A Talent for War

An Alex Benedict Novel

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Gregory Abbey, Jack McDevitt

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Everyone knew the legend of Christopher Sim. Fighter. Leader. An interstellar hero with a rare talent for war, Sim changed mankind's history forever when he forged a ragtag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the back of the alien Ashiyyur. But now, Alex Benedict has found a startling bit of information, long buried in an ancient computer file. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a fraud.

For his own sake, for the sake of history, Alex Benedict must follow the dark track of a legend, into the very heart of the alien galaxy - where he will confront a truth far stranger than any fiction imaginable.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Jack McDevitt.

©2004 Jack McDevitt (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In his ability to absolutely rivet the reader, it seems to me that McDevitt is the logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke." (Stephen King)

Good but rest of series is better!

I had listened to the 2nd-4th books of this series (which can be read in pretty much any order) and came to this one last mostly because it did not have the same reader. This book is OK- a good mystery with interesting back story. The subsequent books, however, are much better. They are told from the perspective of Chase (the "sidekick") and the reader of those is great. They all involve search for historical artifacts, adventures, and a bit of sleuthing so there is a lot of information on the fictional history of their (future) society as they go about their investigations. Fun SF.

I really wanted to give it 5 stars

I loved it. It was very well read and I am seriously debating listening to it again, because I missed a bit here and there while the sound around me got loud.
The story was compelling and the universe feels very real and has great depth. Settings and action are well described, but in a way that feels like you already are familiar with them because these are known places and activities.
There are a few hints at "romantic" activities, but the they stay hints, no embarrassing details. There is death and injury, but no gore.
The only thing holding back the fifth star is language. There is no gratuitous swearing just because. And no F%$#, but Son of a &'%$* and Oh my $*&, are rather heavily used. It was so distracting in the first chapter I hesitated to keep going. It lets up a bit for most of the rest, but in such a vast universe surely a few less offensive explosives could be invented without damaging our suspension of disbelief.
Update- I actually exchanged this book. Even though I missed a few parts, I know I can't listen to all that swearing again. I may see if my library has a hardcopy to reread.

Great book, flawed narration.

This is a great story. The narration is marred by glaring mispronunciations of important words. Other than cringing at a reader who has obviously never heard of Greek philosophy and history, and butchers names like Demosthenes, I enjoyed the general pace and tone of the narration. Why don't they edit these things?

Satisfying Sci Fi

Complex plot in a far future world, with much guessing about characters’ histories, relationships and motivations. The author uses events from ancient Greek history to anchor the story. The narrator, who otherwise does a fine job, excruciatingly mispronounces the names of the Greek sages whose words and actions inform the story. Goodness gracious, Audible editors and narrators, why don’t you look it up if you don’t know how to say Leonides or Demosthenes? It hurts when you make such a mess of it.

An enjoyable future history

I started with Seeker, and knew there had to be great stories preceding it. This one has the same grandeur and richness and was an enjoyable listen.

Poor narrator and slow start

The first two thirds of the book feel like a tedious history lesson. And it's hard to keep track of who the current first person is.
The narrator makes little distinction between characters, and makes pauses and emphasis on really weird places.
Last third of the book is a little bit exciting, but I wouldn't recommend it.

odd performance choice

the performance doesn't really match the character or the story. but the book is great

Disappointing narrator

Narrator needs to learn how to pronounce words, rather than mangle them - mispronounced words were quite distracting.
Story is only middling. Not a lot of depth, and some random flailing as if trying to fill word-count.

The Masterpiece

This is my favorite Jack McDevitt book, I love the rest of the series and the Academy series, but this one is the best.

Let me just start by saying the way to spot a good book is when the main complaint is the narrator. Learn to adjust the play speed, this fixes almost all narration problems.

This book has such a unique pace and mystery. Is it wholly consistent with the rest of the series? No, the narrative point of view changes to Chase, and the available tech also changes (no headbands, for example). I like Chase's narration. She gets to play Watson to Alex's Sherlock, but I also really miss hearing the stories from his perspective. He is my favorite character. I can't recommend the series and specifically, this book, enough.

Very good - but the cover and title are deceptive

This is NOT a book about war, or fighting in space, or action of any kind. You should NOT judge the book by it's cover or title or you will be disappointed (as several reviewers were), but if you know going in that it is more of a detective story (where the detective is a librarian type) you will like it. I would actually compare it to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" or the other George Smiley spy books - there is very little action currently happening (but past action is discovered and discussed by the protagonist). That is not a bad thing (John La Carrie sold millions of those books, and they are great), but if you are expecting the protagonist to have a "talent for war" (he doesn't) or men in spacesuits (the cover depicts a man dead for a hundred years) you will be disappointed. If you want an interesting future mystery with some science fiction (it is the future, but that future is 90% like the present) and several very interesting "twists", give this a try.