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Seafort Saga #7
Children of Hope
In the continuing story of a man bound to his duty and tortured by the guilt for all that his duty demands of him, Captain Nicholas Seafort faces something much more ordinary than the alien wars, planetary rebellions, and ecological chaos he has survived, something that might finally cost him his life.
503 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2001
28 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
David Feintuch
19 books120 followersDavid Feintuch (1944–2006) was the author of the award-winning military science fiction Seafort Saga series, which spans Midshipman’s Hope, Challenger’s Hope, Prisoner’s Hope, Fisherman’s Hope, Voices of Hope, Patriarch’s Hope, and Children of Hope. Feintuch came to writing late, previously having worked as a lawyer and antiques dealer. In 1996, at the age of fifty, he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer from the World Science Fiction Society. He later expanded into the fantasy genre with his Rodrigo of Caledon series, including The Still and The King.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 15, 2011
I love the Seafort Saga... the story is... interesting, and very compelling. It's a story about personal honor and duty, both to oneself and to others.
Unfortunately, while Mr. Feintuch did write an 8th book, ostensibly titled Galahad's Hope, and the completed manuscript was sent to the publisher, he died before publication. No one from his family or with authority has stepped up to publish the story. I sincerely wish that they would - this book makes it clear that the Church is about to get it's comeuppance, and I sorely wish to see that happen.
Unfortunately, while Mr. Feintuch did write an 8th book, ostensibly titled Galahad's Hope, and the completed manuscript was sent to the publisher, he died before publication. No one from his family or with authority has stepped up to publish the story. I sincerely wish that they would - this book makes it clear that the Church is about to get it's comeuppance, and I sorely wish to see that happen.
May 9, 2019
Maybe the author will extend the series and thereby, hopefully, redeem himself. The first 125+/- pages were primarily devoted to how a 14-year-old boy (Randy) should not (by example) talk, act, behave, or for that matter, do anything at all. (Spoiler: he motivates/drives others to physically harm him, and causes the death of his best friend.) SciFi is my favorite genre, but the battles with the "Fish" stretched my incredulity to the max, and Seafort's personality is better suited for a virtuous Victorian-era novel. After about 300 pages I could no longer deal with Randy or Seafort, and donated the book.
October 23, 2018
Not a big fan of pre-teens as the primary protagonist, despite the seeming popularity of such a contrivance in recent decades. Particularly nauseated by children (teens) who always know more, know better, are smarter, and are more insightful than all of the trained and educated adults around them. Also, to think that an intransigent all powerful church would occupy such a position in future human culture also stretches the bounds of comprehension. The worst though is a redundant storyline - I like him, he doesn't like me, I’m a bad boy, no one should like me, I’m a bad boy, I like him…repeat ad nauseam…; plus the all too familiar - hey let’s not kill the bad guys or even make it inconvenient for them to capture any of us; oh gosh they’ve captured us, now what; by a miracle we’ve gotten free, but let’s be nice and not kill the bad guys or even make it inconvenient for them…repeat formula ad nauseam. Towards the end everything seems to sink into just so much gibberish. Other than that the writing itself is pretty good and the action is relatively continuous - yay!!
December 18, 2012
An okay series. Made of up of cardboard characters. But some interesting moments regarding how one tries to communicate with aliens. Too much time spent on silly politics, not enough on space opera. Mostly a quick read but took me a while to get through the whole series.
Want to read
February 24, 2023All is not well in the 23rd century AD. Wracked by centuries of conflict and environmental degradation, Earth's society has reverted to religious, military and civil ideas of discipline and authority that would frighten the overseer in a Victorian gaol. Worldwide political government under the partnership of the United Nations and a Reunified Christian Church has done little more than keep the lid on a boiling mess of social and ecological woes. Earth's many interstellar colonies are kept on a tight leash by the United Nation's navy which exercises an absolute monopoly on all commercial and military shipping.
What Feintuch has created here is a world of moral, ethical and legal extremes; serving alcohol to a minor earns the offender a one-way ticket to a penal colony, rebellion against the government is rebellion against God, Naval discipline is upheld by caning, reformatories practise flogging, heretics are burnt at the stake. In this setting, Feintuch is free to impose the cruellest dilemmas on his characters as a result of harsh rules and absolute obligations, and this is something he does very, very well indeed.
Rising to the challenge of confronting both his societies' enemies, and its own ingrained failings, is UN Space Navy Captain Nicholas Ewing Seafort. Seafort is a man as extreme as his time. His religious convictions are profound, his morality absolute, his ethics rigid. Feintuch's plots consistently push Seafort into situations where his set-in-stone beliefs provoke frightening confrontations, and yet at the same time those beliefs, in their righteousness and uncompromising devotion to true justice deliver him his victories. Almost unbelievably, when the dust settles, Seafort always continues to prove that he is a decent, honourable, caring man.
By the beginning of volume seven in the Seafort Saga, Seafort has had a wild roller-coaster of a career. He's been the man on the spot when humanity encountered the first intelligent (and hostile) alien race. He's fought duels against corrupt naval superiors, defeated rebellion in the colonies, and set colonies free as charter members of the UN. He's risen to be Secretary General of the UN (planetary president) and beaten down the entrenched interests of politicians and patriarchs. He's seen friends, family, colleagues and students pay the lethal price of his exploits again and again and the consequent moral burden has driven him close to madness. You'd think, after all that, the guy would deserve a little time off...
No such luck.
The seventh instalment in the saga is told from the perspective of the teenaged Randolph Carr, orphaned son of one of Seafort's oldest and best-loved friends, Derek Carr. Derek did not survive volume six (this is pretty typical of most people who get close to Seafort), and Randolph, bereaved and rebellious, blames Seafort for his father's horrific death. When Seafort's ship, Olympiad, the pride of the UN navy, arrives above Randolph's world, Hope Nation, Randolph grasps at the opportunity for revenge. The surprise for Randolph is that Seafort blames himself for Derek's death too, and after a few trifling, initial difficulties, the two characters grow close.
It's at this point that Feintuch begins to build up his favoured structure of competing pressures. Every possible angle of attack that can be exploited is piled on the hapless Seafort. The Church is out to get Randolph, and soon enough, Seafort too. His superiors are quislings, his subordinates become mutinous. Hope Nation's politics are a polarised struggle between progressives and conservatives, and to cap it all Seafort's nemesis, the sinister, alien Fish are lurking on the sidelines...
Through all of this, Seafort forges with the iron-clad determination to do what is right, never what is easy. There's a magnificent quality of 'bloody but unbowed' about everything the man does. One can quibble about minor plot points, one can grimace in disgust at a society that's guaranteed to offend every liberal sensibility imaginable and which he is dedicated to protecting, but one can't help admiring him. He's the sole, shining example of what real moral and religious conviction should be like, and his presence makes the self-righteous, small-minded, brutal bigots he confronts look all the more despicable. It all adds up to a book that is a compulsive page-turner.
Feintuch has done something really remarkable in creating and sustaining the character of Nicholas Seafort through seven novels (an eighth is certainly on the way) and some 40 years of adventures. Not since Thomas Covenant has the science fiction and fantasy genre seen a character so rigid, so obsessed, so pressured by his beliefs and circumstances, and yet so very credible. Excellent storytelling, not to be missed.
What Feintuch has created here is a world of moral, ethical and legal extremes; serving alcohol to a minor earns the offender a one-way ticket to a penal colony, rebellion against the government is rebellion against God, Naval discipline is upheld by caning, reformatories practise flogging, heretics are burnt at the stake. In this setting, Feintuch is free to impose the cruellest dilemmas on his characters as a result of harsh rules and absolute obligations, and this is something he does very, very well indeed.
Rising to the challenge of confronting both his societies' enemies, and its own ingrained failings, is UN Space Navy Captain Nicholas Ewing Seafort. Seafort is a man as extreme as his time. His religious convictions are profound, his morality absolute, his ethics rigid. Feintuch's plots consistently push Seafort into situations where his set-in-stone beliefs provoke frightening confrontations, and yet at the same time those beliefs, in their righteousness and uncompromising devotion to true justice deliver him his victories. Almost unbelievably, when the dust settles, Seafort always continues to prove that he is a decent, honourable, caring man.
By the beginning of volume seven in the Seafort Saga, Seafort has had a wild roller-coaster of a career. He's been the man on the spot when humanity encountered the first intelligent (and hostile) alien race. He's fought duels against corrupt naval superiors, defeated rebellion in the colonies, and set colonies free as charter members of the UN. He's risen to be Secretary General of the UN (planetary president) and beaten down the entrenched interests of politicians and patriarchs. He's seen friends, family, colleagues and students pay the lethal price of his exploits again and again and the consequent moral burden has driven him close to madness. You'd think, after all that, the guy would deserve a little time off...
No such luck.
The seventh instalment in the saga is told from the perspective of the teenaged Randolph Carr, orphaned son of one of Seafort's oldest and best-loved friends, Derek Carr. Derek did not survive volume six (this is pretty typical of most people who get close to Seafort), and Randolph, bereaved and rebellious, blames Seafort for his father's horrific death. When Seafort's ship, Olympiad, the pride of the UN navy, arrives above Randolph's world, Hope Nation, Randolph grasps at the opportunity for revenge. The surprise for Randolph is that Seafort blames himself for Derek's death too, and after a few trifling, initial difficulties, the two characters grow close.
It's at this point that Feintuch begins to build up his favoured structure of competing pressures. Every possible angle of attack that can be exploited is piled on the hapless Seafort. The Church is out to get Randolph, and soon enough, Seafort too. His superiors are quislings, his subordinates become mutinous. Hope Nation's politics are a polarised struggle between progressives and conservatives, and to cap it all Seafort's nemesis, the sinister, alien Fish are lurking on the sidelines...
Through all of this, Seafort forges with the iron-clad determination to do what is right, never what is easy. There's a magnificent quality of 'bloody but unbowed' about everything the man does. One can quibble about minor plot points, one can grimace in disgust at a society that's guaranteed to offend every liberal sensibility imaginable and which he is dedicated to protecting, but one can't help admiring him. He's the sole, shining example of what real moral and religious conviction should be like, and his presence makes the self-righteous, small-minded, brutal bigots he confronts look all the more despicable. It all adds up to a book that is a compulsive page-turner.
Feintuch has done something really remarkable in creating and sustaining the character of Nicholas Seafort through seven novels (an eighth is certainly on the way) and some 40 years of adventures. Not since Thomas Covenant has the science fiction and fantasy genre seen a character so rigid, so obsessed, so pressured by his beliefs and circumstances, and yet so very credible. Excellent storytelling, not to be missed.
July 22, 2018
It’s a good story, but kind of silly. Many times, the storyline with the fish seemed kind of goofy. And all the manly bro-drama and father-son drama of this series peaks in this book in a very soap-opera like way. But still, it’s an engaging, satisfying story. It wraps up a lot of loose ends from the other books. At the same time, it ends on a mild cliffhanger, but nothing too severe.
I’m just sad that this is the last book. That David Feintuch passed away, and that no more were published. There are rumors that he wrote “Galahad’s Hope” before he dies, but who knows how true that is? It’s a shame.
Overall, it’s a good book and a great series. They are all page turners. I very much enjoyed reading every single one of them! Highly recommended!
I’m just sad that this is the last book. That David Feintuch passed away, and that no more were published. There are rumors that he wrote “Galahad’s Hope” before he dies, but who knows how true that is? It’s a shame.
Overall, it’s a good book and a great series. They are all page turners. I very much enjoyed reading every single one of them! Highly recommended!
October 26, 2023
There are some parts of this book I really enjoy. Randy is pretty much the antithesis of Nick Seafort, so having him as the POV character is a nice change of pace. I like some of the callbacks to prior books in the series, but referencing almost every character we've ever met multiple times, plus all the characters who get to "return" and play a more significant role, plus the numerous new characters, gets to be a bit much. This book is a bit much in general - too long and too much happens and yet still a few sections drag for me. Nevertheless, I liked it enough that I really wanted an eighth book in the series and I held out hope for the rumored Galahad's Hope for quite some time.
February 6, 2025
Seaport Saga
This collection of books which relate the life of a futuristic military man from childhood to adult isn't really a science fiction story. This series is about people. In all their imperfect glory. Probably some of the best fiction of any type that I've ever read. I'm very sad the author passed. I'm very sad that this magnificent series probably will be lost in the miasma of current inferior military sci fi that exists today.
Do yourself a favor. Read the whole series. David Feintuch is a brilliant author.
This collection of books which relate the life of a futuristic military man from childhood to adult isn't really a science fiction story. This series is about people. In all their imperfect glory. Probably some of the best fiction of any type that I've ever read. I'm very sad the author passed. I'm very sad that this magnificent series probably will be lost in the miasma of current inferior military sci fi that exists today.
Do yourself a favor. Read the whole series. David Feintuch is a brilliant author.
August 26, 2019
Fulfilling
This 7th book in the series is equally engrossing. I have so enjoyed all of them and can't help wishing/waiting for more. I recognize series for anyone who likes futuristic and intense frames which delve deeply into developed personalities
This 7th book in the series is equally engrossing. I have so enjoyed all of them and can't help wishing/waiting for more. I recognize series for anyone who likes futuristic and intense frames which delve deeply into developed personalities
Read
October 23, 2025Captain Nicholas Seafort survived alien wars, rebellions, and chaos on Earth, but now, in the gripping seventh novel of the award-winning Seafort Saga, he may finally lose his life-to vengeance... "Intergalactic war, aliens, and a winning protagonist." (Booklist)
June 21, 2019
Painfully slow
March 20, 2025
Story was alright, but how many times can these guys get betrayed and not learn anything.
May 2, 2025
the first time i read through the series, this was probably one of my favorite books, but i felt a bit more disappointed in it this time.
i still enjoy randolph carr a lot, i think he works quite well as a parallel/continuation of jared and rectifies a lot of the injustices that jared endured. as always, seafort is a real treat to read, even if we don't get him as a narrator this time. the ending felt extra depressing this time, but perhaps this is because i shouldn't be reading seafort during my finals. oops.
the reason children of hope seems to fail in comparison to the other seafort books is because the constant theme of growing up always has to happen without a strong father figure to support it. seafort certainly doesn't have that as he grows in the first set of books, pt only truly finds himself once he runs away from seafort, but randy's only choice is to cling to seafort, making him reliant on his father figure in a way that none of the prior protagonists were. he's comparable to a character like mik in patriarch's hope, but mik wasn't the narrator.
maybe this change wouldn't feel so out of place if we'd gotten the next book, and i definitely enjoyed having a bit of distance from seafort if only to leave us guessing a bit more on how he's been holding up in the several years between this book and the last, but it leaves a discomfiting feeling.
i still enjoy randolph carr a lot, i think he works quite well as a parallel/continuation of jared and rectifies a lot of the injustices that jared endured. as always, seafort is a real treat to read, even if we don't get him as a narrator this time. the ending felt extra depressing this time, but perhaps this is because i shouldn't be reading seafort during my finals. oops.
the reason children of hope seems to fail in comparison to the other seafort books is because the constant theme of growing up always has to happen without a strong father figure to support it. seafort certainly doesn't have that as he grows in the first set of books, pt only truly finds himself once he runs away from seafort, but randy's only choice is to cling to seafort, making him reliant on his father figure in a way that none of the prior protagonists were. he's comparable to a character like mik in patriarch's hope, but mik wasn't the narrator.
maybe this change wouldn't feel so out of place if we'd gotten the next book, and i definitely enjoyed having a bit of distance from seafort if only to leave us guessing a bit more on how he's been holding up in the several years between this book and the last, but it leaves a discomfiting feeling.
October 5, 2012
It really is a shame that Feintuch died after this book, and so there will never be another entry in the Seafort saga. I have heard rumors that there was another book mostly written, but nothing further for years.
This is probably the best of the Seafort books except the first. Instead of Seafort's POV, it's told from the POV of Randy Carr, son of one of Seafort's friends. He's very much unlike Seafort, but he still had an engaging voice.
Like any space opera, there's plenty of action and politics. If you've read the others, this one will not disappoint.
This is probably the best of the Seafort books except the first. Instead of Seafort's POV, it's told from the POV of Randy Carr, son of one of Seafort's friends. He's very much unlike Seafort, but he still had an engaging voice.
Like any space opera, there's plenty of action and politics. If you've read the others, this one will not disappoint.
August 14, 2010
Zarky what a great book! A frazin good way to end the Seafort saga. Feintuch did a wonderful job wrapping stuff up. He answered just about everything you could want and it looked like he might have left it open for more possible novels. Overall I enjoyed the Seafort Saga a lot. Especially the last two books. If your a fan of Sci Fi and looking for something new then give the Seafort Saga a try.
January 2, 2014
Exciting military SF/action-adventure, and a fitting conclusion to Feintuch's saga (the author died almost a decade ago). The narrator/protagonist, not the demigodlike Nick Seafort this time but the son of a protege from an earlier book, wore a bit thin on me after awhile, but the story was interesting and kept me going. I only wish there was an immediate sequel to resume the action and add a bit more closure to some of the supporting characters.
June 30, 2010
This was absolutely my favorite book of the series, and I loved them all. I am very bitter that Mr. Feintuch is no longer with us.
My only complaint with the book is that I had trouble following the "pictograph language development", but that might just be my own issue rather than poor writing. I'd be interested in other peoples' thoughts on that.
My only complaint with the book is that I had trouble following the "pictograph language development", but that might just be my own issue rather than poor writing. I'd be interested in other peoples' thoughts on that.
November 18, 2013
It's been a long time since I have read what I call "pure science fiction", but this entire series is just that. Some predictable plot lines, but the enjoyment of reading a space military-themed series overcame the predictability.
June 23, 2014
One of my all time favorite authors and one of my Top 5 Book Series!
September 3, 2015
Seventh, and last, in the series
Read
September 7, 2015Solid continuation
A different side of seafort
Interesting read with some fun twists
Leaves a mark on the mind . Recommend yes
A different side of seafort
Interesting read with some fun twists
Leaves a mark on the mind . Recommend yes
June 28, 2016
Excellent book from a different point of view than seafort's. Ended to abruptly but left me wanting the next chapter. When!!!!!
October 24, 2008
Not from Nick's viewpoint, but still a good book.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews