Centuries after a dying Earth was abandoned in favour of a future in the stars, a ship crash-lands on the planet, and a woman with a gun blasts her way out. She isn't meant to be here - not alone, anyway - and Earth is not exactly uninhabited. Those who've eked out a living on the barren planet over the past 300 years have developed a deep suspicion of off-worlders - the "heathens" who chose to leave Gaia behind. Despite the crusading Deputy on her tail, our protagonist makes her determined way overland, trying to keep a low profile. Because without any form of communications device, she still has no idea whether anyone else on her ship survived - including the woman she loves. I started this book at London Kings Cross and finished by the time I got to Edinburgh (it was a great train journey). I was instantly swept up into this return to a much-changed future Earth. To begin with, each chapter is an episodic encounter between the mostly-unnamed protagonist and some of the motley characters who people the planet - from librarians to horse thieves, cultists to tortoises. But our protagonist never loses her drive to discover what became of the rest of her ship's crew, even when forces on Earth seem determined to prevent her. Honestly, this book ticked every box for me: space hijinks, a brilliant cast of characters, tongue-in-cheek narration, a gunslinging protagonist, and sapphic yearning! I haven't read anything that combines all these factors before, and didn't know I needed to until I read Frontier. I can't wait to see what Grace Curtis does next.

Hands down one of my favourite books so far this year. Curtis creates an ingenious framing device to shape the narrative, making her protagonist at once well-known from many angles, and mysterious in her shifting roles. Incredibly creative and utterly unique! The worldbuilding is also beautiful, focusing on the small everyday while also slowly peeling back to reveal a huge, expansive and vibrant world. The romance was soft and yet all-consuming, and Curtis has become an instant-buy author from me with this one book. Great for fans of Tamsyn Muir, Alix E Harrow, and Alice Isn't Dead!

What a great read. This book is a mix of sci-fi, Western and dystopian, but also it's none of these things in isolation. Whilst at its core this is a love story, there's a whole host of world building and character development along the way, and I'm already keen to revisit this future. There's nothing wrong with a solid one-shot, but this has so much potential I really hope we get to go back. If you want to know more about the plot, read the blurb, but if you want to know how it feels then think Wayfarers meets Firefly. Despite these comparisons, this felt entirely originally whilst encapsulating all my favourite things. More please!

Frontier. I could stop my review right there because, in so many different ways, it is completely apt. This book has a very different feel to many Sci-fi books. But I liked the slower paced pared back feel. I really enjoyed listening to this Sci-fi/western/ stranger rides into a town/devastated Earth/love story set around a search to regain an unexpected love who has been lost. The stranger’s story is revealed in a number of vignettes, slowly revealing her character and the reason for the search. Often uplifting enough to make you smile, only to be dashed by the harshness of some of the books characters. Sad though that is, it seems in keeping with the harsh reality of the frontier setting. Don’t stop listening/ reading till the end though, as don’t love and the stranger always win out in these type of westerns? Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, it had a wonderful western style that worked really well especially as it wasn’t heavy on the sci-fi vibe. We follow a mysterious stranger on a mysterious quest and I had so many questions, but the slow reveal was well worth the waiting. The whole thing came together to make an amazing love story, because obviously love is the best motivation for doing anything. I think fans of Becky Chambers will adore this, I know I did!