Commitment Hour

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Fable on Gender Identity
Review: This book set in a community where non-adults switch genders every year is a fascinating take on sexual identity.The narrater, Fullen, is especially enteresting.Fullen's feamale half even has different views than Fullen's male half.Wheras the former has liberal views, the latter is slightly conservative. And finally, I liked the twist ending which makes out the male Fullen's view of Neuters to be ironic.

Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyable, character-driven sci-fi.
Review: This is James Alan Gardner's early work - unlike his Expendable series, it does not feature Festina Ramos, however, the League of Peoples is briefly mentioned.

The basic plot for this novel is that Earth around the 24th-25th century faces a catastrophe (overpopulation, disease, etc.) and the League of Peoples offers Earthlings a way out - those who so want can leave the planet and live among aliens learning their technology and cultural standpoints. Not everyone leaves and those who stay are left without the support of a developed civilization and the world ends up resembling that of the Middle Ages with a history (and therefore artifacts) of modern and futuristic science. At some point, those who left the Earth decide to come back and conduct social experiments using extremely advanced technology.

One of these experients is a little village whose inhabitants change gender every year up until they are 20, when having experienced being both a man and a woman during their lifetime, they decide to become one permanently. The twist is that in addition to become male or female, one can choose to become a Neut - a person of both genders. Thankfully though, even though the plot revolves around changing genders, the emphasis of the novel is more on great technology, a society that has leaped quickly forward and then rapidly backwards, and the politics of people in such a situation. The main character is very believable and his (her?) adventures make for a page-turner.

The atmosphere of this novel was similar to that of Trapped - it even features the Spark Lords. My biggest hangup about reading this novel, even though I loved all of other novels by James Alan Gardner, was that its description does not really indicate that the novel is set in the same universe as the others. I was very pleasantly surprised and The Commitment Hour was a fast read. The ending was somewhat surprising and definitely not cliche.

I give it 5 stars among Gardner's books, and 4 overall. I recommend it highly for the author's fans.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not as good as some other Gardner books.
Review: This is my 2nd book by this author. The first one was "Expendable", and was an excellent read.

This one, like the first one, is also a very easy read, a book that I gulped down in almost a single setting. Like the first one, this book has the humor and wit that I suspect are the author's characteristic. It also is set around a very interesting idea: What if mankind had a free choice of sexes - if every person could decide what sex they wanted to be. However, "The Commitment Hour" lacks the depth of characters that "Expendable" had, thus making it a little boring.

If you haven't read any of his books, do not start with this one. But if you have read another book by the author, then you will, most probably, enjoy this one too.

Rating:
Summary: Cute Small-Town Sci-Fi Whodunit Starring Questing Adolescent
Review: Very entertaining: spanning many genres, and exploring themes of gender, parenthood, and politics through the eyes of one mixed-up teenager. My favorite of Gardner's books.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Twist To An Old Idea
Review: Well, that was one interesting book! The first few pages brought me right into the story, so I picked the book up right away. The character Fullin was really interesting, along with his girl/boy (whatever) friend, Cappie -- which was written all in first-person point of view (Fullin's view). The way he views his world, and once the climax finally came in the story held very well to how he would have acted. (If you haven't already read the first review of this book, you lucked out. I felt he gave most of the book away right there!). Anyway from a guy that RARELY picks books to read, I found a gem here.