Talent For War

Title: A Talent For War
Author: Jack McDevitt
Genre: SF
Series: Alex Benedict (1)
Ranking: Good
LibraryThing: Title:Talent For War ISBN:0-441-79553-6 (Add Book)
Type: Owned
Read: 2007-07-15

Everyone knew the legend of Christopher Sim. Sim changed mankind's history forever when he forged a ragtag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the back of the alien Ashiyur. 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 find out.

Thoughts

Good. Writing style above-average (not poetic but not bland either). The pace is rather leisurely; not much action, really. Lots of tracking down leads and deepening of the mystery. There's very much a weight of history in this world-building (I'd almost compare it to Tolkien's sense of history in Middle-Earth) -- not just quotes from journals and famous figures, but poetry and opera and historical novels are referred to.