The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

Aug 17, 2011 Stefan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: advance-reading-copy, far-beyond-reality-review, science-fiction

It’s been about a decade since Brain Plague, Joan Slonczewski’s last novel, came out, but I’d bet good money that more people remember the author for a novel that’s by now, unbelievably, already 25 years old — the wonderful and memorable A Door into Ocean, which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and which Jo Walton wrote about on Tor.com here.

Now, ten years after her last novel, Joan Slonczewski returns with The Highest Frontier, another insightful explorati ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2011 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-or-review-copy, coming-of-age, scifi, read-in-2011, social-issues, tor

4.5/5 stars

Despite the minor frustrations some readers might find regarding biology speak and some confusing concepts that take time to figure out, The Highest Frontier is quite an amazing, thought provoking book about a dystopian earth and how society has evolved to fit that vision. Slonczewski’s world is vibrant and well realized. Every detail of her future vision is well thought out in riveting detail. The plot is tight and quickly flowing and Jenny is a wonderful character to follow. Many re ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2011 Elliott Bäck rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I would give it 5 stars, but for the endless repetition of "DIRG" and "amyloid".

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 23, 2015 Jessica Strider rated it really liked it

The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

Pros: interesting protagonist; fascinating world-building; thought provoking concepts

Cons: fair amount of repetition, especially at the beginning; several unexplained concepts and items, including one important to the plot

Jennifer Ramos Kennedy’s culture source was her great-grandmother, President Rosa Schwartz. A few months after a family tragedy she’s setting out for Frontera, a university on an orbiting space station. She chose it both because a family The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

Pros: interesting protagonist; fascinating world-building; thought provoking concepts

Cons: fair amount of repetition, especially at the beginning; several unexplained concepts and items, including one important to the plot

Jennifer Ramos Kennedy’s culture source was her great-grandmother, President Rosa Schwartz. A few months after a family tragedy she’s setting out for Frontera, a university on an orbiting space station. She chose it both because a family friend runs the school but also because it’s free of many of the things plaguing Earth: mosquitos carrying disease, risk of flood and methane quakes, the expanding Death Belt, and the need for DIRG bodyguards. But university life isn’t quite what she expected: her teachers are all a little crazy, her roommate is weird and has an unhealthy affiliation for ultraphytes, the alien plants that crave salt and spread from their landing site in Utah to be a scourge on the world, her slanball coach wants her well rested, a hard thing when she’s volunteering for the understaffed EMS, and there’s so much reading and work to do for classes.

Meanwhile, she’s knee deep in helping the Unity party win the next Presidential election. Jenny doesn’t understand how the Centrist Firmament belief is so strong when people live in space! But things on Earth have reached the point that if change doesn’t come soon, it’ll be too late for the planet. And yet the Centrists want to expand the solar array that’s expanding the Death Belt, intending for people to leave earth in the coming Rapture, relocating to other space stations. Stations that couldn’t possibly hold even a portion of the people on Earth.

And it turns out that Frontera isn’t as free of Earthly disasters as she was led to believe.

There’s very little exposition. You’re thrown into the novel with limited explanations of what things are and how the world has changed from what we currently know. While it’s an entirely character driven novel, something I’m not generally keen on, my interest never waned. There are plot points that pull the story into a thought provoking conclusion, but for the most part the book follows Jenny through her days, questioning the world and the politics that run it.

As a scion of a political family, Jenny knows politics, making her an excellent character to follow. Through her mother and conjoined twin aunts, she’s connected to the upcoming Presidential election; she helps when one of her professor’s runs for mayor; sees the struggle with personnel and supplies as she volunteers for EMS, and more. She also takes two politics courses, one on Teddy Roosevelt and the other on Aristotle and democracy, the lectures for which come up often in the text. The book’s ending questions how politics is done, and if it’s possible to fix a broken system.

The second point of view character, Dylan Chase, is President of the university, and through him we see the difficulties of managing his staff and securing sufficient financing. We also see him dealing with student problems: alcoholism, printer disease hacks, assault, and addiction.

The world-building is top notch: Spanish colloquialisms, tax playing at casinos, unique fashion trends, amyloid (sewage processed by hab shell microbes that’s used to ‘print’ everything from food to clothing to the shelters everyone lives in), the anthrax cables that transport ships between Frontera and Earth, Toynet, Kessler debris, I could go on. The sport of slanball is pretty cool too.

The supporting cast is wide and varied, though it focuses on Jenny’s family, a few professors, close students (including the players of her slanball team) and some of Dylan’s contacts (for his POV scenes). Jenny’s experiences at the school are also varied, from class work to parties to helping build houses for colonists.

The first few chapters contain a fair amount of repetition, especially with regards to Jenny’s family. Which makes it all the more strange that other concepts and terms are left unexplained. You figure out what DIRGs are pretty quick, but I don’t remember the acronym being explained. Similarly, Jenny notices an object on one of her teacher’s desks that affects the plot. She brings it up to another character, implying she knows the relevance of the object, but it’s not until the end of the book that as a reader I figured out what the object was and what it meant.

If you like a lot of character development and world-building in your science fiction, this is a highly entertaining, and sometimes thought provoking, read. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2013 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: pocmaincharacters, sci-fi

Jenny Ramos Kennedy is the heir to two presidential families and a great deal of wealth. After her charming and extroverted twin dies, Jenny feels overwhelmed by the expectations of the world. Seeking to escape them, and to flee her fears of the increasingly frequent natural disasters on Earth, Jenny decides to go to college on a spacehub. There, her botany experiments, social life, and the upcoming elections all create a situation in which Jenny may either take the easy path of non-resistance, ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 04, 2012 Joshua Zucker rated it really liked it

Good fun, with some good drama and a whole bunch of subplots.

Something about it felt a little odd, like I was walking on the surface of something much deeper, but the characters weren't giving me glimpses into what was going on. Maybe I should say that the characters didn't feel as real as they should; despite the protagonist's point of view, it often felt like it was the narration of a plot and she never really FELT things, only DID things.

Still, a somewhat updated, rather Heinlein-esque story, ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 05, 2012 Vicki rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, did-not-want-to-finish

I could not get into this book, so I will not be finishing it. I found it very off putting by all it's weird scientific technologies. Oh, well, we can't love them all.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 26, 2018 Liz Henry rated it it was amazing

I love this book and think it's hilarious. No one mentions the humor! Well, as far as a book about facing disasters can be funny, it is. I also love that so many of the characters end up revealing different disabilities -- asking for and getting accommodations. There are super clear echoes of Hurricane Katrina here so if you are interested in people's responses to disaster (both long-unfolding climate disasters and short term crisis) you will get a good hard look at disabled university students ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2011 Ove rated it it was amazing

What If You Believe Your Roommate Is An Alien?

This is a story about a young girl going to college so it includes teenage love, dealings with teachers and unruly fraternity boys, the whole coming of age thing. But that is the simple part what if you believe your roommate is an alien? Or that your professor is trying to brainwash you? Or that you fear the space station will be flooded? Glad to know you are not crazy?

Joan Slonczewski is new to me so I did not have any preconceptions beyond the blur What If You Believe Your Roommate Is An Alien?

This is a story about a young girl going to college so it includes teenage love, dealings with teachers and unruly fraternity boys, the whole coming of age thing. But that is the simple part what if you believe your roommate is an alien? Or that your professor is trying to brainwash you? Or that you fear the space station will be flooded? Glad to know you are not crazy?

Joan Slonczewski is new to me so I did not have any preconceptions beyond the blurb which made me think of a strong girl going to college on a space station possible with some aliens involved.

Jenny comes across a sweet easy-to-like main character. She is a spawn of the Ramos Kennedy family which are deep into the politics of the time, on both sides. The political part felt a bit too true and reflects things easy to imagine of our own time. I am talking from the far north of Scandinavia here.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Yes there are small mini-elephants in Jenny’s room now and then but I am talking about the aliens. Earth is to a large part devastated by ecological calamities but on top of that it is being infested by alien RNA based life, mostly as a thick layer over the Great Lakes but they are changing fast much like viruses. The Ultraphytes or Ultras are important to the story and the whole series. Jenny’s parallel between smallpox decimating the Indians even before they saw a white man and the Ultra was fascinating and a bit scary.

I like reading about Jenny dealing with it all and doing ordinary teenage things too. The ordinary things make the futuristic world more tangible. And there lots of fascinating futuristic concept to take in. They have printers that can print out almost anything including real viruses. Hacks are frequently life-threatening and outbreaks of new tailor-made diseases are common. People don’t pay taxes any more they are Taxplayers and gamble at a casino instead and the surplus fund the government. Some of the names of technologies and gadgets feel a bit juvenile like Toynet and calling bears for teddies. Teenagers of today would never use that kind of vocabulary but many things might change in a hundred years.

Jenny also does sports. She plays Slanball the game of mind force (See Slan a novel by A E Van Vogt about telepaths). It is a bit like that game in Harry Potter.

Joan is a microbiologist with teaching experience and that comes across in her writing. I particularly liked the way she used virtual worlds for teaching and anthrax for building the space elevator. It has been a pleasure to read this new-to-me author. Her last novel came out more than ten years ago and this is the first novel in the Frontera Cycle so I hope it doesn’t take another ten years to write the next one because I want to read it and read it soon. The story has a young adult feel to it but worked well for me at my age. It is also stand alone if that is what you prefer.

Joan told me that the Frontera Cycle will continue with Jenny. She visits Cuba, and discovers that ultraphytes have evolved to grow in the ocean–but what are they up to? Meanwhile, back at Frontera for her sophomore year, the college faces an uncertain future because the casino is losing money–and proposes an alarming solution.

The Highest Frontier get my strong recommendation. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2015 Catherine Siemann rated it really liked it

Academics in literature departments write novels about academics, usually satirical. Academics in science departments possibly write hard science fiction. Slonczewski, chair of the biology department at Kenyon College, has written something that's both, and political satire besides.

As far as plot and characterization goes, it's decent but not exceptional. However, the narrative successfully plays with multiple strands of speculation, ranging from genetic engineering and 3D printing to climate ch Academics in literature departments write novels about academics, usually satirical. Academics in science departments possibly write hard science fiction. Slonczewski, chair of the biology department at Kenyon College, has written something that's both, and political satire besides.

As far as plot and characterization goes, it's decent but not exceptional. However, the narrative successfully plays with multiple strands of speculation, ranging from genetic engineering and 3D printing to climate change and alternative energy, the impact of the Internet on our everyday lives and the unwillingness of politicians to take an actual stand on anything, religion in its various aspects (in a future with space stations, gene spliced babies and a conjoined-twin presidential candidate, there's also been a resurgence of fundamentalist heliocentrism, while at the same time one of the book's most positive characters is a gay Catholic/Episcopal priest who's married to the college president).

The book's protagonist, Jennifer Ramos Kennedy, is good at almost everything, but, as the scion of a privileged political family, she's been genetically engineered to be that way. There's a potentially star-crossed relationship with a naturally-born scholarship student, but that is only one strand of the narrative, not its center. Politics, as well as the protagonist's coming of age, are more central. The most troubling thing about the book is a campus rape which is swept under the carpet a bit too easily -- the character suffers but moves on fairly quickly, and the reader is denied any closure, as the perpetrators are expelled rather than brought to trial. It would have been better to have left that out, if it wasn't going to be given its due. There were also some scientific references I couldn't puzzle out, like the anthrax strands which were used to transport people and property from Earth to the Frontera space station and back, or the medical uses of HIV. There was a lot more extrapolation, however, that the nonspecialist reader could follow quite easily.

I heard Slonczewski speak at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (2015), where she was one of the guests of honor, and she was witty and knowledgeable. Other reviewers have suggested this is one of her weaker books; if that's true, I quite look forward to her best.
...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2012 Crystal rated it liked it

Shelves: abandoned

I made it about halfway through this book. I was looking for some new SF to try, which is unusual for me, and so I sifted through my "to read" shelf for something that looked a little different. This one certainly fits the bill. After reading reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, I was aware that many found the book lacking in plot but well written, and for me I usually prefer the latter over the former. Unfortunately, the complete lack of plot got on my nerves and I decided to put down the book when ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2012 kvon rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

College in space. Lots of floated ideas about biology, politics, and history. Commentary on current issues--instead of creationists, fundamentalists focus on the biblical idea of the Firmament and the
iconology of Noah's Ark saving the select and holy. And instead of inevitable climate change is a spreading adapatable alien organism. The internet (toynet) is more pervasive, and private virtual worlds (think second life) are more alluring. Jenny is a shy scion of a politically major family (think ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2012 Alexa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a perfect read for me. Slonczewski throws you right into her built world with no interpretation at all; just the intellectual challenge I adore. (Oh how I hate long-winded patronizing exposition!) It is a multi-layered satire of politics, academia, and environmental devastation. Her ability to poke fun at issues that deeply concern her amazes me. What truly caught my attention though is her exploration of gender roles. This is a story about a very shy young woman who prefers to work in ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 08, 2011 Tamlyn rated it did not like it

Shelves: tried-but-not-finished

From the dust-cover, I thought this might be my kind of book. I like futuristic novels and novels about colleges so this should have been my cup of tea. But I could only read about 10 pages and got so lost in all the verbiage and "newness" of the world the character lived in that I lost interest. Back to the library!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2015 Stephanie Foust rated it really liked it

A coming-of -age novel set in the 22nd century but it is so much more.The mayoral & presidential races parody current politics but this book foretells a future with great ecological destruction amid great scientific discoveries.Very highly recommended.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2012 Cicely rated it really liked it

Part hilarious tongue-in-cheek political/academic satire, part contemplation of gender roles, part touching coming-of-age story, all set in the distant future with a delightful plot and characters. Delicious! (And it even has a riff on the dangers of early weaning!)

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 25, 2011 Sarah S rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Presents some interesting ideas about politics and science, but the writing is shaky enough that I almost put the book down after 40 pages.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 25, 2017 Peter Goodman rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, contemporary-fiction, fiction

“The Highest Frontier,” by Joan Slonczewski (Tor, 2011). Another book written by a scientist which takes the science beyond where I’d like to go. In this case, Slonczewski is chair of biology at Kenyon College, and the center of the book is about DNA, RNA, cellular biology and evolution. It’s set in a not-too-distant future where human civilization on earth is slowly being swallowed by global warming (more and more of the planet is underwater), but AI seems to be advancing exponentially. Everyon
“The Highest Frontier,” by Joan Slonczewski (Tor, 2011). Another book written by a scientist which takes the science beyond where I’d like to go. In this case, Slonczewski is chair of biology at Kenyon College, and the center of the book is about DNA, RNA, cellular biology and evolution. It’s set in a not-too-distant future where human civilization on earth is slowly being swallowed by global warming (more and more of the planet is underwater), but AI seems to be advancing exponentially. Everyone apparently has either computers implanted in their brains or have developed telepathy: they open windows in their minds to see and communicate with dozens of people at once; they can send “brainkisses” to one another. The US is divided into two main parties: Centrists, who among other things believe in a biblically literal world in which, despite space travel, the earth is still the center of the universe and the stars are part of a God-created Firmament; and Unity, which wants to expand to the planets, accept evolution and scientific evidence, and is generally forward looking. The electorate is split evenly between them, and elections are usually decided by fractions of a point. (There is a lot about polling and wondering whether the elections are real at all.) There are almost-self-supporting space colonies called spacehabs, one of which contains Frontera College, which our heroine Jennifer Ramos Kennedy is about to enter as a freshman. She comes from a famous, powerful political family (Kennedy, get it?). There is a wild card: the ultras, extraterrestrial creatures that emit cyanide and seem to be slowly spreading through the world. As you can tell, this is a very imaginative, complicated world, and I don’t feel like going through the plot, other than to say that I was not drawn very deeply into it, or the characters. This is another novel where there is a deeply existential threat---the ultras could wipe out all humanity---but no one seems to be all that worried about it. And all the talk about RNA and DNA etc interested me less and less.

http://highestfrontier.com/

...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 26, 2017 Unwisely rated it did not like it

Shelves: science-fiction, 2017, not-finished

I am a sucker for a pull-quote about Heinlein, but I got less far in this book than the last one I failed out on (p. 264, ca ~60%). (I was going to make a joke comparing this to one of the terrible Heinleins, but I finished all of those.)

The set up could've been interesting but I didn't really care about any of the characters or the situation and bleh.

There was one pretty good jab about the protagonist (freshman in college) who had never gotten a grade below an A+++ before, but, man, couldn't m ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 23, 2018 Whitney rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

I can see the appeal, but for me, this book just screamed, "trying too hard."

The sentence structure/dialogue/ideas were all fine, and seemed put together well, but this was a case of so much info dump without explaining, that it grew exhausting trying to read. I liked the idea, which makes this a letdown, since I couldn't get past the first fourth.

flag Like · see review

Feb 27, 2017 Silyara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, bought-at-wiscon

Extremely well written, thoughtful, and complex. It's a diverse and living world populated with flawed three dimensional characters. Science fiction that feels real like our world, rich in the details that make life life, where some have changed and look unfamiliar but feel familiar. It doesn't pull punches with the commentary its themes make toward everyone and all the choices we make.

flag Like · see review

Jun 22, 2019 Beth rated it really liked it

Kind of a coming of age/ going away to school story. Jenny is the heir to one of America's most famous political families but she wants to study biology. She starts college at the world's first university in space and then has to navigate a bunch of weird events while keeping up with classes, playing a sport, and dealing with new friends. There's also an alien terrorist and a flood.

flag Like · see review

Jul 15, 2017 Laura rated it liked it

This one didn't really hit me. It feels kind of YA. It's just not what I expected.

flag Like · see review

Apr 24, 2018 Micaelasofia rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: april-2018-tbr

Too many characters and too little description, it gets confusing!
its too bad though its a facinating concept! ...more

flag Like · see review

Mar 02, 2019 Dan Henne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own_1st, campbell-winner

The middle was little long but an interesting look at the future.

flag Like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Vanessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: sciene-fiction

I grew up in a small farming community in Oregon, so when I left for university--with a student body three times that of my hometown--it's reasonable to say that it was an intimating experience. THE HIGHEST FRONTIER by Joan Slonczewski reminded me about those first overwhelming months. Except with way cooler stuff.

Fast forward to several decades in the future and Jenny Ramos Kennedy, a girl from a rich and politically powerful family, is beginning her freshman year at Frontera College--a school I grew up in a small farming community in Oregon, so when I left for university--with a student body three times that of my hometown--it's reasonable to say that it was an intimating experience. THE HIGHEST FRONTIER by Joan Slonczewski reminded me about those first overwhelming months. Except with way cooler stuff.

Fast forward to several decades in the future and Jenny Ramos Kennedy, a girl from a rich and politically powerful family, is beginning her freshman year at Frontera College--a school in a space habitat. It looks like a regular college on earth, with buildings for classrooms, dorms, faculty offices, and cafeterias. There's also a community of farmers who emigrated from an earth under attack from global warming and ultraphytes--an unknown alien seeded them into the Great Salt Lake and they've been reproducing ever since, creating mass quantities of cyanide in the process. It's all a big mess.

Jenny must navigate hard classes, new friends, an odd roommate, an athletic team, volunteering as an EMS, a budding romance...and so much more. Readers will follow along as she attends classes, takes counsel from the local pastor, and tries to keep up in all the social activities and coursework--as well as pressure from her politically minded family. FRONTIER is actually a pretty exhausting book to read, because not only are we trying to keep up with an active co-ed and understand all the new science and imagery being thrown at us, but about a third of the way through we're presented with a mystery, and Jenny is compelled to understand what's really going on.

At first I had a hard time getting into this book. Since FRONTIER is almost exclusively a concept novel, it contains ideas and 'what ifs' about earth's climatic and political futures. There's slanball, a null-grav scoccer-like game, where minds are used instead of actually touching the ball. Instead of smart phones, everyone wears 'diads' over their eyes that connect them to ToyNet, with instant news feeds, texts from teachers and friends, invites to parties. It's all sensory overload and Slonczewski immerses you in it from page one, and drags you along until you finally get your footing. Even though it's light on plot, FRONTIER has more than its fair share of ambiance and setting.

Jenny is the main narrator, with President Dylan Chase occasionally piping in with college administrative issues. Jenny has recently suffered the death of her twin brother, Jordi, and begins as an uncertain, emotionally distant young woman. Slonczewski does a great job with Jenny's growth and characterization. She's a smart girl, but still quite normal for her age, with her hang-ups and moments of clarity. Her relationships with the other kids in her class felt real--for the most part, some of them I didn't quite understand.

Slonczewski is a professor of biology at Kenyon College (the college hosts a 3D image of what Frontera College looks like) and her love of the subject shines in FRONTIER. She peppers it with questions about ultraphytes. The space hab residents create food and homes from amyloid and carboxyplast--it's cheaper than shipping up everything from the planet. The space hab is twenty years old, practically ancient technology, with potentially serious problems if the power ever goes out. My favorite: you can print out things, from your printer, such as clothes. No need for a closet, or wearing the same thing everyday! Well, assuming you can afford it.

The story takes place during the presidential election, and I'd probably be more interested in that if I weren't so numb from the recent onslaught of the current news. But again, Slonczewski handles it well, and makes it an important part of the story. In a way it's a very timely commentary on the current political climate in the U.S., without being overbearing or agenda-ridden.

In all, it's a thoughtful book to read, with a likable heroine and some cool concepts. While it took time for me to become immersed in the story, it was worth the time.

**Read this and other reviews on Elitist Book Reviews.*** ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Clay Kallam rated it liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy

On the jacket of “The Highest Frontier” (Tor, $26.99, 443 pages), there’s a reference to Robert Heinlein’s young adult novels of the ‘60s – but the gap between Heinlein’s not-always sunny world view and that of Joan Slonczewski some 50+ years later makes the comparison almost meaningless.

Heinlein, for all his dyspepsia about the human condition, still looked at humanity and saw better times ahead. There were solutions to problems, and in the end, ingenuity, grit and a touch of heroism would win On the jacket of “The Highest Frontier” (Tor, $26.99, 443 pages), there’s a reference to Robert Heinlein’s young adult novels of the ‘60s – but the gap between Heinlein’s not-always sunny world view and that of Joan Slonczewski some 50+ years later makes the comparison almost meaningless.

Heinlein, for all his dyspepsia about the human condition, still looked at humanity and saw better times ahead. There were solutions to problems, and in the end, ingenuity, grit and a touch of heroism would win out. In fact, John Scalzi’s latest, “Fuzzy Nation” (Tor, $24.99, 301 pages) harkens back to those times, and Heinlein – and ironically, its upbeat, can-do narrative is based on a 1962 book by H. Beam Piper.

And “Fuzzy Nation”, though it’s a fun read, and a good one (which readers have come to expect from Scalzi), is so old-fashioned that its plot twists almost creak with arthritis, and in the aftermath of the unremorseful corporate depredations of the past few years, seems hopelessly naïve.

But in “The Highest Frontier,” we have an entirely different narrative arc, one that holds out the promise of a happy ending, but falls well short of delivering.

My apologies for the spoiler, but for me, “The Highest Frontier” is more than just a pretty good 2011 novel with solid science and an interesting narrative – it also shows how pop culture interacts with our view of ourselves and our future, and in this case, its contrast with Heinlein and Scalzi’s recreation of a 1962 novel tells a disquieting tale about the coming decades.

To set the scene: Jennifer Ramos Kennedy is a child of extreme privilege (yes, related to those Kennedys) in the not-too-distant future. She’s off to college, one of the best, but because of the ecological collapse of the earth, that college is safely in orbit. Well, “safely” may be stretching it, as one of Slonczewski’s themes is that it’s impossible for even the most stringently protected habitat to escape the realities outside its walls.

One of those realities is an alien presence on the Earth, ultraphytes, which produce cyanide as a byproduct, and thus are deadly to most forms of terrestial life. The ultraphytes, like kudzu, are spreading around the world, but unlike the kudzu, the aliens don’t mind if global warming leeches all the water from the environment, as they love the high-salt waters that remain.

Slonczewski mixes young love, politics, drug therapy for psychological issues, technological advances, terrorism, academic infighting and a (too easily solved) mystery into the stew, and “The Highest Frontier” is a satisfying, if not quite Heinlein-like, effort.

But more troubling for me is that the young adult, coming-of-age scifi novel, traditionally a genre in which problems are overcome and the future is bright enough that dark glasses are required, has become yet another outlet for the deep malaise that infects much of 21st century humanity.

Hope is in short supply, and though history is replete with examples of apparently unavoidable disasters averted, it also has its share of collapsing empires and centuries-long dark ages. “The Highest Frontier”, written by a biologist, is an unflinching look at a reasonable extrapolation of the near future, and the prospects it holds out for its young protagonists, and its readers regardless of age, are not pretty ones.

There was a time when science fiction and fantasy reflected the basic optimism at the core of our culture (which can be clearly seen, and enjoyed, in “Fuzzy Nation”), just as the rest of pop culture did. But now fantasies are almost always dark and even quality young adult scifi can be bleak and unforgiving. If how we view the future is how we really view the present, then it’s pretty clear that optimism, like humanity for Slonczewski, is an endangered species.
...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 24, 2011 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: four-stars, science-fiction, adventure, future-earth, college, new-adult

It has been ten years since Joan Slonczewski’s THE CHILDREN STAR, but the author is back with a bang with the recently released THE HIGHEST FRONTIER. Delving into a rather new arena with a story focused on the exploits of a girl born to leaders, cloned from leaders, and destined to be a leader as she enters her first year of college in a space habitat orbiting Earth, Slonczewski enters a new frontier for her writing easily, but not without a few hiccups.

I should preface this review by saying tha It has been ten years since Joan Slonczewski’s THE CHILDREN STAR, but the author is back with a bang with the recently released THE HIGHEST FRONTIER. Delving into a rather new arena with a story focused on the exploits of a girl born to leaders, cloned from leaders, and destined to be a leader as she enters her first year of college in a space habitat orbiting Earth, Slonczewski enters a new frontier for her writing easily, but not without a few hiccups.

I should preface this review by saying that Slonczewski is a microbiology professor by trade, and it does show in her writing. Several of her books have been about sentient microbes. This one, however, is rather tame in setting by comparison. About 100 years in the future, Earth has become decimated by climate change and pollution, and the only safe haven left is a network of space habitats in orbit around the Earth. Religious leaders have proclaimed this the Firmament, God’s territory. Jenny Ramos Kennedy is girl who lost her twin brother and has spent the past few months trying to overcome her mental issues, fears, and inability to speak publicly before coming to Frontera College orbiting high above the Earth. Paired with her story is a Presidential race and the spread of an alien organism called the Ultraphyte which had helped in the decimation of Earth, releasing cyanide and killing thousands.

The one place where Slonczewski never falters is her attention to biological detail, but at the same time, this does have a tendency to draw out the book and slow the pacing down to a crawl. There are even biology classes in the book which could substitute for a real biology class, with such detail that, despite having been a biology major for a year (bad idea), I was confused. Even more so than her previous books, I feel like THE HIGHEST FRONTIER is some love story to biology, possibly making it difficult for those that are not from a scientific background to get into the story.

One thing I loved was the characters. Each one was brilliantly crafted and came to life on the pages. I especially loved Jenny’s love interest Tom, an Amish kid who left the world he grew up in to come to Frontera – for a good reason. I’ll let you read the book and find out more about him. Anouk the French hacker, though, was my favorite. Imagine being banned from Earth for your many attempts at breaking into government computer networks. She’s a genius through and through, but her common sense might be just a little lacking.

While not quite at the level as her 1986 masterpiece A DOOR INTO OCEAN (one of my favorite books of all time, you must read it), Slonczewski puts forward a very welcome new book that is sure to win new fans and put a new spin on the science fiction genre yet again. The creativity that went into this book and the fascinating finale should win this book awards. I would definitely recommend this book, but I suggest having google open at all times, especially if you don’t know Spanish. Which I don’t.

VERDICT: Though complex and full of biological terms that might be offputting, THE HIGHEST FRONTIER is a fascinating speculative look at what the world might be in 100 years. With great characters and an all-too-believable plot, this is a book worth checking out. ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 18, 2011 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

(3.5 stars)

(originally reviewed on starmetal oak book blog)

I've come away from The Highest Frontier feeling very dichotomous about the book. Overall, I did enjoy this book very much but I alo had some reservations.

I'll start by saying that there are many awesome things Slonczewski did with this story. It follows Jenny Ramos Kennedy, a college student from a family of politicians and presidents, who loves plants and goes to study at Frontera College. Frontera is located in a spacehab ('space ha (3.5 stars)

(originally reviewed on starmetal oak book blog)

I've come away from The Highest Frontier feeling very dichotomous about the book. Overall, I did enjoy this book very much but I alo had some reservations.

I'll start by saying that there are many awesome things Slonczewski did with this story. It follows Jenny Ramos Kennedy, a college student from a family of politicians and presidents, who loves plants and goes to study at Frontera College. Frontera is located in a spacehab ('space habitat') and is accessible by going up an anthrax lift. There we meet many interesting characters: Dylan, the college president and his partner, Father Clare, the college chaplain. Then there's the eccentric roomate, Mary Dryer, and Jenny's best frend, Anouk. One of the advertised benefits of Frontera is that there are no ultraphytes, alien organisms that have been populating on Earth. However, Frontera isn't as perfect as everyone's made it out to be and slowly, Jenny finds out there are issues going on in the spacehab.

Politics and religion is another large part of the book. Through Jenny we witness the presidental election on Earth, mostly between two parties: the religious Centrists who don't believe in outer space and Unity, the part of Jenny's ancestors. What I really enjoyed is the mix of politics and religion in a futuristic world where often times religion is replaced by science. That's not the case here. There are still many conflicts between church and state despite it being around a century in the future.

But the aspect I liked the most about this book is the science. Slonczewski injects this future world with so much interesting and fun concepts that it really kept me reading out of sheer fascination. Biology is a big part of this world, where ultraphytes are mixing DNA with Earth life and Jenny spends a lot of her time with her Life class professor learning about organisms. Everyone wears a diad on their head where they use their brain to navigate the Toyworld, a virtual place where you can chat with people, watch news and basically do anything you could think of.

The only downside that I found to The Highest Frontier is that we don't pass through too much time (about one semester of college) and the story moves at a slow pace. There wasn't a specific plotline. Instead we follow Jenny through school and through her political life, learning as much as we can about this world. I would have liked to see a bigger climax at the end, but I did feel the conclusion was satisfying enough.

Like I said earlier, I have mixed feelings. I thought this was one of the most interesting and unique science fiction books I ever read and I really appreciate it for that. There isn't always a lot of action or a clear direction in plot, but it's supplemented by grabbing your attention with a myriad of ideas and concepts that Slonczewski has thought up. I would recommend this book for people looking for more hard science fiction with a great side dish of poltics and religion. However, if you're looking for an easy, fast-paced action book with a clear storyline, then this isn't for you.

Review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. ...more

flag Like · see review

Jan 31, 2015 Susie Munro rated it it was ok

Shelves: women-slay-genre-fiction, read-in-2015, scifi, books-i-own, campbell-award-best-novel-winners

Content note: discussion of sexual assault.

Really conflicted about this one. I enjoy hard scifi, and it can be pretty difficult to access novels both written by women and featuring a female protagonists and is written by a woman. There are lots of very good things about this novel: a neat and well thought out future socio-political environment, a young woman protagonist who you know just enough about to sympathise with, pretty decent portrayals of neuroatypical and diverse characters and some ni Content note: discussion of sexual assault.

Really conflicted about this one. I enjoy hard scifi, and it can be pretty difficult to access novels both written by women and featuring a female protagonists and is written by a woman. There are lots of very good things about this novel: a neat and well thought out future socio-political environment, a young woman protagonist who you know just enough about to sympathise with, pretty decent portrayals of neuroatypical and diverse characters and some nifty existing and imagined science. Dudebros are treated with the disdain the so richly deserve and the romance sub plot is very minor and not a trigger for any major character development.

I'm also a sucker for a multipurpose motif and the frontiers here (an orbital college, Jenny's moving away from home to said college, overcoming the loss of her brother and her own limitations, first contact and the political battle to fund space exploration) are many and varied. The novel functions well as a critique of academia, of fundamentalism (religious and otherwise) and the vagaries of formal politics and post-modern capitalist economics. I liked the agency allowed to Jenny as she interacted with the characters around her - none of them really drove her development, it was hers to own.

So why isn't a four star rating? One reason and one reason only. Jenny and a classmate are sexually assaulted at a frat party. While the actual assault isn't discussed in detail, and it is possible it's an attempted rather than completed assault, you do get Jenny's perspective of the lead up (very little signposting of whats about to happen) and confused amnesia following.Just enough detail to be triggering. Its acknowledged that the victimisation of young women is a common practice at that particular fraternity but the consequences are limited to suspension from a sporting team (and that only after pressure from parents)... And then the assault disappears from the plot and is never mentioned again. If there was supposed to be a point in there about the complicity of campus leadership in campus sexual assaults and the tendency for complaints to swept under the rug so they don't jeopardise funding and/or reputation, it needed to be made much more clearly. As it is, it seems tacked on as an afterthought and has no real impact on the plot, subplots or Jenny as a character. Rape as a plot device is guaranteed to set me to ranting, but it isn't even that here, its completely extraneous to every.other.thing.that.happens. Given the otherwise strong representation of women, some fairly progressive economic and environmental politics and the notable diversity of characters its inclusion in completely inexplicable.

While the repetition of the tech-y neologisms was a bit strange and the novel done without fewer sub plots (its a pretty dense book at times) I found it engaging enough that I would have liked to rate it more highly.But badly handled sexual assaults are too intensely problematic to ignore. ...more

flag Like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA Sci Fi dystopian, Virus attacks Salt Lake, Cloning, College in space [s]	4	37	Mar 24, 2012 02:37PM
FABClub (Female A...: The Highest Frontier Discussion (Dec 2011/Jan 2012)	22	21	Feb 28, 2012 01:23PM

See a Problem?

Preview — The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

The Highest Frontier

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Joan Slonczewski

Books by Joan Slonczewski

Trivia About The Highest Frontier

See a Problem?

Preview — The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski

The Highest Frontier

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Joan Slonczewski

Books by Joan Slonczewski

Trivia About The Highest Frontier

new topic
Discuss This Book