Vigilant

Vigilant by James Alan Gardner

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

April 8, 2001

The title pretty much says it all. A good book, but not really great. It didn't really grab me by the nose and make me want to keep reading, but it wans't hard on the eyes either.

A major flaw with the book is that our narrator, Faye Smallwood, has this peculiar accent that really becomes distracting. She has this way of linking words with hyphens or slashes, or just making up words, it really gets irritating after 372 pages. It seems like a small thing, but it got under my skin after a while.

Another flaw is that there is really no big payoff at the end. There's action throughout the book, but for an action book, the "final confrontation" was pretty lame. A couple of shots of acid, a melting bridge, and we're done. Maybe I'm being picky, but I thought there should be more there to make it worth putting up with the narrator's annoying voice.

Like all of Gardner's books there is little of hard substance, but the books are all fun reads. So if you want a good SF adventure, I'd recommend all of Gardner's books, except maybe Commitment Hour, they'll keep you occupied without stupefying you.

So, to sum it up, if you have nothing to read, check out Vigilant, it's worth the money you pay (especially if you buy it used).