Challenger's Hope

Heart-wrenching tale of deep space, abandonment, loss, betrayal and the human spirit. Excellent story. Nick Seafort is our inscrutable protagonist, one who's moods can swing faster than a misaligned N wave. He fails to recognize who his friends are, even though his command would be strengthened by building upon relationships. Instead he's a hard disciplinarian, resorting to torture and cruelty for even the most minor infractions of protocol. Really hoping he gets a clue into how human relationships work, even with those under his command. He's got a lot of potential but little life experience. At the beginning of book one he was just a 17 yo midi. At the end of book two he's a 23 yo Captain, and has had to command his crews in isolation all that time. He needs an extended break to learn how to be a human being, and I hope his opportunity comes in subsequent books.

So, onward to book 3 of this 7 book series. Unfortunately I learned while reading book two that the author passed away some time ago, so 7 volumes is it.