You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
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.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A taut, exciting family drama, set on the future moon, told in rhythmic, evocative prose. Don’t be put off by the extensive cast list that opens the book: the core cast is the focus, and they are as fascinating and flawed a bunch as you’ll come across in any book. Also be aware that this is the first book in a series and be prepared for cliffhangers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
I’m always a little nervous when a novel begins with a “cast of characters” that runs to three pages. I know it’s there to help the reader keep track of who is who – and in the case of Luna: New Moon their political allegiances – but I also find it foreshadows a book flooded with names and people that I won’t end up giving a shit about. And this is putting aside the fact that in the day of the e-reader it’s difficult to keep flipping forward and back as a character we haven’t seen for 200 pages suddenly pops their head back into the narrative to do or say something important. The point is Luna: New Moon and I didn’t get off on the right foot. But after a bit of glaring and side-eye and a wrestle with the first twenty or so pages I discovered that not only was I enjoying the novel but that the cast of characters wasn’t really needed at all. If Luna has one clear strength – and I think it has more than one – it’s that the characters, even those who play a small role in the proceedings, are all well drawn and easy to distinguish.
McDonald achieves this by cleverly readapting some well-worn clichés. While there are five families (or Dragons) that run the moon – each one providing a particular service or commodity, whether it’s the mining of rare metals or building and administering all transport on Luna – McDonald’s focus is on the Corta family. The 80 year old matriarch, Adriana Corta, came to the moon 50 years previously where through moxy, stubbornness, and hard, hard work, discovered an untapped source of energy, Helium 3 which could be used to power the moon but also, and most importantly, sell to Earth as a cheap source of energy. It’s with the Corta family that McDonald relies on cliché to clearly distinguish between Adriana, her 5 children, their wives, lovers and grandchildren. In particular, with Adriana we have the aging matriarch desperate to uphold her legacy and with the children we have the passionate but fickle older brother who runs the business, the devious and manipulative second brother who is looking at ways of taking control, the good natured one that everybody likes, the black sheep… or wolf… in the family and a sister who never joined the business and is instead a famous high priced lawyer. In addition we have the patriarch of the MacKenzie family, Robert, a 100 year old man, kept alive by technology, who is pure evil in a mustache twirling, Baron Harkonnen sort of way (and is an Aussie to boot!) The point is while there’s a great deal of cultural diversity on the moon, you’ll find something very familiar about the cast of characters.
But McDonald takes these clichés and rather than subvert them he uses the familiar as a foundation. While Ariel Corta might be a bitchy, in your face lawyer to begin with – including all the problematic gender issues this implies – by the end of the novel we see her as a strong-willed and empowered individual. It’s not that Ariel goes through a transformation it’s that we see another, more layered side of her character. And what brings that aspect of her out, similarly with her siblings and her mother, is that each Corta has a confessor, whether it’s a religious leader they’ve known for decades or a woman they’ve met in a bar. The best example of this, and by far the strongest aspect of the book is Adriana’s literal confession to the head of a religious order. It’s essentially a novella embedded into the narrative; her story of how she made her fortune, how she became the Queen of Helium. And it is extraordinary stuff, filled with love and loss and struggles against a devious enemy and moments of genuine tension as everything seems lost – even though we know the outcome, even though we know she succeeds. This confession in particular puts the entire Corta family and the actions of the Five Dragons – their feuds and hatreds – into perspective.
The novel has other strengths. It explores issues of privilege – which you’d expect given that most of the characters are rich beyond the dreams of avarice – and sexuality. One of the nice aspects of McDonald’s moon is that gender and sex is taken for granted, meaning that no-one blinks an eye to someone who identifies as bisexual, asexual or intersex. Unfortunately it does lead to some awkwardly written sex scenes, especially one involving a dildo and anal beads that had me rolling my eyes. That scene alone should be a contender for the 24th annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
Overall though I really enjoyed Luna: New Moon. It’s a pot boiler with larger than life characters and a slew of betrayals, back-stabbing and comeuppances. And it’s abundantly clear that McDonald is having a great deal of fun turning up the melodrama dial to 12. I can see why the book and the duology has been bought by CBS. If they’re even remotely faithful to the novel they’ll have one cracker of a show.
McDonald achieves this by cleverly readapting some well-worn clichés. While there are five families (or Dragons) that run the moon – each one providing a particular service or commodity, whether it’s the mining of rare metals or building and administering all transport on Luna – McDonald’s focus is on the Corta family. The 80 year old matriarch, Adriana Corta, came to the moon 50 years previously where through moxy, stubbornness, and hard, hard work, discovered an untapped source of energy, Helium 3 which could be used to power the moon but also, and most importantly, sell to Earth as a cheap source of energy. It’s with the Corta family that McDonald relies on cliché to clearly distinguish between Adriana, her 5 children, their wives, lovers and grandchildren. In particular, with Adriana we have the aging matriarch desperate to uphold her legacy and with the children we have the passionate but fickle older brother who runs the business, the devious and manipulative second brother who is looking at ways of taking control, the good natured one that everybody likes, the black sheep… or wolf… in the family and a sister who never joined the business and is instead a famous high priced lawyer. In addition we have the patriarch of the MacKenzie family, Robert, a 100 year old man, kept alive by technology, who is pure evil in a mustache twirling, Baron Harkonnen sort of way (and is an Aussie to boot!) The point is while there’s a great deal of cultural diversity on the moon, you’ll find something very familiar about the cast of characters.
But McDonald takes these clichés and rather than subvert them he uses the familiar as a foundation. While Ariel Corta might be a bitchy, in your face lawyer to begin with – including all the problematic gender issues this implies – by the end of the novel we see her as a strong-willed and empowered individual. It’s not that Ariel goes through a transformation it’s that we see another, more layered side of her character. And what brings that aspect of her out, similarly with her siblings and her mother, is that each Corta has a confessor, whether it’s a religious leader they’ve known for decades or a woman they’ve met in a bar. The best example of this, and by far the strongest aspect of the book is Adriana’s literal confession to the head of a religious order. It’s essentially a novella embedded into the narrative; her story of how she made her fortune, how she became the Queen of Helium. And it is extraordinary stuff, filled with love and loss and struggles against a devious enemy and moments of genuine tension as everything seems lost – even though we know the outcome, even though we know she succeeds. This confession in particular puts the entire Corta family and the actions of the Five Dragons – their feuds and hatreds – into perspective.
The novel has other strengths. It explores issues of privilege – which you’d expect given that most of the characters are rich beyond the dreams of avarice – and sexuality. One of the nice aspects of McDonald’s moon is that gender and sex is taken for granted, meaning that no-one blinks an eye to someone who identifies as bisexual, asexual or intersex. Unfortunately it does lead to some awkwardly written sex scenes, especially one involving a dildo and anal beads that had me rolling my eyes. That scene alone should be a contender for the 24th annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
Overall though I really enjoyed Luna: New Moon. It’s a pot boiler with larger than life characters and a slew of betrayals, back-stabbing and comeuppances. And it’s abundantly clear that McDonald is having a great deal of fun turning up the melodrama dial to 12. I can see why the book and the duology has been bought by CBS. If they’re even remotely faithful to the novel they’ll have one cracker of a show.
Not Bad.
Pero tampoco bueno-bueno. Un culebrón en plan Dinastía hipersexualizado y con muchos problemas...
Pero tampoco bueno-bueno. Un culebrón en plan Dinastía hipersexualizado y con muchos problemas...
Luna features some truly fantastic world building and some truly terrible people. I guess that's why people keep comparing it to Game of Thrones? Either way, I don't think I could stick around for the sequel because I have only so much patience with merciless violence in the name of pointless blood feuds/money (and hey, that's why I quit Game of Thrones!). I just think people are more interesting than that.
Some of the most brilliant sci-fi world building I've read in recent years.
Pretty good. Modern sci-fi moon setting with all the trappings of hard sci-fi, politically correct sexing and gendering, and classical old school mafia/Venice style war of the houses. Will say no more because spoilers would be easy.