Not for Glory

Tetsuo 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. (March)