***** The Moon: fascinating and lethal
I’ve always been intrigued by the Moon and the stories set on our
natural satellite, so when I came across this novel, which is also very cheap,
I couldn’t hold my index finger and in less than a minute it was already in my
Kindle. And I can say it was one of the best purchases made in the recent
years, concerning books.
The story is set in the near future in the lunar South Pole, where a
research base was created in the vicinity of the so-called “cold traps”, i.e.
those impact craters whose bottom, being at very high latitudes, doesn’t
receive the solar rays since when they exist and in which water ice is trapped,
mixed with regolith and other materials, including some rare elements of
considerable economic interest.
The author skilfully blends a plausible science, very accurate in the
details, with the evocative settings, shown through the senses of the
characters, which in turn are well developed and realistic. The impression of
being on the lunar ground during the reading is real. And so are the emotions
of the protagonists during the daring scenes full of action and suspense. In
other words, this book has everything I look for in a hard science fiction
novel.
I read it in a few days and I was so taken by the story that I was
looking forward to getting in bed with my Kindle to continue reading.
The story ends with a great plot twist, although I had expected it, but
I liked even the fact of seeing it arrive because of its perfect logic within
the plot and the smart way in which the author has orchestrated the various
clues that have led me to predict it.
If I have to indicate a defect, but it isn’t going to affect my final
judgment, I must say that I would have preferred that the flashbacks related to
the character of Moochy were shorter and interspersed with the main line of the
narrative. Instead they are placed practically in the middle of story, breaking
completely the action to tell the story of Moochy, threatening to make you
forget the details of the main plot and pushing the plot itself away from
science fiction.
Despite this, I can only judge it as a great debut novel.
Cold Trap
on Amazon.
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