Everything Other World discussion

Almost forgot. The August winner is Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald. It was the 2016 winner of the Galactic Spectrum Awards

As Children, Selena and Julie were close. A rift began developing between them as they entered their teens. Then, Julie disappears when she is seventeen. It will be twenty years before Selena sees her older sister again. When she does reappear, Julie tells Selena an impossible story about living on another planet. Selena is left with a choice. Dismiss her sister’s story as delusions, a way of coping with whatever did happen. Or, she can believe Julie but risk her own sanity.

I had some trouble with this book. The idea was good, but the execution lacking. Nina Allan was shifting back and forth between past and present and made the story very hard to follow. It felt disjointed and confusing. What did everyone else think?

I'm usually willing to entertain a bit of time shifting, but not so much that it feels disjointed. I have a client who shifted back and forth between adulthood and childhood of the main character very artfully, so I know when it is handled well. I agree that the execution in this was a bit lacking, so at times, it was like trying to find the storyline in murky waters.

Perhaps it won the contest based on the concept. Although, I would expect more from a book that beat out all of the other contestants.