Patriarch's Hope

David Feintuch

New York: Warner, 1999. ISBN: 0-446-60846-7. Pp.511

This is the sixth novel in the astounding Seafort Saga, and unlike its immediate predecessor, the narration reverts to Nick's own perspective. It has been years since the Transpop Rebellion in which the former SecGen of the U.N. Nicholas Seafort had to return to the violent underbelly of New York in search of his son, Philip Tyre, who had gone off to rescue his wayward friend Jared Tenere. That story ended with Nick announcing his return to politics and his candidacy for the supreme post. Now, it has all come to pass... and unfortunately, Nick has made much more enemies than even his irascible character can account for.

Having been tormented throughout his life for violating his sacred oath back when he was the Captain of the stranded Challenger, Nick has resolved never to lie, prevaricate, or obfuscate the truth, not to mention never to go back on his word. Needless to say, such a straightforward character makes for an excellent hero worthy of worship but a terrible politician, and it's little wonder that Nick's ways have managed to alienate just about every politician he has had to deal with. As a nice touch, Feintuch shows the aged Nick as being simultaneously far more mellow, infuriatingly unbending, strangely naive, and dangerously volatile; quick to flare up and ever quicker to subside, he manages to temper some of his outbursts with enormous personal warmth that just makes young (and older) joeys want to cling to him and follow him into any disaster.

The plot is firmly rooted on Earth, as before, except this time the one entity that Nick had always served faithfully and always counted on to acquit itself honorably, his beloved Navy, will turn out to be burrowing deep in a treacherous plot to unseat his government in order to overturn the policies it does not like. Initially, Nick is blind to the danger, focusing instead on the high-profile terrorist organization, the Eco Action Lodge, which perpetrates assorted mayhem (some directed at him) in a seemingly futile attempt to raise awareness about the impending ecological crisis that threatens Earth. (One should recall that Earth is still reeling from the war with the alien fish, and even though its economy is recovering, it is doing so at a great environmental cost as unbridled re-industrialization turns formerly lovely areas into pungent poisonous swamps.) Although the enviros seem more irritating than threatening at first, the danger soon escalates as their cause is joined by far more powerful forces with nefarious motives: Earth has become so dependent on imports of foodstuffs from the former colonies that some wish to secure its supply by recolonizing them. And the Navy, above all, wishes to see its expansion go on.

Nick's initial total dismissal of the environmental cause is a bit strange given how meticulous he usually is in ascertaining facts when judging various claims (remember the scene on his first adventure when he calculated and recalculated the Fusion coordinates when his numbers did not agree with the puter's?) Perhaps it's that he's gotten more inflexible with age, more convinced in his own infallibility (an easy thing to do despite his tendency to wallow in self-doubt and self-recrimination). Perhaps it's just that he thinks he actually knows all the relevant facts. I don't know, but it does take his son's "personalizing" of the environmental catastrophe (read "appeal to his emotion rather than logic") to get Nick to swing into action. But when swing he does, he is not the one to drag his feet. His rapid reforms take everyone by surprise and when he redirects the budget away from Naval expansion, even the service revolts against him.

This time, the forces arrayed against Nick are formidable: the Church, the Navy, the Opposition, elements in his own party, terrorists, members of his own security detail. Treachery is all around, and it's little wonder that this novel sees the deaths of not one, not two, but three beloved characters, in addition to the usual mayhem of likeable joeys that accompany Nick on his suicide missions. Of course, there's the obligatory wayward adolescent who resents Nick's imperial ways but who soon realizes Seafort's fundamentally good nature and the basic soundness of his views, and who is thereby transformed by Nick's demanding love which extracts astonishing performance from the kids simply by expecting them to excel. This time, it's Alexi's son Mikhael, who is in desperate need of guidance, like Jerence Barnstead and Jared Tenere used to be. The scenes are as touching as they are unlikely. I doubt that many twelve-year-olds display the sort of maturity necessary to understand the point of demands adults make of them, not to mention the far more abstract concept of justice. It may well be the case that some kids do feel the need for a firm guiding hand to set standards and make demands of them, correcting them when they stray and encouraging them when they are on the right track. But I have the suspicion that it is far less conscious than depicted here. And usually quite resented when suggested by adults or implied by their actions.

This is one of the most difficult novels in the saga to read. It actually hurts sometimes. Not because it's bad, but because it's so good. It's too well written. The characters are too well formed and when they die there's almost a visceral need to put the book down and shoo away stray tears. It is remarkable how many awful things can happen to a good man. And I did wonder just when Nick will finally revolt against the Lord God that sees fit to wreak such havoc in his life. Even Job did not have it half as bad as Nick does. What was only hinted at previously now becomes abundantly clear: Nick's strength lies not simply in his own convictions as demanded by Church dogma, but his sense of what's right which has more to do with his upbringing (both by his Father and in the Navy). When he and the Lord do not see eye to eye, Nick will part ways with Him, even unto eternal damnation. This is where a healthy human being will revert to atheism (the guilt is simply too much to bear) but Nick seems resolved to continue an existence whose only promise is the pits of Hell in the afterlife. And still do what he thinks is right.

This novel is a crackling good read. Despite a nearly shattered spine, a paralysis that threatens to incapacitate him permanently, despite the threat of excommunication, despite being abandoned by just about everyone except to adoring public, Nick struggles on and manages some truly astounding feats here, although the price of victory is truly terrible. It's a novel that I could not put down even though I desperately longed for respite time and again when things that seemed to have hit rock bottom suddenly got worse. And I did want to slap Nick several times for being so obstinate and so bloody single-minded. And yet, when the novel was finished, I felt like a good friend had just left for a long journey, and I was looking forward to his return.

June 12, 2006