Download Luna Moon Rising Ian McDonald Books

Product details Series Luna (Book 3) Hardcover 448 pages Publisher Tor Books; First Edition first Printing edition (March 19, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 0765391473

Luna Moon Rising Ian McDonald Books Reviews

• These books have come up a few times on my blog, particularly in my Top Ten Tuesday posts, because it's one of my favorite series.  It's epic on the scale of Game of Thrones, gory on the scale of Stephen King, clever on the scale of Kaz Brekker, and diverse to boot. I recommend this series every chance I get.
  
  But that isn't to say the books aren't without their flaws.  There are definitely some things I would have liked tightened up.  The primary one being the amount of reading between the lines that's needed to fully grasp these books.  I happened to read this with buddies, who were wonderfully patient with me, and I like to think I would have understood better if my time wasn't so stretched and I could really sit down and pay attention, but the truth is you have to infer quite a bit of information from these books.  I had to re-read things a few times to figure out what I was witnessing.  
  
  I'll be the first to tell you I'm really not that reader.  I like books that make me think about life, current events, philosophy, religion you name it, but I'd prefer if the events of the book are pretty straight forward.  This isn't something I detract a lot of points for, because readers deserve to have books that challenge them.  (As an aside- another beloved series, Terra Ignota is written a lot like this.  Maybe it's something I like more than I think I do.)
  
  The second thing I would have changed is that, reading this, I felt like a lot of information was purposefully withheld from readers in the earlier books just to make them more suspenseful.  That does annoy me.  One example is Wagner and his "lycanthropy".  It does finally get an explanation in this book but the explanation was so simple that the big reveal felt very anticlimactic.
  
  Finally, there were some characters whose storylines I hadn't really invested in in books one and two because their storylines take awhile to get ramped up and they never really felt like the focus.  Those storylines get some pretty thrilling conclusions in book three and I was cursing myself the whole time for not paying better attention to them.  Likewise, I found myself missing some the characters who were more important players early on and sort of faded to the background here.
  
  But in the end, these books are some of the most entertaining books I've ever read.  The world building is solid, and it's never told in boring info dumps.  It throws you head first into this dark, ugly world with little more than a short dictionary to guide you.  The characters are whole and three dimensional, motivated by their own desires, with unique voices.  They're colorful and vibrant and pop off the page.  I adore the "heroes".  I love the justice dispensed to the villains.  I read the last 150 pages almost all in one sitting because the conclusion was so perfect, I couldn't look away for even a moment.
  
  I'm sad it's over, but I'm excited to jump into another McDonald book knowing what he's capable of, and even more thrilled by the possibility of a new series to sink my teeth into.  Perhaps most telling, is that I'm sincerely looking forward to re-reading them all when I have more time on my hands.
• I admit, my expectations for *Luna Moon Rising* were high. Maybe they were too high. Whatever the case, the novel failed to meet them.
  
  I came across the first book in the series, *Luna New Moon*, by chance. I hadn't been much of a sci-fi reader before that, but McDonald painted such a vivid, compelling picture of the nearish-future and the families struggling for control of the moon that I was completely absorbed. I wanted to spend time with his well-drawn characters in their surprising, dangerous, fascinating world. When I put down the book after its gripping conclusion, my heart was racing.
  
  *Luna Wolf Moon* didn't live up to the first novel, but I knew by then that Luna would be a trilogy. I was happy to cut the sophomore title some slack I assumed it was like the second act in a play, the less-dazzling middle part of a story that joins a showy opening to its unforgettable finale.
  
  Sadly, *Moon Rising* failed to deliver, too. The characters I'd gotten to know in the first couple of books felt different, muddier, less distinct, less interesting. The few characters who intrigued me seemed like afterthoughts. (More Abena and Dakota, please!)
  
  I think the problem comes down to this in *Moon Rising*, McDonald tries to show us that the fate of the moon is in the hands of the new generation--characters like Lucasinho and Luna. However, he tells the story through the eyes of its "old guard"--characters like Lucas, Lady Sun, and an indistinct mass of McKenzies. Insofar as there's a coherent theme running throughout the novel, it becomes more focused on nostalgia and loss than on the moon's exciting future. That could've been a viable option, but nostalgia depends on sadness, and I didn't feel sad for any of these people.
  
  The novel also suffers from an abundance of superfluous characters. We could probably do without Darius McKenzie and the many permutations of Vorontsovs. And the less said about the deeply unsatisfying Marina Calzaghe subplot, the better.
  
  One last thing the version of the novel that I read was riddled with grammatical errors, like it had been rushed into production without the benefit of a decent proofread. Sometimes, character names were even jumbled--I remember Alexia and Ariel's names getting reversed on a couple of occasions, which is yet more proof that McDonald could've done with fewer characters.
  
  Don't misunderstand me McDonald is an excellent writer. His gift for language is extraordinary, his turns of phrase will stop you in your tracks, and his worldbuilding skills are top-notch. In this case, though, I think he and his editor could've spent more time shaping the story to transform it from one that was merely good to one that stood up to the very best of sci-fi.
• If you liked the first two books, you'll like this satisfying conclusion. If you haven't - then go back and catch up first.
• I am not sure how this kind of trash can be considered literature. Leaded with foul language, disgusting sexual descriptions that are appropriate for perverted low minds. There should be a disclaimer somewhere and this awful book should be sold and marketed as pornography.