Rating: 
Summary: That's What "Expendable" Means
Review: Like most good SF, this book makes some uncomfortable points about our current society by picking a facet and exaggerating it. How do we see those who are "different" or do not meet our standards of physical perfection? In this book, and frankly in contemporary America, those who are distasteful to look at are expendable. This book takes that to the extreme, and wraps it in a powerful and evocative story. Unfortunately, Gardner finds it necessary to sprinkle the tale with miracles and improbabilities that add little to the story or the message. The characters are solid and well-envisioned, and Gardner tells the story elegantly and well, but much of the novel is, um, expendable. Overall, though, a good novel with complex issues; well worth the time it takes to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultimatley boring, but well written
Review: I found this story to be a story that went no where, and its plot and characters were unengaging. First of all, the basic premise of the story was implausible; that gave it a bad start. (although how is something called speculative fiction judged implausible?) None the less, the idea of a benificial, but virtually omipotentent power existing in a universe where exporation is still necessary, is contradictory. For an interesting take on the 'ultimate' society read Stanislaw Lem's 'The Cyberaid'. The basic premise of the explorer corp, on the other hand, is not only believable, but has countless parrallels in current society (think of the migrant workers that we ignore in the name of cheap produce). Society has always found some group to marginalize for its own benifit and there is no reason to think that this will change. The other interesting point of the book is his take on the transparent humans; the idea that being nearly indestructable will lead to stagnant emotional and intellectual development is quite inspired. It is too bad that a book with two basically interesting ideas could end up being a boring read. Ultimately the story line and characters did not catch my interest, and he did not seem to take his foundational premises anywhere. It was a chore to finish. I gave two stars because of the interesting ideas, and because the writing is clear and easy to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: I bought this book because the concept intrigued me, but I just naturally assumed that it would be one of those books where the concept is better than the writing. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. Expendable is an exciting book that kept me turning page after page until the end and left me thirsting for more.The key to this book is the key to any first-person yarn, that we enjoy listening to the narrator. Our narrator, Festina Ramos is a woman forced into an almost meaningless life of landing on planets until she is killed, all because of a birthmark on her face. Ramos, however, does not spend the whole book mired in self-pity about her lot in life. She's tortured by her demons, but always presses on, and that makes her respectable in my opinion, and so it was easy to charge through 335 pages in a couple of days. Some say the plot is thin with plenty of holes, but I didn't see it that way. It was a tight adventure story that didn't take itself too seriously. There were no long lectures about physics and temporal mechanics, just a decent novel fueled by adventure, action, and mystery. A couple of points that did annoy me: 1. The way that each chapter had different sections with subheadings really made the narration seem choppy. 2. Is there some kind of unhealthy obsession that makes SF writers in Canada write about immortal people made of glass? This is the third straight book I've read featuring immortal see-through people. The first two were "FlashForward" and "Starplex" by Canadian SF author Robert Sawyer, so it just seems like there has to be some kind of connection. In Sawyer's books, the immortal see-through people thing was an irritating tangent, but in Expendable, the transparent woman named Oar adds some humor and a kind of tragic element to the story. Overall, Expendable is a very enjoyable book, I was pleasantly surprised and very disappointed that I spent so little on a beat-up used copy of it. For a good read that's not overly taxing on your brain and very entertaining, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful adventure (ignoring the silly premise)
Review: A fast-paced adventure with just the right mix of new ideas, exotic concepts, and action. The type of book that one can easily read in one sitting; entertaining, intelligent, thought-provoking without being a drag, action-packed but not mindless. The silly premise (read the excerpt) is that a government conspiracy keeps deformed people from being cured, so that these unattractive individuals can be used as expendable explorers. Geeze, I doubt we'll every have a shortage of unattractive people (beauty is a relative concept) - take a look out of a your window and you'll agree. But this silly premise (with accompanying conspiracy theories and odd portrayals of society) is easily ignored by the reader. As with many novels these days, the heroine has a Tragic Past and is the Victim of A Social Injustice - in her case, an unsightly birthmark. Thus the protagonist does her requisite amount of complaining about her lot in life. Fortunately, this ritual denouncement of social injustice is not intrusive (and it is a lot more pleasant to hear her complain about her birthmark than the usual writer's crutch of child abuse, incest, and alcoholism).
Rating:
Summary: two dimensional characters and plot
Review: This book has a novel premise and that's about it. This might have made a good short story, but as a novel it is completely uninspiring. The characters are all cardboard cutouts who inspire no empathy. The plot consists of one unbelievable deus ex machina turn after another. The contrived mini-chapters with the giveaway titles are annoying. The natives of the planet Melaquin have no depth or ingenuity behind them. Don't bother with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever, very clever
Review: This book has a clever plot, a clever story and is very, very witty. The book consists of sections of one or two pages, at most, which simultaneously tell the story, give insight on how the main character thinks, and provide a witticism of some sort. At first it annoyed me, as I prefer a more continuous prose, and the witticisms were making it hard for me to concentrate on the story. :-) But this book is so good that this soon ceased to be of any importance. This is very good science fiction. If you like science fiction in general, you'll like this book.
Rating:
Summary: A book that raises many questions.
Review: This is a great little read. A fast paced book told in small chapters. It raises many questions about our society. Do we need "different" people to keep society alive? Does society stagnate when it is comfortable? Do deformed people have an individuality and strength that makes them more resourceful? Do we mourn the passing of ugly people less than the passing of beautiful people? Picture yourself being dumped on a planet, alone and virtually unarmed, in the certain knowledge that all who went before have disappeared off the face of the universe. Would you go? Even if you were trained to do so? Intrigued by these premises? Then read on. A hugely enjoyable yarn this, but the societal issues it raises are ones that will stick with you.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, well written, but avoids a major issue.
Review: This book has an interesting premise (the world's deformed are forced to become explorers (ie. redshirts)), but JAG avoids major issues, such as why do the expendable put up with their current situation and since the exploeres are reallly quite powerful, why don't the seize control? The book was enjoyable, but JAG skirts the issue that explorers are treated badly and no one really ever deals with it in a real way--both the author and the charactes. Yes, in the end, the characters deal with it and the end result deals with it, but a major portion of the book doesn't deal with the racism that explorers feel.
The problem, as stated with this book, is that is really is about racism with a SF background, however, JAG, never deals with it. He takes the time for you to feel for the characters, to get to know some of them, and even start to identify yourself with them, however, the is no resolution to the issue what-so-ever. It is a very good premise, and quite believeable, however, nothing is ever done with it well. Good characters suffer through an incomplete novel.
Rating:
Summary: Cool Book
Review: I'm getting tired of wading through these novels where the main antagonist is incredibly annoying, but left in the plot because there'd be no reason to continue writing without him (or her). So you just sit there and get annoyed by the character until the book - mercifully - ends. Expendible is not one of these books. The characters are strange but never annoying. If nothing else, they're human without resorting to extremes. The book reads very quickly and cleanly. You'd be inclined to think it's fluff, since it does read well, but there's actually quite a bit of food for thought in there and some very interesting insight into human nature. Go read it now.
Rating:
Summary: Sit still, read and giggle yourself silly...
Review: I loved this book, I needed to take a break from the large quantity of dark fantasy I had been reading and picked up Expendable on the recommendation of Anne Bishop. Boy, am I happy I did it! He is the kind of author who can give you well thought out characters with actual lives and foibles and real humor! Festima is fantastic, she deals with the superficiality of her day with sort of a shrug and a roar. She is not going to be pushed around and she is not going to let them make her disappear... Don't miss this first novel, pick up and thoroughly enjoy it.
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