Review by Booklist Review
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.--Clark, Craig Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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 Earth's 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 moon's helium and ship it to Earth to power the overpopulated planet. Their greatest enemy, the MacKenzies, control mineral extraction and have deeply resented the Cortas' 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 family's 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 year's award ballots. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary Agency. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
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 Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
