Frostlands

Splinterlands #2

by John Feffer

It’s 2051, and Arcadia is under attack. As the stand-alone sequel to Splinterlands begins, the sustainable compound in what was once Vermont is on high alert.

Arcadia’s defense corps is mobilized to defend against what first appears to be a routine assault, one of the many that the community must repulse from para- military forces every year. But as sensors report a breach in the perimeter wall, even 80-year-old Rachel Leopold shoulders a weapon and reports for duty. The at- tack, it turns out, has been orchestrated by one of the world’s largest corporations, CR ISPR International, and it is interested primarily in stopping Rachel’s re- search into stopping global warming. As Arcadia prepares to defend itself against the next CR ISPR attack, Rachel contacts Emmanuel Puig, the foremost scholar of her ex-husband’s work, to get information that she can use to stop CR ISPR . Arcadia intersperses the action with short reports from Emmanuel Puig on his interactions with Rachel as they meet, via V R, in different parts of the world—Brussels, Ningxia, and finally Darwin. The novel concludes with an explosive, unexpected twist that forces a reevaluation of all that has come before.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Climate Change Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

248 pages, Paperback

Published November 6, 2018

About the author

John Feffer is director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including The Pandemic Pivot and the Splinterlands trilogy. His essays have been published in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, and elsewhere. He had been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now! and other international news media.

Reviews

[issa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following up Splinterlands can't have been an easy task. A sweeping vision with a stark outlook, Feffer's post-Trump novella worked best when it painted only with the broadest and the narrowest brushes, revealing a sense of the world at large only by way of small, savage vignettes.

My primary complaint with it was twofold: first, that it was overly preoccupied with details and vagaries of technologies like virtual reality and how it might work, and second that I never felt terribly connected to the personal story it told. The symmetry between the splintered world and the rended family was not lost on me, but I never found a lot of meaning in that reflection nor connection to the characters.

Frostlands solves many of these problems by not attempting at all to follow Splinterlands up. It is very much its own story, and it distinguishes itself from its predecessor primarily by being a story.

In this, it is far more successful a book. A tight, compelling thriller with twists and turns, Frostlands is engaging top to bottom, and directly addresses issues of science, sovereignty, and sustainability in directions that were left alone in Julian's narrative. It certainly helps that it's a quick read, and that the beats come in rapid succession.

Conversely, though, I find myself far less struck by this new entry than the first. I'm not sure what to make of the (minor spoilers) eventual shift to magical solutions and big-picture machination. It seems out of place in the Splinterlands. Is the idea that eventually the power to fix the world's problems might someday be wieldable by common hands acting individually? Or is there no broader theme or thesis, and is the closing of Rachel's story simply that, and nothing more: her end?

Either way, I'm glad this entry exists, and glad that it is so distinct from Splinterlands. I look forward to the possible third entry, for it promises to be perhaps the most interesting one by far.

[Delta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and very well-structured dystopian book that paints the image of an all too realistic future. Frostlands tells the story of Rachel Leopold, an eighty-year-old scientist living in Arcadia, an experiment in sustainable living in the 2050s. Climate change - and big, greedy corporations - are wreaking havoc on the world, but Rachel and her team of like-minded individuals in Arcadia have all the materials necessary to put up a good fight. As the true stakes emerge, however, it becomes apparent that the malignant corporations are engaged in such a degree of corruption that the true threat may be from within.

Make no mistake, Frostlands is a very solid piece of fiction. The plot is structured very well, where events are revealed in such an order as to maximize suspense while still maintaining realism. The writing is quite clever, too, and I thought the characters were interesting enough. I think the book accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, and there's really not much complain about at all. The only reason it's stuck at just 4 stars for me is that it's too short and not quite imaginative enough to leave a huge impression. Everything is exceedingly well-presented, but it still falls entirely within the realm of what you expect from climate change dystopias.

Medium 4 Stars

[Janice Carnevale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthy follow up to Splinterlands. I ordered Songlands right away.

[Anastasia Walker]

"Frostlands" is the second in a trilogy of novels that imagine our world in the mid-21st century as splintered and chaotic, ravaged by acute political factionalism and the worsening climate crisis. This future is realized in the novels with a thoroughness that is both captivating and profoundly unsettling. Though speculative fiction first and foremost, "Frostlands," like the other volumes in the trilogy, also employs elements of the mystery and spy-novel genres, and uses the fortunes of an American family -- or more properly, a family from the area of the world formerly known as the United States -- as the vehicle for advancing the novel's plot. Since this is ideas-driven fiction, character development generally takes a back seat. H.G. Wells' novels are an early, not inapt analogue in this regard. Feffer's characters are provided enough individuation to hold our interest, though, which is to say that they do more than merely serve the needs of the novel's plot and thesis. Finally, Splinterlands is a terrific read, its clean prose and taut episodes propelling us through its pages. In sum, recommended!

[Andrew Triolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What was going through my former husband's mind when he sent those messages to our children? Was he warning me of the serpent in our midst? More likely to tell me that I was wedded to illusions as he was. Julian couldn't have known about my research and its potential impact. He wasn't trying to save Arcadia or the world...I don't know if we can save the world. But if I have to, I will die trying."

Relatively interesting. I will read just about anything dystopian, but my knock is that it got super political. I just want to enjoy a story, not keep hearing about a Hurricane named Donald that hit the East Coast in the mid 2010s and destroyed the capital. Please don't overthink that. I am not making a political statement or showing support for such a hurricane! (I would be annoyed no matter which president Feffer would have named the hurricanes after). Just give me a compelling story.

[Claire]

The plot drew me in immediately and sustained my interest. (The hint at the end of Splinterlands had led me to expect Rachel's story to parallel Julian's, but from her point of view. That the book is a sequel is much better.) Plot dominates, though Rachel is well developed.

Necessary information about climate change is mostly woven in so as not to get pedantic and distracting. One could probably read it as a stand alone, but it is richer with the first book in mind while reading.

[LeastTorque · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where Splinterlands was crushing, intense, and all too plausible, and more essay than story, this follow-on is pretty much pure story, and a less compelling one with enough clichés and holes in the plot to make it just ok for me.

[Nancy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting post apocalyptic tale told from the first person view of Rachael - a member of the community of Arcadia who are working to save the Earth from an ecological disaster

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I misplaced Splinterlands but dove in anyway.
Fun, straight ahead sci-fi.
update:
The plot is much better than the first one.