Skip to main content

The Highest Frontier


The Highest Frontier is a sci-fi novel by Joan Slonczewski.

Jenny, still mourning the loss of her twin brother who died in an accident, is entering her first year of college at Frontera. Frontera is the first college built in orbit, away from the environmentally wrecked Earth and the ultraphyte alien species, a still mysterious plant-like creature that has killed many with its cyanide defense system, which has invaded almost every area of the world.

She just wants to feel safe and live a semi normal life. She has interesting, if odd, professors and begins to become quite involved in her classes. But she soon realizes that though Frontera is far away from familiar problems, it also presents new ones. New dangers that may place her already fragile mind in a state of near constant nervousness... As well as place her in the midst of a political mess...

The Highest Frontier presents us with a futuristic world that is fascinating and not all that pleasant. The world seems ravaged. Political corruption and moral values are still an issue, and technology has increased to the point where hardly anyone ever does anything physically anymore - for example, people control the ball in sports with their minds, while standing on the sidelines. Slonczewski makes this future feel believable and not as strange as you'd think. This is because she still allows normal human interaction, grief, and fears to be part of her world. She keeps her story grounded. Though I appreciated this, I also felt that perhaps it was more grounded than it needed to be.

There was a lot I liked about The Highest Frontier. Jenny's character is sympathetic, and watching her fight with her "mental", a sort of therapeutical block and watch on her mind, as she tried desperately to visit her deceased brother in a virtual world of memories was quite something. And though this future world was a bit confusing, it was also thought-provoking, interesting and disturbing as it delved into genetic modifications. Almost everyone has bits of Marilyn Monroe or Paul Newman mixed in with their specifically chosen DNA, among the choice of the parents to decide if their child would be heterosexual or homosexual. Politics and religion have evolved into something familiar but altogether different. All of this is intriguing in its pure weirdness, to be sure.

However, the reason why I didn't absolutely love The Highest Frontier was that the plot didn't hold me. Like I said earlier, its almost like the novel was too grounded for me. Following a normal freshman girl to college, dealing with normal issues and normal emotions among a world that is abnormal to us could work... but I kept finding myself wishing for a slightly more thrilling plot. After the first one hundred pages of awe at Slonczewski's excellent imagination and intricate detail, I felt like the story really slowed down - and besides being occasionally effectively disturbed by the "advancements" made to technology, I wasn't all that involved or invested.

The psychological complications that the revealed dangers of Frontera presented to Jenny and the ultraphyte mystery were probably the most interesting of the multiple layers of plot. And there was a nice twist (which I kind of saw coming, but not all the way) near the end. I think a lot of people that like contemporary fiction with a crazy different, science fiction setting will absolutely love this. Clearly they already have! The reviews of The Highest Frontier have been great.

It's just that for me, personally, I didn't have enough reason to keep from skimming the last portion of the novel. The Highest Frontier is a smart, creative novel but lacks, for me anyway, entertainment value. But you know what I always say! Don't take my word for it - read it yourself!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First Step: Admit You Have a Problem

Hi fellow Bibliophiles! I have been rather neglectful to this blog... instead continuing to stay buried in a book as I have during the holidays. I'm hopeful that most of you have been doing this too and can easily accept my apology. Have I been reading? Um, yeah! (Translation: duh.) Just haven't been able to pull myself away long enough to actually WRITE about what I'm reading. Lol. But that's me, a bibliophile, an addict, an addict who's fallen off the wagon and fully embraced her love of reading - especially with all this free time to do so!!! I've also been watching awesome holiday movies, eating yummy, but bad-for-me, food and hanging out with the people I love best! You too? I hope! ;) Anyway, I will return with a new book review next week, most likely on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for your patience and keep reading!!!

Promotion Celebration for Maximum Ride!!!

Do you love the series Maximum Ride ? How about James Patterson? Are you a huge fan of action-packed books? Well, I’m thrilled to bring to you an opportunity to stock up on some awesome reading!!! ENTER TO WIN A SET OF JAMES PATTERSON PAGETURNERS! MAXIMUM RIDE – IF SHE LIVES, THE WORLD LIVES, IT’S THAT SIMPLE. Read “MAX” - the newest book in the bestselling Maximum Ride series. On sale in paperback 09/01/09! Still reeling from their most recent adventure, Maximum Ride and the rest of the flock must head out to sea to uncover the secret behind a brand new series of disasters—fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii, hundreds of ships are being destroyed. As if that weren’t enough, they’re also being tracked by a criminal mastermind with, oh yeah, an army of mercenaries. Can the flock save themselves and the ocean, and the world, from utter destruction? Now for the rules : The Maximum Ride: Max Promotion is open to legal US residents who are at least 13 years of age as of August 24, 200

Author Q & A - Jan Eldredge Stops By!

Next Wednesday y'all will be getting my oh-so-humble opinion of Evangeline of the Bayou , the Summer 2018 Kids' Indie Next List selection! (That means it was picked via booksellers at independent bookstores countrywide.) Until then, I have a Q&A with the Louisiana born and raised author herself: Jan Eldredge! (Don't forget to come back next week for my review!!) A Conversation with JAN ELDRIDGE Author of Evangeline of the Bayou 1) The glossary in the back of the book is so helpful! Where did you learn about all these creatures? Which creature from the book is your favorite? I have a small, but growing, collection of books about mythical creatures around the world. If I couldn’t find what I was looking for there, I researched library books, online websites, and the occasional documentary. Something that really surprised me as I started learning more about mythical monsters was the number of different cultures that share very similar