From Amazon.com
Edward York is an illegal clone, genetically engineered for perfection--but something went wrong. His twin sister, Ambassador Samantha York, is a gorgeous genius, but the physically perfect Edward is condemned by his faulty brain to service in the human Navy's Outward Fleet Explorer Corps, a collection of misfits who call themselves the Expendables, and with good reason. After Edward fails to save his sister's life on the war-torn planet Troyen, he is sent away on a Navy starship in which all other crew and passengers die in the same instant, leaving Edward alone--and trapped with unknown, destructive nanotechnology. If that isn't trouble enough, his fate is mysteriously tied to that of Troyen's native race, the Mandasar, in a complex interstellar web of conspiracy and treachery. And his only allies may be five young Mandasar; a human-alien symbiont with motives of her own; and the most infamous Expendable in the Corps, the hated Admiral Festina Ramos.
In addition to Hunted, James Alan Gardner has written two previous novels featuring Festina Ramos, Expendable and Vigilant; his novel Commitment Hour is set in the same universe. --Cynthia Ward
From Publishers Weekly
The latest title in Gardner's loosely linked League of Peoples series (Expendable; Vigilant) brings back a few familiar characters but focuses on Edward York, the son of Admiral Alexander York. Edward's secret is that he and his sister were genetically engineered before birth to be perfect. Unfortunately, something went awry, and Edward is a bit slow intellectually, so his father secures him a position in the Explorer Corps, the branch responsible for contacting new life forms. The catch is that Explorers (or Expendables) often die in the process. Despite his handicap, Edward manages to figure things out in his own way, as he becomes enmeshed in a civil war on Troyen, a planet with a long and complicated political and social history. Gardner's plot is rewardingly complex as well, bringing in elements and characters from his previous books, but his wry dialogue and engaging characters propel the narrative. Edward turns out to have some surprising abilities, which enable him to charm both humans and the large, lobster-like natives of Troyen and, when he learns the truth about those he's cared for, to deal with the consequences. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
