Maybe I've become acculturated to this series' setting, but things just didn't seem as weird (or enjoyable) as in [b:New Moon|23848027|New Moon (Luna #1)|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437138235s/23848027.jpg|43458032]. So that's why I've given this one only 3 stars. But I would nonetheless recommend the series to those who like the sweeping, family-centered intrigues of [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune #1)|Frank Herbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434908555s/234225.jpg|3634639] or [b:A Game of Thrones|13496|A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436732693s/13496.jpg|1466917]. ( )

I love the small details in the text. "I want, I want!" William Blake picture displayed in the fictional eatery just about sums it up. The story is continuing as expected, seamlessly with the first instalment. I am also influenced by the teenage character's obsessions with cake, and have found myself craving! ( )

Second book of the “game of thrones on the moon” trilogy which I’m reading primarily to review the third. This one has some good parts but was definitely weaker than the first book. I might even say 3-3.5/5. ( )

life or death family business as the 22nd century begins. Game of Thrones on the moon, some cast this sf series: it's certainly ruthless enough to fit. the dynasty falls, but a new generation goes underground to survive. but it's surprisingly tender, the tale of all those displaced Cortas, very young but third generation Moon. the story develops here at perhaps not quite as breakneck a pace as in the first book, but along the way it lingers a bit more on personalities and mettle, contrasting the governance model and the ideology of Moon against Earth politics, and i'm good with that emphasis. altogether i'm quite fond of this saga, and of McDonald's work generally, so i'm now eagerly awaiting the last book in the trilogy. ( )

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!

This is definitely the kind of series where you have to want to pay very close attention to the sharp, precise lines of text, enjoy truly convoluted political machinations, and not mind a lot of weird sex.

What a weird thing to say about a novel, right? But it's true! After so many brilliant and beautiful descriptions of tall towers on the moon, of falling from great heights, both literally and figuratively, we see the grandeur and the decadence and the hubris writ large and upon a grand scale.

It's not just the fall of the moon we have to deal with or it's families squabbling over the remains of a great house that isn't *quite* dead, it's the amazing breadth of the big tale and the sheer oddities of the characters that make this novel -- and the one before it -- shine.

That's not to say I wasn't horribly disgruntled with long passages were things weren't happening to the main plot or when we had to get into all the deviancies of our main characters, in grand detail, making me wonder when the quite ripe core of the tale was going to come to fruit.

I was already thirsting to hell for revenge at the end of the first novel.

The second takes its sweet time getting closer, but alas, even after so much new destruction and close-calls, including a rather traditional (and harrowing as hell) moonwalk in horrible circumstances, we're still not quite ready for the revenge.

Am I alone in wanting a bit of good bloodshed and the turn of the wheel? I hope not! :)

Still, middle novel or not, it's a grand continuance of the buildup of what ought to be a truly stunning tour-de-force of politics, ruthlessness, Great Families, and bloodlust. Godfather Style on the Moon. :)
( )