SciFiMike
  • Home
  • SF Radio
  • Book Reviews
  • SF Links
  • Contact

SciFiMike Quick Review: Luna: New Moon

1/8/2017

0 Comments

 
luna: new moon cover

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

Dallas meets Game of Thrones on the Moon, with a little bit of The Godfather thrown in for good measure, just about sums up this first volume of a planned trilogy from Ian McDonald.

We follow the fortunes of the Corta family, one of five families who control business on the Moon, as they feud and intrigue with each other for control of the economy, all the while intermarrying with each other, usually to gain advantage rather than for love.

With a legal system where contract law reigns supreme, and where disputes can be settled via a legally approved knife fight, the Moon is no place for the weak, and the Cortas and McKenzies are soon at each other’s throats for control of the lucrative Helium 3 trade.

This is a book with a large cast of characters (so large in fact, that there is a list of characters and their relationships at the beginning) and as such, there is little scope for fully fleshed out character development. Adriana Corta, the matriarch of the Corta family, is the only character who gets more than the average attention paid to her back story. The book also includes a glossary at the back, which you will have to refer to frequently, as the five families of the story all originate from different parts of the world and frequently use words from Portuguese, Arabic, Korean and Yoruba, to name but a few.

The story is involving enough to keep your attention, but with such a large cast of characters to introduce, the book is more or less doomed to be all set up for the next volume, as proves to be the case — the story ends abruptly on a cliff-hanger, with the story nowhere near complete. Don’t bother starting this book if you are looking for a stand alone novel, or you will be sorely disappointed with the ending. If you are looking for a new series to start however, then there is enough in this book to bring you back for the second volume.

And if you do decide to read this book, don’t get the Gollancz first edition, as it is riddled with proof-reading errors. I wasn’t keeping count, but subjectively there seems to be around one error for every ten pages or so. The constant extra words or missing words, or the wrong word in a sentence really pulled me out of the story on a number of occasions, and is not something I would have expected from a company of Gollancz’s reputation. Hopefully the errors will be fixed in subsequent printings.

Recommended for fans of familial intrigue and series novels, not so much for stand-alone enthusiasts.


                                                   SciFiMike Rating ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

        Books Reviewed

    A Quantum Murder by Peter F. Hamilton.

    Adventures In Time And Space edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas.

    American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

    Anthem by Ayn Rand.

    Baby Is Three — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 6 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Beowulf translated by J. R. R. Tolkien.

    Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks.

    Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

    Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

    Eon by Greg Bear.

    Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

    Flux by Stephen Baxter.

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

    Futuristic Violence And Fancy Suits by David Wong.

    Gateways To Forever by Mike Ashley.

    Golden Son by Pierce Brown.

    Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    In Search of Wonder by Damon Knight.

    John Dies At The End by David Wong.

    Killdozer! — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 3 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson.

    Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

    Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald.

    Microcosmic God — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 2 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton.

    Morning Star by Pierce Brown.

    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold.

    Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

    Raft by Stephen Baxter.

    Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

    Ring by Stephen Baxter.

    Sea-Horse In The Sky by Edmund Cooper.

    The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories by Angela Carter.

    The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.

    The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold.

    The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem.

    The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Eighty Minute Hour by Brian Aldiss.

    The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe.

    The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

    The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem.

    The Game Is Altered by Mez Packer.

    The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey.

    The Godmakers by Frank Herbert.

    The God Stalker Chronicles by P. C. Hodgell.

    The Gunslinger by Stephen King.

    The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman.

    The Last Man by Mary Shelley.

    The Last Starship From Earth by John Boyd.

    The Martian by Andy Weir.

    The Menace From Earth by Robert A. Heinlein.

    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe.

    The Perfect Host — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 5 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks.

    The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith.

    The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

    The Science Fiction Hall of Fame edited by Robert Silverberg.

    The Syndic by C. M. Kornbluth.

    The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Time Machines by Mike Ashley.

    The Ultimate Egoist — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 1 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley.

    The Way The Future Was by Frederik Pohl.

    Thunder And Roses — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 4 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter.

    Transformations by Mike Ashley.

    Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin.

    Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

    Whipping Star by Frank Herbert.

    Wool by Hugh Howey.
    Free counters!
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.