Re: Challenger's Hope

Tim spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

> On Friday, April 17, 1998 4:53 PM, Thomas Barclay
[SMTP:Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca] wrote:
> >> Challenger's Hope I think was the name of the first book in the 
> > series. The main character was Nicholas E. Seafort. 
> 
> Wasn't Midshipmans Hope in the series, I thought it really
> stank (too many cliches, too much personal angst, too much disguised
S&M, not enough 
> space battles and really awful prose) and only bought/read the one
copy.

That might have been the first one. The series is admittedly ridden 
with angst, but I think that captured the type of work that Nelson's 
biographers and fictional biographers did.  I don't know where your 
S&M comment comes from???? Not enough space battles... I don't know. 
It depends what you are into I guess. As for the prose, it is thick, 
but I didn't think it awful. I guess you wouldn't like any of the 
Fantasy written by Daniel McTiernan either then. 

I mean, by the same argument, people have criticised the Harrington 
series for its lack of depth. I'm not one to take that up, as I have 
yet to read them, but I guess taste is a very personal matter. I 
found Midshipman's hope (the first one) and Challenger's Hope to be 
good studies in the RN in space (the traditions, the protocols, the 
way things were handled). 

If you want something more like the harrington books, There was a 
series written as a collaboration (I believe) between David Drake and 
Thomas T. Thomas (three books if I recall) that had to do with a star 
spanning empire. And the 'Sten' series written by Chris Bunch and 
Alan Cole presented a rich universe and presented quite a few 
gripping starship battles. 

It would make (I believe) a good FT background. 

Tom

 
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