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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Reread March 2017 - Still fantastic.
This is easily my book of the year - and so late! Truly, it is the most well-written, intriguing, believable, unique science fiction I have read in a long time, let alone this year - and it is an absolute roller coaster to boot.
Luna: New Moon (the first in aduology!!! Hooray for short and sweet series! Now a trilogy, damn and blast) follows the lives of the Corta family - a lunar Brazilian dynasty whose fortune is built upon the extraction of Helium-3 from the lunar regolith a-la fantastic film Moon. It hops between the 'present', the trials and tribulations of several different members of the Corta family and others, and a retrospective account of the Corta's powerful matriarch Adriana's rise to prominence.
As literally everybody who has even sniffed the concept of this book has stated, somewhat accurately, Luna comes across largely as Game of Thrones, but on the moon. It's all there - the complex political web of backstabbings and dealings in a setting where they aren't usually present, a world based predominantly around warring familial dynasties rather than nations, and a gritty, sleazy world filled with violence, sex and debauchery.
Luckily, unlike Game of Thrones, this book isn't a heaping pile of overrated horse shit. Whilst the similarities are there, the Cortas and the Mackenzies of Luna strike far more fear, love, respect and loathing into my heart than the Starks and Lannisters of George R. R. Martin's (very) extended bowel movement ever did. Much like The Godfather, the sheer emotion of the characters leaps off the page (rather than screen), as do the characters themselves for that matter - I was living, breathing the air of João de Deus, feeling every slight and smirking at every revenge.
The world is believable and fascinating to the extreme - familiar AIs for everyone, the entire concept of the Four Elementals; that you are paid with the air you breathe!? Get out of here, that had me on the floor straight away. Such an obvious idea, but so well thought out and executed. The different lunar strongholds and cities - stunning Boa Vista and the ceaseless, grinding Crucible, the radiation-soaked Palace of Eternal Light. Amazing.
The five powerful dynasties of the moon - the Five Dragons - are some of the most excellently conceived characters I've experienced. From the strong, hard dignity of Adriana Corta to the grotesque, conniving and controlled hideousness of Robert Mackenzie - Luna focuses not on the importance, not of loyalty to country, but to family. Every Corta has a deep love for their family that transcends their differences, and although they may scheme and plot against one another, they are all sympathetic and interesting in their own ways - Rafa the firstborn, the golden child; Lucas the schemer, the second; Ariel the lawyer, the aristocrat; Carlinhos the fighter, the claws of the Dragon; and Wagner, the outcast, the wolf. Rarely have I experienced such rich characterisation - and in so few pages!
The-series-that-must-not-be-named(-or-probably-finished-lets-be-honest-here) feels to have covered less ground in its... 6? 7? volumes than McDonald has covered in this sole, 392 page novel. I felt like I was thrown from pillar to post reading this book. Probably part of why it took me so long - almost a full week! Luna is brutal, and I loved it.
A couple of slight annoyances did crop up - the main one being some very shoddy editing. A lot of odd little typos and grammatical errors that felt like they should have been caught, and stuff like it being capitalised Mackenzies one sentence and MacKenzies the next, nothing awful. Also the persistent use of Portuguese throughout some parts of the book, while awesome and flavourful, were somewhat lost on me as a lowly English speaker. Regardless, it is fairly easy to extrapolate what they're saying just out of context, and there's a helpful glossary and dramatis personae (which I had to refer to a few times) to help with some of the bizarre concepts and terms. However, this cast contains a couple of light spoilers (i.e. what someone's role is later in the novel is mentioned and so on), which could be a bit irritating if you read through the cast before the novel.
I didn't even touch on some of the weirder stuff - the Lunar Wolves, the Sisterhood, and so on - but I'm up til 2am finishing this book and my brain is starting to shut down. Read it. It's amazing. Arrgghjfghfjgh I can't believe I have to wait for the second one.
“Nothing tells you that you are not on Earth anymore than exhaling at one price and inhaling at another.”
This is easily my book of the year - and so late! Truly, it is the most well-written, intriguing, believable, unique science fiction I have read in a long time, let alone this year - and it is an absolute roller coaster to boot.
Luna: New Moon (the first in a
As literally everybody who has even sniffed the concept of this book has stated, somewhat accurately, Luna comes across largely as Game of Thrones, but on the moon. It's all there - the complex political web of backstabbings and dealings in a setting where they aren't usually present, a world based predominantly around warring familial dynasties rather than nations, and a gritty, sleazy world filled with violence, sex and debauchery.
Luckily, unlike Game of Thrones, this book isn't a heaping pile of overrated horse shit. Whilst the similarities are there, the Cortas and the Mackenzies of Luna strike far more fear, love, respect and loathing into my heart than the Starks and Lannisters of George R. R. Martin's (very) extended bowel movement ever did. Much like The Godfather, the sheer emotion of the characters leaps off the page (rather than screen), as do the characters themselves for that matter - I was living, breathing the air of João de Deus, feeling every slight and smirking at every revenge.
The world is believable and fascinating to the extreme - familiar AIs for everyone, the entire concept of the Four Elementals; that you are paid with the air you breathe!? Get out of here, that had me on the floor straight away. Such an obvious idea, but so well thought out and executed. The different lunar strongholds and cities - stunning Boa Vista and the ceaseless, grinding Crucible, the radiation-soaked Palace of Eternal Light. Amazing.
The five powerful dynasties of the moon - the Five Dragons - are some of the most excellently conceived characters I've experienced. From the strong, hard dignity of Adriana Corta to the grotesque, conniving and controlled hideousness of Robert Mackenzie - Luna focuses not on the importance, not of loyalty to country, but to family. Every Corta has a deep love for their family that transcends their differences, and although they may scheme and plot against one another, they are all sympathetic and interesting in their own ways - Rafa the firstborn, the golden child; Lucas the schemer, the second; Ariel the lawyer, the aristocrat; Carlinhos the fighter, the claws of the Dragon; and Wagner, the outcast, the wolf. Rarely have I experienced such rich characterisation - and in so few pages!
The-series-that-must-not-be-named(-or-probably-finished-lets-be-honest-here) feels to have covered less ground in its... 6? 7? volumes than McDonald has covered in this sole, 392 page novel. I felt like I was thrown from pillar to post reading this book. Probably part of why it took me so long - almost a full week! Luna is brutal, and I loved it.
A couple of slight annoyances did crop up - the main one being some very shoddy editing. A lot of odd little typos and grammatical errors that felt like they should have been caught, and stuff like it being capitalised Mackenzies one sentence and MacKenzies the next, nothing awful. Also the persistent use of Portuguese throughout some parts of the book, while awesome and flavourful, were somewhat lost on me as a lowly English speaker. Regardless, it is fairly easy to extrapolate what they're saying just out of context, and there's a helpful glossary and dramatis personae (which I had to refer to a few times) to help with some of the bizarre concepts and terms. However, this cast contains a couple of light spoilers (i.e. what someone's role is later in the novel is mentioned and so on), which could be a bit irritating if you read through the cast before the novel.
I didn't even touch on some of the weirder stuff - the Lunar Wolves, the Sisterhood, and so on - but I'm up til 2am finishing this book and my brain is starting to shut down. Read it. It's amazing. Arrgghjfghfjgh I can't believe I have to wait for the second one.
SO GOOD. Developed characters, a realistic development of the moon as a next-step for humanity, and some of the political infighting that could occur.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
It's a complicated story, with many characters and sub-plots, but worth it. It's a complicated setup, but your told how this world works in detail, with characters and words that you do need to refer to the character lost and glossary (not that big) once you get used to it, you start to really get into the book, much like The Long Run, at the beat of the drums you can't stop.
This just didn't work for me - I thought the world building was done well and I love the premise of this book but it practice it didn't work. If you are a big fan of science fiction I think it is still worth a try.
This is a 4.5 for me. I really enjoyed this one. It's a bit complicated because there are a lot of characters and you'll need to refer back to the cast of characters and glossary section pretty often, but once you figure things out it gets much better.
I am really tired of reading reviews that call this Game of Thrones in space. Books about powerful families fighting each other were around long before GoT (plus the GoT books go downhill pretty fast after the first few - people mistake liking the show for liking the books). The last few GoT books are tedious and boring and filled with ridiculous amounts of details about what the terrain looks like and what food people are eating. The plot moves at a glacial pace. So please just stop comparing this book (or any book with rival families) to GOT.
Anyway - I liked this one, I recommend it if you're willing to put in a small bit of effort to keep track of who is who. It's not on the level of complicated as something like the Malazan Book of the Fallen, but it's not a zero effort read either.
I am really tired of reading reviews that call this Game of Thrones in space. Books about powerful families fighting each other were around long before GoT (plus the GoT books go downhill pretty fast after the first few - people mistake liking the show for liking the books). The last few GoT books are tedious and boring and filled with ridiculous amounts of details about what the terrain looks like and what food people are eating. The plot moves at a glacial pace. So please just stop comparing this book (or any book with rival families) to GOT.
Anyway - I liked this one, I recommend it if you're willing to put in a small bit of effort to keep track of who is who. It's not on the level of complicated as something like the Malazan Book of the Fallen, but it's not a zero effort read either.
[a:Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg] is one of my favorite authors, and Luna did not disappoint. As with [b:River of Gods|278280|River of Gods (India 2047, #1)|Ian McDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388256017s/278280.jpg|2440580], [b:The Dervish House|6993091|The Dervish House|Ian McDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1257600283s/6993091.jpg|7235789], and [b:Brasyl|278281|Brasyl|Ian McDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386925633s/278281.jpg|269900], McDonald weaves a rich tapestry of culture. This is my favorite of his talents. The plot and characters are enjoyable, too: lots of depth and surprises. As always, I look forward to McDonald's next book.
A solid Ian McDonald novel, not his finest but still good. Shades of Dune in here - conflicts between dynastic houses settled by knife fights; fat uncles who can't stand in full gravity; humans living on spaceships that are so changed by their habitat they are barely human; and a sisterhood using sociology and genealogy to create a society that can last 10,000 years. The finale is so open-ended that I hope there is a sequel. Luna Messiah perhaps.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes