Challenger's Hope (Oeb) [Import] [Hardcover]

David Feintuch (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Twtp Assorted (May 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0759523967
• ISBN-13: 978-0759523968
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice read, but I'm getting sick of Nick..., March 11, 2003

By 

Empyreal (LA, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Challenger's Hope (Seafort Saga, Bk. 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read the Seafort Saga many years back, and I decided to re-read them now that Children of Hope and Patriarch's Hope are out (they weren't out the first time I read the books). So, I wanted to refresh myself before I read the two new ones...

In this book, Seafort is sent with a big group of ships to go defend Hope Nation. The only problem is, they fuse a great deal of times and meet fish on two of those times. Betrayed by the admiral in charge, Seafort is transferred to a disabled ship with a bunch of the more useless (read, trannie - sort of street kids - and elderly) passengers. His crew is skeletal, and some of them are rebellious. The passengers are snotty except for the old ones, who are pretty dang useless, and the trannies who dont' improve the situation. So... Seafort tries to pull things together and improve their chances of survival although everything looks pretty dang hopeless. Seafort becomes more disagreeable throughout the book until you feel like you'd join in any rebellion against him too.

But, it's a good book. Feintuch has a rare talent of drawing the reader into the book and making the reader become attached to the characters (my attachment is to Vax). Watch the characters grow and change... all the while keeping the story interesting and suspenseful.

I don't think this book is as good as Midshipman's Hope, but it is a good read and I recommend this saga to anybody. Actually, I just got my best friend addicted to it by giving her Midshipman's Hope for her birthday and sending her Challenger's Hope when she was done iwth the first one. She absolutely loves the books, as does my other best friend. And the one had never even read sci-fi before! As she put it, you forget it's a scifi novel for the most part. It's about living and dealing with problems...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The captivation continues..., May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Challenger's Hope (Seafort Saga, Bk. 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Captive reading, that is! I cannot agree more with all the reviewers so far who have said they could not put the book down... Be prepared and leave a lazy day for this one. Seafort's dynamic personality becomes even more dynamic in this sequel. We see a lot more confusion in him in this story as opposed to Midshipman's Hope, perhaps due to the undue torment he faces from the universe. Emotionally (depending on your level of heart), this novel could make you cry, put you in a rage, and make you depressed all in the same day. It brought me to the verge of most of these emotions. Some times you feel "It's just not fair!" what happens to Seafort... But where, then, does the plot come from? Let me amend my previous statement. Get a hotel room to yourself for a night. Otherwise you won't satisfy the pace at which you'll want to plough through this book. My navy salute! Enjoy.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Military SF, February 11, 2000

By 

Omptada (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Challenger's Hope (Seafort Saga, Bk. 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

This volume, the second of ist series, shows its hero Nick Seafort first as commander of a starship bound for Hope Nation, which planet he does not reach this time, and then as commander of another starship, or wreck of a starship, on its way back to earth. Characters of the first volume appear again.

At first reading, the story was completely gripping. As said by other readers on this page: You can not put the book down. Now, about a year after my first reading and after having since then read the whole series, I read the book again. My comments are to be seen on this basis.

In my opinion the series lives on the particular social, political and military environment it is unfolding. I do not share the opinion expressed on this page that the environment would be unrealistic or hard to believe. Given that the history of man shows a great diversity of types of societies, it would on the contrary be unrealistic to assume that society of the year 2197 would be a mere continuation of the US in 2000, i.e. a today with just further liberalism, more education and more wealth. In any event, the reaction towards rigid standards in religion, politics and military is explained in a plausible way in the series' several remarks on mankind's history between today and then.

However, the book is of course not high literature. It gives us an admiral (Tremaine) who acts malicious and cowardly from the start of the book, without this disposition being in any way explained. And of course it gives us big bad monsters, that are simply big bad monsters.

There are some things which the reader does not usually like. The author's emphasis on his young characters being caned is surely one of them. However, at no point would the author become explicit or would he cross the borders good taste dictates. Still, if one thinks the whole thing over, the hero's feelings of guilt might have a more convincing source here than wherever the author allocates it. Besides, I know of no army where young officers were subject to such treatment and doubt that there were any, so the author's strive to authentically create a militaristic environment does not dictate this.

Another thing is the author's readiness to treat his (young) characters badly. The fate of Philpp Tyre should be mentioned here, who after having a generally miserable life (caned particularly often), dies in a suicide attack on a monster. For the reader who knows the following books, this incident gives a forewarning of the fate the author condemns a group of cadetts to in „Fisherman's Hope".

I compare Feintuch's series with the work of another SF author, Jack Vance. Although the style is completely different, there are some similarities. Both create societies with rigid tendencies, although Jack Vance has, I think, never written so plain military SF, and Jack Vance has, of course, created in his works many different worlds, whereas Feintuch has as yet created only the Seafort universe and an unconvincing medieval fantasy world in „The Still".- Both create heros which the reader has problems to like. Seafort is clearly not a likable character. Jack Vance's heros, whilst usually not being that nasty, nevertheless show a determination and are strangely unmoved by their exterior, which makes them quite similar to Seafort. One may think of Kirth Gersen in the Demon Princes series, or of Glawen Clattuc in the Cadwal Chronicles. All in all, Jack Vance is the better author.

When I read the above, this contribution may appear more critical than intended. As it is common, I dwelt upon the aspects I had to criticize. All in all, the book is really very good reading, as is the whole series, and is completely worth each of the four stars I do herewith award.