Trapped

League of Peoples #6

by James Alan Gardner

Life on Old Earth is simple. Under the rule of the Spark Lords, most chaos has been brought under control. Five unsatisfied teachers out for a night of drinking is nothing out of the ordinary...until they find one of their students has been murdered by an unknown alien organism.When it's discovered that the murdered student's boyfriend has gone missing, this group of misfits find themselves tangled in an unofficial homicide investigation that uncovers things they'd never imagined. The hunt for a murderer unveils a horrifying conspiracy that may involve everyone from the Spark Lords to the League of Peoples...and a force more sinister than anything they could have imagined. 

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Space Opera, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction

420 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Raised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, James Alan Gardner earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo.

A graduate of the Clarion West Fiction Writers Workshop, Gardner has published science fiction short stories in a range of periodicals, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Amazing Stories. In 1989, his short story "Children of the Creche" was awarded the Grand Prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Two years later his story "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" won an Aurora Award; another story, "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream," won an Aurora and was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

He has written a number of novels in a "League of Peoples" universe in which murderers are defined as "dangerous non-sentients" and are killed if they try to leave their solar system by aliens who are so advanced that they think of humans like humans think of bacteria. This precludes the possibility of interstellar wars.

He has also explored themes of gender in his novels, including Commitment Hour in which people change sex every year, and Vigilant in which group marriages are traditional.

Gardner is also an educator and technical writer. His book Learning UNIX is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities.

A Grand Prize winner of the Writers of the Future contest, he lives with his family in Waterloo, Ontario.

Reviews

[Baal Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is set entirely on Earth, which was one of my complaints about Commitment Hour so how is it that I liked this one so much better. For one thing, the League of Peoples had a major impact on the way this story progressed, making this book feel like it belonged in that world. I liked the way this felt like an epic fantasy with technology, mostly nano-tech, providing the background explanation of how the magic works. The characters made me happy with their very D&D feel, each providing a key component to the make-up of the party, and plenty of faults and quirks to keep them interesting. There was lots of carnage, and lots of character deaths.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book and its predecessors are aching to be a stand-alone mini-series that could only be directed by Marco Brambilla.

This entry in the series diverges from the style, timeline and characters of the otherLeague of Peoples entries.

Reminds me a bit of John Scalzi the way James Alan Gardner experiments with different forms & structures of the SF genre in this series.

What to look for: fun characterization, stereotypes that aren't, quotable quotes, and an action packed blood bath worthy of an Edgar Wright film.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trapped returns to a primitive Earth, set off from the main League of Peoples setting. The plot is a rousing adventure, as five teachers at a school go off on a quest to find a missing student, and run into criminals, powerful Spark Lords, and a god-like alien. The main plot is fun enough, a light heart raconteur with your standard D&D party that soon turns into a bloodbath. The narrator, Philemon Abu Dhubhai, and his fellow teachers, are well drawn as caring people all too aware of their smallness of their lives against their ambitions. Having been called on, they give it their all.

What I didn't like was the implications for the setting. Earth has become infested by magic, a shell of alien nanites that can be manipulated by lucky and trained adepts. There's a dramatic increase in power from the smart doors of the third book, or the intelligent clouds of the fifth. Nanotech can and will do anything. The main plot revolves around an alien called a Lucifer, a nanite hivemind that has gone insane and is being rehabilitated by the Spark Lords, which I just could not bring myself to care about.

[Gretchen Fatouros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up this book at a used bookstore, so this is my first and only book in the series.

I really liked how the author explained scientifically how this worked. I love magic & future & adventure. Wasn’t predictable which was a nice change, too.

Fun adventure or “quest,” as first spoken of in the book around the table at the bar...

[Kate Atonic · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening of the book reads a bit like a dungeons and dragons game. You’re in a tavern with your friends - Sister Impervia (a sorceress nun who loves bar brawls in the name of God), Sir Pelinor (sword master prone to sucking his own mustache), Steel Caryatid (who has premonitions and can control fire), Myoko (a tiny woman who can lift things with her mind). You? You are Phil. Your special talent is being rich and paying bar tabs for your friends. Caryatid has just told the group she’s had a premonition that they will be called to go on a quest.

The place is Earth in the year 2457 AD. The League of Peoples long ago fixed the worst of the world problems (hunger, war, illness, pollution), and let the sentient people go to a clean new planet. The ones that stayed behind in the crumbling society are the descendants of crime lords and murderers. You and your friends are teachers at a school for lackluster students. One of the students, the daughter of notorious crime lord Knife-Hand Liz, has been murdered with possible Old World biotech weapons. Another student, her boyfriend, is missing and in danger.

The group are on a quest to find the boy, find the murderer, and finally DO something. Like all League of Peoples books, this is a frothy bit of nothing on the surface, but it asks interesting philosophical questions.

This one only gets three stars from me because I hate (hate hate hate) when authors give their characters dumb names instead of serious backstory (e.g., Terry Pratchett and Anathema Device). Second, the whole point of the League of Peoples is that they value life, they protect the sentient from non-sentient creatures. The Spark Lords? Absolutely non-sentient. Thirdly, good old Phil, whose special talent is being rich and paying the bar tab? THREE different women were secretly in love with him. THREE. I am willing to suspend disbelief for a good cause, but that’s a neck beard too far.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The League of Peoples is just such a great universe that it's hard not to love everything Gardner wrote in it. I don't want to spoil this book, but I can sum it up very well for you.

Remember that DnD group you had back in the day? (No, I'm the only mega nerd here?) You know, the one where everyone actually roleplayed well. One guy was the knight-errant wanna be who, while good and pure, was actually just a jumped up mall cop? Another gal was the sorceress who, while technically proficient, liked fire just a little too much and just liked to kid around with the other members of the group. Or how about the reluctant thief who had a heart of gold?

That's basically this book, except set in the far future. One in which Earth has swords and sorcery (alongside rare high tech!) and is ruled over by the Spark Lords, the ultimate badasses who have access to all the high tech goodies one imagines in a far-future, scifi universe. It's the story of a really cool DnD group being forced to go on an adventure that is way, way above their capabilities and trying to blunder through it with the best intentions. A+ book.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thrilling mystery, fascinatingly detailed world-building, with plenty of philosophy, characterization, What If, and Sense of Wonder. Lots of chase action, dead bodies, comradery, humor, battle scenes... but despite it resembling what my husband claims to appreciate in good military SF, I still liked it. Engaging & smooth writing, with only a few tiny glitches* that I'm sure most readers wouldn't notice.

No Festina Ramos, unfortunately. Our heroes are trapped on Earth. A rebuilding Earth, four centuries after what appears to have been a minor apocalypse, in the League of Peoples universe. If I'd realized it wasn't part of the actual Expendables series I might have skipped it, in fact.

But more people would like it. I am surprised by how few have read Gardner's work.

*The woman who spent all her time indoors would not have aged in the way the author described, and probably not yet, either. For example. And the sense of time makes no sense to me no matter how I match events with hours.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the future after technological civilization has collapsed, after aliens have taken some humans to other stars and seeded Earth with nanobots that fake magic, and when Earth is very loosely ruled by a group of sorcerer-lords - a group of Ohio schoolteachers goes questing to rescue a vanished promising student who has probably been kidnapped by an alien shapeshifter. Their quest gets entangled with politics, smuggling, romance, mysteries of lost technology, and interstellar war.

It took a while for me to really get into this book, but once I did, it was really fun going through this complicated world on a surprisingly compelling quest. By the end, the protagonist had indeed won my sympathies.

[Tim Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

_Trapped_ is another in the series of the overall excellent science fiction series by James Alan Gardner, one that began with _Expendable_. _Trapped_ however differs a great deal from the other installments in this rather loosely connected series.

First of all, the setting is not some alien world (or worlds), but Earth itself. Thinking perhaps that Earth would be high-tech, one of the great worlds of the galaxy, I find it is anything but. For reasons I don't think are adequately explained, Earth is a protected backwater. Some four hundred years or so ago in the setting's history, Earth technology collapsed. Dubbed OldTech times by those who live on Earth, current Earth technology is I would say roughly equivalent at best to early 19th century times. There are sailing ships, crude guns (nothing mass produced), printing presses, that sort of thing, but nothing like the technology that existed before the collapse nor elsewhere in the galaxy in this setting, such as nanotechnology or sophisticated materials science.

For the most part that is. Earth is ruled over by an enigmatic group called the Spark Lords, powerful individuals who mostly work alone and are able with fear, mystery, and powerful weapons manage the bigger problems of this world. Not quite acting as tyrants, they step into matters throughout the world to tackle such things as alien invasions (such as occur in this book, as apparently the Spark Lords have been tackling for many years the sinister shape shifters known as Lucifers). Alone among the peoples of the Earth, the Spark Lords have access to high technology, way beyond anything else the average person has.

Well, sort of. For some bizarre reason, the League of Peoples I gather seeded Earth with many billions upon billions of pieces of nanotechnology, microbe-sized bits of robotics that infest every bit of the Earth's air, water, soil, and are even in living things. While that is not unusual, what is unusual is that some humans are able to mentally manipulate these nanobots to do their bidding. Some are born with innate abilities and can simply imagine what they want, these abilities varying from individual to individual but might include the ability to get the nanobots to levitate the person (or others or inanimate objects). Such individuals are described as being psionic (and by the way the exact way these powers work or even the existence of the nanobots is not common knowledge). Other individuals, with a combination of some apparently lesser talent along with arcane rituals are able to manipulate nanobots to do other things, such as manipulate fire or change the appearance of the person in question to others. Such people are known as sorcerers.

Ok, that is interesting. If someone wanted psionics and magic in a setting that might be the way to do it. But why? I mean, why would the League of Peoples create such as situation? What would be the benefit? It just seemed bizarre, and though more and more backstory of the setting is given as the novel progresses, I don't think that was in any way adequately explained.

Another thing, which other reviewers have noted, is that there is some inconsistency with the other novels. The ruling organization of the galaxy in these novels is the League of Peoples, and readers know (quite clearly I might add) that one of the central tenets of this (indeed, the central tenet, their core, guiding principle) is that murder is an non-sentient act, that it is in no way to be condoned or go unpunished. They even seriously frown upon deaths resulting from self-defense, and a result people and even warships are equipped with non-lethal weaponry. Yet the Spark Lords commit murder (or at least one did), and did so rather casually. The League does not prevent murders or strike murderers down dead on a planet' surface and one might point out that quite likely the Spark Lords (not that they apparently want to) would not be permitted to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere, so perhaps that is ok, but what really bothered me was the fact that the Spark Lords operated with help and under the guidance of the League. What?

Another oddity of this book is that Festina Ramos is a virtual non-presence in the book. She went from being the main character in _Expendable_ to a secondary but very important character in _Vigilant_, _Hunted_, and _Ascending_, to a minor bookend character of sorts, basically there for some exposition and story resolution. Also oddly, I don't remember her being even named (or at least the name she gave was not Festina Ramos though the character was obviously her).

Ok, enough about the setting. The story. Well, as another reviewer or two noted, the story seemed like basically a Dungeons and Dragons tale brought to life in a science fiction setting. A group of school teachers who in their spare time fancy themselves adventurers, complete with a fighting priest, a psionic-user, a wizard, a knight, a thief, and what would I guess be called a dungeon master end up caught up in a real life quest involving a dead student, another missing student, an insane Spark Lord, a crime syndicate, and evil shape shifting aliens.

Overall it was well written and was a brisk read, but there were too many questions to me about the realism of the setting and the Dungeons and Dragons nature of the main protagonists' seemed just odd, like more of a fun writing exercise for the author, not a solid continuance of the _Expendable_ novel series.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will immediately relegate my review to obscurity by attaching three stars. Moreover such a rating will tend to mitigate my desire to write much. A fast read. Not a lot of soppy introspection dripping from every page as has been the norm for me lately, but at the same time seems a bit shallow. And the ending? Well... Nonetheless a better, more enjoyable read than many books of this genre I've picked up lately.

[Becky Beaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one! I mean, how can you NOT love a book that gives you are possible explanation for magic that doesn't rely entirely on -- well -- magic? Great characters that I came to care about. Good pacing and action and a "quest" that seems worthwhile. Heroes and villains and damsels in distress -- and a really good ghost scene -- and now I have to hunt down the first 5 books in this series. Yay!

[Onionboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting right from the start. The characters and sense of coming adventure hooked me. At times it was very graphic and gruesome in some battles and deaths. The story got quite convoluted, but it walked you there step by step, so it didn't seem odd. (Like the metaphor of boiling the frog)

It seems to me like this was the foundation that later brought us the dark/spark series, which I really enjoyed.

[Leila P · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting novel. I liked the world, which reminded me of fantasy genre: a quest, people having different 'magic' powers and travelling by horses etc. But all these features were explained with science fiction conventions like nanotechnology. The book was readable, I like post-apocalyptic stories. But I didn't love Gardner's writing style, it was occasionally boring.

[Emily VA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m glad to have read this for seeing how it fits in with the other League of Peoples books. However, this book, like Committment Hour, is set on Old Earth and lacks Festina and the humor she tends to bring.

I easily put it down in the middle of reading it for a week or two... it just wasn’t very sticky / engrossing for me.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this series of Sci-Fi novels because they aren't just about one continuous story line. It's a single universe, looked at from different points of view, different locations, points of time, and species. Pretty creative, and good individual stories that overlap in subtle ways.

[CEGatling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got right bloody there at the end....

[Zeta Syanthis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I enjoyed this book, but would have loved to see Spark Royal. Alas, there are things that must remain mysterious!

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A view of what life is like under the League of Peoples on Earth. Not New Earth, Old Earth. When the aliens showed up to offer citizenship in the galactic civilization 90% of the Earth's population joined up and left. The one's who refused were considered too savage to be let out into the galaxy so the planet was quarantined and wardens called the Spark Lords were set up to watch over the population. So what is life like in the future under the Spark Lords? In a word, Dragonlance.

There is magic on Earth. It's explained away as nanotech and futuretech seeded by the aliens but the effect is it looks just like magic and that's what the people call it. They have degenerated to preindustrial levels so there are oil lamps and swords and armor. So a fighter, a paladin, a mage, a sorcerer, a thief, and Phil go on a holy quest to find a lost boy with special gifts. They go to exotic locales, meet with strange people, get involved in much peril, and face a mythic beast in the end. Much is learned and much is lost along the way.

It's interesting to see the League of Peoples from this point of view. Like long term prisoners baffled by cell phones the people of Earth don't understand alien technology, don't have any idea what's going on off planet and the guards left over them are treated as gods to be feared. Some familiar aliens from previous books are described here in sharp contrast to how they were previously described. They are without context, just weird creatures with no background knowledge of why they act the way they do. It's all swords and sorcery disguised as sci fi but I liked it anyway.

[astaliegurec · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the way James Alan Gardner's "Trapped" is written, you'd never know it was written by James Alan Gardner (except for its technical excellence -- which all his books seem to have), nor that it was a "League of Peoples" book. Regarding the difference in writing, even the previous book ( Ascending (League of Peoples) ) felt like a Gardner book even though his use of Oar as the narrator changed the tone completely. The difference here is amazing. As for the "League of Peoples," like the 2nd book in the series ( Commitment Hour (League of Peoples) ), this one takes place on Earth and, except for a vignette or two, there's no one from Festina Ramos' crowd to tie it back to the series. Instead of linking to the Explorer Corps, this book links directly to League business. I kind of miss Ramos, but the way this book is written more than makes up for the lack. Anyway, as with all of Gardner's work, this a very well-written, very interesting, well characterized book. I rate it at an Excellent 5 stars out of 5.

And, as always, the seven books currently in Gardner's League of Peoples series are:

1. Expendable (League of Peoples)
2. Commitment Hour (League of Peoples)
3. Vigilant (League of Peoples)
4. Hunted (League of Peoples)
5. Ascending (League of Peoples)
6. Trapped (League of Peoples)
7. Radiant (League of Peoples)

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was a fairly easy read.

Although Trapped is the sixth book in the League of Peoples series, but only the second one not to feature Festina Ramos who is in the other five. Unlike all the others this one is set on Earth.The story features 5 teachers from a school who go on a quest to find a missing student. Although thus sounds fairly straight forward it is far from it and I found I had to keep reading it.

Gardner says on his web site that there are unlikely to be any more books in the series, which is a shame because these very very enjoyable. I guess that's what "expendable" means.

[Heidi Angell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved how this was a neat blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I knew at the beginning that it was sci-fi and loved the explanation of aliens giving people all these neat fantasy-type gifts. But then as you get into the story the feel, the settings, the characters all feel so fantasy and then bam! You are dealing with aliens all over again!! An awesome read!!

[Kevin Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

You are never too old to be a hero. This is well crafted tale of futuristic teachers getting a second chance and becoming heroes and adventurers.
For a full review of this book check out my video.
For a look at the series as a whole check out this video.

[Hien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic done using nanotechnology. Interesting idea. Another entertaining book in the "Expendable" universe.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

read 12/7/2002
re-read 1/29/2003

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was entertaining but not up there with Expendable and Commitment Hour. Those two were the best, this one wasn't a waste of time, but it did have it's boring parts.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book much more than the previous old Earth book, Commitment Hour. It just seemed more tied in with the whole League of Peoples universe.

[Booknerd Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story misses Festina, and there are some aspects (aging) which were a little discomforting. And it raises more questions than it answers. But it was nice to see the now-recognizable aliens.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather engaging and admirably imaginative but lacking a bit in believability. It was overall a good read.

[Joey Geraci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. Probably the second best after commitment hour. I hope he starts writing more books in this universe.

[Sara King-mullenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the story and the quirky characters.