williamc 's review for:

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

4.0

---

Ian McDonald's gift for meshing non-Anglo cultures and futuristic extrapolations of current technologies here details a Brazilian family's dynastic struggle among the mining conglomerates of the Moon. As in [b:River of Gods|278280|River of Gods (India 2047, #1)|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388256017s/278280.jpg|2440580], McDonald doesn't give the reader much of a head start before the action escalates, which can be an overwhelming practice at the front of his books, but the payout is rich by mid-novel when scenes are carouselled in rapid succession and the reader is breathless to match their pace. New Moon is notable for its investment in the sexual pantheon of the Moon's inhabitants and, as always, McDonald's characterization of cultures not his own never feels overplayed to those new to them, or banal or minimized to those familiar. It reads a bit like learning a language, where immersion, for outsiders, is everything. The depth of this kind of presentation is refreshing, and every MacDonald novel feels like a hint at the direction of where the world, and its fiction, should be focused.