Moonrising
An aloof agricultural scientist balances their personal principles with the requirements of their career, life, and love in Claire Barner’s engaging novel Moonrising.
In the late twenty-first century, famine and drought threaten people on Earth. Many nations turn to genetically mutated crops and livestock as a solution, but in the US, mutagenetic foods have a bad reputation. As public opinions plummet further, Alex’s prestigious yet controversial agricultural research is threatened by funding cuts. Days later, Alex is approached by NASA and asked to travel to a new colony on the Moon to jumpstart its greenhouse. In exchange, she’ll receive ten years of funding for her lab. Despite the suspicious timing, Alex accepts. On the Moon, she gets to know Mansoor, a wealthy son of the Emirati ruling family working to establish lunar tourism.
Changing perspectives each chapter between Alex, Mansoor, and an eccentric genius, Victor, who masterminds Alex and Mansoor’s meeting, the narrative is satisfying and distinctive. What people notice reveals as much as what they don’t. Sometimes abrasive, always guarded, and with extreme focus on how she can feed people, Alex warms to Mansoor but doesn’t realize how much he’s holding back. Charismatic and self-assured, Mansoor struggles with the weight of family expectations and his inconvenient attraction to Alex. Victor makes scientific breakthroughs as a matter of fact, but lacks confidence in navigating intimate relationships.
With each shift in point of view, another machination pushes through to the light, pruned to escalate intrigue and accelerate the story. The hint of romance that winds through accounts of political maneuvering, interpersonal drama, and powerful prejudices rockets the tension even higher.
The exciting science fiction novel Moonrising is set against the unfamiliar but plausible backdrop of a fraught mission to colonize the Moon.
Reviewed by
Aerin Toskas
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