Book Review: Luna Wolf Moon by Ian MacDonald

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Gollancz

Length: 416 pages

Format: eARC

Rating: 3.5 stars

Publication Date: March 28th 2017

 

 

 

 

Publisher’s description

A Dragon is dead.

Corta Helio, one of the five family corporations that rule the Moon, has fallen. Its riches are divided up among its many enemies, its survivors scattered. Eighteen months have passed .

The remaining Helio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parent’s violent deaths, is now a ward–virtually a hostage– of Mackenzie Metals. And the last appointed heir, Lucas, has vanished of the surface of the moon.

Only Lady Sun, dowager of Taiyang, suspects that Lucas Corta is not dead, and more to the point—that he is still a major player in the game. After all, Lucas always was the Schemer, and even in death, he would go to any lengths to take back everything and build a new Corta Helio, more powerful than before. But Corta Helio needs allies, and to find them, the fleeing son undertakes an audacious, impossible journey–to Earth.

In an unstable lunar environment, the shifting loyalties and political machinations of each family reach the zenith of their most fertile plots as outright war erupts.

Book Review

The long awaited sequel to New Moon, Wolf Moon starts off a couple of months after the fall of  Corta Helio. The few remaining Cortas are scattered around the Moon under the protection of several families and, of course, they are planning revenge.

 

I read New Moon when it just came out back in 2015 and even though I remembered the world and the cliffhanger a the end, the cast of characters is so immense and the relationship between the different characters are so complex that I was completely thrown off at the start. For the first 20% of this book, I had trouble remembering who was who and what the hell was happening. I even mixed up some characters (Lucas and Lucasinho for example) which led to pretty confusing scenes where I couldn’t understand why a character was acting in this way until I realized that I wasn’t reading it the right way.

However, getting back into this bloody world full of political intrigues was a real pleasure. In this series, the Moon isn’t a pleasant place to live it, Lady Luna isn’t sweet Earth, she wants to tear you down and all mistakes can be deadly. And if the Moon doesn’t kill you, one of the Dragons probably will.

Wolf Moon is an very good sequel to New Moon. I found it even more political intrigue heavy than the first book and I really enjoyed this aspect once I remembered who was who. It was really fascinating to see all the players reacting to the events of New Moon and basically trying to destroy everyone around them (family included). Some of the new characters introduced were as interesting, if not more so, that some of the old ones and I cannot wait to see the parts they are going to play in the next book.

Speaking of next book, I don’t know why but, back in 2015, when I read New Moon, I thought this series was going to be a duology so, when I was reading Wolf Moon, I was expecting some kind of conclusion that just didn’t come. I don’t know how long this book series is going to be but with that ending we readers deserve at least a third book.

I liked Wolf Moon quite a bit however, I didn’t find it as mindblowing as New Moon. I wasn’t bored while reading but thinking about it, not a lot actually happened in this installment which was surprising after the first book. Also, it had a tad to many weird sex scenes, I don’t mind sex in books but I couldn’t see their point at all in this book. I mean sometimes I had to skim read them because a) they were a bit cringy and b) I just didn’t care about them. I like the fact that in this world, bisexuality is the norm and that a lot of characters are gender fluid but still, you can speak of sexuality without writing  abunch of weird ones especially in the middle of suspenseful action sequence.

 

Anyway, I think that if you enjoyed New Moon, Wolf Moon is going to be an exciting read, just bear in mind that it isn’t a conclusion. Also if you don’t remember books well, try to find a recap of the first book online, I think it might help a lot!

Recommended.

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Gollancz and Netgally. All opinions are my own.