Frontier

Product Information

A sci-fi novel! About space! That I enjoyed! I loved this. I loved our main character who we got to use as a conduit to see and understand Earth. I absolutely loved the religion and the idiosyncrasies – God hold you down – etc. That was great. The story of Earth and what happened to it was fab, the mission of the ship. The relationship with the Captain and her love. I cried a little bit at one point when more of the story was revealed. I felt the hope and despair of every character she met. This was just such an enjoyable read. I would not in any way call this a romance novel though it is about two lovers who are separated. I would say that the ending could have come slower and / or with more compromises? I don’t know if that’s asking for too much but I do like my fantasy worlds to have a bit more cruelty (writer inflicted) than in this one? It’s fairly gentle but, I’ll take it. As I was reading, the thing that kept me most engaged was wanting to know the stories of each individual character. While they all have a role to play in the story on the Abeona, I found myself being more interested in their origin stories. My only complaint about the characters is that there are so many of them. It would have been helpful to get a list of characters in the front of the book, but I figured it out in the end.

This is a perfect book for a lover of mystery - there are secrets to be unravelled and revealed, and these are happening as we are gradually learning more about the empire in which our characters live. These common threads weave all the parts of the story together and kept me hooked! Smart, bold and so much fun . . . I'm officially a member of the Grace Curtis fan club' AMIE KAUFMAN I know this seems like a broad category, but I simply wanted to give the book credit for being an approachable science fiction novel. I enjoy science fiction, but it’s certainly my most read genre. I found Floating Hotel to be approachable while still being firmly planted in space. Beyond just my love of the characters and the different stories, Frontier absolutely shines with it's world building. Curtis manages to shape the world through things that seem so simple as curses and prayers. She supplements a bit with snippets of history books or cut off transcriptions which weave together to paint a world destroyed by a climate crisis where those who stayed on Earth view those who left as sinners, abandoning the god that is Earth. I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for allowing this.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. Referred to only as “The Stranger”, we soon learn that she wants to find a working communication device. She’s desperate to send a message. She needs to find someone who’s gone missing; the woman she loves. Through various adventures, mishaps, detours and standoffs, she makes her way towards a place rumored to have the technology she needs to send her message, in hopes it reaches the ears of the love of her life. And so she keeps moving, any way she can, towards that destination.

So the set up of the chapters was a lot different then what I was expecting. The Stranger is the main character. The entire story revolves around her trying to find a way to see if her crew, and specifically her lover, are okay after The Stranger’s ship crash lands on a post apocalyptic earth. I loved that this earth had a different set up then a lot of Sci Fi I’ve seen, that the main religion is Gaia, gravity is her greatest gift because it keeps her children close, and the space travelers of old are sinners and heathens for wanting to leave. Hodder & Stoughton has signed two books by games journalist Grace Curtis, including her début Frontier. 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.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. 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. 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. The non-staff characters were more hit and miss for me. Some I warmed to while others I didn’t. Though they all had something to add to the bigger plot weaving between the chapters, it was the staff and their connections to the hotel and each other that I enjoyed the most. Almost like a collection of individual short stories that come together as world-building and a larger political world. This found family is the crew of a hotel starship, together they are a panoply of different experiences and perspectives. They all have secret desires and some forgotten dreams, others the dreams are still aching inside. I liked Azard, who is a language expert.

Floating Hotel by Grace Kurtis follows the motley crew of the space hotel Abeona. From its friendly manager Carl to its grumpy accountant Kipple to the ever-eager Reggie, all the different staff members have their own stories to tell -- stories that weave together into a tale of rebellion against the system, an encrypted message from beyond the stars, and the mystery of who the Lamplighter is, and if they can be safely extracted before the Empire gets to them. The Stranger finds herself adrift in a ravaged, unwelcoming landscape, full of people who hate and fear her space-born existence. Scared, alone, and armed, she embarks on a journey across the wasteland to return to her ship, her mission, and the woman she loves. This is my first book by Grace Curtis so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. This book was so completely different to the books I usually read as it wasn’t about a romantic relationship although there were characters in the book who were in relationships or who liked each other, it didn’t focus solely on one couple and their ups and downs like I’m used to. This book is told from multiple perspectives and did take me a while to get into as there were lots of names to learn and remember which jobs each character was responsible for. There is an undercurrent of something more sinister that we see dappled throughout what almost feels like loosely linked short stories. Betrayal, theft, conspiracy, murder all appear throughout the course of this book. 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.

As I finished Floating Hotel, I found myself happy to have read it, but with the wish that it had been three books; a cozy slice of life aboard a spaceship, a mystery novel, and a space exploration epic. The book is a bit less cozy than I was originally expecting it to be: while the focus of the story is on hope and human connection, the stakes are high throughout, and it's set in an essentially dystopian future under a totalitarian government, with all that entails: murder, famine, death, the destruction of entire planets for the sake of harvesting resources... I would call this less cozy and more hopepunk. The world of the story is a place full of terrible darkness and injustice, but there is hope for a better future to be found in human connection, and in acts of kindness.

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. 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? Moreover, the structure of the story is cleverly done. We follow our main character, The Stranger, through the eyes of those she encounters on her journey. This narrative style allows us to understand the character of The Stranger in a way that we would otherwise not be able to. Through the many different characters we meet, we see every aspect of her character - her dangerousness, her compassion, and her turmoil. The narrative style also builds up an immense level of suspense, making the book unputdownable. Curtis slowly reveals The Stranger to us as she parcels out information in small chunks, never giving away too much all at once. This makes for a truly addictive read. After finishing this book, I felt like I could have read whole, individual books written by many of these characters - not necessarily a bad thing, I just felt like I would have been happy with more from many of them. My biggest qualm with the book was that the ending felt a little rushed. I feel like I needed more closure - or, better yet, a full sequel. While some of the excitement felt "let go of" in the ending, I think there could still be a lot of promise for a continuation of what happens with The Lamplighter and with Andromeda. Honestly, I wish the story would've continued like it did at the beginning. The relatively calm and peaceful life of the staff members running a luxury hotel in space. I would've loved to see Carl's original story too, as opposed to him ageing forty years between the prologue and the real first chapter. The prologue really got me excited for Carl's story, only for it to be skipped. Ah well.Overall this was a really fun story with a great blend of poignant and light-hearted moments - definitely adding it to my list of comfort reads! What passes for justice is presided over by the High Sheriff, and carried out by his cruel and ruthless Deputy. The characters in the book feel like talking to old friends, but the story itself seems too serious and dire to be fully cozy. If you are thinking of cozy fantasy books like Legends & Lattes, this book feels much higher stakes than that. Throughout the story, there is a mystery about a dissident troublemaker who is a stowaway on the ship who