A Talent For War

Jack McDevitt’s wonderful science fiction mystery rides the line that defines Military Science Fiction very tight. The story, about Alex Benedict’s search for the nature of his uncle’s secret, takes place nearly 10,000 years in the future, and while Alex unravels his life’s mystery, we are shown a world where there’s a great war waging that is a part of a deep history of humanity and alien cultures. McDevitt, an absolute master of the genre, pulls the threads of mystery, both grand and personal, and the wide-ranging history of the universe and its inhabitants. He deftly moves between the present day activities of Benedict’s searching and the long history of the world as it had evolved up to that point. The entire novel is a masterpiece of interactions between the present and past, between the personal and the grand scheme. It’s a big picture novel that manages to never lose the personal aspect.  That’s not easy, and to make it as incredibly engaging is even more difficult! Why it’s on the list McDevitt is a master storyteller, and A Talent for War might be the most ambitious of all his works.