Luna: New Moon

Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.

So I really liked this book. I really really liked this book. Like I would have given it 6 stars if I could. I didn't even want to finish it, however I did partly because I had to write this review and partly because I found out that there is an 800 page sequel coming out in September next year (imo that's far too long a wait but I'm not the publisher).

Luna is partly the story of a young Brazilian girl that comes from nothing, moves to the moon to find a job and creates an organisation that mines helium which basically powers all the lights on Earth. It is also the story of this family/ organisation two generations later and shows the consequences of the young girl's actions.

Its almost a dystopia in a way, the people on the moon have to pay their four elementals, air, water, carbon and data. However its almost understandable why they need to pay that. Water and oxygen are not found on the moon, it needs to be created or brought from Earth. So even though there are poor on the moon – out of a job because they have been replaced by AI – needing to sell their urine and unable to take a full breath because they are low on oxygen. It makes total sense why that system is in place.

Everyone on the moon is constantly shown the state of their elementals with a chib, a virtual pane in an interactive contact lens. Its almost like a virtual reality thing, it can show adverts and it shows every persons familiar. This is almost like a small virtual assistant. This was done so well, I've read books where the ‘altered reality' is the whole point of the story. In this its just a tool just like the daily elementals is just a thing that comes with living on the moon.

And then we have some fantastically strong female characters. Who have to be strong because they are on the moon. We see how in the beginning there are only organisations on the Moon, no definite rules, just codes of conduct. And with men outnumbering the women it means that women need to look after themselves. So basically what you now have is women who are totally prepared to kick butt while also wearing a dress and Rimmel lipstick. Basically these ladies look like Effie Trinket and fight like Brienne of Tarth.

Then you have this really interesting way that people on the moon view sexuality. It seems that people on the moon have moved beyond the Earth standard, gay or straight, man or woman. Basically its now a spectrum and people sleep with whomever they want. We also have some really interesting gender fluid characters who almost have the exact opposite of Lycanthropy. However the one single problem I had with this book, was a sex scene at almost 50% through. This book is very open about sexuality and that's good, I just didn't expect a full out 50 Shades of Grey type scene. But you can totally still enjoy this without reading that bit.

I can't fully express how much I loved this book. There is a story line through it but it's really just setting up the next volume. However the book is so fascinating that you really don't mind its just setting up the next book. Its really just the story of one family with the Moon and all this technology in the background. It was the perfect mix of interesting plot and characters that I came to genuinely care for. In fact I enjoyed it so much I am going to buy a copy of this (and all of Ian McDonalds other books too).

I really really really wanted to love this book, but I didn't. I enjoyed it enough to finish, but not enough to read the second in the series. I can't quite pin down what didn't work, but it didn't gel. The characters were almost without fail annoying and boring, and while there was action, it was interspersed with way too much faffing about for me.