A Talent For War

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

A Talent for War presents an enjoyable trek through a future history...a history with it's own figure-heads and heroes, and shows us how those people actually were. McDevitt gives us the science fiction equivalent of taking us back to the American Revolution and putting us into the heads of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. McDevitt exquisitely executes this future history through the backdrop of the protagonist, Alex Benedict, and his search for the truth about what happened to the longterm exploratory ship Tenandrome. What did the crew find that they thought they had to erase all public records of the journey, and essentially swear themselves to silence about that journey. McDevitt's only flaw in this book is that he seems to get sidetracked a bit with minutae...who said what at this meeting or that, who did what, where...etc. Some of this was clearly needed...but he goes overboard just a bit. This detracts from the story only a little though. Mostly, I just desperately wanted to find out the answers to the mysteries McDevitt poses. A Talent for War is a really good read, McDevitt's character analyses are dead-on and consequently he does a wonderful job of making you feel what the characters feel. As long as you enjoy good storytelling this book is highly recommended to anyone, period.

A grand, sweeping tale that will appeal especially to those with a classical education. By deliberately using the histories of ancient Greece as the underlayer of this story, he imbues it with a stirring, mythic flavour. Done in many explicit ways. The wife of Sim, the lost hero, is an instructor in Greek philosophy and history. Sim himself, before the way, is depicted as writing a book on the war between Greece and Persia. The main events of the war are two hundred years before the contemporary events. McDevitt uses this to add a sepia tone of nostalgia. Akin to Americans looking back at their Civil War. McDevitt adds amusing little sidenotes for detailed depth. All this is set in the far future, in a high technological star-spanning setting. Yet McDevitt has the narrator say how the advances of the narrator's time has taken the romance out of daily life, unlike the stirring days of the war.The narrator's search across space to solve the mystery is akin to that in Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, in the last volume, when members of the First Foundation search for the Second. There are other similarities. Firstly in style. McDevitt cultivates a sparse descriptive narrative, much like that used by Asimov throughout his books. But there is something more. Joseph Patrouch in the late 70s wrote "The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov", where he critiqued the Foundation Trilogy. He noted that the major action events were not usually described directly ("in real time"). Rather, Asimov would have his characters recall the events, after they had occurred. McDevitt's book resembles this. To large extent, it is not really a book on military science fiction. A reader of Drake, Weber, Pournelle or Stirling would see this quickly. But at a subtler level, the saga-like backdrop does give this book such a cadence.

My personal experience of this novel has been similar to that expressed in 'Hrinwar's review. I can across it in a remainders bin in '94, one of my most fortunate finds ever. Since then I have read it pretty much every year, sometimes more. This is not from lack of other material to spend my time on but the levels that unravel as the story progresses, the sheer thrill of watching the clues come together, the intrigue built up around the historic mysteries, never fail to hold me entranced. I love this book and only wish others by the same author, or anyone else for that matter, could ignite my interest in the same way. However it would be an irrelevance to make comparisons with other works - put simply it is one of my most deeply held personal favourites and has stood the test of nine years repeated reading. A supreme example of a deeply satisfying reading experience.

I've read alot of S.F. in my time from DUNE to THE GAP series, but A TALENT FOR WAR is my favourite. I picked my copy up in a nameless second hand bookstore in Sydney Australia before a long bus journey and read it twice before I arrived at my destination some 24 hours later. It is a human story, of heroism and sacrifice, set in the context of an historical detective story where the main character is thrust into a mystery that he must see through to its conclusion for his own peace of mind. The combination of fast packed action, mystery, romance and brilliant S.F. projections of where some of our latest technology could lead, has me going back again and again and again. The characters are human (for the most part)and admirable. Perhaps the feature that I admire most about this book and that keeps me coming back is that it keeps you thinking about the events that unfold within the pages well after the book is finished. You want to reread it to figure out another angle. This, coupled with terrific "Historical" battle descriptions and well written prose has me hooked. I'll leave this here....I must go and start it again....