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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Este libro lo he visto mencionar varias veces como el Juego de Tronos de la ciencia ficción, y la verdad es que no van tan desencaminados. Es una historia de guerras políticas entre casas, solo que la guerra es en una Luna colonizada y las casas son distintas dinastías de empresas, cada una dedicada a una producción en concreto.
Ya aviso, no te van a caer bien casi ninguno de los personajes (menos Luna), pero todo lo que hacen y lo que conlleva está trazado de forma totalmente lógica.
No esperes una boda roja aquí, porque en toda la Luna solo viven un millón y medio de personas, pero tienen hueco para incluir géneros nuevos, duelos de gladiadores, hombres lobo luneros y muchas más cosas que difícilmente habrás visto antes.
Ya aviso, no te van a caer bien casi ninguno de los personajes (menos Luna), pero todo lo que hacen y lo que conlleva está trazado de forma totalmente lógica.
No esperes una boda roja aquí, porque en toda la Luna solo viven un millón y medio de personas, pero tienen hueco para incluir géneros nuevos, duelos de gladiadores, hombres lobo luneros y muchas más cosas que difícilmente habrás visto antes.
4.5
Review originally published here :
https://thecurioussffreader.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/a-review-of-luna-new-moon-by-ian-mcdonald/
I heard that some people says that this book is "the Sopranos on the moon" and even if I have never seen the show, I think they're right.
Let me tell you why.
This book is set in the near future where the Moon is colonized by humans and own by the LDC, the Lunar Developping Company and where life is ruled by the Four Elementals : water, air, carbon and data.
The story follows the Corta family, one of the Five Dragons : the five most powerful families on the Moon. They are known for their wealth and their life are closely watched by all the inhabitants of the planet.
The head of the family is Adriana Corta, the founder of Corta Helio, a helium-3 mining company. The book follows her story and the ones of her childrens and grandchildrens. Her family is at a turning point, Adriana is at the edge of death and she had to create a succession to her business. Of course, the succession in itself is going to create rivalries between the different siblings. However the main conflict is with the others Dragons, especially with the Mackensies, another huge mining company.
The thing is, on the Moon, the only law is the law of money. Indeed, there is no criminal law, the only things that truly matters are contracts based on money which creates a weird justice system and a very flawed notion of justice. On the Moon, you can settle your problems by a trial by combat, on first blood... or worse.
Ian McDonald creates a really libertarian world and shows how humans could adapt in a world without law and where the only power comes from money. And it's not pretty.
The multi generations was very well done because of all the descendants of Adriana (she has five children and three grandchildren) the cast of characters was pretty big, however the story telling was very well balanced. I felt like I knew everyone and why they were the way they were, and for 400 pages book, it is pretty remarkable. Also the family dynamic was really interesting especially all the different conflicts between the siblings. This book was the perfect balance of plot and character development.
The ending was really explosive and I did not expect it to be as massive and intense as it was !
Another element that I really enjoyed was how the technolgies were integrated to the story, it was not a hard SF book but the science was sufficiently explained so that we could visualized the world and the different technologies.
I can't wait for the second book in this duology.
If you like family drama tyes of book and that you are intrigued by the fact that it's on the Moon, please go grab a copy, you won't be disappointed !
Rating : ★★★★ 1/2
Highly recommended
I received this book from Orion Publishing Group through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review originally published here :
https://thecurioussffreader.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/a-review-of-luna-new-moon-by-ian-mcdonald/
I heard that some people says that this book is "the Sopranos on the moon" and even if I have never seen the show, I think they're right.
Let me tell you why.
This book is set in the near future where the Moon is colonized by humans and own by the LDC, the Lunar Developping Company and where life is ruled by the Four Elementals : water, air, carbon and data.
The story follows the Corta family, one of the Five Dragons : the five most powerful families on the Moon. They are known for their wealth and their life are closely watched by all the inhabitants of the planet.
The head of the family is Adriana Corta, the founder of Corta Helio, a helium-3 mining company. The book follows her story and the ones of her childrens and grandchildrens. Her family is at a turning point, Adriana is at the edge of death and she had to create a succession to her business. Of course, the succession in itself is going to create rivalries between the different siblings. However the main conflict is with the others Dragons, especially with the Mackensies, another huge mining company.
The thing is, on the Moon, the only law is the law of money. Indeed, there is no criminal law, the only things that truly matters are contracts based on money which creates a weird justice system and a very flawed notion of justice. On the Moon, you can settle your problems by a trial by combat, on first blood... or worse.
Ian McDonald creates a really libertarian world and shows how humans could adapt in a world without law and where the only power comes from money. And it's not pretty.
The multi generations was very well done because of all the descendants of Adriana (she has five children and three grandchildren) the cast of characters was pretty big, however the story telling was very well balanced. I felt like I knew everyone and why they were the way they were, and for 400 pages book, it is pretty remarkable. Also the family dynamic was really interesting especially all the different conflicts between the siblings. This book was the perfect balance of plot and character development.
The ending was really explosive and I did not expect it to be as massive and intense as it was !
Another element that I really enjoyed was how the technolgies were integrated to the story, it was not a hard SF book but the science was sufficiently explained so that we could visualized the world and the different technologies.
I can't wait for the second book in this duology.
If you like family drama tyes of book and that you are intrigued by the fact that it's on the Moon, please go grab a copy, you won't be disappointed !
Rating : ★★★★ 1/2
Highly recommended
I received this book from Orion Publishing Group through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Nos situamos en una luna que posee una sociedad completamente ya establecida en un futuro indefinido. Cinco familias pioneras en la explotación de los recursos, conocidos como los Cinco Dragones, ejercen un control sobre los territorios colonizados y parte de la población, mientras que de forma oculta y paralela existe una lucha de poder con intrigas, alianzas y traiciones por doquier. La novela se centra en la familia Corta y en su encarnizada lucha por el poder económico en la Luna, los cuales poseen la empresa Corta Helio creada por la matriarca brasileña Adriana Corta, dedicadas a la extracción de helio-3 destinado a la mayoría de empresas energéticas de la tierra.
Ian McDonald crea una historia compleja llena de giros de guion y tramas palaciegas entre las altas esferas de poder en la luna. El autor tiene un estilo peculiar y personal, cargado de mucho ritmo con situaciones que ocurren al mismo tiempo, estableciendo una novela coral con una enorme cantidad de puntos de vista, donde con cuatro pinceladas es capaz de desarrollar a sus personajes y meternos de lleno en este inhóspito paraje. Reconozco que es duro entrar en la novela, las primeras 100 hojas me resultaron apabullantes, pero traspasada la barrera, se convierte en un relato adictivo plagado de intrigas y giros.
Si algo fascina de la lectura de Luna es su worldbuilding: Un paraje lleno de ciudades subterráneas donde habitan millares de personas; si no tienes dinero para pagar los cuatro elementos básicos (oxigeno, agua, carbono y datos) estas muerto; diferentes detalles tecnológicos como las impresoras de objetos; la sociedad autorregulada por un derecho contractual, el desarrollo de las diferentes generaciones lunares o el tratamiento del sexo e identidad sexual fuera de los tabús habituales.
Luna: Luna nueva cumple con bastantes de las expectativas que prometía, y se coloca de lleno en la lucha por las mejores lecturas de ciencia ficción de 2016. Aparte de la intriga de como continuará tras todos los cliffhanger finales; tengo curiosidad de cómo puede la CBS, que compro los derechos de la novela, enfocar una serie de televisión con una complejidad tan enorme como la que supone la historia y sobre todo su sociedad, veo difícil que un canal que no sea HBO pueda darle la libertad creativa que necesita.
Ian McDonald crea una historia compleja llena de giros de guion y tramas palaciegas entre las altas esferas de poder en la luna. El autor tiene un estilo peculiar y personal, cargado de mucho ritmo con situaciones que ocurren al mismo tiempo, estableciendo una novela coral con una enorme cantidad de puntos de vista, donde con cuatro pinceladas es capaz de desarrollar a sus personajes y meternos de lleno en este inhóspito paraje. Reconozco que es duro entrar en la novela, las primeras 100 hojas me resultaron apabullantes, pero traspasada la barrera, se convierte en un relato adictivo plagado de intrigas y giros.
Si algo fascina de la lectura de Luna es su worldbuilding: Un paraje lleno de ciudades subterráneas donde habitan millares de personas; si no tienes dinero para pagar los cuatro elementos básicos (oxigeno, agua, carbono y datos) estas muerto; diferentes detalles tecnológicos como las impresoras de objetos; la sociedad autorregulada por un derecho contractual, el desarrollo de las diferentes generaciones lunares o el tratamiento del sexo e identidad sexual fuera de los tabús habituales.
Luna: Luna nueva cumple con bastantes de las expectativas que prometía, y se coloca de lleno en la lucha por las mejores lecturas de ciencia ficción de 2016. Aparte de la intriga de como continuará tras todos los cliffhanger finales; tengo curiosidad de cómo puede la CBS, que compro los derechos de la novela, enfocar una serie de televisión con una complejidad tan enorme como la que supone la historia y sobre todo su sociedad, veo difícil que un canal que no sea HBO pueda darle la libertad creativa que necesita.
I ended up DNFing this about halfway through because it just really wasn't what I'm looking for right now. I've read and really enjoyed other things by Ian McDonald, but I had a hard time with the writing style and the bleakness of this book.
There are a whole lot of POV characters, and it bounces between them every few pages, which meant that I never really felt connected to any of them. I'm also really not in the mood for a story that's set in a very bleak capitalistic version of space society right now, not when that's the whole plot. So I quit!
There are a whole lot of POV characters, and it bounces between them every few pages, which meant that I never really felt connected to any of them. I'm also really not in the mood for a story that's set in a very bleak capitalistic version of space society right now, not when that's the whole plot. So I quit!
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting novel on a pretty tight pace that kept me going till the end. The action is skillfully interleaved with the first-person recounting story of one of the early colonizers of the Moon, who ended up starting one of the five ruling dynasties. It touches on a lot of themes, but overarching is the importance of family.
The style is unassuming, tho there is definitely poetry in a lot of the descriptions, and the stories told have depth. The world building is excellent and portrays a believable future. I find it hard at this point to put into words why I think this novel is so good, but it's one of the best stories I have read recently.
The style is unassuming, tho there is definitely poetry in a lot of the descriptions, and the stories told have depth. The world building is excellent and portrays a believable future. I find it hard at this point to put into words why I think this novel is so good, but it's one of the best stories I have read recently.
I got about a fifth in but haven’t been able to get into it. I might try picking it up again some other time and see if it goes any differently.
DNF - I was turned off by the "mining the moon for helium" shtick and the half-hearted way he makes everything a contract (still tries to establish strong "norms" to avoid anarchy). Around the 50% mark I couldn't tease out enough of a story to keep me reading and that I didn't care about more than a small fraction of the profusion of characters. It was just too much of a chore to slog through the chaff to get to the few good bits so I stopped. YMMV.
adventurous
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Takes a while to get into, especially with the jumping POV changes. At the 150pg mark it gels together and becomes interesting. There are some weird stuff in the book, but I'm intrigued enough to read the 2nd book in the series.