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Walking on the Sea of Clouds
Before permanent lunar encampments such as Clarke's Clavius Base (in 2001: A Space Odyssey ) or Heinlein's Luna City (in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress ) could be built, there would have to be the first settlers--the first people to set up shop and try to eke out an existence on the Moon. Walking On the Sea of Clouds is the story of such lunar two couples, Stormie and Frank Pastorelli and Van and Barbara Richards, determined to survive and succeed in this near-future technological drama about the risks people will take, the emergencies they'll face, and the sacrifices they'll make as members of the first commercial lunar colony. In the end, one will decide to leave, one will decide to stay, one will put off deciding ... and one will decide to die so another can live.
- GenresScience Fiction
427 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2017
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51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 12, 2018
(Note: I wrote this book review to fulfill a requirement to write a literary analysis for an MFA class, so it's slightly fancier than my typical review...may contain spoilers)
In his debut novel, Walking on the Sea of Clouds, Gray Rinehart sets himself an ambitious task. A novel that neatly aligns with hard science fiction’s focus on technology and scientific accuracy, Walking is a near-future sci-fi novel that also takes its time in the literary depths of the motivations and all-too-human endeavors of its main characters.
The novel opens on the characters of Stormie and Frank Pastorelli, the Italian surname belying the Kenyan origins of the latter and the dark skin of the former. Rinehart spends time showing us this couple as they enjoy a dinner date, followed by a walk and the purchase of some art. Their dynamic shows signs of latent stress and the strain that comes between a couple trying to make their best memory, and the sense of their impending mission pervades even their idle talk. A traffic accident in front of them sends a jarring note into the scene, delaying their imminent involvement in the first step of becoming part of the first lunar colony, and giving us a glimpse into the part of Stormie’s personality that won’t allow her to avoid providing aid to a victim, even when it endangers her entire goal and focus.
In our first glimpse of Van Richards, the male half of the counterpart couple to Stormie and Frank, who are training to become part of the second group of colonists, we see him launching into orbit with the first group of lunar colonists, losing both his last meal on Earth, as well as the “puke pool,” the informal bet that members of the mission have placed to see who will make it into orbit with their stomachs intact. Van is both desperate to be part of the lunar colony mission, and equally eager for his wife, Barbara to join him. It is through this character that Rinehart introduces the reader to the mission—a combined operation in which the technology of the future exhibits many of the same characteristics of present-day contracting and engineering challenges. Rinehart draws the reader into the technology through the humanity of its users, giving the reader a touchpoint of the familiar and the future at the same time. While Stormie and Frank weather their disappointment and delay together, Van spends much of his time torn between the excitement of his time building the colony and missing Barbara, who remains at home on Earth, awaiting her husband’s return, before they both journey to the moon.
Rinehart’s style is literary, plainspoken, as concerned with the rhythms of emotion and habit that married couples experience between each other as it is with the technology of ice harvesting. His approach is well suited to his themes, both of which center humanity in the midst of science and technology.
Van Richards comes the closest to physically embodying the idea of humanity as unstoppable in its quest to reach the stars, even if the first steps are painful stumbles. For all the loyalty that binds Van to his wife, his dreams of working in space transcend those bonds, even if he doesn’t realize it. Stormie and Frank are also determined to reach the stars even if their quest has as much to do with fulfilling their investor’s financial commitment as it does their purpose and mission. Only Barbara finds herself hesitant, willing to admit that she will miss what she must leave on Earth.
Hand in hand with this theme is Rinehart’s determination to impress on the reader the fragility of human life as it makes its way to the stars. He begins Stormie and Frank’s mission with a motorcycle accident and reinforces this theme with his casual remarks regarding the loss of vehicles to Mars, and one launch to the lunar colony that ends in a catastrophic explosion. This theme continues from the pain Van suffers when he injures his knee, to the pre-arthritis Frank suffers, to the onset of food poisoning that sweeps the colony and the final, tragic, series of incidents that lead to Frank’s death. Throughout, Rinehart presents these events with an even, measured tone, conveying a sense of the inevitable as much in the tragedy that takes Frank’s life as in Barbara’s decision to leave and Van and Stormie’s decisions to stay.
Hard science fiction often asks the question of what technology might look like in the future, where speculative fiction asks the broader question of, what if? Walking on the Sea of Clouds treads more of the latter territory; the novel spends as much time on the dynamics of the Richards’ and Pastorelli’s relationships, as on the technology that will make a lunar colony a future reality. This, in the end, is what draws the reader into Rinehart’s world. The human dimension contains the aspects that will affect any future mission as much as, if not more than, the specifications of pre-fabricated colony modules. When the time comes to take the first step to the stars, the future colonists will be well served to consider the questions of humanity and technology that Rinehart poses in this contribution to the speculative fiction canon.
In his debut novel, Walking on the Sea of Clouds, Gray Rinehart sets himself an ambitious task. A novel that neatly aligns with hard science fiction’s focus on technology and scientific accuracy, Walking is a near-future sci-fi novel that also takes its time in the literary depths of the motivations and all-too-human endeavors of its main characters.
The novel opens on the characters of Stormie and Frank Pastorelli, the Italian surname belying the Kenyan origins of the latter and the dark skin of the former. Rinehart spends time showing us this couple as they enjoy a dinner date, followed by a walk and the purchase of some art. Their dynamic shows signs of latent stress and the strain that comes between a couple trying to make their best memory, and the sense of their impending mission pervades even their idle talk. A traffic accident in front of them sends a jarring note into the scene, delaying their imminent involvement in the first step of becoming part of the first lunar colony, and giving us a glimpse into the part of Stormie’s personality that won’t allow her to avoid providing aid to a victim, even when it endangers her entire goal and focus.
In our first glimpse of Van Richards, the male half of the counterpart couple to Stormie and Frank, who are training to become part of the second group of colonists, we see him launching into orbit with the first group of lunar colonists, losing both his last meal on Earth, as well as the “puke pool,” the informal bet that members of the mission have placed to see who will make it into orbit with their stomachs intact. Van is both desperate to be part of the lunar colony mission, and equally eager for his wife, Barbara to join him. It is through this character that Rinehart introduces the reader to the mission—a combined operation in which the technology of the future exhibits many of the same characteristics of present-day contracting and engineering challenges. Rinehart draws the reader into the technology through the humanity of its users, giving the reader a touchpoint of the familiar and the future at the same time. While Stormie and Frank weather their disappointment and delay together, Van spends much of his time torn between the excitement of his time building the colony and missing Barbara, who remains at home on Earth, awaiting her husband’s return, before they both journey to the moon.
Rinehart’s style is literary, plainspoken, as concerned with the rhythms of emotion and habit that married couples experience between each other as it is with the technology of ice harvesting. His approach is well suited to his themes, both of which center humanity in the midst of science and technology.
Van Richards comes the closest to physically embodying the idea of humanity as unstoppable in its quest to reach the stars, even if the first steps are painful stumbles. For all the loyalty that binds Van to his wife, his dreams of working in space transcend those bonds, even if he doesn’t realize it. Stormie and Frank are also determined to reach the stars even if their quest has as much to do with fulfilling their investor’s financial commitment as it does their purpose and mission. Only Barbara finds herself hesitant, willing to admit that she will miss what she must leave on Earth.
Hand in hand with this theme is Rinehart’s determination to impress on the reader the fragility of human life as it makes its way to the stars. He begins Stormie and Frank’s mission with a motorcycle accident and reinforces this theme with his casual remarks regarding the loss of vehicles to Mars, and one launch to the lunar colony that ends in a catastrophic explosion. This theme continues from the pain Van suffers when he injures his knee, to the pre-arthritis Frank suffers, to the onset of food poisoning that sweeps the colony and the final, tragic, series of incidents that lead to Frank’s death. Throughout, Rinehart presents these events with an even, measured tone, conveying a sense of the inevitable as much in the tragedy that takes Frank’s life as in Barbara’s decision to leave and Van and Stormie’s decisions to stay.
Hard science fiction often asks the question of what technology might look like in the future, where speculative fiction asks the broader question of, what if? Walking on the Sea of Clouds treads more of the latter territory; the novel spends as much time on the dynamics of the Richards’ and Pastorelli’s relationships, as on the technology that will make a lunar colony a future reality. This, in the end, is what draws the reader into Rinehart’s world. The human dimension contains the aspects that will affect any future mission as much as, if not more than, the specifications of pre-fabricated colony modules. When the time comes to take the first step to the stars, the future colonists will be well served to consider the questions of humanity and technology that Rinehart poses in this contribution to the speculative fiction canon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2017
If you’ve ever wanted to be a colonist on the moon, this is as close as you will ever get without going there yourself.
Fans of THE MARTIAN will appreciate the technical struggles of Frank and Stormie, Van and Barbara, and the other couples sent up to a moon colony started as a private venture. What’s especially interesting is not just the bang-on accuracy of the engineering challenges involved, it’s the behind-the-scenes wrangling of the company sending them, the independent contractors, and the very human situations these forces create for the colonists.
It’s all filtered through two couples, mainly. Frank and Stormie are going to the moon as the culmination of a lifelong dream, and we follow the final selection process and its unexpected pitfalls and dangers and mockups through their eyes. Will one stupid mistake make one or both of them wash out? Van is already on the moon, and Barbara is slated to join him. Is it his dream she’s hitched her wagon to, or is it her own?
What’s telling is I’d actually love to read more about the colony and its struggles, to see if they make it. The end of the book has determination written in every line, but the moon settlement’s fate is far from clear, and much of the problem with that lies back on earth. I hope there are sequels in the offing!
Fans of THE MARTIAN will appreciate the technical struggles of Frank and Stormie, Van and Barbara, and the other couples sent up to a moon colony started as a private venture. What’s especially interesting is not just the bang-on accuracy of the engineering challenges involved, it’s the behind-the-scenes wrangling of the company sending them, the independent contractors, and the very human situations these forces create for the colonists.
It’s all filtered through two couples, mainly. Frank and Stormie are going to the moon as the culmination of a lifelong dream, and we follow the final selection process and its unexpected pitfalls and dangers and mockups through their eyes. Will one stupid mistake make one or both of them wash out? Van is already on the moon, and Barbara is slated to join him. Is it his dream she’s hitched her wagon to, or is it her own?
What’s telling is I’d actually love to read more about the colony and its struggles, to see if they make it. The end of the book has determination written in every line, but the moon settlement’s fate is far from clear, and much of the problem with that lies back on earth. I hope there are sequels in the offing!
January 30, 2018
I don't know how I got this book; it was either sent to me as a review copy, or it may have been loaned to me for the same purpose. In either case, it appeared in my January review queue, for which I am grateful.
At some point in the early-to-mid 1990's, purchased a computer simulation games called either "Moonbase" or "Lunar Command." It was loads of fun for a while; you had to build habitats and mining units, and keep within a budget. After a while, though, there was just a lot of work involved, and I think I abandoned the game.
Gray Rinehart has re-created both the novelty and the tedium of that early computer simulation, and personalized it with perhaps the most human characters I've ever had the pleasure to encounter in my reading space.
For most of the moon colonists, the mission of establishing a working colony on the moon has been THE driving force in their lives. They are the people who pasted posters of the moon on their bedroom ceiling, so they could memorize the features revealed by telescopes and the early lunar explorer programs. They made sure their moms bought enough of the right kind of cereal, so that they could get the glow-in-the-dark moon globe with the box tops. It's always been their passion, and has sustained them through exhaustive schooling and the selection process; when the rules said that only married couples would be accepted, they advertised for mates with credentials which would supplement their own.
A few have other reasons; they are drawn into the adventure because it's the dream of the person that they love. And THIS is where I realized what a brilliant observer of humans Gray Rinehart is: he manages to get inside the head of those who have mixed feelings so well, that we absolutely understand their conflict. His insight into the workings of the human mind are found in other areas of conflict, as well; the wife in one couple is extremely conflicted over the beliefs and practices of religion, while her husband was raised in a missionary family, and retains much of the belief system he was raised with. Throughout, ALL of the involved characters are portrayed sympathetically, which is quite a feat, given that they have such a different set of core values.
I do not mean to imply that all is butterflies and sunshine within the group. The administrator uses his giant thumb to mash people from time to time. Some people are obnoxious, bordering on becoming a danger to the existence of the colony. And over everything is the constrain strain of making the project come in, on time, and within budget. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" said the character in the "The Right Stuff," and the adage still applies. The real money comes from asteroid mining, and the moon base is a part of the supply chain. They cannot afford to siphon off too much from the actual mining efforts for their own use, or the bean counters on Earth are likely to cut corners, reduce support, or even give up on the project.
Lunar dust is abrasive. Tanks and structures leak. Equipment breaks down before it's supposed to, or sometimes a planned shipment goes off course and important resources get hard-landed far out of reach. It's always hard work, and just because the weight of an object is 1/6 that on Earth, the mass remains unchanged, so the colonists don't get to act like Superman and pick up huge items and move them around casually.
It's hard work, and Rinehart makes that clear. It's also beautiful work, and Rinehart makes that clear as well. I had hoped, as a member of the generation that remembers Sputnik circling the Earth, and our own inability to get into orbit, that by this time, I would have been able to book passage on a cruise ship to the Moon, and take pictures of the Apollo 11 landing site.
Since that hasn't worked out for me, I'd love to see it happen for my grandsons and granddaughters. When I used to get requests from United Way, they would let me designate a particular recipient of the $% per pay period I donated. I wish there was such an option with the IRS, because I'd fund space exploration directly, instead of leaving it up to Congress.
At some point in the early-to-mid 1990's, purchased a computer simulation games called either "Moonbase" or "Lunar Command." It was loads of fun for a while; you had to build habitats and mining units, and keep within a budget. After a while, though, there was just a lot of work involved, and I think I abandoned the game.
Gray Rinehart has re-created both the novelty and the tedium of that early computer simulation, and personalized it with perhaps the most human characters I've ever had the pleasure to encounter in my reading space.
For most of the moon colonists, the mission of establishing a working colony on the moon has been THE driving force in their lives. They are the people who pasted posters of the moon on their bedroom ceiling, so they could memorize the features revealed by telescopes and the early lunar explorer programs. They made sure their moms bought enough of the right kind of cereal, so that they could get the glow-in-the-dark moon globe with the box tops. It's always been their passion, and has sustained them through exhaustive schooling and the selection process; when the rules said that only married couples would be accepted, they advertised for mates with credentials which would supplement their own.
A few have other reasons; they are drawn into the adventure because it's the dream of the person that they love. And THIS is where I realized what a brilliant observer of humans Gray Rinehart is: he manages to get inside the head of those who have mixed feelings so well, that we absolutely understand their conflict. His insight into the workings of the human mind are found in other areas of conflict, as well; the wife in one couple is extremely conflicted over the beliefs and practices of religion, while her husband was raised in a missionary family, and retains much of the belief system he was raised with. Throughout, ALL of the involved characters are portrayed sympathetically, which is quite a feat, given that they have such a different set of core values.
I do not mean to imply that all is butterflies and sunshine within the group. The administrator uses his giant thumb to mash people from time to time. Some people are obnoxious, bordering on becoming a danger to the existence of the colony. And over everything is the constrain strain of making the project come in, on time, and within budget. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" said the character in the "The Right Stuff," and the adage still applies. The real money comes from asteroid mining, and the moon base is a part of the supply chain. They cannot afford to siphon off too much from the actual mining efforts for their own use, or the bean counters on Earth are likely to cut corners, reduce support, or even give up on the project.
Lunar dust is abrasive. Tanks and structures leak. Equipment breaks down before it's supposed to, or sometimes a planned shipment goes off course and important resources get hard-landed far out of reach. It's always hard work, and just because the weight of an object is 1/6 that on Earth, the mass remains unchanged, so the colonists don't get to act like Superman and pick up huge items and move them around casually.
It's hard work, and Rinehart makes that clear. It's also beautiful work, and Rinehart makes that clear as well. I had hoped, as a member of the generation that remembers Sputnik circling the Earth, and our own inability to get into orbit, that by this time, I would have been able to book passage on a cruise ship to the Moon, and take pictures of the Apollo 11 landing site.
Since that hasn't worked out for me, I'd love to see it happen for my grandsons and granddaughters. When I used to get requests from United Way, they would let me designate a particular recipient of the $% per pay period I donated. I wish there was such an option with the IRS, because I'd fund space exploration directly, instead of leaving it up to Congress.
September 14, 2017
This is a hard science fiction book, no ifs ands or buts about it. For my readers who are into strict action/adventure or military SF only, this book may not be for you. However for hard science fiction, Mr. Rinehart succeeded at creating a very good work. I personally like to get a breadth of reading in so this was an excellent change of pace to my usual.
The story at its core is a procedural one about a corporation funding the first colony on the moon, the set up missions, the follow up training, and then the first days on the colony as they struggle with the harsh realities that an airless hostile environment on the outside would actually be like. It’s a colonization story in the tradition of Kim Stanley Robinson.
Where this differs from a lot of procedural sci-fi, is that Rinehart does a good job in the first several chapters of establishing reasons to care about the characters, humanizing them and creating attachment. I liked Stormie a lot more than I did the other main perspective character, but they were both likable and interesting. Their relationships with their significant others were near as important as the main plot of the book.
A reader gets a great sense of how these folk live their lives, in a very detailed manner. Rinehart clearly researched the science and engineering of all of this to an extreme degree from the way the colony’s constructed, to the moon vehicles, to the way air pressure and moon dust is handled. There were a lot of details of colonization I’d never considered before reading this fiction.
On the other side, Rinehart also shows his love of science fiction at every turn. There are a LOT of references to classic sci-fi. Many readers would enjoy this for the references alone, I know I loved finding the nods here and there, some more overt than others.
On a critical level, as this is more realistic and procedural, the tension levels weren’t all that high throughout the book. It would ebb and flow depending on the situation, but I didn’t end up feeling a ton of danger to the main characters. The end has a surprise element to it which was enjoyable, but I would have liked a bit more tension there at different points. I’m not sure if that’s a subgenre difference between my usual action/adventure reading and the hard procedural hard sci-fi, but I could think of ways to have added a bit more in there for a few of the scenes. There is also a pattern I note to the book of accident – fix, accident – fix, that is a plot point but may have been repeated one too many times and there could have been a shortening of the book by a scene or two.
The prose was tight, clean, and as professional as can be. Rinehart really knows his writing. As a debut novel, it’s extremely solid and Gray Rinehart is a name you should look out for in the future as taking up the Arthur C. Clarke style mantle in hard sci-fi.
The story at its core is a procedural one about a corporation funding the first colony on the moon, the set up missions, the follow up training, and then the first days on the colony as they struggle with the harsh realities that an airless hostile environment on the outside would actually be like. It’s a colonization story in the tradition of Kim Stanley Robinson.
Where this differs from a lot of procedural sci-fi, is that Rinehart does a good job in the first several chapters of establishing reasons to care about the characters, humanizing them and creating attachment. I liked Stormie a lot more than I did the other main perspective character, but they were both likable and interesting. Their relationships with their significant others were near as important as the main plot of the book.
A reader gets a great sense of how these folk live their lives, in a very detailed manner. Rinehart clearly researched the science and engineering of all of this to an extreme degree from the way the colony’s constructed, to the moon vehicles, to the way air pressure and moon dust is handled. There were a lot of details of colonization I’d never considered before reading this fiction.
On the other side, Rinehart also shows his love of science fiction at every turn. There are a LOT of references to classic sci-fi. Many readers would enjoy this for the references alone, I know I loved finding the nods here and there, some more overt than others.
On a critical level, as this is more realistic and procedural, the tension levels weren’t all that high throughout the book. It would ebb and flow depending on the situation, but I didn’t end up feeling a ton of danger to the main characters. The end has a surprise element to it which was enjoyable, but I would have liked a bit more tension there at different points. I’m not sure if that’s a subgenre difference between my usual action/adventure reading and the hard procedural hard sci-fi, but I could think of ways to have added a bit more in there for a few of the scenes. There is also a pattern I note to the book of accident – fix, accident – fix, that is a plot point but may have been repeated one too many times and there could have been a shortening of the book by a scene or two.
The prose was tight, clean, and as professional as can be. Rinehart really knows his writing. As a debut novel, it’s extremely solid and Gray Rinehart is a name you should look out for in the future as taking up the Arthur C. Clarke style mantle in hard sci-fi.
June 5, 2019
A Review of the Audiobook
Published in 2019 by WordFire Press LLC.
Read by Stephanie Minervino.
Duration: 13 hours, 33 minutes.
Unabridged.
In the year 2034 a private corporation is making an attempt to build a colony on the surface of the moon to act as a home base for asteroid miners. They make the long run from the moon to the asteroid belt and back so that the lunar base can refine the metals found in the asteroids. It's a solid plan, but it has to start with almost nothing and work it's way to the kind of lunar colony you see in the movies.
The world of 2034 is different in some ways. There are early references to some sort of traumatic biological problem, such as rampant infectious disease. A great deal of the early parts of the book is devoted to Stormie and Frank Pastorelli, two prospective lunar colonists that expose themselves to the risk of contracting a bloodborne pathogens when they help the victims of a car crash. The lengths they go to cleanse themselves of pathogens and the fear exhibited by other potential colonists tell me that this was not HIV or hepatitis. Sadly, it is never explained what the infection could have been even though the infection story line comes up again and again throughout the entire book.
NASA is rarely mentioned in this book because this colony is a private venture. Imagine if Elon Musk and Space-X decided to go the moon and you get the idea. But, it's not entirely a company operation - there are independent contractors that manage parts of the small-but-growing lunar colony and there are independent contractors that deliver goods. It all can be very complicated and decidedly not glamorous to hash out who has what responsibilities with the lawyers - just like most corporate gigs.
If you remember the literary devices you learned about in school (man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. nature) - this book is almost entirely man vs. nature - the nature is the harsh environment of the moon. It is the ultimate unforgiving environment - it is so cold that you will die almost instantly upon exposure, it has no atmosphere so you can't even take a breath and fluids burn away immediately when the sunlight hits them. The temperature extremes (more than a 500+ degree Fahrenheit difference) are tough on the machinery and the dust...well the dust gets everywhere and unlike Earth dust, it can be sharp and jagged (no weathering to take off the harsh edges) and it can tear up all sorts of stuff.
Building a colony in such conditions can...
Read more at: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2019...
Published in 2019 by WordFire Press LLC.
Read by Stephanie Minervino.
Duration: 13 hours, 33 minutes.
Unabridged.
In the year 2034 a private corporation is making an attempt to build a colony on the surface of the moon to act as a home base for asteroid miners. They make the long run from the moon to the asteroid belt and back so that the lunar base can refine the metals found in the asteroids. It's a solid plan, but it has to start with almost nothing and work it's way to the kind of lunar colony you see in the movies.
The world of 2034 is different in some ways. There are early references to some sort of traumatic biological problem, such as rampant infectious disease. A great deal of the early parts of the book is devoted to Stormie and Frank Pastorelli, two prospective lunar colonists that expose themselves to the risk of contracting a bloodborne pathogens when they help the victims of a car crash. The lengths they go to cleanse themselves of pathogens and the fear exhibited by other potential colonists tell me that this was not HIV or hepatitis. Sadly, it is never explained what the infection could have been even though the infection story line comes up again and again throughout the entire book.
NASA is rarely mentioned in this book because this colony is a private venture. Imagine if Elon Musk and Space-X decided to go the moon and you get the idea. But, it's not entirely a company operation - there are independent contractors that manage parts of the small-but-growing lunar colony and there are independent contractors that deliver goods. It all can be very complicated and decidedly not glamorous to hash out who has what responsibilities with the lawyers - just like most corporate gigs.
If you remember the literary devices you learned about in school (man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. nature) - this book is almost entirely man vs. nature - the nature is the harsh environment of the moon. It is the ultimate unforgiving environment - it is so cold that you will die almost instantly upon exposure, it has no atmosphere so you can't even take a breath and fluids burn away immediately when the sunlight hits them. The temperature extremes (more than a 500+ degree Fahrenheit difference) are tough on the machinery and the dust...well the dust gets everywhere and unlike Earth dust, it can be sharp and jagged (no weathering to take off the harsh edges) and it can tear up all sorts of stuff.
Building a colony in such conditions can...
Read more at: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2019...
March 15, 2019
To be honest this book was really boring. Hardly anything memorable happened and there was barely a plot to speak of. Imagine a caretaker explaining to you how the air filtration system works and why your fan broke, that's basically what it felt like reading this book. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but I've literally just finished reading it and can barely think of an enjoyable/memorable moment. It's incredible how dull this book made living on the moon seem. A lunar colony is a really cool and exciting concept, yet the book made it as exciting as filling out a bureaucratic form.
The main characters don't even arrive on the Moon until two thirds of the way through the book, until then there was just a lot of tedious discussion about their contract (this also continued after they arrived) and a medical procedure they underwent. If I buy a book about a lunar colony, I expect it to be about, you know, a lunar colony.
The book earned a star for its characters, who seemed like nice ordinary people with healthy marriages. Unfortunately they weren't interesting and didn't do much, but at least the author put effort into developing them, which is more than you can say for some sci-fi authors.
The main characters don't even arrive on the Moon until two thirds of the way through the book, until then there was just a lot of tedious discussion about their contract (this also continued after they arrived) and a medical procedure they underwent. If I buy a book about a lunar colony, I expect it to be about, you know, a lunar colony.
The book earned a star for its characters, who seemed like nice ordinary people with healthy marriages. Unfortunately they weren't interesting and didn't do much, but at least the author put effort into developing them, which is more than you can say for some sci-fi authors.
August 15, 2017
Wow this was good
I think since this is relatively close to earth and a place we as a people have been to to this is more perceivable then The Martian. This is filled with desires of the characters in the book. Which I found the character development fantastic. They are real people to me with real dreams and believable in what they do, how they live, and the personalities. The way the characters were developed with the back stories and how they thought and actions they did brought them to life. I would recommend this to my friends and family. It was a very good story and I hold back on the 5 strategies for books deserving of the ratio g and this is one of them. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. It is a very good investment of your time and money. Well worth it. This seems like it would make an excellent movie. It is much along the lines of The Martian.
I think since this is relatively close to earth and a place we as a people have been to to this is more perceivable then The Martian. This is filled with desires of the characters in the book. Which I found the character development fantastic. They are real people to me with real dreams and believable in what they do, how they live, and the personalities. The way the characters were developed with the back stories and how they thought and actions they did brought them to life. I would recommend this to my friends and family. It was a very good story and I hold back on the 5 strategies for books deserving of the ratio g and this is one of them. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. It is a very good investment of your time and money. Well worth it. This seems like it would make an excellent movie. It is much along the lines of The Martian.
May 23, 2019
A fresh story about setting up a lunar colony. The story follows a few characters paths and they do intermix occasionally during the story. I felt like I got to know each of the main characters and understand their motivations throughout the story.
It set in the near future allowing the reader to understand there have been some advancements in technology, but nothing that seems out of reach to our time.
I read through audible and thought the narration was good and was smoothly transitioned between characters.
The scientist and engineers are passionate about their work and have interesting stories to be told. I hope to read more of these characters in the future.
It set in the near future allowing the reader to understand there have been some advancements in technology, but nothing that seems out of reach to our time.
I read through audible and thought the narration was good and was smoothly transitioned between characters.
The scientist and engineers are passionate about their work and have interesting stories to be told. I hope to read more of these characters in the future.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews