Customer Reviews

New Frontier (Christian speculative fiction, alt history)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This reads like a talented 5th grader with an interest in political history and star trek decided to write a serious alternate history. This starts in the 1960's and has interstellar ion drive by the 90's because of how Marilyn Monroe died. Illogical leaps of cause and effect render this a waste of time. If it was a fun read, I could allow for some dumb stuff, but it's not even mildly interesting. The story has near zero character development.
I do not like writing negative reviews but as this has a 4 star rating(only one review), I felt I should warn others as I would have wished others had warned me.

I downloaded it from Smashwords for free out of curiosity, and I really enjoyed it. Since this is the first novel, its mostly the backstory, at least it seems that way to me. The prologue was interesting, and I didn't think it fit with the whole novel, but I read that the author is going to explain it in the second novel. I think something about the interstellar space travelers who leave at the end of the novel somehow end up back in time, and decide to change the 60's. The tech in the novel advances quickly, kind of like how we went from horse & buggy to flying in less than twenty years when the Wright Brothers flew their prototype, or when the nuclear bomb only took six years to design, develop, and implement. What one of the reviewers complained about Marilyn Monroe, I don't think he "got" what the author was trying to do, and not everyone is going to be patient enough to find out. I look forward to the second novel, whenever that comes out.

I found this novel interesting, and I enjoy reading this author's novels. The prologue hooked me, which I've learned will be put into greater detail in the second book when it comes out. I found it interesting how the author weaved the alternate history: from Reagan becoming President, which affects what we do with NASA and the Space Race to the Iran Hostage Affair to having bases on the Moon and Mars. The Soviets try to out-do the Americans, and apparently the Americans will right the problem in the second novel. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys American history, alternate history, a little bit of sci-fi (not hard SF btw), and a little bit of political thriller (which is not in your face & button pushing like The Usurper is).