Patriarch's Hope Book

If you're already a fan of David Feintuch's bestselling Seafort Saga, Patriarch's Hope will be a welcome chance to catch up with the series' hero, Nicholas Seafort, now Earth's global executive. In this instalment, Secretary General (Sec Gen) Seafort must juggle the demands of a colonial empire across the stars, a powerfully politicised Navy, and a morally questionable world religious council against the needs of a dangerously degraded planet. Much of the book details Seafort's political manoeuvring and the discarding of his anti-"Enviro" prejudices with the help of his idealistic son. But the action picks up before the book closes, as a crippled Seafort leads a small team to wrest a giant battleship from the hands of a mutinous captain unhappy with the Sec Gen's change of heart. If you aren't already a fan of the "Seafort Saga," you may or may not be sold by Patriarch's Hope, depending on your tastes. The grizzled, conflicted Seafort huffs and puffs predictably throughout, and the pseudo futuristic, military motif is ever-present and a bit much at times (the "SecGen" and his "middies," use "puters," fly "helis," and find frequent cause to shout "Belay that!"). Hope is passable military SF, but it serves better as an adventure-filled primer on honour, stoicism, personal responsibility, and male bonding. --Paul Hughes,Read More