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vaguelyredhead's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Colonisation and Vomit
jem_ko's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Certainly worth a read if just for love, loss and laser guns… and lesbian space cowboys. However, it was written with a slightly (possibly purposefully) irritating plot line and some of the body gore in the imagery made me a little sick [would not recommend reading all of this whilst u eat breakfast]. An interesting take on utopia gone wrong and ultimately somewhat akin to Le Guin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Body horror, Vomit, and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Ableism, Violence, Murder, Death, Bullying, Blood, and Gun violence
Minor: Medical content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Colonisation, and War
taratearex's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I picked up this book because I love a western sci-fi theme, and because of the description of a sapphic love story. While I did love a lot of the worldbuilding- a mostly abandoned earth due to climate change, leaving desolate towns, a fear of technology, and religious zealots. I was very into the first few chapters where the scene is set and we meet our MC who has just crash landed in a spaceship, I was ready for some sapphic pining ala How to Lose the Time War...
Unfortunately the structure of the book took the story in a very different direction than I expected. Each chapter is about a different person who eventually overlaps with the MC on her journey to find her lost love. But she's never the main character in these shapshots, so we really don't ever get to know her, and her lost love is only ever barely mentioned. I found this structure just impossible to connect with, I felt there was no buy-in to the main character or the supposed love story. I had expected some flashbacks so we get to know the MC and her lost love, but that never happens. We actually don't meet the lost love or learn their names until 70% into the book and they are only ever together briefly. By this time I just did not have an interest in the MC or their relationship because I was given no real reason to care throughout the story. We meet and learn about every one else in the abandoned earth except the MC and her lost love, which truthfully could be interesting to people if they get into the world, but it just wasn't enough for me. Also, at the end one of them says the other was "going Native" yikes :/
I think this unconventional story structure could work for some, the worldbuilding is definitely interesting, but it overall didn't work for me. I kept thinking how this would have worked better as a movie, where you have the visual of the MC to keep you connected in the wandering stories about other characters until it eventually connects with her.
CWs: death, murder, gun violence, grief, alcohol, injury detail, animal death, derogatory language (going Native)
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately the structure of the book took the story in a very different direction than I expected. Each chapter is about a different person who eventually overlaps with the MC on her journey to find her lost love. But she's never the main character in these shapshots, so we really don't ever get to know her, and her lost love is only ever barely mentioned. I found this structure just impossible to connect with, I felt there was no buy-in to the main character or the supposed love story. I had expected some flashbacks so we get to know the MC and her lost love, but that never happens. We actually don't meet the lost love or learn their names until 70% into the book and they are only ever together briefly. By this time I just did not have an interest in the MC or their relationship because I was given no real reason to care throughout the story. We meet and learn about every one else in the abandoned earth except the MC and her lost love, which truthfully could be interesting to people if they get into the world, but it just wasn't enough for me. Also, at the end one of them says the other was "going Native" yikes :/
I think this unconventional story structure could work for some, the worldbuilding is definitely interesting, but it overall didn't work for me. I kept thinking how this would have worked better as a movie, where you have the visual of the MC to keep you connected in the wandering stories about other characters until it eventually connects with her.
CWs: death, murder, gun violence, grief, alcohol, injury detail, animal death, derogatory language (going Native)
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, and Vomit
sarrie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was so excited when I finished this book I completely forgot to write this review. That… almost never happens. I even hurried off and pre-ordered a beautiful special edition.
Frontier is a collection of short vignettes telling the story of a mostly unnamed narrator as she searches a scorched, post-apocalyptic Earth for her lost love. The two were on a mission of aid and peace to the planet and were shot down. We follow her through the eyes of the people she meets and interacts with along the way, and we see the best and worst of the planets inhabitants.
Our narrator and all the other characters all felt very genuine and unique to me so this read so well. The setting was easy to picture and imagine, the atmosphere was just cloudy enough to make it easy to fill in the details. This was just overall a well structured and thought out story. The truly wonderful part for me was the hopeful feel of this. Around the 70% there is a shift in the story and by the end I genuinely felt a hope and happiness there. It’s still a desolate earth and there were still terrible people on it but there was also hope, and that’s something rare for me in SF these days.
I would recommend this one for fans of Becky Chambers, and really any SF fans. It’s genuinely one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year but I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it! I highly recommend this one, it is a fantastic hopeful SF that is going to go on my shelves.
5 out 5 Empty Laser Pistols
Our narrator and all the other characters all felt very genuine and unique to me so this read so well. The setting was easy to picture and imagine, the atmosphere was just cloudy enough to make it easy to fill in the details. This was just overall a well structured and thought out story. The truly wonderful part for me was the hopeful feel of this. Around the 70% there is a shift in the story and by the end I genuinely felt a hope and happiness there. It’s still a desolate earth and there were still terrible people on it but there was also hope, and that’s something rare for me in SF these days.
I would recommend this one for fans of Becky Chambers, and really any SF fans. It’s genuinely one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year but I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it! I highly recommend this one, it is a fantastic hopeful SF that is going to go on my shelves.
5 out 5 Empty Laser Pistols
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Xenophobia and Violence
Minor: Sexism, Torture, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Ableism
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