Children of Hope

Midshipman's Hope introduced Space Navy officer Nicholas Seafort, whose sense of moral inadequacy drove him to superhuman accomplishments that left him feeling even guiltier. Seafort is at the center of this novel, too. The narrator, however, is Randy Carr, a 14-year-old boy who first tries to kill Seafort but winds up as his adopted son. Randy is a mess. He's impulsive, overflows with teen angst and has a talent for seeing the truth and sharing it in the bluntest, most insulting manner possible. Like his adoptive father, he takes himself more seriously than anyone should. They aren't alone; everyone in this novel is obsessively driven. After a war that wiped out the alien, space-dwelling Fish, humans are struggling for control on the planet Hope. In particular, servants of the Church will do anything to rule in the name of God. Then the Fish reappear.