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Midshipman's Hope

Midshipman's Hope

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a must read for anyone who wants to strengthen his character
Review: a must read for anyone who wants to strengthen his character

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Quite What I Was Hoping For
Review: This is a story set a couple hundred years in the future about a young naval ("space" navy) officer who embarks on a journey as a midshipman for a distant colony. Humans are governed by a United Nations-type government and have begun colonizing distant planets. Some aspects of society have reverted back to a more primitive state, for example physical punishment is in use, truth serums circumvent "innocent until proven guilty", and education is completely optional. In any case our young hero, Nicholas Seafort of the U.N.N.S. Hibernia, quickly finds himself in the unpleasant position of leader-by-default. He then faces a surprising number of challenges along the way and learns a lot about himself and his role as leader before it ends (hey, that sounds original!).
I thought the story and some of the ideas in the book actually were original, creative, and entertaining. For example, the way the author was able to transform Nick from an inexperienced officer into a wizened and skilled leader by the end of the novel was masterfully done. I really felt he had grown and changed-become something new-by the end. The way characters felt about one another was believable as well. Some aspects of the novel were not at all original but were still fun. For example, the idea of space travel, a naval hierarchy, alien life-forms, distant colonies-essentially everything that was science-fiction related-has all been done before. But the author's way of doing it makes you quickly feel comfortable with the universe he has created.
I had a few problems with the book, however. Characters did not interact in a logical manner. You couldn't predict how a character was going to react in a particular situation. I thought that was the point of creating a character-you come to know the person and begin to predict their actions, decisions, and perhaps even thoughts. In this book, however, each person's inner workings were a complete surprise at every step. Actually I couldn't even predict when they were going to surprise me. It left me confused and I felt cheated out of really getting to know anyone.
I also felt Feintuch's writing style was a little cramped. At times he stumbled through passages and appeared inept at accurately describing the situation. At these moments, he would revert to a "vague description" style in which we were abstracted from what was really happening.
Another problem I had is that the sequence of events was highly unlikely. Nick Seafort is an exceedingly unlucky person! The odds that all these things occur to one person on one voyage have to be a trillion to one. Of course, without these unlucky events, the story would be much shorter. I get a little bugged by "rigged" storytelling, the idea that if you run out of things to tell, just make something bad happen!
Overall I would not recommend this novel, unless you're the kind of person who likes to read for the sake of reading and doesn't care what the book actually says. I found myself ready to move on to a new book early on and somehow felt I was wasting my time throughout.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's just the beginning
Review: It's just the beginning of a terrific series, and I hope there will be more. Nicholas Seafort is a real person, with real doubts and real feelings of inadequacy, thrown into situations that try men's souls. He is not Ender, by any means; the books are quite dissimilar. In a way, he is more like Harry Flashman, but in a darker and more realistic manner. I have heard Seafort compared to Horatio Hornblower, but I haven't actually read those yet, so I dunno... Never mind, just start with this one and get ready for a grand adventure, followed, thankfully, by many more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Definant Must-Read
Review: This being David Feintuch's first novel I have to say that it is more than a must-read. Nick Seafort, a young man onboard a spaceship in the 22nd century, expresses tons of emotions that makes the reader want to keep reading. The book is great in action, especially near the end with the aliens. All I can say is that ya gotta pick this book up, read it, and grab the rest of the series to enjoy the works of a great author.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Original -- Very Readable
Review: This is a highly readable book that most people will be unable to put down after 50 or so pages. If you like "bio of a space tyrant" and "ender's game" you'll love this book. It is a unique blend of real characters, more or less hard sf, and compelling page turning plot and story. The next three books in the series are good too, but afterwards the author overallocates to a subplot of questionable value.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Didn't live up to the billing
Review: A great idea to be sure, but to me it didn't live up to being the "Hornblower" in space saga that I was hoping for. I really couldn't suspend disbelief in the story, and never got to the point of caring about the main characters.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Like A bad traffic accident....
Review: you can't help but look. Feintuch has a knack for creating thoroughly unlikeable characters who wallow in self pity and ooze self righteousness. Yet you can not help but finish the book, and the ones that follow, all the while hating yourself for not having the strength of will to put them aside and move on with your reading life.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pretty Good Read, But I Couldn't Suspend Disbelief
Review: Not a bad story, but the "fish" were just too incredible - my faculty for suspension of disbelief was overloaded. This is fantasy masquerading as science fiction.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: C.S. Forester meets classic Heinlein, a fine adventure
Review: Think of a futuristic version of C.S. Forester's classic *Hornblower* series coupled with one or two of Heinlein's classic space-adventure novels and you get warm with this highly enjoyable novel. Although the author isn't into the kind of tight, clever technological detail like some other authors (ie. David Weber, Tom Clancy), the story transcends this small nitpicking on my part to fully involve the reader once just a few pages have been turned. (I stayed up most of the night reading this one the first time.) The story involves a young midshipman named Nick Seafort serving in the United Nations Naval service, a spacegoing organization responsible for making sure human travel and commerce flows smoothly to all Earth's outlying colonies in different solar systems. When tragedy strikes aboard the starship Hibernia while en route to the distant Hope Nation colony many lightyears away, circumstances put our young hero squarely into the center of things when he's forced into a leadership role much sooner than he, or anyone, could have planned. Forced to battle his internal demons at the same time as several of his fellow crewmates and some older surviving officers, not to mention the civilian passengers and a hostile boarding party, he must navigate through the dangers of serving in an unforgiving future time, when the rules and protocols of service are strict and the consequences for making the wrong decision can mean dishonor or execution at home. If you like a novel with lots of tension, drama, moral dilemmas, action, and great characters, this is the book for you. Final words: This is the first of a series of novels by David Feintuch. Following *Midshipman's Hope* in the immediate cycle are *Challenger's Hope* and a few others, ending with *Fisherman's Hope*, though the series picks up again after our hero becomes a mature, troubled man, in *Voices of Hope*. Although I'd like to say that the follow-on novels after *Midshipman's Hope* are as good as the first, instead they end up seeming like an increasingly pale, repetitive shadow instead, at least in this reviewer's opinion, except maybe for *Fisherman's Hope*. Still, if you like the character of Nick Seafort, the other books are definitely worth reading for this reason alone. And the last book I read, *Voices of Hope*, was actually well done and interesting in an earthbound way, so maybe there's hope in the next book, which is called *Patriarch's Hope*, though I haven't read this one yet. By the way, if you like *Midshipman's Hope*, then I'd also strongly recommend Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel *Starman Jones*, which has a story in a similar and exciting vein. Another novel of his, *Space Cadet*, is also seriously worth a good read. I also highly recommend David Weber's space opera novel-series *Honor Harrington*, which is also similar.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Too good to put down, too awful to enjoy
Review: I picked up the Seafort books to satisfy my Honor Harrington craving, and they did give me a quick fix--but they're cheap Jack Daniels compared to Harrington's 25-year-old single-malt Scotch. The stories are good, if a tad over-the-top, but the characters are just short of absolutely unbelievable. Seafort is a complete mess, out of control and utterly mad. Yet the author continually has other characters make excuses for him, as if Seafort's behavior is actually perfectly ordinary to everyone else. In each book Seafort oversteps his authority immensely, only to be rewarded for successes attributable to nothing but blind luck. All of this is excusable in "Midshipman's Hope," but the problem is that it continues throughout the series. By "Fisherman's Hope" Seafort is twenty-five and still unable to control his temper, treat his inferiors properly, or impose upon himself the discipline and manners which he so sternly demands from others. As one reviewer said, he just never grows up. I've never met a main character that I disliked more. Perhaps what I found most objectionable was Feintuch's treatment of women. (WARNING: spoilers) Though the Navy is ostensibly integrated, all of the Captains, most of the officers, and all of the able-bodied seamen are male. When calamity befalls Seafort's wife, she goes insane and kills herself. The next woman Seafort marries also goes insane. One wonders what Feintuch's own personal life has been like. Yet despite all of this, I keep reading. The plots are fun, if contrived. Think "Starman Jones" or "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel." And it's enough to fill my craving for naval sci-fi until the next Honor Harrington comes out. But it's not a book I would recommend to any friends I wished to keep.


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