Voices of Hope (Seafort Saga)
The fifth volume in the saga of Nicholas Seafort is the best by a wide margin. Retired from both the navy and politics, Nicholas is now the father of 12-year-old Philip. When the boy's friend, Jared Tenere, runs away into the "trannie" part (a gang-ruled slum) of New York, Philip follows him on a one-boy rescue mission that precipitates a full-scale effort by the United Nations' more corrupt politicians to wipe out the trannies. Nicholas prevents this scheme only at the risk of his life in a superb cliffhanger ending. The series' hero is more interesting than ever before, largely because of being regarded from several different viewpoints. It definitely helps, too, that this is the finest action tale in the series to date and that trannie society (complete with its own, exceedingly well-conceived dialect, in which nearly half the book is written) is a notable creative achievement.Roland Green