A Talent For War by Jack McDevitt
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Book Reviews of A Talent For War
Book Review: engrossing mystery
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviewers have said it better than I...
One of McDevitt's best works, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Book Review: Another good one from McDevitt
Summary: 5 Stars
Loved this book - it's the reason I started reading all of Jack McDevitt's work.
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.
Book Review: A timely tale
Summary: 4 Stars
In this combination space opera/mystery novel Jack McDevitt has created a tale that is both timeless and yet incredibly relevant to today's society. The basic premise and concept of this novel centers around Christopher Sim, an interstellar hero of the past who, according to legend, changed history forever with his suicidal stand against the alien Ashiyur. At least ACCORDING to legend.
However Alex Benedict discovers, almost by accident, that the truth about history is usually told by the victors (in this case, Human Space). The REAL truth usually is somewhat different. Alex becomes involved in trying to find out the truth when his uncle, Gabe Benedict, perishes under somewhat mysterious circumstances while in the pursuit of some recently uncovered information about Christopher Sim and the Human/Ashiyur War.
McDevitt's slow and deliberate revelations about the truth behind the Human/Ashiyur war move the novel along and as the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together Alex realizes the magnitude of the deception involved. As with most mystery tales getting there is half the fun of reading this novel.
The relevance of this tale comes with McDevitt's assertion of how a democratic society's main purpose is to prepare and focus for war and that a democratic society will go to almost any length (and deception) to mobilize its war machine. (Gee-kinda sounds like the Iraq conflict maybe?)
McDevitt's portrayal of the war heroes and human nature in general are what make this novel truly work and worth reading.
Book Review: Thought Provoking and Suddenly Timely
Summary: 4 Stars
One thing about Jack McDevitt is you know you are always going to get a solid sci-fi story. This is one of his earlier works, and therefore like most authors shorter and more concise.
The backdrop of the story focuses on Christopher Sim, the hero of the last great war of the books generation. Through the story, the book asks a central question of any society, what do we really know about our heroes? What is the official story, what is the true history, and are we better off for knowing the truth, or should we let myths stand?
The story itself, the unfolding and search for the truth of how Sim really defeated humanity's enemy and Sim's weariness of war are the strongest points of the book. The two main characters, Alex and Chase, who do the historical digging are interesting, but sometimes a little annoying to read the adventures of someone like Alex who has so much free time and money on his hands. However, those two characters are also a good counterpoint to the freedom that was won, their freedom to live in such a good life.
Whether McDevitt meant to make that analogy is an unknown, but there certainly is the same feeling of a new generation that lives a life of luxury off the forgotten horrors of an earlier war. And should history be spared the truth, because of it? Although some have made the correlation to how information is dispensed now in the Iraq War, I prefer the WWII and the relative peace of the 90's. However, I wouldn't argue the Iraq point.