Luna by Ian McDonald. A Review

Steph P. Bianchini February 2, 2016 7 Comments

Ian McDonald is without doubt an author on my “autobuy” list, as I’ve written a while ago. This Scottish author is known for excellent (dystopian) books asking difficult questions about mankind’s future and taking into account socio-political implications. The amazing Brasyl (McDonald’s award winning 2007 novel) is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Luna, his latest novel, is another good one.

The book’s blurb gives you all you need to dive in head first, together with a feeling of what you’re going to find. “The Moon wants to kill you.
She has a thousand ways to do it. The bitter cold of vaccum. The lethal sheet of radiation. Choking dust as old as the Earth. Your weakening bones … Or you could run out of money for water. Or air. Or simply run foul of one of the Five Dragons: the corporations that rule the Moon and control its vast resources. But you stay, because the moon can make you richer than you can imagine. For as long as you can stay alive...”

If after that you expect (as I did) a disquieting SF thriller where ruthless corporations may prove even more dangerous that the unforgiving moon environment, well, you’d get it right – even though the whole story will turn out more vicious and intricate you would dream of.

It is impossible while reading Luna not to compare it with another famous novel that portrays humanity living on the moon’s surface, Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, for many reasons -first of its overall philosophy, which is not the same. So I was not surprised when I read in The Guardian something in kind. “One of Robert A Heinlein’s better novels was his 1966 libertarian lunar utopia The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: this is rather more The Moon is a Ruthless Sociopath. It vividly dramatises just how deadly the lunar environment is. In a bravura opening scene, youngsters race naked across the lunar surface from airlock to airlock, in a kind of extremer-than-extreme-sports coming-of-age ritual. Its takes a great deal of hospitalisation and care to nurse the survivors back to health.” Talking about a gripping opening… more than hooked, I got the creeps: again, it was one more warning (in case I needed one) about what was to come.

Niall Alexander –Strange Horizons‘ Editor-in-Chief- has written on Tor.com (in an enlightening review of this novel) that “Luna: New Moon is, at the time of this writing, the first volume of a proposed duology that should do for Earth’s only natural satellite what McDonald did for India in River of Gods, Brazil in Brasyl, and Istanbul in his last adult narrative: The Dervish House.” I concur, together with his evaluation that Luna is not McDonald at his most approachable, especially in the first 50 pages. It couldn’t be, considering the plot and how many characters you have to remember in order to follow the action and understand the power games among the Five Families.

Does it remind you a bit of Game of Thrones? Spot right. So you won’t be surprised CBS is developing Luna as a TV series, and all the ingredients are there for it to be a huge success.

Conclusive thoughts: I loved this book, and I couldn’t put it down until the end. And if you’re searching for fast-paced, chilling novels that critically reflect on our future in space, you’ll love it too.

Luna by Ian McDonald 2015. Where I got it: Netgalley, as ARC from the publisher, Gollanz, in exchange for a honest review (thank you!)