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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wacky and fun but sometimes implausible Space Opera,
By
This review is from: Ascending (Mass Market Paperback)
_Ascending_ is James Alan Gardner's fourth novel about Festina Ramos, an "Explorer" with the Navy of the future Human Technocracy. Festina was the protagonist of Gardner's first novel, _Expendable_, in which we learn the general setup of his future history, to wit 1) humans (and a number of other alien species) have been given the secret of FTL travel as well as some other nice stuff such as life extension treatments by apparently benevolent aliens, 2) the more advanced aliens are the controlling races of the League of Peoples, a very loose confederation of beings that operates with one simple law: anyone who might kill another sentient being is considered non-sentient, and cannot travel outside their own Solar System: if they do, they die, instantly and mysteriously; and 3) the Human Navy's Explorer Corps is composed of disabled and disfigured people who are considered "expendable" because of their handicaps, thus handy for being sent on dangerous missions. John Clute called this last idea the silliest idea he had ever seen in SF, or words to that effect, and I agree. After _Expendable_ Festina is no longer the POV character, but in each book she is an important secondary character. _Vigilant_ and _Hunted_ are mostly unlinked separate stories. _Ascending_, though, directly continues the story of a character from the first book, with the glass woman Oar of the planet Melaquin having awoken from a 4 year sleep, apparently cured of injuries she suffered in that book. She has been discovered by a criminal of the Divian species named Uclodd Unorr: a short orange humanoid. He has been hired to spirit Oar away before the Technocracy council of Admirals finds her, because they wish to make sure she cannot testify against them about the crimes on Melaquin. So Uclodd, his wife Lajoolie, and Oar are soon running away in the intelligent ship Starbiter. But they find that not only is the Human navy after them, so is a powerful alien species called the Shaddill -- the very species which sold FTL technology to Divians and Humans, and which is believed to have created Oar's people in the distant past. After some hair-raising adventures, they encounter Festina Ramos, then another strange alien species, the Cashlings. All the while Oar is in contact with a weird alien named the Pollisand, who claims to have brought her back from the dead, and who wishes her help in ridding the universe of the evil Shaddill. The book is quite fun to read. It is told in Oar's inimitable voice, familiar to readers of _Expendable_: she is childish but charming, desperate for attention, very egotistical, profane. The reasons for all this are explained in the book. The voice is fun to read, and the action of the book is quite exciting as well. At the same time, there are caveats. The whole setup for Gardner's future is really absurd. Moreover, the science in these books is extremely rubbery, pretty much whatever it needs to be for plot purposes at any one time. I have seen a number of comments from readers for whom all this is too much, and they can't enjoy the books. I find that thoroughly understandable -- I can only say that I do like the books, albeit with reservations and a certain amount of eye-rolling and eyebrow-raising. I made a comment, in a review of one of the earlier books, that they reminded me, in some ways, of '50s SF: in the rubbery but fun science, and in the whole insouciance of the approach to things. I will say that Gardner's imagination is active: his aliens, though very humanlike in character, are neatly designed, and his tech, wacky is it is, is also often quite clever.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Addition to the Series,
By
This review is from: Ascending (Mass Market Paperback)
Since Expendable I look forward to each new work by James Alan Gardner. His Festina Ramos books combine space opera with a screwball perspective on the universe. Gardner's style is fast and breezy, a bit scatalogical. Sort of like the 1930's comedies before the Hays Office started censoring them.[Ascending] is a good story, action driven as always, and highly recommended. I did have a few reservations about his choice of Oar, a character from a previous Ramos story, as narrator. Oar comes across as an amalgam of Candide and Commander Data, and the first person narrative occasionally does become wordy and tedious. This minor quibble aside, Ascending is a worthy addition to the League of Peoples series. And I'm looking forward to the next novel from this fine writer.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wherein I Give "Ascending" the Thumbs-Down,
By
This review is from: Ascending (Mass Market Paperback)
I've generally given Gardner's Festina Ramos books high marks, his previous work "Hunted" I gave 5 stars. Overall, Gardner's books have been action-packed quick reads, even if some aspects of the story are unbelievable. "Ascending" however, never really got going and did little to hold my interest.For starters, the narrator, Oar, is really annoying to read for 350+ pages. Her childish prose would be acceptable for a chapter or two, but a whole book becomes tiresome. The book never excited me, but there was a decent pay-off at the end with sufficient action to not be a complete let-down. However, that ending was completely rushed. That was a negative, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to read a 500-page by Oar, it would probably be too tedious to finish. This is my least-favorite of Gardner's books besides "Commitment Hour" which is more of a spin-off. I was really disappointed because "Hunted" was an awesome book that I literally couldn't put down, but "Ascending" didn't come close to filling its shoes. In my opinion, this is in part because Gardner has pumped out one of these books a year since 1997, he should probably take a year off to refresh his persepctive a little. Unfortunately, at the end the mysterious Pollisand remarks that he'll see Festina & Oar real soon, which can only mean that next winter another adventure will be on the shelves. Let's all hope it's better. I said this recently about, "Shadow of the Hegemon" by Orson Scott Card, but it bears repeating. If you're a fan of the Ramos series, read "Ascending" just so you don't get lost, but rent it from the library, buy it used, or borrow it from a friend, because it isn't worth [the money].
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