Lunar Fortress Reviews
Hey,
How's about I review the books I read in a more timely manner?
First up, Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald. This is the concluding volume of his Luna series. The short version is that in the future the moon is run by five corporations and the families that own them. The series primarily focuses on the Corta family who produce helium-3 for export to an energy-starved Earth. But then their dome gets blown up in the first book, the Corta patriarch gets banished to Earth, but then returns with terrestrial allies to take over the moon in the second book, and now it's time for a showdown between the people of the moon and the people of Earth. The story sprawls out over a fair number of Corta family members so you get to see the conflict from a few different angles.
Overall, this book brought everything to a solid conclusion. The writing in this series has always been quite good along with most of the hard science. An easy recommendation if you're looking for intrigue, action and drama in a near-future setting.
Next up: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker. Mr. Parker has written a number of well-received fantasy novels most of which make liberal use of actual history to help flesh out the details. This is a standalone novel about Orhan, leader of a regiment of Imperial Engineers. He spends most of his time building bridges and tearing down or building up defensive works. He returns to the Imperial City to discover unknown enemies have lured the defenders out into an ambush and they'll soon be bearing down on the city itself. Orhan has to organize his forces and the people remaining in the city to stall the enemy long enough until help arrives.
I stayed up waaayyy to late finishing this book off, which should probably be all the endorsement you need. The chapters are short, punchy, and always make you want to "read just one more chapter". The dialog is good, and Orhan is an active protagonist who is making plans, solving problems, and adapting to the enemy's efforts. The plot suffers a bit from Orhan's interactions with the enemy commander (in the sense that the enemy deliberately does stupid things sometimes) and the end is a bit unsatisfying (but it's not an unreasonable or illogical ending and it's only the last 10 pages or so). Still, this is a fun low-magic fantasy book which should make for some nice summer reading.
later
Tom