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This Kingdom of Dust
Like the moon landing, a feat of enormous ingenuity imagining the lives of the Apollo mission heroes, and those on planet earth in the tumultuous 1960s.
Neil Armstrong, speaking from the lunar surface, described his small step as a 'giant leap' for humanity. Back on earth, women were asking Is This All?
Neil Armstrong, speaking from the lunar surface, described his small step as a 'giant leap' for humanity. Back on earth, women were asking Is This All?
320 pages, Paperback
Published October 29, 2024
15 people are currently reading
343 people want to read
About the author
David Dyer
8 books99 followersDavid Dyer grew up near Sydney, Australia. After school, he pursued an eclectic career that included studying medicine, travelling the world in merchant ships, and working as a lawyer in Sydney and London. He was a solicitor for several years at the London legal practice whose parent firm represented the Titanic’s owners in 1912. Upon his return to Australia, he became an English teacher and writer, and in 2013 was awarded a doctorate in creative arts. In 2016, he published The Midnight Watch, a novel about the ship that witnessed the Titanic’s distress rockets but failed to respond. He then turned his attention to space, and in 2019 was lucky enough to meet moonwalkers Buzz Aldrin and Charlie Duke, who inspired him with their vision, daring and courage. His second novel, This Kingdom of Dust, explores what would have happened had Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong become stranded on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. It will be published in late October 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
January 16, 2025
With thanks to @penguinbooksaus for my arc copy to read and review. An unexpected gem.
I love the unexpected, this is precisely what happened here. A wonderful retelling of the moon landing, with an unexpected and magical twist. Not in a pretty way, I was taken aback by the cleverness and the uniqueness. There was a touch of whimsy, a healthy dose of history and a real knowledge of an important event, blended fantastically to create this special story.
As the momentum builded, I was experiencing real surprise how highly I would be rating, and knowing this was one of those times I was so enjoying a genre which is not one of my usual.
I loved Aquarius the flawed novelist, I loved the two men guiding this important mission which relies so heavily on their internal musings while in space, their sharp minds and the extreme life and death mission, feeling drawn into their world. Which was in space!
This is a smart novel where the ensemble characters are so important to the whole ~ the widows of past astronauts, the families of the men landing on the moon, the men on the ground who will never measure up to the brilluant men orbiting in space.
A creative and imaginative retelling, an undertaking that paid off which was a surprising win for me. This is a complex story, a satisfying prologue and interesting author’s notes.
I love how cherished the moon was, and how this was conveyed by the men on their mission. This required skilled writing. For as she and Neil flew upwards and away he knew in his heart she'd never hated them, she'd loved them all along. And that's why in the end she'd let them go.
I love the unexpected, this is precisely what happened here. A wonderful retelling of the moon landing, with an unexpected and magical twist. Not in a pretty way, I was taken aback by the cleverness and the uniqueness. There was a touch of whimsy, a healthy dose of history and a real knowledge of an important event, blended fantastically to create this special story.
As the momentum builded, I was experiencing real surprise how highly I would be rating, and knowing this was one of those times I was so enjoying a genre which is not one of my usual.
I loved Aquarius the flawed novelist, I loved the two men guiding this important mission which relies so heavily on their internal musings while in space, their sharp minds and the extreme life and death mission, feeling drawn into their world. Which was in space!
This is a smart novel where the ensemble characters are so important to the whole ~ the widows of past astronauts, the families of the men landing on the moon, the men on the ground who will never measure up to the brilluant men orbiting in space.
A creative and imaginative retelling, an undertaking that paid off which was a surprising win for me. This is a complex story, a satisfying prologue and interesting author’s notes.
I love how cherished the moon was, and how this was conveyed by the men on their mission. This required skilled writing. For as she and Neil flew upwards and away he knew in his heart she'd never hated them, she'd loved them all along. And that's why in the end she'd let them go.
October 13, 2024
When I first started this I was a bit unsure, why change the events of the moon landing? There seemed no real point and at the end I’m still not 100% sure but wow, it’s a compelling read for most of the book. The main focus is Aquarius, a writer for Time magazine asked to cover the events and he’s not particularly likeable. He manages to get himself inside Buzz’s house and make himself known to Buzz’s wife Joan. But it’s not just a reimagining of the Apollo 11 mission, it manages to touch on a lot of the issues in the US at the time, particularly feminism, religion, civil rights, the Vietnam war and more. The characters bring the book alive and I found it a fascinating and enjoyable read.
December 29, 2024
“Viewed from this side of the Moon, the hundred billion stars of the Milky Way were not so much points of light as a glowing fabric, twisting and folding around a dense, bright center.”
This Kingdom Of Dust is the second novel by Australian teacher and author, David Dyer. Anyone born before about nineteen-sixty-six will have the moon landing engraved into their brain along with a few other historical events they’ve lived through. David Dyer takes that well-known tale and adds a little wrinkle that makes an already fascinating story downright dramatic.
The story is told through five narratives (the blurb a bit misleading on that point), and essentially starts when astronauts Neil and Buzz are about to land on the surface of the moon. Later, it’s time to rendezvous with the command module Columbia, but things keep impeding their successful ascent: something fairly easily remedied at first, then increasingly complex glitches that make it more and more likely that they will be stranded on that dry, dusty surface until they die.
From Buzz’s perspective, there’s the danger but also the beauty of the moon, particularly seductive when he’s experiencing hypoxia: “He paused awhile to marvel again at the Moon’s uncompromising purities: her blazing white, her deep black, her utter stillness, her perfect vacuum. It was mesmerising, and he began to feel a strong desire to climb down the ladder and lie down to sleep in her soft ground” and later “But how could he ever leave this place? The Moon was a warm cocoon in a cold darkness, and he could hear her again whispering to him, as she had before. ‘Why not stay forever?’”
We see the emotional lows and highs, the predictable despondency and the incredible euphoria as each new problem is revealed and potentially solved. Also fluctuating are the beliefs and doubts about what Buzz is being told.
Back in Houston, Aquarius, journalist and author of several novels in which he seems to compulsively yoking together of the lofty and the obscene, carries the burden of what he admits is a lousy, dirty, cowardly crime in his past.
Now, he has been offered a lucrative publishing deal by Life magazine to write about the machines that get these men to the moon and back. He has a contact in the Grumman company which built the Lunar Module, the lem, but he’s more interested in the people, something assigned to Dodie, another writer. As events unfold, he’s planted himself in the Buzz’s home, where he focuses on Joan, former actress, now wife and mother of three: he’s convinced that she’s the real story.
These two narratives are interspersed with observations on the whole scenario from Mike in the command module as he orbits the moon waiting for Neil and Buzz to return. He gets to see what few others ever will: “The sun had sunk below the horizon behind him, but Earth remained, so that he beheld a sight no other human could see: the Moon illuminated only by earthlight. The vast basalt seas now appeared to be enveloped in aquamarine mists, and the sapphire tints of the canyons and craters had deepened to rich turquoise.”
In past interviews, he’d been asked about what would happen if the lunar module couldn’t get back up, something for which he had eighteen protocols. Will he now have to leave his fellow space travellers behind?
The reader only gets Joan’s point of view in two chapters near the end of the story, ditto Neil’s contribution in part of the penultimate chapter. But Dyer does give his astronauts plenty of gorgeous descriptive prose: “This was the part of the orbit in which the Columbia could be her most perfect self: a glorious cathedral, lit from within by her instrument lights glowing like candles, and from without by a splendid array of starlight. Below him the stars were blotted out by the Moon, black and brooding, but above they burned like a celestial furnace” is just one example.
Dyer easily evokes his era and setting, and the final twist is excellent. Clever and thought-provoking, this is another David Dyer winner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin Random House Australia.
This Kingdom Of Dust is the second novel by Australian teacher and author, David Dyer. Anyone born before about nineteen-sixty-six will have the moon landing engraved into their brain along with a few other historical events they’ve lived through. David Dyer takes that well-known tale and adds a little wrinkle that makes an already fascinating story downright dramatic.
The story is told through five narratives (the blurb a bit misleading on that point), and essentially starts when astronauts Neil and Buzz are about to land on the surface of the moon. Later, it’s time to rendezvous with the command module Columbia, but things keep impeding their successful ascent: something fairly easily remedied at first, then increasingly complex glitches that make it more and more likely that they will be stranded on that dry, dusty surface until they die.
From Buzz’s perspective, there’s the danger but also the beauty of the moon, particularly seductive when he’s experiencing hypoxia: “He paused awhile to marvel again at the Moon’s uncompromising purities: her blazing white, her deep black, her utter stillness, her perfect vacuum. It was mesmerising, and he began to feel a strong desire to climb down the ladder and lie down to sleep in her soft ground” and later “But how could he ever leave this place? The Moon was a warm cocoon in a cold darkness, and he could hear her again whispering to him, as she had before. ‘Why not stay forever?’”
We see the emotional lows and highs, the predictable despondency and the incredible euphoria as each new problem is revealed and potentially solved. Also fluctuating are the beliefs and doubts about what Buzz is being told.
Back in Houston, Aquarius, journalist and author of several novels in which he seems to compulsively yoking together of the lofty and the obscene, carries the burden of what he admits is a lousy, dirty, cowardly crime in his past.
Now, he has been offered a lucrative publishing deal by Life magazine to write about the machines that get these men to the moon and back. He has a contact in the Grumman company which built the Lunar Module, the lem, but he’s more interested in the people, something assigned to Dodie, another writer. As events unfold, he’s planted himself in the Buzz’s home, where he focuses on Joan, former actress, now wife and mother of three: he’s convinced that she’s the real story.
These two narratives are interspersed with observations on the whole scenario from Mike in the command module as he orbits the moon waiting for Neil and Buzz to return. He gets to see what few others ever will: “The sun had sunk below the horizon behind him, but Earth remained, so that he beheld a sight no other human could see: the Moon illuminated only by earthlight. The vast basalt seas now appeared to be enveloped in aquamarine mists, and the sapphire tints of the canyons and craters had deepened to rich turquoise.”
In past interviews, he’d been asked about what would happen if the lunar module couldn’t get back up, something for which he had eighteen protocols. Will he now have to leave his fellow space travellers behind?
The reader only gets Joan’s point of view in two chapters near the end of the story, ditto Neil’s contribution in part of the penultimate chapter. But Dyer does give his astronauts plenty of gorgeous descriptive prose: “This was the part of the orbit in which the Columbia could be her most perfect self: a glorious cathedral, lit from within by her instrument lights glowing like candles, and from without by a splendid array of starlight. Below him the stars were blotted out by the Moon, black and brooding, but above they burned like a celestial furnace” is just one example.
Dyer easily evokes his era and setting, and the final twist is excellent. Clever and thought-provoking, this is another David Dyer winner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin Random House Australia.
November 13, 2024
All the stars for this clever novel featuring an alternative history - one in which the so-called Second Speech was invoked - the president giving his address to the nation with the loss of the astronauts on the moon. Blending real people (Neil, Buzz, and Mike) with fictional events, the story alternates between two sets of people, both adrift in different ways, Buzz and Neil, in the Eagle which is experiencing mechanical failure, and Buzz’s wife, Joan and a writer we know as Aquarius, who has a chequered history, who is tasked with writing the moon story, but in turn winds up with a much more insightful and human one.
Running with the readers’ emotions as the attempts to fix the lem are tried, the communications with NASA - and from that, how NASA treats the families of the astronauts (very era appropriate, unfortunately), and mostly, how we’re all just adrift looking to connect, this is a cleverly crafted second novel from this Aussie novelist that I’ll be keeping an eye on, and have ordered his first book, The Midnight Watch, based on the strength of this one.
One criticism, and it’s a product of its time - Mr Dyer, were you actually ‘heading for your mountain home/where all the ladies’ names are Joan’. Because literally there is Joan, Jeannie, Janet. 1969 was brought to you by the letter J.
In all, a beautiful story of friendship, sacrifice, and love with space thrown in for good measure.
Running with the readers’ emotions as the attempts to fix the lem are tried, the communications with NASA - and from that, how NASA treats the families of the astronauts (very era appropriate, unfortunately), and mostly, how we’re all just adrift looking to connect, this is a cleverly crafted second novel from this Aussie novelist that I’ll be keeping an eye on, and have ordered his first book, The Midnight Watch, based on the strength of this one.
One criticism, and it’s a product of its time - Mr Dyer, were you actually ‘heading for your mountain home/where all the ladies’ names are Joan’. Because literally there is Joan, Jeannie, Janet. 1969 was brought to you by the letter J.
In all, a beautiful story of friendship, sacrifice, and love with space thrown in for good measure.
November 6, 2024
The writing is beautiful, the story is intriguing and the characters will stay with me for a long time . Loved it . I can tell it’s a good book when I stay up late reading to find out what happens . I cried when the story climaxed because of the power of love but also because of the sensitivity and empathy in the writing.
Loved it
Loved it
April 13, 2025
Really enjoyable read. A factual event made into believable fiction.
January 23, 2025
Never in my born days would I have thought I’d be tearing though a astronaut moon landing novel…beautifully done. Real characters (I love this Buzz so much more then the real one..) a page turning plot I gobbled up (I was crying on the train) and a new appreciation for lady moon. I also hadn’t really thought Vietnam/ equal rights/ 24 years after WWII/ atheism/ JFK/ Martin Luther King... what a time
Loved it
Loved it
December 25, 2024
This book was an emotional masterpiece that moved me to tears. I was completely lost in the world on the moon with the astronauts, feeling every moment as if I were there. A stunning work that will stay with me for a long time.
October 21, 2024
In David Dyer’s first book, The Midnight Watch, he explores a machine that went wrong and uses an incredible amount of research to put forth a plausible theory as to why The Californian did not go to the Titanic’s aid the night she sunk into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of my favourite books, not because it sparked an obsession with the Titanic disaster, but because Dyer’s narrative is just so beautiful and emotive. It puts you in that water right along those boats.
In This Kingdom of Dust, Dyer turns this on its head and explores a machine that, in reality went right, but fictionalises the micro and macro ramifications of ‘what-if’ it went wrong.
The 1969 moon landing is quite possibly the world’s biggest moment in history. ‘One giant leap for mankind’ is a phrase that many of us in adulthood know well, regardless of whether we were alive to watch it back then or not. The Apollo program was huge and despite its failures - it put 2 men on the moon. But the thing is, despite some hiccups, the mission was a success.
Buzz and Neil landed on the moon, did an EVA, and then the Lunar Module lifted them off the Moon to reunite with Mike in the Columbia, and they all returned to Earth as heroes.
But, what if it didn’t. What if something - a single point of failure - failed, and there was no way to fix it?
Dyer shows his excellent research skills once more and through the eyes of a fictional journalist named Aquarius (a nod to Norman Mailer), Buzz, his wife Joan, and Neil, the reader explores such a failure and learns about the human, mechanical, and humanity reactions to a moon landing disaster, or more accurately a moon ascension disaster and the very real Protocol/contingency - Unbeknownst to many - for this very event. And let me assure you, it was no The Martian/Mark Watney ‘Bring him Home’ moment.
Hearing Dyer talk about this book at the recent Queenscliffe Literary Festival, it became clear that he added numerous parallels, symmetries, and positions but the one that resonates with me the most is the hopelessness, of slowly suffocating - as an astrowife and deprived of oxygen - and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it.
Many thanks to David Dyer, Penguin Random House Australia, and NetGalley for an arc of this fascinating historical fiction story. I eagerly await to see what after comes up with next.
In This Kingdom of Dust, Dyer turns this on its head and explores a machine that, in reality went right, but fictionalises the micro and macro ramifications of ‘what-if’ it went wrong.
The 1969 moon landing is quite possibly the world’s biggest moment in history. ‘One giant leap for mankind’ is a phrase that many of us in adulthood know well, regardless of whether we were alive to watch it back then or not. The Apollo program was huge and despite its failures - it put 2 men on the moon. But the thing is, despite some hiccups, the mission was a success.
Buzz and Neil landed on the moon, did an EVA, and then the Lunar Module lifted them off the Moon to reunite with Mike in the Columbia, and they all returned to Earth as heroes.
But, what if it didn’t. What if something - a single point of failure - failed, and there was no way to fix it?
Dyer shows his excellent research skills once more and through the eyes of a fictional journalist named Aquarius (a nod to Norman Mailer), Buzz, his wife Joan, and Neil, the reader explores such a failure and learns about the human, mechanical, and humanity reactions to a moon landing disaster, or more accurately a moon ascension disaster and the very real Protocol/contingency - Unbeknownst to many - for this very event. And let me assure you, it was no The Martian/Mark Watney ‘Bring him Home’ moment.
Hearing Dyer talk about this book at the recent Queenscliffe Literary Festival, it became clear that he added numerous parallels, symmetries, and positions but the one that resonates with me the most is the hopelessness, of slowly suffocating - as an astrowife and deprived of oxygen - and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it.
Many thanks to David Dyer, Penguin Random House Australia, and NetGalley for an arc of this fascinating historical fiction story. I eagerly await to see what after comes up with next.
March 15, 2025
Full disclosure: I get obsessed about things and read ALL THE THINGS about the topic. After watching the Apollo 13 and First Man movies I got into the moon landing. It was all I could read and talk about for weeks (ask my family; it was possibly a fun time for them LOL). This is relevant because with all my background knowledge I was super excited to read this book with its alternative version of events.
I started off really enjoying the book because the details of the Lunar Module and the rockets was interesting without being too technical for this narrative. I liked how other historical events were mentioned and up until now I didn't know that Teddy Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident happened literal days before the moon landing. It was a good reminder that history is not a flat timeline but lots of interconnected events.
The book did a very good job of telling the reader all the different ways that the moon landing could go wrong. I am still suprised that we even managed it. Not once, but multiple times.
The further I got into the book, the less I liked it. All the characters were flat or one dimensional and the conversations did not seem very realistic. I also could not get past the conceit: the main protagonist is given one million dollars by Life Magazine to write about the moon landing. So far so good but, by his own admission, he wrote one good book and the rest were shit. Why would he be chosen for this job? It made no sense.
Then, the kicker happened and I will not mention it because it is a spoiler but if you stop right before you get to the epilogue, this book is very good. But, the epilogue made me literally shake my head, put my book down and go for a walk. It took it from a 3 star rating down to a 2 star rating. Yes, the last 10 pages ruined this because, while the author might have thought he was being literary and clever, it was actually dumb.
I started off really enjoying the book because the details of the Lunar Module and the rockets was interesting without being too technical for this narrative. I liked how other historical events were mentioned and up until now I didn't know that Teddy Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident happened literal days before the moon landing. It was a good reminder that history is not a flat timeline but lots of interconnected events.
The book did a very good job of telling the reader all the different ways that the moon landing could go wrong. I am still suprised that we even managed it. Not once, but multiple times.
The further I got into the book, the less I liked it. All the characters were flat or one dimensional and the conversations did not seem very realistic. I also could not get past the conceit: the main protagonist is given one million dollars by Life Magazine to write about the moon landing. So far so good but, by his own admission, he wrote one good book and the rest were shit. Why would he be chosen for this job? It made no sense.
Then, the kicker happened and I will not mention it because it is a spoiler but if you stop right before you get to the epilogue, this book is very good. But, the epilogue made me literally shake my head, put my book down and go for a walk. It took it from a 3 star rating down to a 2 star rating. Yes, the last 10 pages ruined this because, while the author might have thought he was being literary and clever, it was actually dumb.
October 24, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
Set in the 1960s, This Kingdom of Dust is a unique reimagining of the moment when the world stood still watching two men walking on the moon. Told from three points of the view, the storyline intertwines well to capture the science, the public spectacle and the private despair of this historical moment.
In this story Dyer explores a storyline where, after Neil and Buzz walk on the moon, they find that the lunar module’s engines have failed and they have no way of getting off the moon. They now face slowly running out of oxygen and death if they can’t problem solve and correct the issue.
Meanwhile, Buzz’s wife Joan wrestles with her grief and despair in a time where women are told only what they need to know. Struggling with no answers and with a front lawn full of media, she must perform and portray the dutiful housewife.
Aquarius is one journalist paid to write a story he has no interest in writing. Sneaking into Joan’s home to focus on her rather than the science behind the event he starts to craft the story he wants to write, not the one he supposed to be writing. He really wasn’t a likeable character and for someone with such a sordid background it was strange he was chosen to write about such a pivotal moment in time.
Overall I felt this was a unique and intriguing take on such a pivotal moment in history. Dyers commitment to research in order to write this story must be commended and the layers he added via the multiple narratives was well done.
Set in the 1960s, This Kingdom of Dust is a unique reimagining of the moment when the world stood still watching two men walking on the moon. Told from three points of the view, the storyline intertwines well to capture the science, the public spectacle and the private despair of this historical moment.
In this story Dyer explores a storyline where, after Neil and Buzz walk on the moon, they find that the lunar module’s engines have failed and they have no way of getting off the moon. They now face slowly running out of oxygen and death if they can’t problem solve and correct the issue.
Meanwhile, Buzz’s wife Joan wrestles with her grief and despair in a time where women are told only what they need to know. Struggling with no answers and with a front lawn full of media, she must perform and portray the dutiful housewife.
Aquarius is one journalist paid to write a story he has no interest in writing. Sneaking into Joan’s home to focus on her rather than the science behind the event he starts to craft the story he wants to write, not the one he supposed to be writing. He really wasn’t a likeable character and for someone with such a sordid background it was strange he was chosen to write about such a pivotal moment in time.
Overall I felt this was a unique and intriguing take on such a pivotal moment in history. Dyers commitment to research in order to write this story must be commended and the layers he added via the multiple narratives was well done.
July 10, 2025
Apart from the Aquarius character being immensely unlikeable, and not in an overly endearing way, I really enjoyed this alternative history of the Moon Landing.
All the scenes on and above the moon were gorgeously written and just the right amount of academic, and the stark atmosphere was perfectly portrayed.
The form of a gonzo novel within a novel was a bit random, and I feel like it blunted the impact of the reflection on what would have happened if the astronauts really had’ve been stranded. The ending of the astronauts storyline was super compelling and interesting, and to have it undercut by the epilogue was a bit meh.
Also, Dyer only included brief excerpts of the best speech never recited, the Safire memo: https://www.archives.gov/files/presid.... I think the whole thing should’ve been included, because it rules.
All the scenes on and above the moon were gorgeously written and just the right amount of academic, and the stark atmosphere was perfectly portrayed.
The form of a gonzo novel within a novel was a bit random, and I feel like it blunted the impact of the reflection on what would have happened if the astronauts really had’ve been stranded. The ending of the astronauts storyline was super compelling and interesting, and to have it undercut by the epilogue was a bit meh.
Also, Dyer only included brief excerpts of the best speech never recited, the Safire memo: https://www.archives.gov/files/presid.... I think the whole thing should’ve been included, because it rules.
January 20, 2025
It’s a bitter aftertaste. But on every page. It’s a bitter book. Pointlessly snarky. Real characters all rendered with the same voice and no individuality.
A pointless plot that trickles to a predictable conclusion.
Two stars, but I really don’t know what for.
A pointless plot that trickles to a predictable conclusion.
Two stars, but I really don’t know what for.
September 7, 2025
A very interesting read. Beautifully written
November 18, 2024
If you’d asked me to read a book about the technicalities of what could go wrong on a space mission, I would have politely declined. But this book - which does include those technicalities - had me so gripped, I couldn’t look away. It also helps that I loved Dyer’s first book, The Midnight Watch, so much that I still think about it.
This book is a reimagining of the historic lunar landing in 1969 but instead of being the success it was (pipe down conspiracy theorists) in this version, Neil and Buzz land the lunar module, take their historic walk, but then an engine failure prevents them taking off to return to earth.
It’s told from three perspectives: Buzz on the moon, his wife Joan on earth, and journalist, Aquarius, who is reluctantly covering the event for Life Magazine (a character who is a little more than loosely based on Norman Mailer).
As with The Midnight Watch, which tells the story of Titanic from the point of view of the captain of The Californian who failed to go to the great ship’s aid as it sank, Dyer has managed to take a great moment in history and inject it with so much heart and soul, it’s perfection.
The ending of this book is everything! I was literally in tears as I read the final chapters. But if you think you know how it ends, think again! And the epilogue is a master class in endings.
If you’ve read this book, DM me what you thought of the ending.
This book is a reimagining of the historic lunar landing in 1969 but instead of being the success it was (pipe down conspiracy theorists) in this version, Neil and Buzz land the lunar module, take their historic walk, but then an engine failure prevents them taking off to return to earth.
It’s told from three perspectives: Buzz on the moon, his wife Joan on earth, and journalist, Aquarius, who is reluctantly covering the event for Life Magazine (a character who is a little more than loosely based on Norman Mailer).
As with The Midnight Watch, which tells the story of Titanic from the point of view of the captain of The Californian who failed to go to the great ship’s aid as it sank, Dyer has managed to take a great moment in history and inject it with so much heart and soul, it’s perfection.
The ending of this book is everything! I was literally in tears as I read the final chapters. But if you think you know how it ends, think again! And the epilogue is a master class in endings.
If you’ve read this book, DM me what you thought of the ending.
April 18, 2025
3.5 - an interesting story within a story. I liked the idea of an alternative history and I found the first half enjoyable. After that though when it diverged away from what actually (well what reasonably could have happened) things got a bit more boring. I enjoyed more of the perspective from Buzz, Mike and Neil. Some weird random tidbits that were super unnecessary though annoyed me throughout the book. The actual links to history though were interesting, I hadn't realized how close in history some of the things had occurred that were mentioned.
December 29, 2024
“Viewed from this side of the Moon, the hundred billion stars of the Milky Way were not so much points of light as a glowing fabric, twisting and folding around a dense, bright center.”
This Kingdom Of Dust is the second novel by Australian teacher and author, David Dyer. The audio version is narrated by Tony Alvarez. Anyone born before about nineteen-sixty-six will have the moon landing engraved into their brain along with a few other historical events they’ve lived through. David Dyer takes that well-known tale and adds a little wrinkle that makes an already fascinating story downright dramatic.
The story is told through five narratives (the blurb a bit misleading on that point), and essentially starts when astronauts Neil and Buzz are about to land on the surface of the moon. Later, it’s time to rendezvous with the command module Columbia, but things keep impeding their successful ascent: something fairly easily remedied at first, then increasingly complex glitches that make it more and more likely that they will be stranded on that dry, dusty surface until they die.
From Buzz’s perspective, there’s the danger but also the beauty of the moon, particularly seductive when he’s experiencing hypoxia: “He paused awhile to marvel again at the Moon’s uncompromising purities: her blazing white, her deep black, her utter stillness, her perfect vacuum. It was mesmerising, and he began to feel a strong desire to climb down the ladder and lie down to sleep in her soft ground” and later “But how could he ever leave this place? The Moon was a warm cocoon in a cold darkness, and he could hear her again whispering to him, as she had before. ‘Why not stay forever?’”
We see the emotional lows and highs, the predictable despondency and the incredible euphoria as each new problem is revealed and potentially solved. Also fluctuating are the beliefs and doubts about what Buzz is being told.
Back in Houston, Aquarius, journalist and author of several novels in which he seems to compulsively yoking together of the lofty and the obscene, carries the burden of what he admits is a lousy, dirty, cowardly crime in his past.
Now, he has been offered a lucrative publishing deal by Life magazine to write about the machines that get these men to the moon and back. He has a contact in the Grumman company which built the Lunar Module, the lem, but he’s more interested in the people, something assigned to Dodie, another writer. As events unfold, he’s planted himself in the Buzz’s home, where he focuses on Joan, former actress, now wife and mother of three: he’s convinced that she’s the real story.
These two narratives are interspersed with observations on the whole scenario from Mike in the command module as he orbits the moon waiting for Neil and Buzz to return. He gets to see what few others ever will: “The sun had sunk below the horizon behind him, but Earth remained, so that he beheld a sight no other human could see: the Moon illuminated only by earthlight. The vast basalt seas now appeared to be enveloped in aquamarine mists, and the sapphire tints of the canyons and craters had deepened to rich turquoise.”
In past interviews, he’d been asked about what would happen if the lunar module couldn’t get back up, something for which he had eighteen protocols. Will he now have to leave his fellow space travellers behind?
The reader only gets Joan’s point of view in two chapters near the end of the story, ditto Neil’s contribution in part of the penultimate chapter. But Dyer does give his astronauts plenty of gorgeous descriptive prose: “This was the part of the orbit in which the Columbia could be her most perfect self: a glorious cathedral, lit from within by her instrument lights glowing like candles, and from without by a splendid array of starlight. Below him the stars were blotted out by the Moon, black and brooding, but above they burned like a celestial furnace” is just one example.
Dyer easily evokes his era and setting, and the final twist is excellent. Clever and thought-provoking, this is another David Dyer winner.
This Kingdom Of Dust is the second novel by Australian teacher and author, David Dyer. The audio version is narrated by Tony Alvarez. Anyone born before about nineteen-sixty-six will have the moon landing engraved into their brain along with a few other historical events they’ve lived through. David Dyer takes that well-known tale and adds a little wrinkle that makes an already fascinating story downright dramatic.
The story is told through five narratives (the blurb a bit misleading on that point), and essentially starts when astronauts Neil and Buzz are about to land on the surface of the moon. Later, it’s time to rendezvous with the command module Columbia, but things keep impeding their successful ascent: something fairly easily remedied at first, then increasingly complex glitches that make it more and more likely that they will be stranded on that dry, dusty surface until they die.
From Buzz’s perspective, there’s the danger but also the beauty of the moon, particularly seductive when he’s experiencing hypoxia: “He paused awhile to marvel again at the Moon’s uncompromising purities: her blazing white, her deep black, her utter stillness, her perfect vacuum. It was mesmerising, and he began to feel a strong desire to climb down the ladder and lie down to sleep in her soft ground” and later “But how could he ever leave this place? The Moon was a warm cocoon in a cold darkness, and he could hear her again whispering to him, as she had before. ‘Why not stay forever?’”
We see the emotional lows and highs, the predictable despondency and the incredible euphoria as each new problem is revealed and potentially solved. Also fluctuating are the beliefs and doubts about what Buzz is being told.
Back in Houston, Aquarius, journalist and author of several novels in which he seems to compulsively yoking together of the lofty and the obscene, carries the burden of what he admits is a lousy, dirty, cowardly crime in his past.
Now, he has been offered a lucrative publishing deal by Life magazine to write about the machines that get these men to the moon and back. He has a contact in the Grumman company which built the Lunar Module, the lem, but he’s more interested in the people, something assigned to Dodie, another writer. As events unfold, he’s planted himself in the Buzz’s home, where he focuses on Joan, former actress, now wife and mother of three: he’s convinced that she’s the real story.
These two narratives are interspersed with observations on the whole scenario from Mike in the command module as he orbits the moon waiting for Neil and Buzz to return. He gets to see what few others ever will: “The sun had sunk below the horizon behind him, but Earth remained, so that he beheld a sight no other human could see: the Moon illuminated only by earthlight. The vast basalt seas now appeared to be enveloped in aquamarine mists, and the sapphire tints of the canyons and craters had deepened to rich turquoise.”
In past interviews, he’d been asked about what would happen if the lunar module couldn’t get back up, something for which he had eighteen protocols. Will he now have to leave his fellow space travellers behind?
The reader only gets Joan’s point of view in two chapters near the end of the story, ditto Neil’s contribution in part of the penultimate chapter. But Dyer does give his astronauts plenty of gorgeous descriptive prose: “This was the part of the orbit in which the Columbia could be her most perfect self: a glorious cathedral, lit from within by her instrument lights glowing like candles, and from without by a splendid array of starlight. Below him the stars were blotted out by the Moon, black and brooding, but above they burned like a celestial furnace” is just one example.
Dyer easily evokes his era and setting, and the final twist is excellent. Clever and thought-provoking, this is another David Dyer winner.
May 22, 2025
This Kingdom of Dust is a novel by David Dyer. It is a work of historical fiction, set in the 1960s. The main focus is the moon landing and the real-life people of the event; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, etc. However, the author rewrites history and makes it so there’s a huge failure of the astronaut’s equipment, risking their lives. The author writes a lot about the emotional states of the people involved, such as the astronauts and their family members, who are back on Earth, awaiting news of their loved ones.
I’ll admit that I know the vague story of the moon landing, but I am not well versed in the finer details of what went on, and I don’t know much about the specific people involved. To be blunt, I didn’t particularly like the book. The main reporter guy, Aquarius… He’s very unlikeable. Such as drunkenly having stabbed his wife with a penknife, “and very nearly killed her.” because “the blade pierced the membrane that encloses the heart.” And the author wrote it as if the wife was somehow happy, standing up for him in court and saying, “’We are perfectly happy together,’ she said, and her words had power enough to keep him out of jail.” What? Why would she honestly want him out of jail, though? He STABBED HER. The character belonged in prison. And a lot of aspects about his character don’t make sense. Such as the author mentioning Aquarius as having written several books, but not very well selling ones. Yet he was then offered a deal to write about the moon landing for a payment of million dollars. Why was this character offered THAT MUCH, even though he’s not a good author? I felt like a lot of the Aquarius thoughts about Joan, the wife, were just… Weird. He kept on thinking about her as an actress and implying that she was acting throughout a lot of her scenarios in the book. It was strange because he just didn’t see her as a person, behaving as one might at the potential loss of her husband. He just kept insisting that it must all be an act. It felt really awkward that the author kept pushing this.
There’s a lot of technology and engineering related stuff going on throughout the book. Many characters and scenes talk through technical aspects a lot. And, weirdly, the author takes a lot of time talking about bodily functions of characters. I know it’s natural, but it just felt odd that the author kept bringing it up so much. I think the time could have been better spent.
In the beginning, it felt difficult for me to get into it. My main thought is that it’s pretty bland, and it feels like it doesn’t begin in the right spot. I think the author ought to have started the plot a while beforehand, and done more to introduce the characters; seeing as not everyone (myself as an example) knows much about the events and people. And a lot of the other scenes and stuff going on also felt really jumbled.
Overall… I didn’t like it very much. It feels very forgettable. I have no doubt that, within a month or two, I’ll likely have forgotten about it completely. A lot of the characters, in my opinion, felt very unlikeable. And the ones I did think were okay… Well, I think the author wrote them very weirdly, such as the way the author kept insisting that Joan’s behaviour was all an act. For me, I just didn’t think it was a very good book. I can appreciate that the author gave it a good try in creating characters and trying to give them personalities and developing them. However, I feel like it didn’t pay off well, in my opinion. I don’t recommend this book.
I’ll admit that I know the vague story of the moon landing, but I am not well versed in the finer details of what went on, and I don’t know much about the specific people involved. To be blunt, I didn’t particularly like the book. The main reporter guy, Aquarius… He’s very unlikeable. Such as drunkenly having stabbed his wife with a penknife, “and very nearly killed her.” because “the blade pierced the membrane that encloses the heart.” And the author wrote it as if the wife was somehow happy, standing up for him in court and saying, “’We are perfectly happy together,’ she said, and her words had power enough to keep him out of jail.” What? Why would she honestly want him out of jail, though? He STABBED HER. The character belonged in prison. And a lot of aspects about his character don’t make sense. Such as the author mentioning Aquarius as having written several books, but not very well selling ones. Yet he was then offered a deal to write about the moon landing for a payment of million dollars. Why was this character offered THAT MUCH, even though he’s not a good author? I felt like a lot of the Aquarius thoughts about Joan, the wife, were just… Weird. He kept on thinking about her as an actress and implying that she was acting throughout a lot of her scenarios in the book. It was strange because he just didn’t see her as a person, behaving as one might at the potential loss of her husband. He just kept insisting that it must all be an act. It felt really awkward that the author kept pushing this.
There’s a lot of technology and engineering related stuff going on throughout the book. Many characters and scenes talk through technical aspects a lot. And, weirdly, the author takes a lot of time talking about bodily functions of characters. I know it’s natural, but it just felt odd that the author kept bringing it up so much. I think the time could have been better spent.
In the beginning, it felt difficult for me to get into it. My main thought is that it’s pretty bland, and it feels like it doesn’t begin in the right spot. I think the author ought to have started the plot a while beforehand, and done more to introduce the characters; seeing as not everyone (myself as an example) knows much about the events and people. And a lot of the other scenes and stuff going on also felt really jumbled.
Overall… I didn’t like it very much. It feels very forgettable. I have no doubt that, within a month or two, I’ll likely have forgotten about it completely. A lot of the characters, in my opinion, felt very unlikeable. And the ones I did think were okay… Well, I think the author wrote them very weirdly, such as the way the author kept insisting that Joan’s behaviour was all an act. For me, I just didn’t think it was a very good book. I can appreciate that the author gave it a good try in creating characters and trying to give them personalities and developing them. However, I feel like it didn’t pay off well, in my opinion. I don’t recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2025
History tells us that, mere days before Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, a document titled “In Event of Moon Disaster” was delivered to the White House.
According to the document, if the two astronauts ended up being hopelessly stranded on the Moon, President Richard Nixon would first telephone “each of the widows-to-be”. He would then deliver a doomsday speech to America and the world:
“[These two men] are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding... They will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.”
“For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.”
This is the harrowing scenario expertly illustrated in Australian author David Dyer's brilliant novel This Kingdom of Dust, where the Eagle has landed but is now dead. Unless Neil and Buzz can fix it, they will suffer a slow, agonising death in the Moon's “magnificent desolation”.
In exquisite prose, the story is told from the perspectives of Buzz on the Moon, his wife Joan on Earth, and Aquarius, a writer and journalist who is determined to write her story. Their observations of the unfolding drama form the story's backbone.
Further, individual reflections upon this tragedy are set against the backdrop of the political and social turmoils of the 1960s America. Particularly noteworthy is the character Madalyn, whose attack against NASA serves to highlight Buzz's profound faith.
Another prominent character is Neil, an extraordinary gentleman who shines true and bright in Buzz's eyes. Their friendship is inspiring yet heart-wrenching. It is an intellectual connection only to be rivalled by the solid sisterhood among the “astrowives”, those women who stand “proud, thrilled, happy” beside their astronaut husbands in public but suffer endless heartache and emotional drain in private.
Perhaps the most impressive character in the story is Joan, and the nuanced presentation of her multifaceted life is astonishing. Here is a woman with courage and dignity, whom the later generations only get to know via her obituary. She is given not just a voice but an AGENCY in the story, for which we are grateful.
Meanwhile, in This Kingdom of Dust, Aquarius is not just a character, but one who writes himself and the others into his own book of the same name. Such contest between the writer and the written appears to be a theme that Dyer enjoys exploring. As with the case of his previous book The Midnight Watch, meticulous research helps imagining the multidimensional and multidirectional reality.
Indeed, in his “Author's Notes”, Dyer recounts how he learned from Michael Collins' 1974 book Carrying the Fire that scorpions like to hide in people's clothing. “Perhaps that's what I've been doing in this novel,” he confesses before signing off as “Scorpio”, an invitation for readers to merge facts with fiction. Highly recommended.
According to the document, if the two astronauts ended up being hopelessly stranded on the Moon, President Richard Nixon would first telephone “each of the widows-to-be”. He would then deliver a doomsday speech to America and the world:
“[These two men] are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding... They will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.”
“For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.”
This is the harrowing scenario expertly illustrated in Australian author David Dyer's brilliant novel This Kingdom of Dust, where the Eagle has landed but is now dead. Unless Neil and Buzz can fix it, they will suffer a slow, agonising death in the Moon's “magnificent desolation”.
In exquisite prose, the story is told from the perspectives of Buzz on the Moon, his wife Joan on Earth, and Aquarius, a writer and journalist who is determined to write her story. Their observations of the unfolding drama form the story's backbone.
Further, individual reflections upon this tragedy are set against the backdrop of the political and social turmoils of the 1960s America. Particularly noteworthy is the character Madalyn, whose attack against NASA serves to highlight Buzz's profound faith.
Another prominent character is Neil, an extraordinary gentleman who shines true and bright in Buzz's eyes. Their friendship is inspiring yet heart-wrenching. It is an intellectual connection only to be rivalled by the solid sisterhood among the “astrowives”, those women who stand “proud, thrilled, happy” beside their astronaut husbands in public but suffer endless heartache and emotional drain in private.
Perhaps the most impressive character in the story is Joan, and the nuanced presentation of her multifaceted life is astonishing. Here is a woman with courage and dignity, whom the later generations only get to know via her obituary. She is given not just a voice but an AGENCY in the story, for which we are grateful.
Meanwhile, in This Kingdom of Dust, Aquarius is not just a character, but one who writes himself and the others into his own book of the same name. Such contest between the writer and the written appears to be a theme that Dyer enjoys exploring. As with the case of his previous book The Midnight Watch, meticulous research helps imagining the multidimensional and multidirectional reality.
Indeed, in his “Author's Notes”, Dyer recounts how he learned from Michael Collins' 1974 book Carrying the Fire that scorpions like to hide in people's clothing. “Perhaps that's what I've been doing in this novel,” he confesses before signing off as “Scorpio”, an invitation for readers to merge facts with fiction. Highly recommended.
November 17, 2024
David Dyer’s first novel was the excellent retelling of the Titanic story – The Midnight Watch. Now, eight years later, he returns with a novel that delves into another major global event – the Moon landing. And while this one was not originally a tragedy, Dyer’s This Kingdom of Dust explores the question – what if it was?
This Kingdom of Dust tells the story of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon, and explores what might have happened if the lunar lander could not return to Earth. Dyer has two main frames of reference for this story. The first is Buzz Aldrin, second in command to Neil Armstrong. And the second is a journalist called Aquarius (a stand in for Norman Mailer) who has been employed by Life magazine to write about the Moon landing from a technical perspective but is more interested in writing about Aldrin’s wife Joan.
Dyer’s version of events follows actual history up until the Moon landing itself. Then things start to go wrong. The lunar lander cannot take off and neither the astronauts themselves nor mission control can find a technical fix. Dyer stays with Buzz and Neil as they work through all of their options and have to them work through a series of protocols for this situation developed by Mission Control (these actually existed). On Earth, Aquarius is trying to find a way to get closer to Joan, but also finds himself with Madalyn, a forceful atheist who has been campaigning for NASA to be a religion-free organisation. Joan herself has to keep up the front of a loyal astronaut’s wife while also trying to find a way to help Buzz in any way she can.
Dyer uses his characters and their circumstances to explore some interesting thematic territory. He looks at the role of religion and the intersect between religion and science, he explores the life of the astronaut wives, who had to put their lives on hold and find themselves being part of the NASA PR machine. And he looks at the way in which people deal with and process impending tragedy. He is particularly interested in the relationships between Buzz and Neil and between Aquarius and Joan as this tragedy plays out.
Unfortunately, in the end, Dyer pulls his punches a little. The public failure of the Moon landing would have had significant political ramifications for the United States and the space program as a whole. Some other alternate fiction – For All Mankind – has gone some way to exploring a different future for the space program. But by ending where he does and how he does, Dyer falls short of exploring those potential ramifications of his scenario. But this is a minor quibble as what Dyer does deliver is a thought provoking alternate history that explores a number of universal issues through the eyes of a group of fascinating characters.
This Kingdom of Dust tells the story of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon, and explores what might have happened if the lunar lander could not return to Earth. Dyer has two main frames of reference for this story. The first is Buzz Aldrin, second in command to Neil Armstrong. And the second is a journalist called Aquarius (a stand in for Norman Mailer) who has been employed by Life magazine to write about the Moon landing from a technical perspective but is more interested in writing about Aldrin’s wife Joan.
Dyer’s version of events follows actual history up until the Moon landing itself. Then things start to go wrong. The lunar lander cannot take off and neither the astronauts themselves nor mission control can find a technical fix. Dyer stays with Buzz and Neil as they work through all of their options and have to them work through a series of protocols for this situation developed by Mission Control (these actually existed). On Earth, Aquarius is trying to find a way to get closer to Joan, but also finds himself with Madalyn, a forceful atheist who has been campaigning for NASA to be a religion-free organisation. Joan herself has to keep up the front of a loyal astronaut’s wife while also trying to find a way to help Buzz in any way she can.
Dyer uses his characters and their circumstances to explore some interesting thematic territory. He looks at the role of religion and the intersect between religion and science, he explores the life of the astronaut wives, who had to put their lives on hold and find themselves being part of the NASA PR machine. And he looks at the way in which people deal with and process impending tragedy. He is particularly interested in the relationships between Buzz and Neil and between Aquarius and Joan as this tragedy plays out.
Unfortunately, in the end, Dyer pulls his punches a little. The public failure of the Moon landing would have had significant political ramifications for the United States and the space program as a whole. Some other alternate fiction – For All Mankind – has gone some way to exploring a different future for the space program. But by ending where he does and how he does, Dyer falls short of exploring those potential ramifications of his scenario. But this is a minor quibble as what Dyer does deliver is a thought provoking alternate history that explores a number of universal issues through the eyes of a group of fascinating characters.
January 30, 2025
Another historical fiction tale by Australian author, David Dyer, This Kingdom of Dust (2024) is based on the 1969 moon landing. Once again, this science fiction fantasy has a journalist (Aquarius) covering the Apollo 11 moon landing, when he gets the scoop that the lunar module cannot launch for the return journey to Earth. The story is narrated mainly from Aquarius’s perspective, with the journey into space and moon landing recounted by Buzz Aldin. It captures the mood and challenges of such a scientific achievement, with all too human characters of the astronauts’ wives in an engrossing, lively fable. Whilst somewhat a science fiction tale, there is an underlying range of philosophical muses on grief, life and death, nothingness and the human spirit. Yet, it’s a gripping read of a fate, thankfully not realised, making it a four and a half star read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.
October 17, 2024
If I saw this book on the shelves in a bookstore, it would be one that I would normally walk straight past. It makes me happy to think I received an ARC of this book from Better Reading, as it provided me with a novel that would not normally appeal to me, but one in which I did end up enjoying.
The Apollo 11 moon landing, but reimagined! This Kingdom of Dust explores the Apollo 11 moon landing and what would have happened if they were unable to come home. Neil & Buzz are ultimately doomed to be stuck on the moon for all of eternity after the failure of the lunar module’s engine. This book explores the moon landing from Buzz & his wife Joan’s voices as well as journalist Aquarius voice.
The Kingdom of Dust is quite the compelling read & shows that not everything can or will go the plan!
The Apollo 11 moon landing, but reimagined! This Kingdom of Dust explores the Apollo 11 moon landing and what would have happened if they were unable to come home. Neil & Buzz are ultimately doomed to be stuck on the moon for all of eternity after the failure of the lunar module’s engine. This book explores the moon landing from Buzz & his wife Joan’s voices as well as journalist Aquarius voice.
The Kingdom of Dust is quite the compelling read & shows that not everything can or will go the plan!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2024
I took one thing from this book. That all the meaning we place on things can very easily be flipped to be the exact opposite. The flip-flopping and re-justification of each character on major themes like faith/love/relationship/satisfaction/life meaning etc. was done so many times it made everything essentially meaningless. Making strong stances on anything appearing to be almost a ridiculous notion.
I didn’t particularly understand the characters motivations, most of all the writer in the book who appeared so in-interested in the whole event I could not be sure why he had been chosen in the first place. But I could relate to the theme (intended or not).
My disappointment (and significant too) was in the epilogue that essentially made the whole book an Elijah Wood in the movie North.
I didn’t particularly understand the characters motivations, most of all the writer in the book who appeared so in-interested in the whole event I could not be sure why he had been chosen in the first place. But I could relate to the theme (intended or not).
My disappointment (and significant too) was in the epilogue that essentially made the whole book an Elijah Wood in the movie North.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2024
I am not quite sure if the intention was to keep the characters and stories bland like the surface of the moon but I found the 3 viewpoints of Buzz, Joan and Aquarius just boring. Aquarius, to me, is dis-interested and unlikeable. And I really did not understand some background stories eg Jeannie and her information of how exactly her husband died - why does that matter? I realise this is the way of life but I was also disturbed by the description of the lizards in Panama. At least they were taken care of. It could have been so much more interesting but as mentioned before, to me it just felt boring with strange tidbits eg Aquarius voiding his bladder (I put it a bit more politely). Some short parts were interesting to me - I liked that Joan knew Mary Jo's name or the story about Madalyn's crusade.
November 24, 2024
This is not a synopsis.
No spoilers found here!
I read David Dyer’s first book (Midnight Watch) so was keen to read this one. These are completely independent stories.
This book is written with a diversity of skill, containing a romantic view of space flight as well as covering accurate technical detail, to make the story highly believable. Clearly, much research was put in to the people and culture of the era this story was set in.
You will find suspense and twists and turns. I promise you won’t know which direction this story will head.
I normally take at least a third of the way through a book before I’m enthralled. Rapid page turning began much sooner in this book.
The whole story was crafted with great intelligence; the epilogue brings together pieces of the story very tidily.
I highly recommend this book.
No spoilers found here!
I read David Dyer’s first book (Midnight Watch) so was keen to read this one. These are completely independent stories.
This book is written with a diversity of skill, containing a romantic view of space flight as well as covering accurate technical detail, to make the story highly believable. Clearly, much research was put in to the people and culture of the era this story was set in.
You will find suspense and twists and turns. I promise you won’t know which direction this story will head.
I normally take at least a third of the way through a book before I’m enthralled. Rapid page turning began much sooner in this book.
The whole story was crafted with great intelligence; the epilogue brings together pieces of the story very tidily.
I highly recommend this book.
January 14, 2025
The elevator pitch for David Dyer's novel is a touch depressing. What if the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon successfully, but the lunar module ascent engine failed? What would be the reaction to such a tragic happening? By NASA? By the community-space flight enthusiasts and skeptics both? By the government? Of the families of the astronauts and of the media covering the 'story of the century'?
I thought it might be a touch depressing. But I did seek it out at the library to find out. And I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, I am now perfectly informed of the meaning of 'hypergolic' and 'copacetic'. I understand how many ways were available for non-redundant rocket engines to not work. I was unsurprised by the apparent disdain with which NASA was believed to hold astronauts wives - that they were 'inconvenient' in the face of tragedy. I was a bit unimpressed by the narrator, dubbed 'Aquarius' and apparently modeled on iconic US writer Norman Mailer. Likewise the focus on 'who's first' on the moon. But the characterisations of the other players-Neil, Buzz, Mike, Jane, Janet, Mogie (who loved the LEM) and their vast supporting cast, real and imagined is impressive. And enables the writer's clever sleight of word which enables the telling of other scenarios - from daring 'Martianesque' rescue to heroic death-to be rolled out.
Well worth the time.
I thought it might be a touch depressing. But I did seek it out at the library to find out. And I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, I am now perfectly informed of the meaning of 'hypergolic' and 'copacetic'. I understand how many ways were available for non-redundant rocket engines to not work. I was unsurprised by the apparent disdain with which NASA was believed to hold astronauts wives - that they were 'inconvenient' in the face of tragedy. I was a bit unimpressed by the narrator, dubbed 'Aquarius' and apparently modeled on iconic US writer Norman Mailer. Likewise the focus on 'who's first' on the moon. But the characterisations of the other players-Neil, Buzz, Mike, Jane, Janet, Mogie (who loved the LEM) and their vast supporting cast, real and imagined is impressive. And enables the writer's clever sleight of word which enables the telling of other scenarios - from daring 'Martianesque' rescue to heroic death-to be rolled out.
Well worth the time.
October 22, 2025
This Kingdom of Dust left me wondering what the point was, if there ever really was one. The characters felt flat, the plot barely existed, and the whole thing trudged toward a predictable conclusion.
I’m not quite sure if the intention was to keep the characters and stories as bland as the surface of the moon, but that’s how it felt. The three perspectives of Buzz, Joan, and Aquarius were disappointingly dull. Aquarius in particular came across as disinterested and unlikeable, and many of the side stories felt unnecessary and confusing.
It’s a bitter story that’s pointlessly snarky, emotionally hollow, and strangely obsessed with trivial details (did we really need Aquarius voiding his bladder?). Even the disturbing lizard scene in Panama felt misplaced.
By the end, I was left with a mix of frustration and apathy. Two stars, though I’m not entirely sure what for.
I’m not quite sure if the intention was to keep the characters and stories as bland as the surface of the moon, but that’s how it felt. The three perspectives of Buzz, Joan, and Aquarius were disappointingly dull. Aquarius in particular came across as disinterested and unlikeable, and many of the side stories felt unnecessary and confusing.
It’s a bitter story that’s pointlessly snarky, emotionally hollow, and strangely obsessed with trivial details (did we really need Aquarius voiding his bladder?). Even the disturbing lizard scene in Panama felt misplaced.
By the end, I was left with a mix of frustration and apathy. Two stars, though I’m not entirely sure what for.
December 26, 2024
This book of course is fiction and as it turns out fiction within fiction. Essentially instead of the astronauts coming home after a successful Apollo mission, Buzz and Neil are running into trouble when it comes to returning home, I won’t spoil the ending. At the same time we are also getting an insight to the lives of the astronauts wives, in particular Jane and the author Aquarius who has been commissioned by to write about the Apollo landing, but instead he ends up focusing on Buzz‘s wife. It had a lot of technical terminology and theories that made zero sense to me, which is probably why I decided to rate it a 3 instead of higher. I’d say it’s a solid 3.5 but rounded down to 3 due to all the technical theories
May 29, 2025
I very much enjoyed This Kingdom of Dust by David Dyer which story is set in July 1969 in the USA and the Moon. This is a story about a story of the events at that time through the voices of Buzz, his wife Joan and journalist Aquarius. Three astronauts, Neil, Buzz and Mike leave Earth. Neil and Buzz land on the moon in a small spacecraft where they walk, talk to the president and their families, collect rocks, and prepare to lift off into the spacecraft which is orbiting around the Moon with Mike as pilot. However, things don’t go as planned and the astronauts and their colleagues at Mission Control try to find a solution to the problem. An interesting and suspenseful re-imagining of the events of those days in 1969. 4½/5
November 29, 2025
This book retells the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, supposing that when they go to leave the Moon Neil and Buzz discover a problem with the LEM preventing them from taking off. I so wanted to like this book. It should have been right up my alley - Apollo program, retelling of historical events, etc. But it was so slow, just plodded along, somehow making something as magnificent as the Moon Landing boring. I found none of the characters particularly likeable, and the weird sort-off self insertion with the writer/narrator character felt so unnecessary. It's such an exciting premise, and so much more could have been done with it and there seems to be a lot of praise out there, but for whatever reason it just wasn't for me.
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