''Red Moon'' is a 2018 science fiction novel by American novelist

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

. The novel is set in China and on the Moon. It was reviewed in several national media outlets, with mixed reception.

Plot

In the year 2047, Fred Fredericks is sent to the Moon to deliver a quantum communications device. Upon his arrival he is nearly killed during the handover of the device, but cannot remember what happened. He is held on suspicion of murdering the official to whom he was delivering the device. A journalist helps Fredericks and the dissident leader Qi, who is due to give birth soon, escape back to Earth. They are pursued by Chinese authorities who believe that Qi will lead a revolution of disaffected workers and displaced migrants to overthrow the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

leadership. After a series of chases and escapes, Fredericks and Qi return to the Moon, where they encounter a wealthy Chinese businessman building his own ideal colony and visit free settlers creating a lunar city outside government control. One faction of the Chinese leadership orders missile strikes on the Moon to kill Fredericks and Qi, but they receive advance warning of the attacks and flee to a remote lunar shelter, where Qi gives birth as millions of Chinese workers gather in Beijing to start the revolution.

Reception

According to literary review aggregator

LitHub ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and ''Electric Literature'' ...

, the book received a slightly larger number of negative reviews than it did positive ones. Jason Sheehan of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

criticized the book's emphasis on exposition and digressions into discussions of the environment, politics, and orbital mechanics, suggesting that Robinson's approach was "no way to tell a ''story''". Writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', Chris Beckett praised Robinson's depiction of the relationship between Fredericks and Qi, calling it "a delightful and touching depiction of two people who would normally have nothing to do with each other, finding a way of getting along". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' criticized the "great indigestible tracts of expository dialogue" and "horrible doldrum of narrative drift", but concluded that ''Red Moon'' "confirms its author's status as a sci-fi master".

References

{{Kim Stanley Robinson 2018 American novels 2018 science fiction novels Novels set on the Moon Novels set in the future American science fiction novels Novels by Kim Stanley Robinson Novels set in China Orbit Books books Little, Brown and Company books