Reviews with content warning for Death - Frontier

FRONTIER is a post-apocalyptic story with Wild West vibes, religious bigotry, petty tyrants, and former space soldier trying to find the person she lost.

I love the opening chapter, it sets up the book's tone in a way that is followed through very well. As the traveler moves around, trying to find something with a signal strong enough to reach space, there are a series of vignette. These snippets build a sense of people's lives in different communities and settlements and the roads in between. So many facets of their lives imply this more complicated whole, without it ever trying to be about any one of them, nor pulling attention from the traveler from space.

The language and word choice is inseparable from the worldbuilding. There seems to be one main religion, a handful of agnostics, and as many ways to interpret the basic tenets as there are characters. The current human inhabitants of Earth are the descendants of a particular religious sect that believed some combination of the Earth being god with climate change as her punishment. These people stayed behind when humanity went to the stars. Now, heir descendants distrust anything that comes from space or is too technologically sophisticated, but what is "like space" or "too much technology" varies wildly from community to community, sheriff to sheriff, religious leader to agnostic nomad.

I loved every page and I want there to be more. This is perfectly paced in its current length but I wish it weren't over.

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alilbitofeveryth1ng's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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motaki's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

A weird one, it needed to be longer, we spent too much time with some characters while other interesting ones got only the briefest introduction.
Interesting premise, somewhat flawed execution.

it bugged me a lot, not to mentioned I was quite pissed off at the author choice of including an amazing ND person just to have her shot like a rabid dog by this whiny Chad of a villain. We already hated the dude, it was a pointless act of violence towards our seamstress extraordinaire Harriet. As a neurodivergent person myself, we want and deserve better representation than that!

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rampant_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Frontier was not actually on my radar for 2023 releases, and I only heard about it because I was invited to participate in an Instagram tour with Pride Book tours. I am so incredibly grateful that I was invited, because otherwise I would’ve missed out on one of my new all-time favorite books! Frontier blew me away and I am absolutely dying to see what Grace Curtis will write next!

Frontier is a fascinating instance of a character remaining nameless for the majority of the narrative. Rather than giving the protagonist a singular name, Curtis referred to her instead by a myriad of names, each reflecting the way she was viewed by the people surrounding her. This allowed me as a reader to build a unique sense of the protagonist’s identity, as I understood her through everyone’s eyes but her own. Additionally, this allows readers to meet a barrage of fascinating side characters, each with their own journeys and motives. This writing technique is not one I have seen before, but was very impactful on me as a reader, and contributed to my overall obsession with this book.

My favorite part of Frontier has to come down to either the world-building or the protagonist’s dedication to her lover. Both are written so compellingly that it is impossible for me to choose a single favorite element! I will be thinking about Frontier for years to come, and it will always hold a special place on my bookshelf.

My Recommendation-

If you love books full of sapphic longing and characters willing to do whatever it takes to protect the ones they love, you need to grab a copy of Frontier ASAP! This book would be an extra perfect read for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Upright Women Wanted!

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to Pride Book Tours and Solaris for a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.

Frontier follows a mysterious main character. We don’t know anything about this person. Not her name, past or why she’s on the ravaged Earth planet. Most humans left Earth long ago, but the ones who stayed have to deal with a Wild West environment: technology renounced and widespread lawlessness. The book alternates perspectives, but we’re always following our stranger who fell back to Earth separated from the rest of her ship.

I spent a fair amount of this book confused, but it felt very intentional. Think Gideon the Ninth type of confusing. Things were happening, but I didn’t always understand why or how it was important. But when things are finally revealed everything makes sense! The reveal had a great payoff in the end for me.

Even though I was confused at times, I really liked our main character. She was fascinating and always getting into trouble. All we know about her at the beginning is she’s an expert sharpshooter. And gosh does that come in handy through the book! Overall, this was such a fun ride and I would highly recommend it especially for fans of space gays or people who enjoy books with environmental themes.

Rep: Sapphic cis female MC with amnesia, sapphic cis female SC.

CWs: Cursing, death, murder, gun violence, blood, grief, alcohol consumption, injury/injury detail, animal death. Moderate: spaceship crash (car accident), suicide.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Thanks to Pride Book Tours for the free advance copy of this book.

- FRONTIER is a fantastic sci-fi western, set among the humans who stayed behind on Earth, adopting a new religion worshiping the planet while also being ruled over by a network of old-fashioned sheriffs.
- I loved the structure of this book. For most of it, we follow the Stranger from the points of view of other people as she travels, giving us short glimpses of the different cities, beliefs, and factions of this world. When we do get to her perspective, her story is a punch to the heart.
- This book is full of gunslinging, witty retorts, inventive worldbuilding, and queer love. I hope you'll seek it out if those things pique your interest!

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