Official Review: The Final Frontier by H M Irwing

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 22 Apr 2016, 20:08

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Final Frontier" by H M Irwing.]

1 out of 4 stars

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The Final Frontier: The Ovion Archives by H. M. Irwing is the first part of a planned series. It is a science fiction novel that is set primarily in the awakened universe (a group of planets that have mastered space travel). The book focuses on the history of Johuan’s and a sect called Ovions from the planet Johua. Johuan’s are more technologically advanced than other beings and are considered the superior race that reigned over the awakened zones. The Ovions, dedicate their lives to protecting the universe from special interests and consider it their mission to help keep peace and order. Unfortunately, the Johaun counsel no longer wants to abide by the Ovions rules. While plans are being made to start a civil war, a discredited scientist named Bimas Chalwey has one final revelation to share with his fellow Johuan’s before enacting his own plans to stop a prophesized apocalypse from coming true. Bimas works with the Ovions and his many creations to fight what he considers the ultimate enemy- the destroyer. Will he get to Earth in time to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled?

The beginning of the novel is intriguing and well done; the deeper into the story the less focused it felt. One of the main issues with this novel is that it tries to tackle too much in this first installment, causing the story to lose its way on several occasions. Is this a book about first contact? A space opera? A blend of science fiction subgenres? The answer is unclear.

The novel is told in first person point of view. The main character, Sim Drewal Chalwey, is an impulsive, emotional, compassionate, and feisty alien. She is an orphan of unknown origins living on planet Johua; a place that takes pride in racial purity. Sim is constantly finding herself out of place and outmatched. Irwing tries to get around the limitations of first person storytelling by alternating the narrator, unfortunately it is unsuccessful. Sim’s character becomes lost in the process of explaining Ovion history and society. She starts out with unique thoughts and observations, but over time her character becomes unevenly split between the disengaged delivery of facts about Ovions and the interesting funny, quirky, and opinionated alien. It serves to only distance the reader from a character that has otherwise been entertaining and engaging. Most of the characters lack dimension and are similar to each other. When first contact is made the majority of the human race is boiled down to stereotypes.

Irwing’s writing style is repetitive, clunky, and inconsistent. There are whole sections that summarize events that happen in chapters before, sometimes using a different character, but add little to justify the repeated information. The story lose intensity and forward momentum through repetitive word choices, past tense language, and a heavy reliance on showing not telling. The formal and informal mash up of language is jarring and does not seem intentional. Variation in sentence structure would go a long way towards making this a less repetitive read.

The attempts at humor comes across as juvenile and crude. Valuable story space is used up overly explaining new terms and technology only to be used inconsistently. When technology is explained within the context of the story it is done seamlessly. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and serves to bloat the storyline with information overload. The majority of technology the author chooses to describe in detail is common knowledge for readers that enjoy science fiction (black holes, wormholes, space travel, etc.). It seemed like parts were added to the book after it was written and not checked to see if it made sense to the already established storyline. If the focus was shifted to the original ideas such as Emotional Management Technique or EM1 inhibiting a species ability to evolve, the novel would benefit exponentially.

I rate this novel 1 out of 4 stars. There was an interesting take on aging, environmental preservation, religion, personal space, isolation, and sexuality. However, the overall lack of continuity and consistency in editing, characterization, alien mythology, writing style, usage of jargon, and content makes this overly bloated novel a less than enticing read.

******
The Final Frontier
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gali · Post by **gali** » 23 Apr 2016, 02:26

Thank you for the insightful review. The premise sounds intriguing. Too bad the book did not live up to its potential.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 23 Apr 2016, 07:50

Thank you! @gali I hate writing negative reviews. The book has the potential to be great and I can see an amazing story wanting to come out. It needs a lot of editing refocusing, and content correcting.

gali · Post by **gali** » 23 Apr 2016, 08:55

bluemel4 wrote:Thank you! @gali I hate writing negative reviews. The book has the potential to be great and I can see an amazing story wanting to come out. It needs a lot of editing refocusing, and content correcting.

I do too. The review was very fair though, and hopefully the author will follow your advice.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 23 Apr 2016, 09:55

Thank you for the feedback. @gali I really hope the author finds a great editor that can help bring this story to its full potential.

Post by **bookowlie** » 23 Apr 2016, 10:21

Well-written, thorough review. I like that you provided constructive criticism rather than just saying I didn't like this or that.

The book sounds familiar to me. Either another member reviewed the book before or I saw the title on the review list at some point.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 23 Apr 2016, 11:19

Thank you so much for your kind words! @bookowlie The book sounds familiar because it was recently BOTD and has been reviewed by another reviewer.

Post by **bookowlie** » 23 Apr 2016, 11:25

Well, I guess that's why the title sounds familiar! I may have also seen it on the review list, but I rarely read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't download every BOTM, depending on the price and the subject matter is my taste. That's interesting that another member reviewed the book. You should compare notes!

Heidi M Simone · Post by **Heidi M Simone** » 23 Apr 2016, 11:36

Thank you, bluemel4 for your well-written and honest review. It does sound promising, but I can see how a novel trying to tackle a lot can be too much for a first installment. Too bad. Hopefully the next book you review will be better!

I was thinking the same thing as bookowlie. It looks so familiar. Thank you for clarifying!

gali · Post by **gali** » 23 Apr 2016, 11:37

bookowlie wrote:Well, I guess that's why the title sounds familiar! I may have also seen it on the review list, but I rarely read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't download every BOTM, depending on the price and the subject matter is my taste. That's interesting that another member reviewed the book. You should compare notes!

It looked familiar to me too. Now I know why! I saw the other reviewer rated it 3 stars.

Post by **bookowlie** » 23 Apr 2016, 11:45

gali wrote:
bookowlie wrote:Well, I guess that's why the title sounds familiar! I may have also seen it on the review list, but I rarely read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't download every BOTM, depending on the price and the subject matter is my taste. That's interesting that another member reviewed the book. You should compare notes!
It looked familiar to me too. Now I know why! I saw the other reviewer rated it 3 stars.

I once saw this type of thing with a short story book last year. I think the book was called Cherries in the Snow or something like that. One person gave the book a 1-star rating and the other person rated it 4 stars. It was interesting to read the reasons for both. The author jumped in on the conversation at the time.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 23 Apr 2016, 13:25

hsimone wrote:Thank you, bluemel4 for your well-written and honest review. It does sound promising, but I can see how a novel trying to tackle a lot can be too much for a first installment. Too bad. Hopefully the next book you review will be better!

I was thinking the same thing as bookowlie. It looks so familiar. Thank you for clarifying!

I appreciate your feedback. @hsimone I hope the next book is better too.

-- Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:31 pm --

bookowlie wrote:
gali wrote:
bookowlie wrote:Well, I guess that's why the title sounds familiar! I may have also seen it on the review list, but I rarely read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't download every BOTM, depending on the price and the subject matter is my taste. That's interesting that another member reviewed the book. You should compare notes!
It looked familiar to me too. Now I know why! I saw the other reviewer rated it 3 stars.
I once saw this type of thing with a short story book last year. I think the book was called Cherries in the Snow or something like that. One person gave the book a 1-star rating and the other person rated it 4 stars. It was interesting to read the reasons for both. The author jumped in on the conversation at the time.

I don't think I want to compare notes. @bookowlie The other reviewer and I had very different opinions about the book. @gali I am happy to clarify why the book seemed familiar.

PashaRu · Post by **PashaRu** » 23 Apr 2016, 16:31

Nice, thorough review. You explained nicely the weaknesses of the book without coming across as petty or overly critical. Perhaps the author will consider some of your comments and improve the story accordingly.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 23 Apr 2016, 18:44

PashaRu wrote:Nice, thorough review. You explained nicely the weaknesses of the book without coming across as petty or overly critical. Perhaps the author will consider some of your comments and improve the story accordingly.

Thank you! @PashaRu Your feedback means a lot!

H M Irwing · Post by **H M Irwing** » 23 Apr 2016, 18:58

Thank you for your review. Appreciate it. Like all criticism both constructive and otherwise, its too little too late. The book is already written and the professional editor failed in coming up to mark in picking up your pointers. I did enjoy the writing of the story though. It was great.

There will not be a sequel as was originally planned for obvious reasons. But I do encourage all to have a read of this one and form your own opinions.

This was not the first negative review I have gotten on this book. Everyone' s opinions seemed to be wildly erratic. I have had a diverse range of rating from full stars to one. Each reader looks at it from varyng view points.

But I enjoy reading their opinions and comparing it to my own.

So thank you for your time and effort.