Customer Reviews

Challenger's Hope (Seafort Saga, Bk. 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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...

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.

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.

I tried really hard to like this book as with the others in the series. But it was simply impossible.

Don't get me wrong. I like heroes and anti-heroes. And even as a kid I thought that Captain Bligh was one of the former.

But the main character here is the sort of half-crazed martinet who makes Captain Queeg look like Francis of Assissi and Mother Courage rolled into one. A religious fanatic. Grasping. Power mad. Self-absorbed. Needlessly cruel. With no regard for the lives and well-being of his men. The kind of officer who would be fragged in any sane military past or present and who would almost certainly have washed out of OCS, much less a the military academy.

The covert racism in this and others is impossible to ignore. The "gangs" down in the cities are all Black or Latino (as if these would still be meaningful categories that far in the future). They even talk like refugees from a minstrel show.

And the "Fish", the demons of the piece, aren't even very good monsters. They seem big, strong, dumb and hungry. Less the objects of a military campaign than a job for the game warden.

This whole series is a lot like a sick cat; it just doesn't wash.

I read MIDSHIPMAN'S HOPE in a few days - I couldn't put it down. When I found the sequel, CHALLENGER'S HOPE I read that in a matter of hours. Having struggled to keep the crew and passengers on Hibernia alive while under attack from "the fish", Nicholas Seafort has been given command of a new ship - though not quite in the way he expected. This is far more of an adventure novel than the first, and you keep wondering how on earth he's going to avoid getting shot this time, but the story is fascinating and the action scenes will have you glued to the page. This is well worth the money but you have to read the first book or none of it makes sense. Go and buy both of them - it'll save you time later on.

This is the second novel in this series which I have read. I greatly enjoy the well-written hard S-F.... it kept my attention and I will read the remaining books in the series soon. Two features of this "universe"(Feintuch's setting for Seafort's adventures) I find difficult to accept as credible: the first is that the Navy would accept common, uneducated "scummy" characters as crew-members for interstellar spaceships. The other is the absolute religous faith that Seafort and apparently most other "educated" characters seem to maintain. The bit about being dammned to hell for "breaking his oath" seems unrealistic... I find it unlikely that a civilization so technologically advanced would have this....19th century? view of religion and God. I also get tired of Seafort's unbending allegiance to "Navy regulations" in so many instances... and being so hard-nosed regarding courtmartialing friends, hanging crew-members, etc. etc. I suppose this makes the character more interesting, and perhaps with maturity he is becoming confident enough to loosen up a bit. I suppose that Feintuch is trying to maintain as much of the flavor of British Naval tradition (the reviewers mention the Horatio Hornblower character....) as is possible. I for one do not really appreciate that approach, but perhaps readers who are fans of that genre' (historical traditions of the British Navy) like it. Even with my criticisms, I do greatly enjoy the series, and hope Feintuch writes many more works of fiction

What do you say about a book where the hero looses his entire family, and it makes no noticable change in his behavior? Because he's so depressive anyway?

I find the Nick Seafort books oddly appealing. I loathe Nick Seafort, who's desperate persistance in a black and white view of the world persists. But I want to read more.

Fenituch has created a future dystopia under the guise of Military SF. And it's some of the underlying ideas of the series that lend interest.

But if you are depressed? Go read Bujold. Because Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is a vastly more engaging, and cheerful character.

In the second novel of a four-book series, a young navy officer on his first command finds himself and his ship stranded in interstellar space with little hope of rescue and a mutinous crew...

The book is well-written, in that events are clearly described, and the author is able to convey the doubt and insecurity which tortures young Captain Seafort. But there are some problems here too.

One gets the sense that the author is trying to capture the feel of old-style British naval traditions, and to a certain extent he succeeds -- but it just doesn't translate well into a futuristic setting.

The society of the 22nd Century doesn't make a lot of sense. The United Nations is apparently a Christian theocracy, a scary idea in itself. (One wonders what happened to the several billion non-Christians in the world.) Military discipline is harsh -- harsh enough that the US Marine Corps basic training looks like summer camp for wimps in comparison.

But the biggest problem is the main character, Captain Seafort himself, an officer who commands with an iron fist with no pretense of a velvet glove. By the time the book is half over, he becomes so thoroughly unlikeable that I considered not finishing the book (though I did - I wanted to see if they were rescued). And I'll give the rest of the series a miss -- in a series of books about the same person, a reader should at least *like* the hero. (Me, I would have shot him.)

The bulk of the plot for this second book in the series is this. Nick Seafort is betrayed, and stranded aboard a dying ship in space. He must somehow mold a workable team from the mostly misfit crew he has available, in order to have any glimmer of hope for survival. The story is darker than the first, without many of the enjoyable moments that it had. There are a few effective jolts for the reader, but Seafort himself keeps things from ever gaining much levity. His self-hating manners are unabated and tiresome, and become a burden to the story. There are some other characters, but as soon as one begins to develop, Seafort is there to turn out the lights. Everything is so dark at most times, it becomes more inviting to take a snooze than to wait for some daylight. And the ending was a disappointing case of deus ex machina for me. It was like a piece of twine to tie up a package, the contents of which were spilling hopelessly into space at that time. The quality writing and a small handful of moving moments were just enough to get through the book. Just enough.

Feintuch has really created a fantastic series with the Seafort Saga. I haven't been drawn into a book this much since "The Lord of the Rings." Feintuch really creates a world where the reader can lose him or herself. The characters are developed well, and the plot is spectacular. Anyone who loves the Navy or SciFi will love this book, and even those who aren't(like myself) will enjoy it. Really, if I could give this book 10 stars, I would. Excellent read.