Luna: New Moon (Luna, 1) Paperback – Illustrated, September 13, 2016

I have been reading Ian McDonald for a couple of decades now. He is an innovative thinker and a great stylist. In short, one of the best science fiction writers in my library. He is one of those writers who is so good that I reread his books several times (I want to go back and read Terminal Cafe again).Luna is the first novel that Ian McDonald has written after his Everness young adult trilogy (Planesrunner, Be My Enemy and Empress of the Sun). Planesrunner was a good, but not great book. The series ran down from there. Empress of the Sun was a largely forgettable work. These books did not come close to showcasing McDonald's prodigious talents. Luna does.Luna is McDonald at has best and one of the best books in his long career of writing. The world that McDonald has created is rich and complex. The characters are deeply drawn, with complex motivations and personalities.As with most of McDonald's books, he takes ideas and expands on them. One of these is the extreme libertarian society of the moon, where all things are governed by contract and there is not law outside of contract. This is a world that repels some of the characters in the novel and gives others a chance to create a dynasty.The weekend before I wrote this review I saw the movie The Martian based on Andy Wier's book (which I read when it first came out).Ian McDonald's book Luna made me realize that the fascination with Mars is a romantic one. If humans are to settle space, the Moon is a much better place to start. Sending humans, as opposed to robots, to Mars is madness.Because the Moon is closer to the Sun, there is more solar energy available. The Moon is also partially in the shadow of the Earth, so there is more protection from radiation. And the Moon is much closer. If an orbital elevator were constructed, the cost of moving material from Earth might be low enough that building settlements would be possible. The cost of sending anything to Mars is much higher.I could write much more about the fascinating complexities of McDonald's Luna. But really, what's the point? Buy the book and read it.So who might not like the book? There is some violence. The book contains some graphic sex of various flavors. If reading about sex bothers you, then you're not going to like the book. It is not, by the way, erotica, which is designed to titillate. The sex naturally grows out of the plot. Although I admit that one of the sex scenes was hot.The story is complicated and some people don't enjoy complicated plots. There is a dramatis personae at the start of the book and I had to use it as a reference in a few cases. But this is not Bulgakov's Master and Margarita - the plot of Luna is clear, although convoluted in some cases.Oh, and one other thing... The story doesn't end with this book. In fact, the book ends with a cliffhanger. McDonald has planned a sequel. But this is a feature, not a bug, since it provides the motivation to reread this fantastic book when the sequel comes out.

I really want to like this book. It has some really great ideas in it. It gives a pretty hard sic-fi take on what colonizing the moon might be like, especially the toll on the human body and generations of humans living 1/3 Earth's gravity. The tech and descriptions of living environments is totally believable and well as how air, water and data are the necessary currency on the moon. I bought the book based on the descriptions, comparing it to Game of Thrones ... and it does a good job at setting up the world, the characters and the intrigue surrounding the corporate families that run the moon. But, dammit, I can't get past how Young Adult and one dimensional some of the characters are. And the typos! Doesn't Tor have an editing staff?Instead of G.O.T., this should be compared to Dune. At least this first book. Like Dune, it takes a while to establish the families, the world and the conflicts. Helium-3 is the Spice of the Moon. The Cortas are the Atreides, the Mackenzies are the Harkonens (sort of). They hate each other but still have to get along because the Moon oligarchs demand it. And like Dune, once the action happens, it gets good. But where Dune ramps it up about half way into the book, Luna takes it's sweet time and waits until the last 30-40 pages.Ian McDonald does a good job imagining what moon society might look like, being run by corporations, not governments. Contracts mean more than laws, and the bulk of people scramble for jobs that will pay them in enough oxygen to stay alive for another day. And the super rich families that are basically moon royalty. BUT – his writing style is uneven. His characters are mostly unsympathetic, shallow characters what operate on either lust or greed. He does describe action wonderfully, although I feel he made his main characters Brazilian so he could mention Brazilian jiujitsu, because he's heard of that, maybe.He has created an elaborate yet confusing corporate and legal lingo to describe executive positions and marriage terms (the different corporate families keep each other in check by arranged marriages). But sometimes I felt it went overboard. After all, this is just Earth's moon 100 years in the future, not the planet Arrakis 10,000 years from now. And yes, there is a map of the moon and family org chart in the front of the book, because it gets that confusing at times.I feel like I should at least try the first few chapters of book 2, to see if it starts paying dividends on what McDonald has set up. The first book ends in a cliff hanger( again it's like the first half of Dune). And I feel like maybe the second book will really be more of what I was expecting based on all the 4 and 5 star reviews that made me want to read this.I know I mention Dune a lot, but it's a good comparison and most sci-fi fans will have read at least the first book of Dune.

This book had potential and I liked the set up of 5 rival families on the moon, but unfortunately the execution was poor. For a start there is a huge range of characters and the POV jumps between countless people. Unfortunately, this means I didn't get attached to anyone or get to know them. The various plots crowded each other out and meant none were properly developed. To be honest, not much happened for most of the book and ending felt rushed and shoved in just so something dramatic could happen.The world building felt like a first draft, there were some good ideas but they weren't explored. Supposedly there is no law, only contracts, but there was no exploration of how society would function under this. At the beginning, it looked like we would get a view of life for the poor, but this was quickly dropped and never mentioned again. The non-English words didn't add depth, they just felt disorientating, probably because I don't know Portuguese (but why would a Brazilian family use Korean management titles?).Also, was all the sex really necessary? Was there any point to that very long and very detailed masturbation scene? Would it have been possible for even a single person to talk to a non-relative without sleeping with them?

My copy was listed as "SUCCESSION meets THE EXPANSE". I don't know what "SUCCESSION" is, but it's nothing like "THE EXPANSE". The Moon is controlled by five big local family-based corporations, whose owners behave like aristocrats, and has no law other than contract law. Most people work for one of the corporations. People have to pay for air, carbon, data, and water (how their use of air is controlled isn't explained, but you suffocate if you can't afford it). Trials involving contracts can be resolved through a fight to the death. This society apparently has no words for gender or sexuality, and any combination is as good as any other, and there's a lot of sex in this book.This book sets up the history of one of the families, the Cortas, and their ongoing fight with the Mackenzies.

I read this book when it first came out, based on a favorable review in either SciFi Now or SFX magazine, believing it to be a standalone novel. I got a bit of a surprise when I was left on one heck of a cliff hanger at the end of the book. A frustrated Google search indicated that this was the first novel in a duology. I patiently waited for a year for Luna 2 to come out. I re-read New Moon again because there is so much going on and so many characters in this book that a refresher was needed. I got to the end of Luna 2: Wolf Moon and the same thing happened again. The story didn’t end. Another frustrated year waiting for Luna 3, but guess what, I had to read New Moon for the third time and then the second book Wolf Moon for the second time.Anyway, the good news is that the whole series is fantastic. Each time I read New Moon, it has seems to get better, probably because I picked up on things I missed the previous time. Its like Game of Thrones on the moon. It even has dragons, though not the fire breathing type.CBS are supposed to be making a TV series based on the books, but unfortunately there hasn’t been an update on the internet since 2015 that I can find. It would make great TV if it was done as well as GOT.

Ian McDonald is one of my favourite authors, so, I had high hopes of “Luna New Moon”. I was not disappointed.As usual, Ian McDonald has created an environment set in the not so distant future, that is not too far removed from Earth society today. His creations are always recognisable – on the surface – but have tweaks that make you re-evaluate your own way of living and the current world around you. This is a vision of a possible future – dystopian or not depends on your politics (and bank balance).This book is set on the moon about 60 – 100 years after the moon is first colonised. Its society is a plutocracy run by 5 family corporations, or Dragons, each originating from a different corner of Earth: Mackenzie Metals from Australia; Corta Helio from Brazil; Taiyang (Sun) from China; VTO (Vorontsov) from Central Asia/Russia; and AKA (Asamoah) from Ghana. So, Ghanaian but no USA or EU Dragons! The widespread origins of the families are reflected in the polyglot nature of Lune society.On the moon, everything has a price. Things such as breathable air, which we take for granted, costs. If you have no money, you cannot breathe, and die. No money – no water, no food, no safe accommodation. The cheapest accommodation is on the surface, where dangerous radiation levels are highest. The rich live well below. Each human has an eye implant registering their available wealth, which ticks down as they breathe, drink, eat, live. On the upside (!), you can sell your urine for money. In death, your body is recycled – no waste.There is no welfare state. The rich lead charmed lives, and the poor are wretched: “Poverty stretches time. And poverty is an avalanche. One tiny slippage knocks on another, knocks loose yet others and everything is sliding, rushing away”, “The might and magic of money is not what it allows you to own; it is what it allows you to be. Money is freedom”. Money doesn’t just buy comestibles, it buys protection and justice. Everything is determined by negotiation and contracts. There are no laws, no morals.The book revolves around the Corta family, and the poor Jo Moonbeam (recent arrival from Earth), Marina, whose life becomes entangled with the Cortas. The history of the Cortas is told through the confession of their matriarch, Adriana, as she prepares for death. Her descendants are in a continual battle for supremacy with the other Dragons. Outright war is only kept in check by marriages of state between the families, and their binding Nikahs (marriage contracts). However, a marriage contract does not guarantee allegiance. Where the marriage is tactical rather than a love match, both parties remain suspicious of each other, and children become bargaining chips. It appears a society heading for disaster – but the reasons behind the eventual meltdown are not quite what they appear to be.Because the book focusses on the Corta family, you see them as the good guys, and the Mackenzies as the bad: “The Mackenzies scorn their affectations. They are the dwellers in endless light. Light bathes them, soaks them, enriches them; leaches and bleaches them. Born without shadows, the Mackenzies have taken darkness inside them”. But, each character exhibits positive and negative traits, making them real, believable and developing with the story line.The lunar society and its customs are so vividly and intricately drawn, that it almost ceases to feel like fiction. Everything is perfectly thought through – take an Earth custom and extend it, shrink it, change it. There is the full spectrum of sexuality, and people do not define themselves by their birth gender or preferred sexuality. Relationships need not be monogamous, nor exclusive. Fashions come and go rapidly, nothing is static. The gravity of the moon alters the human physique through a lifetime, through generations. Spend too long on the moon and you can never return to Earth.The language of the book is wonderful and the imagery gifted: “The riding lights of drones and pedicopters, the sparkle of fliers, the jewelled abacus of the elevator cars and cable gondolas: she is immersed in light, breathing it as a fish breathes water. Bubbles of exhaled light”; “The changes fell like micrometeors, like hundreds of tiny impacts”.I cannot recommend this book – and anything of Ian McDonald – highly enough. Read this and become a fan forever.I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I found this a tedious read. I'm not sure why, it may be because there is no single character to latch on to and empathise with. It feels like too many stories lumped together for no good reason. If this is an opener to a long series, then it would have been better served to introduce one facet of the story here and then add to the world of Luna in other stories. It hasn't promted me to buy further into this world Mr McDonald.