Delta Search: Quest for Tomorrow [Hardcover]

William Shatner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Quest for Tomorrow | Publication Date: February 1997

Young Jim Endicott has but one dream to attend the Terran Space Academy, the gateway to the stars and the far-flung civilization known as the confederation.

But unbeknownst to Jim, he has a secret encoded in his DNA. A secret that threatens an empire. A secret that his parents (or those who claim to be his parents!) have sworn never to reveal, on pain of death.

Jim's Academy application sets off an explosive chain of terror, hurling the young man into an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. In his new life, he plumbs the depths of the "pleb" underclass of the galaxy's outcasts and soars through the forbidden reaches of cyberspace,

With the help of a beautiful outlaw named Cat, who is as tough as she is tender,Jim begins to unravel the shocking truth about his own origins and uncovers the fatal deception that has split a bitter humanity into warring factions bent on mutual annihilation.

And in the process, Jim learns that he has one more enemy then he guessed and one more friend than he knew. In this premiere Quest for Tomorrow book, William Shatner, the famed Star Trek star and author, inaugurates a series of novels that combine the dreams of youth with the terrors of empire.Crackling with high-tech action, and rich with unforgettable characters, each carefully researched adventure is complete with a special bibliography for young readers designed to assure scientific accuracy, provide essential guidance and suggest fascinating new directions to explore.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The Star Trek star and "Tek Wars" series author creates a new space adventure featuring 16-year-old Jim Endicott. When his secretive father is murdered and his stepmother disappears, Jim calls upon his survival training to escape the government agents sent to kill him on planet Wolfbane. Back on Earth, he finds that the secret code his birth mother embedded in his DNA links him to the mass psychosis caused by a vast computer network of mind arrays. Interesting hypotheses on DNA manipulation and the use of human minds hardwired for a global link overcome sketchily drawn characters. Buy on demand.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

With this fast-paced action-sf novel, Shatner launches yet another series, called Quest for Tomorrow. Jim Endicott carries, encoded in his DNA, the secret of a process that will make humanity equal to its superior alien neighbors by enabling human minds to be linked together into a sort of organic supercomputer. This endowment puts him and his foster parents on the run from Delta, a super-spymaster who is Jim's biological father. Delta developed the process Jim carries, but after the defection of Jim's biological mother, he has been using a makeshift arrangement that has had a disastrous effect on the mental stability of humanity's Plebs, as the technologically unemployed are called. For their part, the Plebs want Jim as bait for luring Delta to destruction. Despite abundant action and high-tech hardware (the book would, given a generous FX budget, translate well to the screen), Shatner also manages to produce much subtle characterization, realistic (occasionally grungy) world building, and a sober regard for morally ambiguous situations and the decisions forced on 16-year-old Jim and others. This is the Heinlein sf juvenile novel grown up. Roland Green

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Harper Prism; 1st edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061052744
• ISBN-13: 978-0061052743
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,399,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interstellar Search and Pursuit, June 16, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delta Search: Quest for Tomorrow (Hardcover)

Delta Search is the first novel in the Quest For Tomorrow series. This SF series for young adults is about a gene engineered child, James Endicott, who is being sought by Delta, both a man who is James' biological father and a shadowy government agency with an interstellar reach. Delta had caught his mother when he was an infant, but James was rescued by Carl, who was a friend of his mother and knows about the altered genetic coding.

In this novel, Jimmy lives with Carl and Tabitha on the Terran colony Wolfbane. On his sixteenth birthday, Jimmy is given a Stiron und Ritter .75 rocket pistol like Carl's and an adult permit to the training range. Jimmy presents his application to the Space Academy to Carl and Tabitha for their approval, but Carl tells him that he can never apply. He is still determined to gain admission to the Space Academy, so he transmits the application despite Carl's orders.

Later, Jimmy confesses his actions to Carl and is surprised at the reaction: Carl tells them to pack everything they need to leave the planet. He also tells Jimmy to wear his S&R .75 from now on. Carl does fill him in on part of the situation and Tabitha tells him more. Then the raiders hit their cabin.

This novel is more of an escape and evasion plot than anything else, but it is also the tale of James Endicott's coming of age. He now knows that he is being hunted relentlessly and later learns that the hunter is Delta. In his flight, he meets Cat Thibaudeaux, who takes him under her wing.

This novel was apparently written in collaboration with William T. Quick, who has also written Systems, a fairly interesting SF novel. This novel, however, does not have the complexity of Quick's other novels.

Recommended for young adults and anyone else who enjoys relatively simple plots in a SF setting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quest For Tomorrow is a great trilogy!, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Delta Search (Quest for Tomorrow) (Mass Market Paperback)

I think this is a great book and William Shatner is a very good author. This is the first book i read that is by him, and i'm getting a good impression.... Can't wait till the next two come out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is easily the best book i've ever read., July 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Delta Search (Quest for Tomorrow) (Mass Market Paperback)

I would reccomend this book for ages 12-Adult. Its an amazing book, combining spetacular action scenes and a thick plot. I am a heavy sci-fi reader, and if you like sci-fi, You'll love this book.