A scion in a long line of legendary warriors, the teenage Ari Hanavi is thrown into a last-ditch campaign to break the deadlock of the endless war. Ari is in top fighting condition, having reached the end of his critical battle training--the only trouble is that Ari is scared that everyone will find out he's a coward.

From Publishers WeeklyTetsuo Hanavi may hold the noncombatant rank of inspector-general in the Mercenary Corps of the Israeli-descended planet Metzanda, but his real job is something closer to hitman. Along with his uncle, disgraced ex-Gen. Shimon Bar-El, Tetsuo here becomes involved in two of his government's campaigns. To establish the pair's powers, Rosenberg shows how their cleverness and ruthlessness clear up the first assignment in puzzlingly short order. The second, however, gets so tangled in obscure future politics that it seems just as pointless. Rosenberg's interesting idea of combining the mysticism of oriental martial arts with pragmatic sabra toughness is as undeveloped as the stock characters and the unexamined romanticism of arms and man. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalTo maintain the integrity of their reputation as the galaxy's mercenary elite, the soldiers of the barren world of Metzada adhere to a rigid code of loyalty and honor reminiscent of their Jewish-Israeli ancestors. When a veteran soldier apparently betrays the code, it becomes the ongoing task of his nephew to terminate himif he can. With the same gritty realism found in Emile and the Dutchman , this delivers fact-paced sf action-adventure with a refreshing twist. For sf collections. JCCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The crudest, most ruthless officer in the Thousand World Contact Service, Major Alonzo Norfeldt--alias the Dutchman--finds himself pitted against the most cunning and deadly of intergalactic aliens . . . while partnered with an idiotic greenhorn.