The Captain of Estel: The Complete Trilogy

The books in this trilogy have been retitled to make plain that they are a separate and quite different story from Sylvia Engdahl's other novels with "Flame" in their titles, set centuries later, which can be read independently.

Book One: PASSAGE TO DESTINY
(Originally published as Defender of the Flame)

Starship pilot Terry Radnor is elated to be among those chosen to defend the secret colony Maclairn against enemies who pose a threat to the spread of paranormal human mind powers. He commits himself wholly to the goal of that world, not guessing how far his effort to protect it will take him from everything else he cares about. Torn away from his family and career against his will after learning a secret too deep for its disclosure to be risked, he is forced to build a new life far from Maclairn. Yet a mysterious and extraordinary destiny has been predicted for Terry, and fate puts him in place to confront the colony's greatest peril.

Book Two: A SHIP NAMED HOPE
(Originally published as Herald of the Flame)

As captain of his own starship Estel, Terry is committed to spreading acceptance of paranormal mind powers throughout the colonies of humankind. Barred from contact with his beloved planet Maclairn, he now journeys from world to world, heralding the hopeful future about which he alone knows the full truth. But the opponents of such powers are gaining strength, and on Earth the persecution of people who develop them is increasing. Soon targeted by bounty hunters, Terry risks everything that matters to him in a desperate attempt to defeat Maclairn's enemies, not guessing that if he lives long enough, he is destined for an even greater role in human history than he has played as a defender of its cause.

Book Three: MISSION TO EARTH
(Originally published as Envoy of the Flame)

Ardith Moran is elated by the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, elated enough to stake her life on her conviction that they exist after the exploratory expedition's leaders turn back. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with an alien, much less for their love to play a key role in saving Earth from tyranny and eventual ruin. Can she, influenced by the legacy of the now-legendary Captain of Estel, convince Earthborn people who don't want to meet aliens that they can't retreat from the universe? Or will Earth's authorities succeed in killing her to suppress the evidence only she and her fellow envoys can provide?

FROM THE REVIEWS OF BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY

“This book reaches back to the brio and speculation of Engdahl’s classic books of the Seventies. . . Defender [of he Flame] is satisfying on multiple levels. . . I expected to like this book; I was startled that I loved it. A must read.” —Literary critic Nicholas Birns

“A futuristic ride that has many parallels in today’s society. This is a ‘thinking man’s’ science fiction book—the type we need more of today!” —The Feathered Quill

“These novels are not so much genre . . . Science Fiction as they are Literature. These are novels about life.” —Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Alien Romances: Reviews 14