Midshipman's Hope (Seafort Saga)

 

Midshipman’s Hope, by David Feintuch, is an excellent escape.  The first novel in what would become the Seafort Saga, Midshipman’s Hope is a rousing space adventure to rival Starship Troopers in dominating militancy and overall action.  The ceaseless comparisons to C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series are well founded but fall short in accurately describing the trials and tribulations faced by our Midshipman hero, Nick Seafort.  Where Forester took several novels to bring Hornblower to maturity and full command,  Feintuch brings the reader there successfully in one.  For those unfamiliar with Hornblower, his was a life spent in the nineteenth century British Navy, with accompanying pomp and circumstance, strict rules, and an above-all unquestioning loyalty to military discipline during war or peace.  Feintuch flings the idea several centuries forward.  Man has conquered space and the traveling of interstellar distances.  Earth is ruled by a somewhat domineering United Nations who has a healthy respect for a strict social order.  Young Mr. Seafort is just entering a life of naval service as the novel opens but is quickly faced with life-altering decisions that will affect not only himself but those hundreds of people with whom he comes in contact throughout the book.  For fans of Hornblower, I have six words: imagine Hornblower in space with aliens.  For everyone else, think classic space opera: Flash Gordon, Captain Future, Starwolf, Deathworld.  For adult audiences only as there are some adult situations and language.

Open Road Integrated Media, available January 2013