabe had been investigating an incident that caused the Survey ship Tenandrome to return early from a voyage into the Veiled Lady nebula. Gabe had apparently talked with Hugh Scott from the Tenandrome. He also mentions Leisha Tanner and Ludik Talino.
Returning to Rimway, Alex contacts Brimbury & Conn to let them know that he is back in Andiquar, then takes a skimmer to Gabe's house, where Jacob -- a sophisticated data response network -- admits him. After a while, Jacob informs Alex that he doesn't directly remember their interactions since a breakin had resulted in the erasure of all his memories. Later Jacob provides Alex with information off the network on Leisha Tanner, who had served as intelligence chief for Christopher Sims during the Confederacy/Ashiyyur War.
Checking with Survey, Alex finds that the Tenandrome had a quick turnaround back to the field and that there is still an unusual amount of secrecy about the voyage within the organization. Survey refuses to provide any information on the crew, including Hugh Scott. During further attempts to locate Scott, Alex finds that he has vanished.
Alex meets Chase Kolpath when she approaches him with a bill for services rendered to his uncle. Gabe had hired her to accompany him into the Veiled Lady from Saraglia. This is rather unusual since Gabe himself is a licensed starship pilot. Alex later finds that Gabe was traveling with John Khyber, a security consultant and a member of the Talino Society. When Alex investigates the Society, he discovers that it is a group of Confederacy/Ashiyyur War fans who profess to believe that Talino did not betray Christopher Sims.
In this story, the many connections to the Confederacy/Ashiyyur War lead Alex to study it in earnest. He has Jacob compile information on various aspects of the war. He talks to avatars and observes battle simulations. He travels to various sites associated with Christopher or Tarien Sims or where the Sims fought the Ashiyyur. He even contacts the Maracaibo Caucus, an association of retired senior officers from both Human and Ashiyyur services.
Alex learns that, while other Human worlds had dithered and debated, Dellaconda had fought the Ashiyyur virtually alone for an extended period. Volunteers from other worlds fought alongside the Dellacondans and some worlds provided urgently need ships, but Dellaconda was always faced with overwhelming odds. Only Christopher Sims's talent for war and Tarien Sims's talent for oratory had kept all Human Space from being overrun, yet the Dellacondans had slowly lost ground. The Ashiyyur had been taking system after system. But even after Dellaconda fell to the enemy, the Sims managed to resist long enough for Human Space to join together in the Compact.
This story is a jigsaw puzzle, with the pieces hidden among the trivial facts of ordinary life. Alex gathers the significant pieces one by one, in jumbled order, and then puts them together to reconstruct Gabe's information and motivation. Alex and Chase then go to claim the prize, but also find an unpleasant surprise.
The author provides an engaging look at historical research, albeit in a future society. Moreover, it is research about a war. The fog of war is overlaid by the decay of history, a combination guaranteed to produce disinformation and confusion.
Highly recommended for McDevitt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure and historical puzzles.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Book Review: A Talent for War: a good-but-not-great talent for writing
Summary: 3 Stars
Despite the title, this story is a mystery, not a war story, with normal human being Alex Benedict trying to unravel the truth behind the legend of interstellar war hero (hence the title) Christopher Sim. Were the stories about him true, or too good to be true? With the death of his uncle, Alex inherits some clues that lead him hither and yon, meeting up with other mysterious people until the puzzle pieces slowly start to fall into place, but not without great adventure and peril. In the end the mystery is revealed.
Author Jack McDevitt does a pretty good job in writing. He describes the people and places in sufficient detail that forming a mental picture is quite easily done. However, my big beef with this book is two-fold.
First, the pacing for the big storyline is slow. Frankly, when you get the end of the book, you'll wonder whether the "revelation" was worth reading 310 pages. For that kind of length, you'll wish Mr. McDevitt could've had come up with something a little more "meaty" or unusual. (Don't worry, I won't spoil the ending for you.) The great secret was, to me, rather mundane. There were many sections of action and excitement, but they were for supporting plot points, whereas the main storyline doubled back on itself several times dragging things out.
On a side note, points to Mr. McDevitt for using a prologue and epilogue. He used this literary technique quite well setting up what at first appears to be a completely irrelevant scene, and then tying it in with the epilogue.
Second, I generally love books that don't beat you over the head with things, but instead allow you to draw conclusions from separate pieces that you fit together in your mind, resulting in a "wow, now I understand" moment. If anything, the great secret of this book was too esoteric and could've used a little more guidance from the author. Yeah, I figured it out when I was supposed to, but it seemed like there were still several pieces of the puzzle that were missing, or could've been explained better.
In this book you can tell that Mr. McDevitt has the skills to be a great science fiction writer, I just don't think he pulled it off with this particular book.
In general I give this book a "B". You could do far worse with your reading, but there are quite a few books out there that are knock-your- socks-off better. Try Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton for example.
Book Review: A Talent for History
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first book in Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series, in which Alex and his talented assistant Chase Kolpath meet for the first time. It is followed in the series by Polaris, Seeker, The Devil's Eye, and Echo. But is as yet unequalled in complexity and shear entertainment value. If you haven't yet read it, you haven't seen Jack McDevitt at his best.
Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict learns of Uncle Gabe's sudden death and finds himself custodian of his uncle's wealth, records and house--complete with its own resident artificial intelligence named Jacob. He also inherits a mystery his uncle was working on. Joined by Chase Kolpath, who did some related research for his uncle, Alex begins unraveling the tapestry of history. Beginning with the shortened and secret voyage of the Tenandrome to the Veiled Lady Nebula three years previously, they follow converging threads of evidence to Christopher Sim, leader and hero in a war with the alien Ashiyyur two centuries in the past. Something about the records of Sim's death doesn't ring true. And more than one hidden adversary doesn't want the official version of history challenged.
This story is archeological science fiction at its best. The author provides an almost overwhelming collection of historical records, conflicting accounts, and subtle clues. A few of the book's mysteries can be unraveled before the protagonist resolves them. Some will remain hidden, springing to light at unexpected moments. The author demonstrates mastery of good storytelling and of disciplined writing. The reader comes away with a healthy respect for historical research and an even healthier disrespect for unquestioned official versions of past events.
This book is highly recommended. It is a good tonic for anyone suffering from a low opinion of science fiction.
Book Review: A well-crafted science fiction adventure/mystery.
Summary: 5 Stars
Through 2010, Jack McDevitt has given us five novels in his Alex Benedict series. The title character and his comely pilot/assistant Chase Kolpath deal in artifacts and antiquities. Since the stories take place 11,000 years in the future, Alex and Chase have a huge number of items to recover and market. Human civilizations have risen and fallen and disappeared. A favorite artifact is a coffee mug recovered from the wardroom of a derelict interstellar warship. Depending on the ship, if the mug and the logo on it are genuine, the mug is worth much more than its weight in gold.
Each novel is easily readable, independently of the others. Reading them in order of publication is logical, however, allowing smooth identification with the characters. "A Talent for War" is the first in the series. We are introduced to Alex, and we learn how he meets Chase. Despite only 310 pages in paperback, the story is complicated. That is, agreeably complicated.
It begins with the peculiar death of Alex's Uncle Gabe, which results in Alex's inheritance of a large estate. Then a computer file is stolen from the estate. The investigation of one mystery leads to another mystery, the investigation of which leads to yet another mystery. Puzzle compounds puzzle. Alex and Chase travel around the interstellar community, searching documents, looking for a mysterious lost spaceship, immersing themselves in virtual reality to learn about the war between alien Mutes and humans.
Regarding scientific knowledge, Jack McDevitt is no wimp. But his characters are his forte. With only a few of his words, I find them convincing. Their adventures become real. Christopher Sim, the military leader of human forces against the Mutes, and Leisha Tanner, who bravely tries to persuade bellicose crowds from resorting to war--these are two of this particular novel's well-developed characters.
Alex and Chase are generic heroes that I am fond of. During long space voyages together, they do not remain physically aloof. Yet they never marry. Though they each have private relationships with other persons, they remain independent. Naturally.
Book Review: Hardy Boys for Adults in Space!
Summary: 4 Stars
First let me comment on the Alex Benedict series in general. Several of my friends and myself have really enjoyed reading the Alex Benedict series of books, starting with A Talent For War. However, you must really understand what you are getting into here. This writing is formulaic genre writing at its best, with the primary genre being mystery adventure, not scifi. It is so reminiscent of the episodic adventures of my youth, except set in an adequately conceived scifi setting. This series is pure fluff and absolutely fun. It's the most exquisite guilty pleasure.
If you understand that you will be reading a well conceived mystery woven amidst a network of interesting historical enigmas from a science fictional world, investigated by cardboard characters who find themselves in ridiculous situations of peril which will likely elicit laughter at the author's audacity, and that you will find yourself merrily going along with it all without protest until you get to a rather satisfying ending, then these are the books for you. I don't normally read this type of novel, preferring the work of Banks, Reynolds, Brin, Simmons as well as classics like Sturgeon, Bester, Asimov and Heinlein. McDevitt's writing is like none of them (with the exception of Brin's Sundiver.) It is far more accessible, less taxing, and more addictive than any of those others. It's just good fun and provides the perfect break from more involved reading.
This particular book is the least formulaic and has, by far, the largest payoff at the end, which seemingly has caused readers who prefer the more simplistic formulas of the next three books to be put off. Don't be! This is the one that absolutely can't be missed. This is the only one of the series that will really give you any kind of perspective on the protagonists and is also the best for establishing the shape of the culture and landscape of this fictional world. Combine that with the best mystery unraveling of the bunch, and you have a great book.