Rating: 
Summary: At last!
Review: As a younder reader I was often put off by the lack of a good SF series that had action and adventure but didnt concentrait to much on one person, or mission etc.This book and this series, however, excelently combine a very close account off Seafort's life and emotions with his own past and the human race's present, with lots of background info and beliveable explanations about how things work etc.(i.e. no "mystical powers" or telepathy) Although the last 2 books in the currant series of 6 are not as good and seem to lose the plot slightly the first 4 are a very good read and one of those books that you just can't put down.
Rating:
Summary: A hero just like us
Review: That is exactly what David Feintuch delivers to us in this novel that is the beginning of 'greater' for Nick Seafort. A hero that is not sitting on a pedestal high above us looking down at us meak mortals. Where James T. Kirk is all powerful and all conquering, so certain and cocky beyond reason, Seafort is a welcome Doubting Thomas, questioning his every decision. The book leads us from the beginning of the journey from Earth to Hope Nation, giving us a strange claustrophobic sensation from being stuck in the same vessel for almost 400 pages. The amount of time spent babbling out indecipherable technobabble trekkie-style almost cut down to nothing, it lends itself to the reader who doesn't care about the proper alignment of warp shafts. It shows that although adventures in space in 'his' future can be exciting they also hold their own dangers apart from the usual space dangers in a form of cancer.
Rating: 
Summary: Hornblower's ripoff
Review: The main character is a revolting sadist... I would much rather be invited to dinner by Hannibal Lecter than spending five minutes with the sanctimonious whiney Nick Seafort. If you like military science-fiction there are much better books and series around, from "Starship Troopers" (Heinlein) through the Hornor Harrington series (Weber), and, of course, the Miles Vorkosigan series (Bujold).
Rating:
Summary: From a sixth grade reader of David Feintuch's books
Review: I basically just want to say that this book is really cool and awesome and great and magnificent. My mother had to rip the glasses off my head because I was reading this book in the middle of the night. I read it throughout school today and I finally finished it. Now I am reading Challenger's Hope. This book is great.
Rating:
Summary: British Navy In Space!
Review: Heroic Captain, chisled officers, restless crew, harsh discipline, and unquestionable authority! Yes, the Seafort Saga has it all. If you're a fan of Hornblower, or just an amateur Naval Historian, and yet like SF, this is your series. Mr. Feintuch has taken his talents (Naval and Writing) and combined them to create an emotionally powerful, action packed science fiction thriller. I look forward to his latest book, Children of Hope coming out later this year. Five Stars!
Rating: 
Summary: Odd...
Review: The idea of a young crewman, barely out of the academy, being left as the sole officer in charge a spaceship after an accident kills all his senior officers is an intriguing one. And Mr. Feintuch handles the story adroitly and with style - although in retrospect, the story feels like more of a series of short episodes in the life of our young Captain, rather than one extended tale. Certain elements of the story do seem a bit odd though - spacecraft terminology is based on sea-based ships. Spacecraft are 'under weigh', crewmembers are 'seamen', people are caned and hung. Why the emphasis on such terminology? We cant honestly be expected to believe that a space 'navy' would adopt sea-going phraseology, would we? Space is complex enough as is... Elsewhere, while the story moves along, the characters - or rather the character, as the book is told from the first-person point of view - is an absolute horror. If it is deliberate, then I commend Mr. Feintuch on his ability to portray a paranoid schizophrenic. His Nick Seafort character is a wonder to behold. He seems to spend his time either bemoaning his fate, and wondering about all the people he has killed, or he is ranting and raving at men for talking out of line, and threatening to have people killed for opposing his will. While this should supposedly give us the image or a conflicted young man, the image I came away with was of a badly stitched together puppet held together by auctorial fiat. Other characters tend to suffer from this as well - his 'friends' are put under the most severe and ludicrous 'hazing' which he allows, and yet - they still worship him as being a 'great captain' and one who would 'risk all' to save them. In retrospect, the base idea of the young officer left in charge of a vessel of his own, and having to captain it back to safety is a good one (albeit slightly cliche). The implementation of the characters however, is flawed. At the moment, I am unsure whether I am willing to sit through another 'adventure' with these characters. If someone were to offer the book to me, perhaps. That is the best advice I can give: borrow it first, but do not spend money to buy it without being sure that it is to your liking.
Rating:
Summary: It isn't Heinlein, but...
Review: OK So this is not RAH revisited. But it is good reading. I, like another reviewer, couldn't resist buying the whole series. I really associated with the main character. I own a small business (30 employees), and can definitely relate to some of the situations our hero found himself in. Command IS lonely and difficult, especially if you have principles and integrity. This sounds corny, I know, and the book is somewhat corny. But I think anyone in a leadership position would understand and appreciate why this is a very pleasurable read. It is also, in the tradition of the great Mr. Heinlein, entertaining at the same time it is philosophizing. I would recommend the entire series to someone looking for action filled novels. It is a bonus that you are given cause to deliberate about ethics, morals, leadership, and other social issues while you read.
Rating:
Summary: A bad Car Accident...
Review: You can't help but look. Staring, hating yourself for doing so. This describes this and the whole 'hope' series. So bad, so horrible you HAVE to read them all.
Rating:
Summary: Bad, bad, bad.
Review: It isn't a boring book. It isn't badly written, either. Its hero hates himself and practically all those around him, and the elaborate ruses to put him in command are forgivable, if absolutely implausible. But this is not what earns "Midshipman's Hope" one star with me, although it did help in the final count. It is the lack of knowledge and the pretense of such that made me almost reegret that I was wasting my time with this book. Science fiction is beautiful when well done. If you want space opera there are plenty of good titles out there. If you want more hard science, there is Hogan, Bova, even Brin sometimes. But Feintuch gives us a religious bigot living in a world of fanatics worshipping some sort of pseudo-Christian God in a Space Navy run like the worst nightmare of the 18th century British Navy, with corporal punishment, hangings, and pious invocations to God while commiting murder. Feintuch doesn't criticize this world. Through his hero we are supposed to understand it. And his hero is the typical reluctant hypocrite who apparently doesn't want any power himself, but will go to any lengths just to stay in power. By the end of the book, after a lot of wrong science and big words to hide ignorance of basic physics, we are treated to a giant amoeba in space that also travels faster than light and envelops the ship, thus saving the crew and our all-important little captain. Deus ex machina in the form of a space blob! I expect cheap plots and wrong science from TV and from movies. But a science fiction novel can be so much more than this book. I may be too harsh and I haven't read the rest of the series. But this first Seafort adventure doesn't promise anything better for the other books by Feintuch.
Rating:
Summary: A great debut into the sci-fi genre
Review: Feintuch's melodramatic sci-fi epic begins here with Midshipman's Hope. I bought this book at the University of Washington book store some years ago and I still remember how the clerk, who had read it, described the book: "It's terrific! It's like Admiral Hornblower meets Star Wars!" The subsequent books in the Nicholas Seafort saga are also excellent, but none of them resonates with the energy and originality of this, the first in the series. Don't miss it!
| 
