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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I waffled quite a bit on this rating. 3? 4? No, 3. Do I want to angle for a half star? No, I don’t want to use mythical ratings. How about Harvard Law’s grades? Honors, Pass, Low Pass, Fail. Pass sounds good.
I enjoyed this book, but I don’t want to read it again. I’d read the sequel if it were a Kindle Daily Deal, and, considering that I found New Moon in the remaindered bin at B&N, Wolf Moon might be discounted someday, too!
This story is dependent on the characters. Our main characters are the members of the Corta family: Adriana (the matriarch), Rafael (the heir, but he’s useless), Lucas (the real heir), Lucasinho (the annoying kid), Ariel (the superstar), Carlinhos (I had him confused with Rafael for half the book), Wagner (the cool-but-kinda-emo guy, like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club), and their wives, lovers, and children. The Earth-outsider who makes her way into the family, Marina Calzaghe, is our familiar in the family.
They all live on the Moon, which I loved. It’s not a terraformed Moon or anything. It’s the Moon, and you know when Ernie sang, “I don’t want to live on the Moon”? I walked away from this book singing that song. The Moon isn’t a character in the book, but it’s more than just a setting. It’s a weapon. It’s cold and brutal, and it doesn’t have an atmosphere, so you can’t pick up and go somewhere else, and your body is beautifully adapted to the Moon so you can’t emigrate to Earth either.
(Good luck, buddy.)
The Cortas are one of five Dragons, corporations on the Moon. They control the mining of helium-3. Each of the Dragons control a different sector of the lunar economy, and they’re all jockeying for power.
Lunar society is … different. For one thing, the rich are always having sex. At all times, everywhere, with anybody. I nearly quit the book and almost threw it onto the train tracks when one of the characters talked about an (evil) uncle having a harem of teenage boys. (It’s a brief but explicit thought in the character’s head that leads to a major storyline. I feel a little sick, just remembering it.)
I will give MacDonald credit: he uses sexual preferences to emphasize the personalities of his characters. Sex has a purpose in the story.
However, I wasn’t impressed with the sex scenes. MacDonald has a weird way of writing them. The scene fades away, and then the story picks up with the character reflecting on having sex.
MacDonald also has issues with genitals. Women’s genitals are named clinically. Men’s genitals are described colloquially. Purple prose isn't his style, but he couldn't decide if he wanted to be scientific or crass.
There’s one love scene when MacDonald gave explicit detail, and it was when a woman masturbated. Of course, MacDonald used medically appropriate terms. I thought it was strange, though, that this scene, one involving a single woman, was the scene that MacDonald chose to express in detail. Pages of detail. The frequent adult pairings did not receive the same treatment. (The book would have been ten thousand pages long if he did that.)
I also took issue with MacDonald’s writing style. There are a few errors that an editor should have caught: e.g., “Pedestrians breaks into runs.” Those errors, compounded with MacDonald’s jerky writing, made reading difficult.
The chapters are long, but each character is given a small section, a few pages each, of the chapter. This way, we saw what everyone is doing, but, just as we got comfortable with one character’s perspective, the perspective shifted to another character.
He shifts voices in the middle of the paragraph. Most of the story is told in third person. Every once in a while, it would shift to first person. More frequently, it shifted to second person, without italics or warning, and, every time, I thought, Wait. What? You want me to do something? I'm just an observer, dude.
MacDonald loves sentence fragments. It makes for a staccato pace. It augments that rushed, breathless atmosphere of the moon. It’s also annoying. Ann-oy-ing.
And that's my judgement: I would have loved the book if it didn’t also annoy me.
I enjoyed this book, but I don’t want to read it again. I’d read the sequel if it were a Kindle Daily Deal, and, considering that I found New Moon in the remaindered bin at B&N, Wolf Moon might be discounted someday, too!
This story is dependent on the characters. Our main characters are the members of the Corta family: Adriana (the matriarch), Rafael (the heir, but he’s useless), Lucas (the real heir), Lucasinho (the annoying kid), Ariel (the superstar), Carlinhos (I had him confused with Rafael for half the book), Wagner (the cool-but-kinda-emo guy, like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club), and their wives, lovers, and children. The Earth-outsider who makes her way into the family, Marina Calzaghe, is our familiar in the family.
They all live on the Moon, which I loved. It’s not a terraformed Moon or anything. It’s the Moon, and you know when Ernie sang, “I don’t want to live on the Moon”? I walked away from this book singing that song. The Moon isn’t a character in the book, but it’s more than just a setting. It’s a weapon. It’s cold and brutal, and it doesn’t have an atmosphere, so you can’t pick up and go somewhere else, and your body is beautifully adapted to the Moon so you can’t emigrate to Earth either.
(Good luck, buddy.)
The Cortas are one of five Dragons, corporations on the Moon. They control the mining of helium-3. Each of the Dragons control a different sector of the lunar economy, and they’re all jockeying for power.
Lunar society is … different. For one thing, the rich are always having sex. At all times, everywhere, with anybody. I nearly quit the book and almost threw it onto the train tracks when one of the characters talked about an (evil) uncle having a harem of teenage boys. (It’s a brief but explicit thought in the character’s head that leads to a major storyline. I feel a little sick, just remembering it.)
I will give MacDonald credit: he uses sexual preferences to emphasize the personalities of his characters. Sex has a purpose in the story.
However, I wasn’t impressed with the sex scenes. MacDonald has a weird way of writing them. The scene fades away, and then the story picks up with the character reflecting on having sex.
MacDonald also has issues with genitals. Women’s genitals are named clinically. Men’s genitals are described colloquially. Purple prose isn't his style, but he couldn't decide if he wanted to be scientific or crass.
There’s one love scene when MacDonald gave explicit detail, and it was when a woman masturbated. Of course, MacDonald used medically appropriate terms. I thought it was strange, though, that this scene, one involving a single woman, was the scene that MacDonald chose to express in detail. Pages of detail. The frequent adult pairings did not receive the same treatment. (The book would have been ten thousand pages long if he did that.)
I also took issue with MacDonald’s writing style. There are a few errors that an editor should have caught: e.g., “Pedestrians breaks into runs.” Those errors, compounded with MacDonald’s jerky writing, made reading difficult.
The chapters are long, but each character is given a small section, a few pages each, of the chapter. This way, we saw what everyone is doing, but, just as we got comfortable with one character’s perspective, the perspective shifted to another character.
He shifts voices in the middle of the paragraph. Most of the story is told in third person. Every once in a while, it would shift to first person. More frequently, it shifted to second person, without italics or warning, and, every time, I thought, Wait. What? You want me to do something? I'm just an observer, dude.
MacDonald loves sentence fragments. It makes for a staccato pace. It augments that rushed, breathless atmosphere of the moon. It’s also annoying. Ann-oy-ing.
And that's my judgement: I would have loved the book if it didn’t also annoy me.
rival families battle mafia style on the moon. I enjoyed it, but liked some aspects/plotlines better than others. Will read 2nd one of this series as soon as it comes out though...
I'm not sure about this book, there was alot of technical stuff in it, but I couldn't help but stick to it & finally finish reading the book, which is a good sign as sometimes if I find a book hard to get into I don't read it. this book was different. It kept me interested with the different families all the way through
Ian McDonald's Luna: New Moon is a hard science fiction romp through the colonization of our dear, dear friend in the sky. For a novel that I nearly gave up on twice, I stayed up far too late, with bloodshot eyes, in order to finish.
Luna: New Moon tells the story of the Five Dragons, five dynastic families that founded the lunar colonies. Industrialialsts, tech gurus, helium-3 miners, they are five powerhouses with five collective huge and shitty egos. The story follows the Corta family, told through a confession-style interview with the matriarch, Adrianna, as well as a mix-mash of views from sons, daughters, and grandchildren fighting for control or fighting to get out of Corta Helio. Tensions rise within each of the Five Dragons, as they plot and scheme to become the sole powerhouse on Lady Luna. As the story progresses it becomes evident that not all battles can be won inside the boardroom and sometimes are greatest enemies are nestled far too close.
The reason I didn't follow a specific character in my brief summary of this novel is because I'm not sure who the protagonist actually is. In reality it is the company Corta Helio and the Corta family as a collective, but looking at it like that distances us from caring about the actual characters in the book. Knife against my back, I would have to say either Lucashino, the runaway grandson of Adrianna, or Mirana an Earth-born turned pseudo-body guard, is the main character. At least, those are the two I actually gave a damn about, with minor positive feelings towards Ariel Corta.
With so many perspectives, told through short bursts, it was hard to get a grasp on the world at first. A hundred or so pages in and I felt like I finally had a grasp on who everyone was, what was happening, and who (at least I thought) to root for. If more time was spent with each character in the beginning, then I feel like I would have more of a connection with the novel and it's players. And on that note, it felt like each one of them were obsessed with sex. I understand it was a portrayal of the freedom the moon granted. And I enjoyed the retro style clothing and nods to different time periods but seriously, at least some of the characters would have been a little more modest. An elderly woman recounting her sexual exploits? Intensely?
What McDonald does flawlessly, however, is create a completely plausible and completely terrifying vision of what colonizing the moon would be. He says it over and over, the Moon wants to kill you and it knows a million different ways. I believe him (though I still think we should be going back there at some point. . . Like a decade ago would have been cool). I couldn't help but think of colonizing the Americas and the desolate conditions the pilgrims must have faced when they arrived. Not only that, but McDonald is phenomenal at capturing internal struggle within Adrianna. In the spirit of not giving away spoliers, her confessional-style interviews were essential massive chunks of backstory, however they never once felt like it. They felt raw and real.
You can't pick your family. And while the environment and the world-building were definitely the strong points of this novel, I never doubted the internal dynamics and power struggles behind Corta motivation. That, was well done. Unfortunately with so many characters introduced so quickly, forcing the first 100+ pages to be a blender-ride of who's who, I was left confused more often than not, and disenchanted with nearly everyone. When the action finally does take off however, be prepared to clear the next few hours off your schedule.
Luna: New Moon tells the story of the Five Dragons, five dynastic families that founded the lunar colonies. Industrialialsts, tech gurus, helium-3 miners, they are five powerhouses with five collective huge and shitty egos. The story follows the Corta family, told through a confession-style interview with the matriarch, Adrianna, as well as a mix-mash of views from sons, daughters, and grandchildren fighting for control or fighting to get out of Corta Helio. Tensions rise within each of the Five Dragons, as they plot and scheme to become the sole powerhouse on Lady Luna. As the story progresses it becomes evident that not all battles can be won inside the boardroom and sometimes are greatest enemies are nestled far too close.
The reason I didn't follow a specific character in my brief summary of this novel is because I'm not sure who the protagonist actually is. In reality it is the company Corta Helio and the Corta family as a collective, but looking at it like that distances us from caring about the actual characters in the book. Knife against my back, I would have to say either Lucashino, the runaway grandson of Adrianna, or Mirana an Earth-born turned pseudo-body guard, is the main character. At least, those are the two I actually gave a damn about, with minor positive feelings towards Ariel Corta.
With so many perspectives, told through short bursts, it was hard to get a grasp on the world at first. A hundred or so pages in and I felt like I finally had a grasp on who everyone was, what was happening, and who (at least I thought) to root for. If more time was spent with each character in the beginning, then I feel like I would have more of a connection with the novel and it's players. And on that note, it felt like each one of them were obsessed with sex. I understand it was a portrayal of the freedom the moon granted. And I enjoyed the retro style clothing and nods to different time periods but seriously, at least some of the characters would have been a little more modest. An elderly woman recounting her sexual exploits? Intensely?
What McDonald does flawlessly, however, is create a completely plausible and completely terrifying vision of what colonizing the moon would be. He says it over and over, the Moon wants to kill you and it knows a million different ways. I believe him (though I still think we should be going back there at some point. . . Like a decade ago would have been cool). I couldn't help but think of colonizing the Americas and the desolate conditions the pilgrims must have faced when they arrived. Not only that, but McDonald is phenomenal at capturing internal struggle within Adrianna. In the spirit of not giving away spoliers, her confessional-style interviews were essential massive chunks of backstory, however they never once felt like it. They felt raw and real.
You can't pick your family. And while the environment and the world-building were definitely the strong points of this novel, I never doubted the internal dynamics and power struggles behind Corta motivation. That, was well done. Unfortunately with so many characters introduced so quickly, forcing the first 100+ pages to be a blender-ride of who's who, I was left confused more often than not, and disenchanted with nearly everyone. When the action finally does take off however, be prepared to clear the next few hours off your schedule.
Surprisingly great. The first 30% of the book is mostly about the setting and character intro (lots of them) with not much plot. I really struggled at first but Goodreads saved me from DNFing the book - thanks G33z3r for telling me the book gets much better. If the first half took me more than a week, I only spent three days to finish the rest.
If you like cutthroat politics, cool near-future techs, interesting mix of cultures (the moon has its own culture), space exploration, man vs. harsh/unforgiving environment, fluid gender roles and sexuality, you should definitely read this book.
If you like cutthroat politics, cool near-future techs, interesting mix of cultures (the moon has its own culture), space exploration, man vs. harsh/unforgiving environment, fluid gender roles and sexuality, you should definitely read this book.
4.5 stars. Terrific! Hugely rich and Influential families plotting against one another. Add in a closed and dangerous environment, ritual runs on the moon, and through the habitations, a bunch of cultures, fascinating characters like Adriana, who set so much in motion years ago, assassinations, beautiful cakes,....I want to read the next part now in this family/political drama.
Great cast of characters and a compelling opening salvo for an interesting corporate/family saga. The comparison to Game of Thrones for anything that involves more than one family doing more than one thing is pretty tired, but that's a criticism of reviewers, not the book.
If the whole book were written like the final chapter, it would have been 5 stars. But it’s not.
What I really liked is that the main characters are not English or North Americans called jeff or jennifer, but brazilians called carlinhos, adriana, etc.. I think this gives a flavor to the story that I haven’t seen often.
The characters, when they actually did something, were really good, especially Adriana and Lucas. Wagner was confusing and I never got what was him about.
I have 2 issues with this book: first, most of the story is not my cup of tea, it felt more like a brazilian telenovela. That’s fine, just not particularly of my taste. The second is how it was written, in terms of the organization of the book. Each chapter is actually a bunch of mini chapters where the narration changes from one character to another and the only clue is the start of a paragraph. I found it confusing. Also the long descriptions of clothes, sex scenes and in narration without much else happening was kind of boring and it induced me to sleep.
As I stated previously, the final chapter (the 2 last actually) were really good, and almost made me wish to read the second book.
What I really liked is that the main characters are not English or North Americans called jeff or jennifer, but brazilians called carlinhos, adriana, etc.. I think this gives a flavor to the story that I haven’t seen often.
The characters, when they actually did something, were really good, especially Adriana and Lucas. Wagner was confusing and I never got what was him about.
I have 2 issues with this book: first, most of the story is not my cup of tea, it felt more like a brazilian telenovela. That’s fine, just not particularly of my taste. The second is how it was written, in terms of the organization of the book. Each chapter is actually a bunch of mini chapters where the narration changes from one character to another and the only clue is the start of a paragraph. I found it confusing. Also the long descriptions of clothes, sex scenes and in narration without much else happening was kind of boring and it induced me to sleep.
As I stated previously, the final chapter (the 2 last actually) were really good, and almost made me wish to read the second book.
Luna: New Moon is easily one of the best books I've read in the last year. I picked it up based on some loose recommendation and a comment of "it's like Game of Thrones in space". I didn't really know what to expect, but comparing it to Game of Thrones is making the book a disservice. Not that Game of Thrones is bad, it is just two very different books.
The story of Luna: New Moon follows different members of the Corta family as they navigate the muddy waters of power on the Moon. To get an external perspective, and a good way to include exposition, a relative newbie on the moon is also one of the main characters.
The Corta family is at a turning point, as the old matriarch Adriana Corta is preparing to hand over the reins to the next generation and much of the story revolves around this change.
But in all honesty, I didn't really care that much about the story. What I cared about was the amazing gallery of characters, the vibrant language and mesmerising descriptions of living on the moon. I was reading this book at the same time as [book: Proxima] and where that book is very sexless and the language quite dull, Luna: New Moon is the exact opposite.
The only minor quibble I have is that it is a bit poorly edited. There was several spelling or sentence errors, and Ian McDonald is a bit too fond of the saying "It's XXX all the way down". Something a good editor should have caught.
But this is very very minor point.
Seriously. Read this book.
The story of Luna: New Moon follows different members of the Corta family as they navigate the muddy waters of power on the Moon. To get an external perspective, and a good way to include exposition, a relative newbie on the moon is also one of the main characters.
The Corta family is at a turning point, as the old matriarch Adriana Corta is preparing to hand over the reins to the next generation and much of the story revolves around this change.
But in all honesty, I didn't really care that much about the story. What I cared about was the amazing gallery of characters, the vibrant language and mesmerising descriptions of living on the moon. I was reading this book at the same time as [book: Proxima] and where that book is very sexless and the language quite dull, Luna: New Moon is the exact opposite.
The only minor quibble I have is that it is a bit poorly edited. There was several spelling or sentence errors, and Ian McDonald is a bit too fond of the saying "It's XXX all the way down". Something a good editor should have caught.
But this is very very minor point.
Seriously. Read this book.
Warring mining families on the Moon. This is not my favorite Ian McDonald book, but it is still interesting and enjoyable. The ideas and the near-term future history are fascinating. This is a very good look at how an anarchist society might work in real life, with no laws or real government. The result seems to be a pretty depressing life on the Moon. There is a surprising amount of sex in this book, very little heteronormative and mostly well done. This is the first in a new series and after the powerful ending I am very interested in seeing where this story goes.