Customer Reviews

Kings of the High Frontier

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I had the privilege of being the eighth person to buy Kings of the High Frontier when it was first published in electronic form by Pulpless.com. I feel rather as if I were there when Vincent Van Gogh swept the final stroke of pigment onto Starry Night or Ayn Rand scrawled the last word of Atlas Shrugged. This book is that good. It's good on at least two levels. First, and crucially, it's a walloping great adventure story. One friend not only stayed up all night to read it, but told me she leaped to her feet and danced around the room during the book's most magnificent scene. Second, without any lecturing or heavy-handedness, this book is an important philosophical statement about free minds and free lives. Oh yeah, it's also an indictment of NASA so accurate and so fierce it's a wonder that agency hasn't crumbled to dust before Victor's rage. I can think of no book I could recommend more highly, and no recent book that has so filled my heart and my spirit. To freedom! And to space!

I recieved my copy of this fantastic book less than 24 hours ago and have read it non-stop every waking moment until I finished it a few minutes ago. I recall clearly the day that man walked on the Moon, being a wide-eyed 6-year-old at the time, I knew at that time that one day, I would HAVE to go into space myself.

This novel re-awakened that 30-year-old dream to be in space myself. It's characterers are intellegent and determined to not let governments be the monopolizers of the high frontier, so several groups unaware of each other's plans, at first, each begin constrution on ships that will let them break free of the Earth and it's suffocating States.

Find yourself a copy... And dare to dream!

Like much of the great science fiction of the past, this book has a definite libertarian theme. My only faults with it were 1) lost of sleep while reading it because it is one of those books that you can't put down and 2) one rape scene that I considered a lot more graphic than it needed to be and thereby precludes my recommending the book to younger readers. One might object that many of the characters in the book are too black and white, but I would maintain that Koman may be closer to the truth here than many are willing to admit. The reality is that evil exists and most politicians are scum. "Kings of the High Frontier" immediately flew into my top 10 fiction list. Victor Koman seems a worthy successor to Robert Heinlein.

This is a great book. It's got everything going for it: a great plot, interesting and likable characters, important themes, and a more-than-competent narrative style. It is also a great read -- fast and fun. So why hasn't it won ALL the science fiction awards and become a nationwide bestseller? Maybe because no major book publisher would touch it. Not because it's a bad book, but because it offers up the interesting idea that the main impediment to mankind's entry into space is NASA. And it provides fascinating tidbits of news that never made it into the newspapers about how NASA really works (or doesn't), especially concerning the Challenger disaster. Sort of makes you wonder about the First Amendment, when book publishers are afraid to publish a book that's critical of the government. Anyway, if you can find a copy, GRAB IT! And if you're the kind of reader who only buys one book a year, this would be a good one to pick.

Kings of the High Frontier takes the reader through a wide range of emotions; from rage at the condescending arrogance of the head of the National Organization of Space Supporters in his efforts to suppress any private space launch, to an almost unbearable excitement as the ships take flight. Victor Koman reminds us of what human beings can accomplish as long as we are willing to make the effort and not give up.

Just finished re-reading this last night. I noticed that it has a lot of derivation from Rand and Heinlein (and that's a good thing!) It's a crime that this book isn't a bestseller...it's truly inspirational.

Don't let the Science Fiction category scare you away from this excellent book. The only science fiction in this book is very realistic and the story line is today's news. The author did an excellent job of weaving several story lines into a complete work where the characters where developed thoughtfully and intereacted with one another in a very believeable manner.

My only complaint was that the book was not long enough and when I finished reading it was hard to pick up another book after having gotten to know the characters soo very well.

As one of the other reviewers stated this is one of the best books no one has read. I came across it in July, 2003 by chance in a small bookstore. Once I started reading I could not stop until I reached the end. It has interesting characters (and they are characters), good guys you cheer, bad guys you would like to shoot, inter-weaving storylines, an interesting story to tell, plot and subplots. The writing keeps all of the stories flowing along pulling you into the stories and along to the end of the novel. All in all a totally enjoyable read. Now some may find the libertarian ideas of the author annoying but they form an intergal part of the story and reminded me of L. Niel Smith at his best. And the conspiracy angle is well enough set up and argued that you are left thinking it makes perfect sense. Perhaps the best recomendation is that, as this was noted as book one on the High Pilgramage, I was extremely disappointed that no book two (or three) had been written. So let me conclude by suggesting you get a copy read it, tell your friends to get copies and get book two on its way for me to read!

This novel would have fit right in on my teenage bookshelf in 1980. It has all the grittiness and technical detail of Niven, Pournelle, Pohl and Hogan, overlaid with the libertarian elements that show up in some Heinlein stories. It lacks Bester's economy of prose, but does have a tight plot. Like many authors of the golden age of SF, Koman comes off as both cynical and romantic. In real life, this story's heroes wouldn't stand a chance. (Dude! Building a spaceship is hard!) But its villains are surprisingly close to the mark. Teens and NASA employees may bristle at the NASA-bashing, but every decade that goes by with zero progress in human space flight proves the point.

Victor Koman writes very good fiction, with "Solomon's Knife" being one of my favorites. In many respects he has done it again with this novel. It has both greatly inspiring and truly horrific scenes, and has certainly changed the way I feel about the space program (with the recent tragic loss of Columbia only underscoring this). He tells a rousing tale, and does it well. Many of the characters are fascinating, and I agree with the other reviewers who have pointed out the similarities of the arch villan to Rand's Ellsworth Toohey. I loved the wide range of competing private space projects, and the group of college students, while I felt were the most implausible builders, did inject a valued dose of humor into the story. I also loved the SSTO space station.
Where I disagree with the author is in his painting of a giant conspiracy by NASA and the United Nations to keep mankind earthbound. I well know the temptation of this, having given in to it myself. Government is incompetent. They can't operate a successful conspiracy to bug the offices of their political opponents! Sure these sad little losers would hate to see humans forever beyond their reach. But they are infighting twerps who cant think beyond the next Federal election. Not grand masterminds of evil with the power and ommiscience of gods. Having said that, this is well worth reading, and I'm very glad I did so.