Frontier

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You know those science fiction novels in which there are four point-of-view characters, and each character gets point of view for a chapter, then we move on to the next? (I think Gibson's Cyberspace trilogy was the first time I really noticed it.) You know how you never know quite what's going on, and it's all very confusing? Well, in Floating Hotel Grace Curtis takes it to the max, and SOMEHOW, she makes it work! The worldbuilding is clever and intriguing, without info-dumping, and it has a domestic sci-fi feel very reminiscent of Star Trek.

The atmosphere is nice, interesting, with a good mystery at the center of it all. We follow a lot of characters, more than I am used to, with whole passages about their past and how they ended up in this space hotel. I can't say I was really attached to any of them, but I can't say either that I didn't care about them. Carl was one of the character I felt the most about, with Rogan. One of the most expertly done aspects of this novel was the way it used other characters to tell her story. Not everyone is likeable but everyone is intriguing, everyone is interesting. I came to care for the side characters who only make a small indentation on the story: a child in need of insulin; a woman in need of resolution to stories—her own and one from a comic book; a boy who learned some hard truths about his faith. These people who made up a sliver of the Earth population showed so much about how the world runs, who's in charge, and why, without ever feeling heavy handed. We meet a character whose name changes chapter by chapter based on the impression of those she interacts with. The Stranger, The Courier, The Homeless Woman etc. A bold choice by the author but one that actually works really well. I’ve seen this done badly in a different book and it left me confused and frustrated. This author has succeeded in doing this very naturally and it’s always clear we’re following the same person. Our protagonist is not from Earth but has crash landed and is desperately trying to find a way to her shipmates to see if anyone else, and especially her beloved have survived.While there are certainly "cozy" aspects to this story, especially in regards to the conversations had between characters and much of their own internal development, I loved that it had more edge to it. There was plenty of mystery, political/environmental disruption, and even with some thrill - this really helped keep me engaged in the story line, especially as an avid thriller/horror reader. It didn't feel quite so cozy by the end and I'm thankful for that outcome.

What's great about this is that for every reader there's at least one point of view character they'll enjoy reading about, but at the same time it's hard to get truly, deeply invested in anyone when so little space is devoted to each storyline. In this aspect the book would have benefitted from being longer, or from focusing on fewer characters. In the books, humans have stripped Earth of its resources and turned it toxic in the process. This was the first planet to be 'gutted'. Many planets in the setting have gotten the same treatment, except methodically and much faster. Lots of worlds are destroyed for resources. This can hit quite close to home. 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.The plot takes a while to get into. We have an unnamed woman, from a crashed ship, on a mission to find her missing girlfriend. We don’t know why she crashed or where the girlfriend is, so the stranger (who gets a new title every few chapters) travels from place to place just … looking for clues? For the first few chapters, I wasn’t very engaged, but I pushed through and by halfway I was really into it. The second half of the novel is excellent! Science fiction is a genre that I tend to struggle with, besides a few exceptions. But since I always want to get myself out of my comfort zone, I chose to request for an ARC for Floating Hotel, with its interesting premise. 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. This cozy debut science fiction novel tells a story of misfits, rebels, found family—and a mystery that spans the stars