Rating: 
Summary: Lobster bisque
Review: An easy read, but one that requires the reader be as slow as our hero to sustain real interest over the 400 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Reliable entertainment
Review: Another fun read from Gardner, in the implausible but enjoyable world of Festina Ramos. Sure, you could drive a truck through the holes in the plot, and some themes and images are familiar to science fiction fans, but you still have a good time. Nice world-building and appealing aliens.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Science Fiction Adventure
Review: As the book "Hunted" begins, Edward York is leaving an isolated moonbase around the planet Troyen and, he thinks, finally going home. He is so happy to be leaving, he doesn't question the circumstances of the sudden reprieve from exile. After twenty years away from the rest of civilization, he is having enough trouble simply coping with the flood of attention from the ship's women. But the ship that rescues him never gets to take him home. Instead, Edward finds his innocent ride home was not so innocent at all, and he is suddenly thrown right back into the heart of the intrigue and politics he thought he'd left behind twenty years before. In those days, Edward served as the bodyguard to his genetically perfect, diplomat sister, Samantha-the only job he could get since HIS genetic engineering inexplicably failed to provide him with the intelligence his sister received. When a diplomatic mission to Troyen, the homeworld of the Mandasars, went sour and erupted in civil war, Samantha was killed and Edward banished to an isolated moon outpost by his Admiral father. Edward is convinced this is because his father blames him for his sister's death, and is embarrassed by his "retarded idiot son". With little to do over the past twenty years other than wallow in guilt over his sister's death and contemplate his father's contempt for him, Edward's self esteem is practically nonexistent. He considers himself ill prepared to take on the tasks he is faced with after he leaves the moonbase. But with the help of Admiral Festina Ramos and a collection of Explorers and amusing aliens, Edward will find himself trying to unravel a conspiracy that began twenty years before and that is the source of strife on Troyen . I loved this book. It keeps a brisk pace and the plot is full of surprise twists and turns. Gardner's universe, the same as in other "Expendable" books, is richly-detailed and full of colorful aliens, interesting technologies, and complex politics. The book's characters are wonderful. I always like to cheer for the noble underdog and Edward York is a fabulous character. He is completely convinced of his own uselessness at the opening of the book, yet decency and bravery are so much the core of his personality, the reader cannot help but like him. As the book progresses, he begins to realize that perhaps he is more than just Admiral York's "retarded idiot son". He gains confidence, but never loses his decency. Festina Ramos, familiar to readers of Gardner's other Expendable books, makes a capable and interesting partner for Edward. There is a host of secondary characters that are also very entertaining; I particularly enjoyed Tobit, the wisecracking Explorer who accompanies Edward and Festina to Troyen. If the primary characters in "Hunted" were not so good, the book would still be enjoyable simply because of Gardner's well-developed alien species. Gardner knows how to create believable and well-drawn alien people. The Mandasars become people that you are able to really care about rather than just discard as cardboard curiosities. He even manages to make the Balrog, a sentient moss with a rather malicious and twisted sense of humor, believable. It is not necessary to have read Gardner's other books to be able to follow this one. After reading this excellent offering, I certainly will read the rest of his books now. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Read This Series!
Review: Edward York: tall, blond, and beautiful, is also mentaly deficient. Doommed to spend his life as an "Expendable" Explorer in the post of his sister Samantha's bodygaurd. Samantha is everything Edward isnt, Intelligent. Then Sammantha dies during a diplomatic mission to Troyen and Edward is left at a research station on a Troyen moon. Twenty years later Edwards exile is lifted and the fun begins.(caution spoiler coming up)this book deals with many human issues as Edward journeys towards self discovery. From an abusive father's spite "my little jetsam" to the discovery of his sisters betrayal. All the while dealing with changes to his body and mind, and the fact that he has been hiding from the truth for twenty years. Gardner likes shaking the bee's nest. each of his novels portays a different bit of the darker side of humanity. "Expendable" punches you with racisms, normal people abusing the rights of those they consider expendable(the ugly/freakish/substandard). With the expendable in turn abusing the natives in subconsious(and not so subconsious) immitation of the normal humans. "Vigilant" lays on the survivor guilt, revenge and other nasty emotions along with a little bit of lesbian love. "Hunted" pulls out the misuse of power and exploitation of others(even ones own kin). "Acsending" has intentional cripling of entire species, destruction of cultures, all because of a fear of change. i haven't read "Commitment Hour" but im sure its got a sting too. This is not "Space Opera" its social comentary with an interesting setting. Oh and the Good Guy/Gal wins. That Gardner manages to make each book interesting and unique while still involving Festina Ramos in all of them makes them all the better! James, Your The MAN! XOXO!
Rating:
Summary: Read This Series!
Review: Edward York: tall, blond, and beautiful, is also mentaly deficient. Doommed to spend his life as an "Expendable" Explorer in the post of his sister Samantha's bodygaurd. Samantha is everything Edward isnt, Intelligent. Then Sammantha dies during a diplomatic mission to Troyen and Edward is left at a research station on a Troyen moon. Twenty years later Edwards exile is lifted and the fun begins.(caution spoiler coming up) this book deals with many human issues as Edward journeys towards self discovery. From an abusive father's spite "my little jetsam" to the discovery of his sisters betrayal. All the while dealing with changes to his body and mind, and the fact that he has been hiding from the truth for twenty years. Gardner likes shaking the bee's nest. each of his novels portays a different bit of the darker side of humanity. "Expendable" punches you with racisms, normal people abusing the rights of those they consider expendable(the ugly/freakish/substandard). With the expendable in turn abusing the natives in subconsious(and not so subconsious) immitation of the normal humans. "Vigilant" lays on the survivor guilt, revenge and other nasty emotions along with a little bit of lesbian love. "Hunted" pulls out the misuse of power and exploitation of others(even ones own kin). "Acsending" has intentional cripling of entire species, destruction of cultures, all because of a fear of change. i haven't read "Commitment Hour" but im sure its got a sting too. This is not "Space Opera" its social comentary with an interesting setting. Oh and the Good Guy/Gal wins. That Gardner manages to make each book interesting and unique while still involving Festina Ramos in all of them makes them all the better! James, Your The MAN! XOXO!
Rating:
Summary: Hunted??? More Like Manipulated
Review: For egomaniac Admiral Alexander York, having regular children just isn't good enough. Although such tampering is illegal in the Technocracy, York has his unborn children genetically altered. The result: Samantha is blond, beautiful, athletic and brilliant. When she is grown, she becomes ambassador to the Mandasar on the planet Troyen. Edward is also blond, handsome and athletic, but he is slow mentally. Slower than normal. An embarrassment to his father, Edward is kept out of sight until the Admiral is able to get him commissioned in the "Expendables" and assigned to Sam as her bodyguard. In this position, he can be kept under Sam's supervision. But, when civil war breaks out on Troyen, Sam and the Mandasar hive-queen are killed. All humans are immediately evacuated. Edward finds himself manning a lonely observation outpost on a barren moon in the Troyen system for the next twenty years. Then things start to get interesting... HUNTED is set in the same universe as Gardner's earlier books. I read the first of these, EXPENDABLE, several years ago. I thought it was OK, but not entertaining enough to look for its follow-ups. Recently, however, HUNTED caught my eye and I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. The story is fun and well-paced, with plenty of action and lots of twists and turns. The characters are an intriguing bunch, including the likable Edward and, from previous "expendables" tales, Festina Ramos and Phylar Tobit. Edward, who is not as dumb as most people think, handles the trials and tribulations that come his way with an engaging degree of acceptance and humor. He isn't "hunted" much, though. He's manipulated endlessly, but he spends only a brief time early in the book "on the run". The Mandasars and other aliens are interesting, and one of the regrets I felt about this story is that they weren't developed more. The "bad guys" are perhaps too unrelentingly evil and uncomplicated, but the story doesn't dwell much on them, either. This IS "space opera" after all, not high literature. As "space opera", it works well enough. I've never been a big fan of sci-fi that relies on special psych powers, either among humans or aliens. It always strikes me as a cop-out when it becomes the "out" from the complications posed in the plot of a story. There is an element of that in HUNTED, but it doesn't intrude until the very end. I would have liked the story better without it, but it isn't a major distraction. I liked this book. It wasn't deep, but it didn't profess to be. It was fun and never got boring. A little predictable? Maybe, but the complications kept coming fast enough to raise new questions. I recommend it to fans of this genre. It is one of the best books of this type I've read in recent years.
Rating:
Summary: I stayed up til 3am to finish this book.
Review: From reading the back of the novel: It's story of a father that had his two children genetically altered to be absolutely perfect. One turned out fine and joined the diplomatic corps, and the other turned out less than intelligent and joined the Explorers. You would think that it would follow certain storylines and it doesn't. Mr Gardner excelled in creating a new world in this universe. He introduces several different alien species and manages to captivate you with each paragraph. I found myself trying to guess the ending and then having to control myself, not to go to the end of the book to find out how it all turns out. It was interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: Gardner writes a simple, but fun style. This book, like his others, is just fun to read, without being over complicated. While his stories are not on a scale with series' like Dune or Star Wars, he is quietly creating a science fiction world that is interesting and different than the typical view of the future. He is very imaginative in creating the League of Peoples, where humans are not the top of the evolutionary chain. Sometimes, the story is a little slow, and silly if you think too much, but it's a great book to read if you just want to sit down, zip through some pages, and enjoy yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Expect a good story and get it!
Review: I have read all of Mr. Gardner's previous novels, always coming away feeling as if his characters are people I know. Or will come across at any moment in my life. Edward York is different, not the razor wit people come to expect from a main character. Inherently decent and honorable, he is caught up in some of the horrific circumstances anyone could be expected to face. Anyone with a fully functional intelligence would be excused for going a little crazy, but Edward who had always been put down by his powerful father and treated like an amusing pet by his spectacular twin sister IS the main character. Along with James Gardener's ever popular Festina Ramos, Edward has to get to the bottom of the cover-up he was never supposed to be smart enough to detect. Murder, betrayal, fear and confusion have all been woven by Mr. Gardner into one incredibly entertaining story. I am looking forward to the next book already. :)
Rating:
Summary: He saved the best for last but it took a while to get there!
Review: If you LOVE Gardner's female protagonist Festina Ramos (as I do) you'll LIKE "Hunted". I found this book pleasant but somewhat slow going until I approached the end where it picked me up and kept me up! Gardner again introduces us to several fascinating and well realized alien races, the Balrog and the Mandasars, and he expertly weaves the thought provoking relationships between them and our questionably "human" race. A basic question posed in different ways throught the story is "what does it mean to be used by others"? Is it always bad; can it be beneficial to both parties. We are constantly used in our "normal" contemporary Earthly lives by the organizations that we work for, that we join, that provide us information and necessary professional services. In this complex tale Gardner brings that question to it's ultimate expression. I continue to be fascinated by Gardner's skill as a writer and as a creator of tangible and sensible realities that include a wonderful panoply of possible different beings. I liked "Expendable" more than "Hunted", but I will surely continue to read everything that Gardner generously puts out for our entertainment and deep consideration.
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