Born in the midst of pain and terror, Wilson, an unwanted waif of the generation-long war of unity, grows up to spend his boyhood in forced labour and intense persecution. Rebelling, he is sent as a convicted murderer to the newly formed penal world and to the harsh, incredible logic of the Stellar Legion. There, where life is measured by the ability to think fast and act faster, he survivies to win promotion in the most brutal military system ever founded.
Here also comes Laurance, Director of the Federation of Man, afraid of the thing he has helped create, and using every means of guile and intelligence to undo what has been done. Pitting wits against Hogarth, commander of the Stellar Legion, in a tense, two-sided battle with the entire Federation as the prize, terrified lest the human wolves trained and hardened in blood and terror should range the defenceless galazy.
How the problem is solved, in a surprising denouement, how young Wilson rises in a society where any decent man is doomed to an early death, and how cold logic can be a two-edged weapon, makes this a swift, fast-moving tale of future time and future ambitions, steeped in the raw stuff of which Empires are made.

Leaving on Translink bookshelf

What a find! Rem loves vintage science fiction, so he was delighted to spot this in the Translink bookcase today.