Moonbound
by Robin Sloan
DETAILS:
Publisher: MCD
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 432 pg.
Read Date: May 21-27, 2024
Let’s Get This Out of the Way Right Now
This is not like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. This is not Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (even if everything I’ve seen from the publisher says it’s part of the Penumbraverse) and this isn’t Sourdough. If you’re looking for something like that, I can’t help you by talking about this book.
And yet…some of the same themes, the same kind of ideas, the same oddball ways of thinking, the same characters that will fascinate and (sometimes) frustrate you, the same quality of writing are present. So it is like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. But not really.
What’s Moonbound About?
Maaaannnn….I don’t know, I really don’t know. In case those semi-contradictory paragraphs above didn’t give you a clue. Also, to really talk about it would involve a few pages on my part and several spoilers.
Let’s start with this: the events of the book begin in the year 13777. The number of things that the human race has gone through—cultural, technological, societal, scientific, and political changes (revolutions, really) are impossible to describe. Civilizations have come and gone—the planet Earth looks little like it does now, and humanity isn’t much like it is now (except humans are going to be human—it’s like Doctor Who‘s far future episodes that way—just without the space travel). Even the Moon—the Moon, for crying out loud—isn’t the same.
In William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (and the movie does something very similar), Goldman talks about his father coming in while he’s sick to read him a book by S. Morgenstern.
“Does it have any sports in it?”
“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”
“Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.
Similarly, let me tell you a little about what Moonbound contains:
Knights. Brothers. Talking swords. Dragons. Friendship. Robots. Bogs (which are very different than swamps). Raiders. Wizards. Bees that give direction. Gleaning coffee shops. Climate Warrior Beavers. Constructive debates (literally). Genetic engineering. Legendary warriors. Forty-three million dimensions.* Pizza rolls. Trash-pickers.
* Not really like Marvel’s Multiverse, more like the mathematical concept of three-dimensional or four-dimensional space, but much, much more expanded.
I’m not sure that’s helpful, but it’s something.
We begin when our protagonist, a boy named Ariel de la Sauvage, finds the remains of one of the greatest warriors in human history. This discovery ends up starting a chain of events that will lead to Ariel being on the run from the Wizard who rules the valley Ariel and his brother have grown up in—not just grown up in, but have never left. They have no knowledge of anything outside this valley—if anything exists beyond it, really. But to overthrow the Wizard and save his brother, Ariel will have to go into the wider world and learn about it. He needs experiences that his valley cannot give him. Equipped with this education and experience, Ariel should be able to confront the wizard and rescue his brother and the rest of the people he grew up surrounded by.
Oh, and he’s guided throughout this by an AI who has the accumulated knowledge of most of human history and is currently residing in a microorganism that has implanted itself in Ariel’s body.
Clear as mud, right?
Story
More than anything else—and there’s a lot of “anything else”—this is a novel about Story. The power of story to shape reality, to shape our expectations, the way we go about our lives, and the way we need others to go about their lives. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. The stories we tell others about ourselves. The stories that others tell us about themselves—and us. The stories that societies, governments, and other groups tell us and others about themselves and us.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, Moonbound about the way we can re-write our stories, the way we can take control of them (once we realize the story being told) and change things.
So, what did I think about Moonbound?
That’s a great question, and one I’ve been chewing on for more than a week now. I want to read this at least two more times before I think I’ll be ready to answer that. Maybe the fact that I want to read this at least two more times in the next year or so gives you and me both a hint about what I think about it.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since I started reading it two weeks ago. Part of that is to think about what I read and decide what Sloan was doing and what I thought about it. Another part of that thinking is just reveling in just how strange and wonderful it was.
While reading, when I was able to stop thinking things like, “what is going on here?” or “What is Sloan trying to accomplish?” and just enjoy it and get caught up in the story—I was able to lose myself in the book. And that got easier the further into the book I got. But I also spent an awful amount of time just trying to suss things out and overthinking things.
I don’t think that’s a bug when it comes to this book—it’s a feature. Sloan has given the reader so much to take in, that if you’re not chewing on almost every idea, you’re doing the book and yourself a disservice. But it’s also the kind of book you can relax with and enjoy. At a certain point in the book, Ariel learns to lay back and float in water—which is both one of those things that takes effort and can be incredibly relaxing at the same time. Like him, the reader has to learn how to “float” in this book. And when you do, you’ll be rewarded. How greatly you’ll be rewarded, I’m not sure—but you will be.
I’m not going to give this a star rating—sorry if that’s what you’re looking for. I just don’t know (in case I haven’t used that phrase enough yet in this post)—I can both defend every rating from 3-5 Stars, and I can wage a better argument against each of those. I encourage readers who find anything I’ve rambled about above intriguing, fans of Sloan, or people who read what the Publisher’s site says to give it a shot. And then let’s get together and talk about it, because I’d love to bounce some spoilery ideas off of someone.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.
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