**** Horror on the Moon
All right,
I bought this book because there was the word Moon on the cover, even though
from the description I had guessed that it was a young adult novel, which is
not really my thing. I must say I was not disappointed, because I knew where I
was going to get myself into.
The
language of the book is very simple, as it should be since it’s a novel aimed
at teenagers. For people like me who speaks English as a second language this
is an advantage, as the reading went on smoothly. The scientific part, that is
actually the reason why I decided to read it, is quite accurate and some scenes
on the lunar surface are really exciting.
I have to
specify that it is science fiction that then becomes a horror story and this
partly justifies the absurd assumption that there is a station on the Moon of
which nobody knows anything, that the lunar missions were stopped because there
is something dangerous up there and that now it was decided to send there some
kids and not a super trained team. But why? The assumptions of the horror
stories are often absurd or anyway they let already foresee the worst. The
ending is in full line with the genre of the book and no doubt it is the only
possible ending to prevent the story from collapsing on itself and turn into
something completely silly.
The book,
however, is not free from defects. The story takes a long time to take off. The
first third of the book is too slow. The author lingers on introducing the
characters who (surprise?!) will be selected for the mission. Their background
is actually not at all functional to the plot; he could have added it here and
there, rather than devoting entire chapters to it.
The other
thing that was really avoidable is the choice to send teenagers to the Moon. If
they really wanted to send common people for propaganda, given the risks, I don’t
see why they should send kids. Okay, the book is aimed at a younger market,
they want the readers to identify in the characters, but I think it would’ve
worked anyway if they weren’t minors. If nothing else, the suspension of
disbelief would’ve resisted a bit more.
Overall,
however, it isn’t a bad book. It was an enjoyable read.
172 Hours on the Moon
on Amazon.
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