Book Review: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

You may recall that my only extensive past exposure to Robert Heinlein was Stranger in a Strange Land, which I found brilliant and enjoyable until the second half, when the hippie-esque wish fulfillment and extremely soft science became overwhelming. For a fifty-something, he seemed awfully close to adolescent. But TMIaHM, published five years later, shows a maturity, tastefulness, and intellect about on par with Isaac Asimov's.

Set in the 2070s, it has proven overly optimistic for space programs by 2013 (like pretty much all sci-fi from the 1960s) but still maintains a high overall credibility. The moon, always called Luna by residents (who call themselves Loonies), has been a penal colony for decades, much to the detriment of anyone born there. Sure, Loonies not under sentence may leave, but few can take well to Terra's gravity and germ presence, so few do. The Authority, led by a "Protector" who's still "Warden" to Loonie minds, cares no more about what Loonies do to each other than Lord Vetinari cares what goes on between most Ankh-Morpork citizens, to use a comparison from my last book review. The key difference: heavy taxation and high expectations of exports, threatening famine in a few years. A handful of individuals understand that nothing short of revolution will save Luna. The odds are decidedly against them, but hey, Loonies love to gamble.

( And who are these individuals? )

( Politically controversial? Perhaps )

The real beauty of this work is that it doesn't call on you to agree with one side or another. You just have to appreciate the complex realism of a situation getting out of hand, smart people learning from history, foolish masses learning the hard way, plenty of patience and impatience, sacrifices, ambiguous victories...and mostly believable sci-fi additions.



Next up: Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. I'm a little apprehensive about this one.