Rating: 
Summary: Fun, fast-moving, not quite convincing, science fantasy
Review: Trapped is James Alan Gardner's sixth novel. All are set in a future (about 500 years from now) dominated by the League of Peoples. Humans have a number of colonies, but only "sentient" humans (non-murderers) can travel to other stars. Earth itself is ruled by the "Spark Lords", humans who have been given considerable tech by aliens in exchange for keeping tabs on the remaining humans on the planet. The aliens have also seeded Earth with nanotech that can be used by some people in ways that closely mimic traditional magic. The upshot of this setup is that Earth is a nice setting for quasi-fantastical adventures. The hero of the book is Phil, a science teacher at a college in Feliss (roughly Ontario). When one of his students dies, he and several of his friends find themselves on a magical quest, to track down the murderer of the student and to save another student who has special powers. They also hope to give their lives some meaning. The story is fun, often funny, often clever, and quite full of action and adventure. On that level it is well worth reading, and I enjoyed it. But it is also burdened by the overly convenient way in which the author seems to arrange for just the right powers to be available at just the right time, and the overly convenient way in which various folks' motivations dovetail with the needs of the story at the right time. That is, it's a pretty fun book, and a nice fast-moving read, but it is not at all convincing. This isn't his best work, but it's not bad. Gardner's novels as a group are well worth seeking out. They are full of decent adventure, cute SFnal ideas, and plenty of humour.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, fast-moving, not quite convincing, science fantasy
Review: Trapped is James Alan Gardner's sixth novel. All are set in a future (about 500 years from now) dominated by the League of Peoples. Humans have a number of colonies, but only "sentient" humans (non-murderers) can travel to other stars. Earth itself is ruled by the "Spark Lords", humans who have been given considerable tech by aliens in exchange for keeping tabs on the remaining humans on the planet. The aliens have also seeded Earth with nanotech that can be used by some people in ways that closely mimic traditional magic. The upshot of this setup is that Earth is a nice setting for quasi-fantastical adventures. The hero of the book is Phil, a science teacher at a college in Feliss (roughly Ontario). When one of his students dies, he and several of his friends find themselves on a magical quest, to track down the murderer of the student and to save another student who has special powers. They also hope to give their lives some meaning. The story is fun, often funny, often clever, and quite full of action and adventure. On that level it is well worth reading, and I enjoyed it. But it is also burdened by the overly convenient way in which the author seems to arrange for just the right powers to be available at just the right time, and the overly convenient way in which various folks' motivations dovetail with the needs of the story at the right time. That is, it's a pretty fun book, and a nice fast-moving read, but it is not at all convincing. This isn't his best work, but it's not bad. Gardner's novels as a group are well worth seeking out. They are full of decent adventure, cute SFnal ideas, and plenty of humour.
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