I plowed through this whole seven-book series in less than two weeks time, joined the author's Patreon, tweeted at him (and received a reply!) and then went looking for more of his books (sadly, there aren't many -- yet!). I don't remember each of the books individually very well (should have reviewed them right away), but I'll leave this review for the series as a whole:
The basic premise is that we aren't alone in the universe, there is a League of Peoples who have agreed to an edict handed down by a far superior (and never actually seen) species, which is basically not to cause harm to any member of any sentient species. There are still people living on Earth: those who refuse to agree to this rule or who have already broken it, but the sentient individuals who can abide by it flit around the universe, investigating new planets and species and making trade relationships.
Throughout the series we get to meet various fascinating races of 'aliens' and learn about their cultures and species. We also get to explore the theme of what constitutes "harm" intentional or otherwise, and towards the end make some hypotheses about the nature of this superior race who enforce the no-harm rule by basically immediately killing anyone who has broken it the next time they try to leave one planet for another. The series is packed with fun characters the reader comes to understand and even love, but they are properly flawed and dynamic individuals who are living their own journeys.
I really, really wish (hope?) there were (will be?) more books in this series. You should do yourself a favor and read it. I'll definitely revisit it someday. ( )

CLUNKY.
He had a cool idea, a society where you change gender every year till you're 20 and then you have to pick one (or both)...but then he went and did absolutely nothing interesting with it.

The characters were flat, there was basically no insight into gender roles whatsoever, and pretty much everything that could have been really thought-provoking or challenging just...wasn't. ( )

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★1/2
Intellectual Satisfaction: ★★★1/2
Emotional Satisfaction: ★★★★★
Read this for: The characters, the world-building
Don't read this for: The mystery
Bechdel Test: Pass
Johnson Test: Fail
Books I was reminded of: The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Will I read more by this author? Absolutely.

This book was pure joy for me to read. I loved everything about it -- the world, the characters, the very idiosyncratic voice. After I came down from my reading high I found myself poking holes in some of the assertions about the world, suspect of the ways Gardner chose his characters to discourage the reader from thinking about aspects of it, but that didn't dampen my love for the experience. However, I cannot talk about the book without spoiling something that the back cover plays very coy with: the nature of the Commitment. It's revealed on page two, but if you don't want that spoiled, don't read any further. (Also, don't read any other reviews; I've only seen one that avoided the spoiler.)

The titular Commitment the main character must make is. . .

The rest of the review is up on my blog! ( )

The plot is moderately interesting, but use of language isn't very elegant. The book seems aimed at high school age, except there are sexual references that some would feel make it inappropriate for under 18. ( )

My third League of Peoples book, and one that does not follow Festina Ramos. The book is about a small community on "Old Earth" in the League of Peoples universe. The community is special because the youths alternate between sexes every year until they are 20 at which time they commit to either male, female or both (hermaphrodite).

The Protagonist of the story, Fullin, and his Girlfriend are 19 years old, and we meet them the day before commitment day in a marsh outside their hometown Tober Cove. They are at a wake where they are supposed to contemplate their upcoming important choice. While waiting out their wake, they encounter a Spark-Lord (Knowledge lord), which in essence is a scientist who strives tu understand and gather knowledge, and a Neut named Steck. The Spark-Lord is interested in the Tober community and their tradition of changing sexes, and Steck has its (the Tober pronoun for a neut) own agenda. Soon after he comes to Tober Cove however, a murder occurs, and the Knowledge-Lord has to investigate this. What he uncovers is quite a bit more about the Tober Cove than anybody living there would want to know.

The book has two layers, on top it is a simple murder mystery, but underneath lies a long story about rules between men and women, our attitudes towards each other, and how we perceive the world differently. It does not go deeply into this, but does pull forth a few interesting observations and suggest how the differences may manifest if the same person viewed a situation as both a man and a woman. For this point alone the book was a good read.

As for reading value. It is a good book, but it let me down on one point. I wanted a Science Fiction book, and while there was some SciFi elements, they were so far downplayed that the reading experience ended up being quite different. Also ... wanting to read more about Festina or possibly Oar (There is more about Oar in Book 5 of the series, and Festina also appears in later books) .. I was a bit disappointed when I understood they would not make an appearance. Still ... a good book, and worth the time you will spend on it. My experience is that the League of Peoples books are easy reads so far, and they all seem to tangle deep issues without repeating themselves .. at least not this far! ( )