Orson Scott Card returns readers to the universe he created in ENDER'S GAME, this time giving us the first look into Fleet School after the Formic threat is halted. In CHILDREN OF THE FLEET, once again the young are in command as adults are not to be trusted. We follow Dabeet Ochoa, a 10-year-old smothered by his affectionate mother, who seeks escape and glory in the International Fleet. He is a solitary youngster, arrogant but brilliant, and essentially an outcast as an Earth-born boy in a community of children born in the cold confines of space.

"Readers of the Enderverse will enjoy CHILDREN OF THE FLEET. It has a new sheen on an older premise..."

Fleet School, where the elite are trained, has been modified to create commanders for exploration teams. The Battle Room, used to great effect in ENDER'S GAME, makes its return, with modifications. In fact, much that is familiar from the Enderverse is slightly adjusted in the wake of victory, but it is this very trick that makes the expanded universe feel more weighty and vibrant.

While the training is no longer about armies and individuals, the real heart of the story is in Dabeet. He is a young man who feels he deserves to be in Fleet School, who struggles to find his place, and who still doubts his mother's claim as to his father's identity --- for getting into Fleet School requires that a relative be a member of the Fleet. It is the unfolding of this mystery that propels his story forward and peels back the layers of his own character.

Readers of the Enderverse will enjoy CHILDREN OF THE FLEET. It has a new sheen on an older premise, a handful of cameos from "old" characters will bring smiles, and it sits nicely within the framework of the collection of novels Card has released. It will be interesting to see where he takes us from here in future installments of the Fleet School story.