Frontier Earth
The Frontier Earth series, Book 1
Bruce Boxleitner
Ace
Fiction, Sci-Fi/Western
Themes: Aliens, Country Tales, Cross-Genre
***
Description
Macklin is a man without a past, survivor of an accident he can't recall. He remembers little before he was found by a stagecoach on the way to Tombstone, and what he does seem to recall makes little sense. Spaceships... crystal cities... a woman who haunts his dreams... It seems to be a hallucination. Impossible in the late-1800's American West. But there is that strange black implant in his chest, and a persistent feeling that he is here for a reason - and in great danger. His suspicions are correct: he came from a distant world, he is here for a reason, and he's in danger from a foe that Earth has never seen, and cannot possibly survive without help. But how is one man supposed to save the world when he can't even remember his own name?
Review
I'm not entirely sure why I came out with an Okay rating. Truth be told, I've read far worse books by celebrity authors. (Michael "Worf" Dorn's Timeblender is a particularly bland example.) For those who don't know, Boxleitner played (among other roles) Captain John Sheridan in the sci-fi series Babylon 5, which was (at its height) one of the best TV universes the genre has produced. Just because you've acted in a sci-fi show doesn't mean you can write it. However, Boxleitner did a pretty good job constructing his sci-fi/western adventure without falling back on any standard clichés. Both the interstellar cultures and the Old West world of Tombstone felt very solid and well researched. The story itself wasn't bad and did at least move, but for some reason it lacked the extra spark to push it into Good category. The most tedious parts involved the integration of the real-life rivalry between the Earps and the Clantons into the plot, a rivalry which culminated in the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral. I don't know that it was necessary for the story, though I've read worse fantastications of real historic events. The ending was a bit anticlimactic and unfinished, but there's a second book in hardcover (or at least there was when this review was first published), which may explain why it ends where and how it does. Overall, Frontier Earth is certainly readable, but I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to find the sequel.