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A review by dr_matthew_lloyd
Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd
2.0
I ought to start this review by saying that I don't normally like fantasy. That clause is largely reserved for epic fantasy, as there are many more urban fantasies that I do enjoy ([b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|127455|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924569s/127455.jpg|2116675], [b:Perdido Street Station|68494|Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag, #1)|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393537963s/68494.jpg|3221410]), but I consider these to be exceptions. The only reason I was reading this book is because I entered a giveaway on the Gollancz website and this was the book they randomly sent me, perhaps because I mentioned The Lies of Locke Lamora as a book I'd read, rather than the dozens of SF Masterworks, or because my surname was the same name as the author's.
And I also ought to add that when you hover over the stars when giving a book a rating on Goodreads two stars is "it was OK". This is precisely the comment I would like to make about Moon's Artifice - it was OK. There was a lot of detailed world-building, descriptions of settings and events which read as if Lloyd is picturing the book as a film or television show in his head (and why not?) - the first couple of pages are a clear and open example. I found these passages a little boring, but if that's your thing then go for it. I didn't quite follow all of the social set-up (who were the goshe, for example? Are they a religion or something?). it didn't help that both the higher-tier houses and their subordinates are all called "Houses". Furthermore, I have no clue how the set-up of the Imperial City (the most imaginatively named city in literature!) works with the set-up of the rest of the empire.
The world is somewhat Manichaean, with fairly obvious goodies and baddies; or, rather, it's clear that someone either is a goodie or a baddie, there's no shades of grey. There are hints that, in the future books of this series, there will be a few more sides getting involved but as I don't really expect to read any of those I don't know if that's true. On which, there are a few too many characters, some of whom don't get anywhere near enough air-time, which is quite good in the sense that it gives the world a slightly larger feel, but pretty bad in other cases, especially in the case of Kine.
Reading chapter 1, one might have the distinct impression that Kine was going to have a major plot role, and perhaps become a developed character (to the extent that such creatures exist in fantasy novels). But what you will actually find is that no chapter after about 2 passes the Bechdel test, the woman who exists only to be pregant no longer appears, and the entirety of the experience of being the parent of an illegitimate child in this world as presented to us is through the eyes of a man.One might argue that the pregnancy storyline is clearly going to be more important in subsequent books, and that this storyline takes place over only a few days, but if that is the case then it would have been more sensible to have the development of their relationship happen in real-time during this story, so that we could understand Kine as a well-rounded character rather than something Narin used as a semen recepticle that one time . Inceidentally, Enchei tells Narin that he has nine months to prepare for this child - how spectacular must the technology of this empire be if they can detect a pregancy that quickly?!
I got somewhat lost over the plot towards the end, but it didn't seem to matter as the whole thing raced towards a dramatic conclusion over the last five chapters or so. Which was OK. If you like reading about this sort of thing, then I think this book was probably one of the not-terrible ones.
And I also ought to add that when you hover over the stars when giving a book a rating on Goodreads two stars is "it was OK". This is precisely the comment I would like to make about Moon's Artifice - it was OK. There was a lot of detailed world-building, descriptions of settings and events which read as if Lloyd is picturing the book as a film or television show in his head (and why not?) - the first couple of pages are a clear and open example. I found these passages a little boring, but if that's your thing then go for it. I didn't quite follow all of the social set-up (who were the goshe, for example? Are they a religion or something?). it didn't help that both the higher-tier houses and their subordinates are all called "Houses". Furthermore, I have no clue how the set-up of the Imperial City (the most imaginatively named city in literature!) works with the set-up of the rest of the empire.
The world is somewhat Manichaean, with fairly obvious goodies and baddies; or, rather, it's clear that someone either is a goodie or a baddie, there's no shades of grey. There are hints that, in the future books of this series, there will be a few more sides getting involved but as I don't really expect to read any of those I don't know if that's true. On which, there are a few too many characters, some of whom don't get anywhere near enough air-time, which is quite good in the sense that it gives the world a slightly larger feel, but pretty bad in other cases, especially in the case of Kine.
Reading chapter 1, one might have the distinct impression that Kine was going to have a major plot role, and perhaps become a developed character (to the extent that such creatures exist in fantasy novels). But what you will actually find is that no chapter after about 2 passes the Bechdel test, the woman who exists only to be pregant no longer appears, and the entirety of the experience of being the parent of an illegitimate child in this world as presented to us is through the eyes of a man.
I got somewhat lost over the plot towards the end, but it didn't seem to matter as the whole thing raced towards a dramatic conclusion over the last five chapters or so. Which was OK. If you like reading about this sort of thing, then I think this book was probably one of the not-terrible ones.