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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
A space opera soap opera, but what fun. Ian McDonald is so good at characters and settings that it's just fun walking around in his worlds. But add to that his plots, and you get something amazing. He is one of the top science fiction writers around in my opinion.
The only difficulty I had was that he throws so many characters at you at once and they have Portuguese names with which I am not familiar so it is hard to keep straight who is who, especially in an audio book. But McDonald does such a good job at making his characters distinct that after meeting them a few times you begin to remember who they are if still not remembering their names.
I not only recommend this book, but it is on my list of books to reread in the future, possibly as a real book with a paper and pen beside me to take notes. McDonald's books are so rich with details that they are worthy of a deeper look.
The only difficulty I had was that he throws so many characters at you at once and they have Portuguese names with which I am not familiar so it is hard to keep straight who is who, especially in an audio book. But McDonald does such a good job at making his characters distinct that after meeting them a few times you begin to remember who they are if still not remembering their names.
I not only recommend this book, but it is on my list of books to reread in the future, possibly as a real book with a paper and pen beside me to take notes. McDonald's books are so rich with details that they are worthy of a deeper look.
Somebody, throw this book at an HBO executive. It must be made into a critically acclaimed tv series with all the gratuitous sex and violence that comes with the network.
The story takes place on the moon in the near future, where five family-owned corporations control all resources and infrastructure, and scheme for total dominance. The majority of the plot revolves around the Corta and MacKenzie families whose dispute over Helium-3 production takes the conflict out of the boardroom and into the streets. It's not an easy read at first, since the politics and family ties are complicated and require some time to get used to, but they bring great richness to the narrative. The book opens with a character list, but I would suggest to skip it, as it would probably just overwhelm you at first. Read one or two chapters, then get back to the list and review. It puts everything into place. The author also borrows vocabulary from different languages to assign terms to relations and titles, so refer to the glossary in the back for those. It's not as difficult to grasp as it might sound.
To explain it in a few sentences, I really enjoyed this book for it's approachability. Though futuristic, the setting is believable. There are no aliens or grand intergalactic wars that I usually have a hard time connecting to. The events in Luna books might as well happen in a span of a few generations. The plot focuses on human emotions and corporate chess play, rather than blasters and droids. New Moon is often compared to The Game of Thrones or The Godfather set in space. I think it's a very accurate description.
The story takes place on the moon in the near future, where five family-owned corporations control all resources and infrastructure, and scheme for total dominance. The majority of the plot revolves around the Corta and MacKenzie families whose dispute over Helium-3 production takes the conflict out of the boardroom and into the streets. It's not an easy read at first, since the politics and family ties are complicated and require some time to get used to, but they bring great richness to the narrative. The book opens with a character list, but I would suggest to skip it, as it would probably just overwhelm you at first. Read one or two chapters, then get back to the list and review. It puts everything into place. The author also borrows vocabulary from different languages to assign terms to relations and titles, so refer to the glossary in the back for those. It's not as difficult to grasp as it might sound.
To explain it in a few sentences, I really enjoyed this book for it's approachability. Though futuristic, the setting is believable. There are no aliens or grand intergalactic wars that I usually have a hard time connecting to. The events in Luna books might as well happen in a span of a few generations. The plot focuses on human emotions and corporate chess play, rather than blasters and droids. New Moon is often compared to The Game of Thrones or The Godfather set in space. I think it's a very accurate description.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A fast-moving plot full of intrigue, betrayals and sex - this could almost be Game of Thrones on the Moon. Ian McDonald has in recent years written outstanding novels exploring non-Anglo-american settings, such as Brasyl, River of Gods and Dervish House. Here he builds a colony on the moon divided between clans from five continents: Brazilians, Australians, Ghanians, Russians and Chinese. Some remain to be developed in the next volumes in the series, and the Australians are a bit stereotyped in a negative way, but the central Brazilian Corta family has a richly developed background. Be warned, though: enjoyable as it is, it's more of an introduction to a series than a standalone novel. I for one can't wait to see what happens next.
A footnote on the language: as a Brazilian-american, I applaud McDonald's effort at bringing in different cultures to the mix. He certainly has done a great deal of research of Brazilian culture, mostly on Afro-Brazilian religions. However he often slips up in the spelling of a few words. Some are simple mistakes - such as "anzinho" instead of "anjinho" (little angel). At other times, he seems to favour expressions from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal rather than the language as spoken in Brazil, which can be quite different.
A footnote on the language: as a Brazilian-american, I applaud McDonald's effort at bringing in different cultures to the mix. He certainly has done a great deal of research of Brazilian culture, mostly on Afro-Brazilian religions. However he often slips up in the spelling of a few words. Some are simple mistakes - such as "anzinho" instead of "anjinho" (little angel). At other times, he seems to favour expressions from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal rather than the language as spoken in Brazil, which can be quite different.
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got this as a freebie from Tor a while ago, presumably to get me to buy the sequels. I'm afraid it didn't work. I just don't care about the vendetta or the politics enough to see what happens. Most of the characters are arrogant and vain and I don't particularly want to spend more time with them. I also found the social structure too unrealistic – it would have devolved into competing warlords way before it got to the start of this story – and I don't really care about any of the characters enough to want to know what happens to them. I'm not saying it was bad – it is interesting and I enjoyed large parts of it – it's just that it failed to make me care enough to go on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
I felt the writing was flat and the characters lacked depth and some seemed like caricatures. The world of the moon was somewhat interesting, but just felt like a prop most of the time. This book didn't challenge me, my assumptions or even fill the guilty pleasure of a purely fun scifi book.