Rating: 
Summary: Gardner strikes gold with another fine Festina Ramos yarn!
Review: I am pretty much stuck on Festina Ramos, formerly an "Expendable" Explorer and presently a problematic Lieutenant Admiral of the futuristic Outward Fleet. She's tough, sharp, well trained and effective, and gets herself into righteously outrageous situations and, happily, out again.I felt that Gardner's previous Festina tale, "Hunted", was not up to snuff, but this one had me fully in its grip! We learn about the Ooloms and the Freeps in this one as well as the "Peacocks", alien races all and vividly realized by Gardner. A mysterious phenomena on the planet Demoth has felled most of the Ooloms and threatens more horrendous disaster unless our new heroine, Faye Smallwood, can survive and conquer the many forces aligned against her. These include her own personal ghosts as well as vicious government agents and various other enemys. I very much liked the personal side of Faye, her relationships with her human friends and "family", with Festina and with her alien friends and coworkers. Her personal development is a major factor in this story and is expertly handled by Gardner. The action is enticing and exciting, driven by very interesting concepts and by characters that we really care about. The frequently humorous style and dialogue enhances this energetic ride to a most satisfying conclusion. HIghly recommended, and I'm definitely looking forward to more of this series from Gardner.
Rating:
Summary: Gardner strikes gold with another fine Festina Ramos yarn!
Review: I am pretty much stuck on Festina Ramos, formerly an "Expendable" Explorer and presently a problematic Lieutenant Admiral of the futuristic Outward Fleet. She's tough, sharp, well trained and effective, and gets herself into righteously outrageous situations and, happily, out again. I felt that Gardner's previous Festina tale, "Hunted", was not up to snuff, but this one had me fully in its grip! We learn about the Ooloms and the Freeps in this one as well as the "Peacocks", alien races all and vividly realized by Gardner. A mysterious phenomena on the planet Demoth has felled most of the Ooloms and threatens more horrendous disaster unless our new heroine, Faye Smallwood, can survive and conquer the many forces aligned against her. These include her own personal ghosts as well as vicious government agents and various other enemys. I very much liked the personal side of Faye, her relationships with her human friends and "family", with Festina and with her alien friends and coworkers. Her personal development is a major factor in this story and is expertly handled by Gardner. The action is enticing and exciting, driven by very interesting concepts and by characters that we really care about. The frequently humorous style and dialogue enhances this energetic ride to a most satisfying conclusion. HIghly recommended, and I'm definitely looking forward to more of this series from Gardner.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than I Expected
Review: I disagree with the previous reviewer, Greg Dufner. Greg says that the book doesn't get going until page 268. I enjoyed the first 200+ pages. This is my first James Alan Gardner book, so I lapped up every word on this interesting universe that he's created. Perhaps Mr. Dufner found it dull because he was already familiar with the setting. I enjoyed every page of this book. It's got action. It's got neat sci-fi thingamajigs. It's got a cool alien race. The only flaw I found in this book was the slightly whiny protagonist. Faye likes to put herself down. Poor Faye..Bad Faye..does get old. But in the end I found I'd read a very enjoyable book. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great book from one of the best new writers
Review: I like Gardner's work a lot (first discovered him in AMAZING STORIES magazine) and am glad to see him move up to novels. EXPENDABLE, COMMITMENT HOUR, VIGILANT---they are all great. Gardner reminds me of Douglas Adams but not quite so over-the-top.
Rating:
Summary: The best book he wrote so far.
Review: I loved the characters and the plot. There was nothing about this book that was not enjoyable. I would like to revisist that world again someday.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Gardner
Review: I really like James Allan Gardner's writing, and that's no something you can say about every sci-fi author. You might like their ideas, or their plots or even their characters, but you won't necessarily say that their writing is exemplary. But Gardner's is. I buy his books as much for his use of language (Douglas Adams with a dash Arthur Clarke's sense of wonder) as for anything else. There's lots of plot synopsis already here, so I won't spoil anymore of it, except to say I disagree with the fellow who said the book was slow getting going. Not for me it wasn't. Gardner had me in his spell from the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best Science-fiction books I've ever read
Review: I was taken aback by this book. It was not what I expected at all, but by the time I was finished, I had added it to my list of favorites. Gardner's characters are very human, with all of their faults and regrets. The heroine, Faye Smallwood, gave me goosebumps. I really felt as though I was there. Gardener is a supreme author!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Filler
Review: It seems that when you read a science fiction novel you usually discover one of two things. One is great book and the other is garbage between two pieces of card stock. This book is neither one of those, it is something right in between. The ending of the book was great! I completely enjoyed the end, however the first 268 pages of the book (I'm not kidding, it started getting really good on page 268.) were a little slow. Not slow enough to make me put down though. I enjoyed the characters and the setting VERY much, I think he could have spent less time with giving us the back ground of the characters (I was sick of hearing about Bad-Girl Faye pretty quickly.) and more time giving us alien plots, which is what makes up the best part of the novel. I do think that this is a good book to fill your time while searching for pieces of great science fiction. One more thing, read EXPENDABLE first, it'll help you get a feel for the universe. Without reading that book I feeling you'll be disappointed with the setting and you won't enjoy the book nearly as much.
Rating:
Summary: it was pretty good.
Review: it's not my absolute favorite but it's worth reading
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable.
Review: James Alan Gardner is one of the few male authors I've read who does a good job when it comes to telling a story from a woman's point-of-view. I loved his first novel "Expendable", and was pleased to see the protagonist, Festina Ramos, show up in "Vigilant". Festina is more of a supporting character here; the first-person narrative is told by Faye Smallwood, a 40-something woman living on the planet Demoth in the 25th century. Faye becomes a member of "The Vigil", a watchdog organization that ferrets out government corruption, and the story takes off when Faye becomes a target of assassins who are killing off members of The Vigil. I had a few minor problems with "Vigilant". Faye's first person narrative annoyed me in a few places. I found it odd that a 40ish-year-old woman living in the 25th century kept using 20th century slang. In several places, I felt the story was underdeveloped, particularly when it came to Faye's relationships with her family. It was interesting that Gardner didn't take the easy way out here and have Faye's "group marriage/commune" life-style fade away as she got older, but Faye's spouses were barely mentioned and when they were, I could never remember which one was which. I would have liked to have gotten to know them better. I also would have liked more background on the how the human/alien Oolom relationship developed on Demoth. The Oolom settled on Demoth first and far outnumbered humans, and yet the Oolom had adapted many human mannerisms instead of the other way around. Overall though, "Vigilant" was a fun read and quite a page-turner. I enjoyed it.
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