Frontier

Product Information

Kwaku Osei-Afrifa, former editorial assistant, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Zoe Plant at The Bent Agency. Molly Powell, editorial director, will publish Frontier in March 2023. A North American deal has been concluded with Jim Killen at Rebellion US, to publish in February 2023. When reviewing a book, I feel it is unfair to hold all books to the same standard. Floating Hotel is advertised as a cozy science fiction novel, but it also has aspects of a mystery as well, so I am going to review it on a number of criteria. All in all, I very much enjoyed reading Floating Hotel and if you’re looking for a cozy yet thrilling read all set in a hotel floating in space - then make sure to give this book a go.

At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go? As the story progresses, we understand that there is much more going on in this hotel than meets the eye. The Problem Solver’s conference has introduced a cryptic new puzzle. There are some mystery guests that might just be spies for the Empire. There is a mysterious anti-imperial writer who is sending out notes against the Emperor and might have a connection to the ship.Thank you so much to DAW Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of Floating Hotel in exchange for an honest review. This book was such a mystery and while I definitely enjoyed it, I still can’t say for certain that I understood it. But I don’t think it was necessary to the story to always know what was going on. What passes for justice is presided over by the High Sheriff, and carried out by his cruel and ruthless Deputy. The synopsis reads: “In the distant future, climate change has reduced Earth to a hard-scrabble wasteland. Folk are as diverse and divided as they’ve ever been – except in their shared suspicions when a stranger comes to town. One night a ship falls from the sky, bringing the planet’s first visitor in three hundred years. She’s armed, she’s scared... and she’s looking for someone.” The world was interesting, a good combination of space travel and dystopian. But I wasn’t entirely convinced of the logic of the life on Earth. There was no new technology, and everyone seemed to be living on what they grew or scavenged, but there was petrol for 21st century cars—still in use several centuries later—and fabrics for clothes, for example. Only printed books existed, even though people didn’t leave earth until the 24th century—though it was interesting to think that Alexander Dumas and Jane Austen were still read a thousand years after their books were first published. And in three centuries, no one had rebelled and started creating technology that would make life better for everyone. An outsider was needed to save them from the ill-effects of their religion.

This book has a unique structure, which is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness: each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, either a guest or a staff member of the Grand Abeona, a spaceship hotel orbiting around the galaxy, their stories interweaving and intersecting.It wasn't a book that you could skim through. Because it was fast paced, running through a number of different locations and characters, you need to take time to read it carefully. I didn't mind that at all, but it could detract for some readers. Having said all that, some little things that you might not have thought much of become pretty important towards the end as it all begins to slot together.

Frontier is The Mandalorian meets Mad Max, with the emotional heart of the Wayfarers series. But at its core, Frontier is a love story, about two women who find each other, lose each other and then find each other again. It must be admitted, at the beginning I was not quite sure if there WAS a story. Because this story-telling approach is a slow way to introduce characters and setting, the first half is fairly slow. However, I came to see that a story had gradually crept up on me -- a mystery, in fact. And it was fun.Bonus points for the inclusivity in this book! The inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and disabilities were beautifully interwoven and oh-so natural! It never felt like the author was "trying hard" to show they were creating inclusive characters and there was never a big show around their introductions or presence in the story. Loved! I would probably rate this a mere three stars were it not for the novel story-telling technique. I'm a Neophile, so I'm always intrigued to see something in a book that I haven't seen before. If you prefer the tried-and-true, you may not like Floating Hotel as much as I did. As she travels, she encounters a variety of people and situations. Each reacts to her differently, and thus The Stranger becomes The Courier, who temporarily teams up with… well, Garraty. I quite liked Garraty. That’s all you’ll get about him from me, so as not to sand away the shine of discovery for you. Stranger finds herself in a frontier town. She has no idea where she is, but she needs to find someone. For that she needs a communicator. But in the technology averse world, those don’t exist. So she travels, rather randomly, towards the only city where one might exist. On her way, she encounters people who either help her or try to kill her. She changes from Stranger to Courier to Darling, with no name of her own that she would introduce herself with, and no clear indication who she’s looking for, other than her love.