Praise for Luna: New Moon
“McDonald's never written a bad novel, but [Luna: New Moon] is a great one.” —Cory Doctorow
"With an action narrative driving this political commentary, Luna is actually a fantastically fun read as well as an important one. " —Los Angeles Review of Books
“McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"An engaging thriller... McDonald's portrait of a cutthroat society trying to survive in the deadliest of environments also make it one of the strongest science fiction novels of the year." —The Chicago Tribune
"It’s a great scenario, lovingly detailed, and curiously attractive despite its current of unforgiving violence." —The Wall Street Journal
"The best moon novel I’ve seen in many years. . . McDonald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface." —Locus
"The story is innovative and fresh...has a feel of The Godfather meets A Song of Ice and Firemeets Ender’s Game." —Portland Book Review
Praise for Luna: Wolf Moon
"Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be...deep and meaty when he wants to be...[Mcdonald] does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. " —NPR
"Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice." —Boing Boing
"For all the enjoyable intrigue he concocts, McDonald never lets us forget that the Moon is a frontier that basically just wants to kill us." —Chicago Tribune
★ 08/10/2015
McDonald (Empress of the Sun) begins his superb near-future series launch with an elaborate and very necessary list of characters. The five families who rule Earth’s moon, called the Five Dragons, operate in an essentially feudal system. There is no law but contract law and consensus, and contract violations can be settled by dueling. The Cortas, the newest of the Dragons, control the moon’s helium and ship it to Earth to power the overpopulated planet. Their greatest enemy, the MacKenzies, control mineral extraction and have deeply resented the Cortas’ incursion into their domain. Adriana, the founder of the Corta family, is old, and her sons and daughters are relentlessly jockeying for the succession. Meanwhile, Marina Calzaghe, a near-destitute temporary Corta employee, saves one of those sons from assassination, and quickly finds herself drawn into the family’s scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary Agency. (Sept.)
08/01/2015
Those families known as the Five Dragons were among the first humans to leave Earth to exploit the resources of the moon; while they have carved out their own specializations, their competition reflects the rough frontier spirit that still epitomizes lunar society. The Cortas made their fortune in Helium-3, which Earth desperately needs, but even within the family there is a constant jockeying for power. The Corta matriarch is dying, and conflicts with their rivals, the Mackenzies, threaten to boil over into war. VERDICT McDonald (The Dervish House; "Everness" trilogy) specializes in big cast sf with exotic settings, and this volume excels on those points. The time the author spent getting to know the Brazilian culture for his novel Brasyl comes in handy for his portrayal of the Cortas, still viewed as rough-edged thugs from the favela (slum) by the other families. The idea of a lunar society in which profit and contract law have replaced more prosaic notions of order produces a volatile setting that McDonald will visit again, as this is apparently the first book of a duology.—MM
Approximately 50 years after the establishment of the five major dynasties on the moon, the matriarch of the Cortas family is attempting to preserve her legacy at the end of her long life. As the main narrator, Thom Rivera deals the most with the audiobook’s Portuguese words, particularly character names, which figure prominently. Seemingly in an attempt to be authentic, he emphasizes the Portuguese to the point of distraction. Suzanne Toren provides a compelling narration of the portions of the book told from the point of view of the matriarch. She delivers her part with a nuanced mix of nostalgia, steely determination, and dominance. Soneela Nankani’s performance also succeeds. This complex tale presents a large cast of characters, explicit sex, and family drama in a harsh environment that breeds strong competition and greed. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine