Luna: New Moon

Starred review from August 10, 2015
McDonald (Empress of the Sun) begins his superb near-future series launch with an elaborate and very necessary list of characters. The five families who rule Earthâs moon, called the Five Dragons, operate in an essentially feudal system. There is no law but contract law and consensus, and contract violations can be settled by dueling. The Cortas, the newest of the Dragons, control the moonâs helium and ship it to Earth to power the overpopulated planet. Their greatest enemy, the MacKenzies, control mineral extraction and have deeply resented the Cortasâ incursion into their domain. Adriana, the founder of the Corta family, is old, and her sons and daughters are relentlessly jockeying for the succession. Meanwhile, Marina Calzaghe, a near-destitute temporary Corta employee, saves one of those sons from assassination, and quickly finds herself drawn into the familyâs scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next yearâs award ballots. Agent:John Berlyne, Zeno Agency, in association with Martha Millard, Sterling Lord Literistic.

August 1, 2015

Those families known as the Five Dragons were among the first humans to leave Earth to exploit the resources of the moon; while they have carved out their own specializations, their competition reflects the rough frontier spirit that still epitomizes lunar society. The Cortas made their fortune in Helium-3, which Earth desperately needs, but even within the family there is a constant jockeying for power. The Corta matriarch is dying, and conflicts with their rivals, the Mackenzies, threaten to boil over into war. VERDICT McDonald (The Dervish House; "Everness" trilogy) specializes in big cast sf with exotic settings, and this volume excels on those points. The time the author spent getting to know the Brazilian culture for his novel Brasyl comes in handy for his portrayal of the Cortas, still viewed as rough-edged thugs from the favela (slum) by the other families. The idea of a lunar society in which profit and contract law have replaced more prosaic notions of order produces a volatile setting that McDonald will visit again, as this is apparently the first book of a duology.--MM

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
The award-winning author of The Dervish House (2010) and Brasyl (2007) takes his talents to the moon in this thrilling near-future drama. Everything is for sale in the harsh and brutal environment of the moon, and five families control all aspects of the economy. Plots and conspiracies abound as the Five Dragons jockey for monetary and political advantage in a world where there is no criminal or civil law, only contract law and consensus. Those less fortunate must scramble simply to survive while the corporate families live in incredible luxury. Adriana Corta made her fortune from wresting lucrative helium mining from the powerful MacKenzie family, but unrest and attacks on her family threaten the Cortas' future. McDonald does a masterful job of alternating perspectives to paint a fascinating picture of family drama and corporate greed set against a backdrop of imaginative postcyberpunk technology, and Adriana's backstory, told in a series of confessionals, adds depth to the plot. This first title in a projected duology will have broad appeal among sf readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2016
In Ashby's kinetic and original science-fiction thriller, a corporate heir's bodyguard contends with time-traveling assassins, nanobot-assisted serial murders, and (only a bit incongruously) falling in love. Hwa is used to being overlooked by people in New Arcadia, a city built on an oil rig floating off the Canadian Maritimes coast. Lacking bioengineered enhancements, she's the only fully organic person on the rig-burg, but not by choice: her pitiless mother won't pay for them, even to cure Hwa's seizure disorder. After years of martial-arts training, Hwa is a skilled fighter with a steady job protecting unionized sex workers. When she takes a job guarding the youngest heir to the Lynch corporate empire that owns New Arcadia, she finds their dazzling world hides many dangers, from jealous siblings to post-Singularity future AI. Meanwhile, a serial killer stalks Hwa's sex-worker friends in a plot that may be connected to the Lynch family. Despite a confusing, underdeveloped wrap-up, this is a fascinating mix of detective noir and near-future sf with cinematic world building and a broken but resilient, unquestionably badass heroine.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)