Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain comes an entirely serious take on a distinctly unserious subject: what would really happen if suddenly the moon were replaced by a giant wheel of cheese.
It’s a whole new moooooon.
One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters — schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians — as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.
Review
C-H-E-E-S-E. That spells Moon.
Okay…let’s back up a little and talk about John Scalzi and some of his previous works. I think Old Man’s War is a fantastic book and I really enjoyed most of the sequels. Scalzi is a great follow on social media (Go find him over at Bluesky) and has had a great blog for longer than most. Some of his more recent novels have been a little more hit-or-miss for me, though.
OK…sidebar to the sidebar… I have to get this off my chest. Scalzi’s 2014 novel Lock In was a good, fun sci-fi detective story, but I had really negative feelings about it for a long time. I listened to it as an audiobook and it was…confusing. The book itself was straight forward, but when I was still around 80-85 percent into the book, it felt like the book was wrapping up, but since there was so much time left, I figured that the final suspect was really a red herring and we’d get a swerve in the story any…minute…now.
And then the book was over. What the heck?
The final remaining time in my audiobook was a prequel story that Scalzi generously wrote and added to the novel. Which was great! — except I either completely forgot or didn’t know about it at all, so my enjoyment of Lock In was severely hampered by a gift from Scalzi.
What does that have to do with this book? I guess I would say…as long as you know what you’re getting into, you’ll have a good time.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye. It’s good. It’s fun. I’m glad I read it. But…
Yeah. You have to know what you’re getting into. You’ll have a good time, but story-wise and genre-wise, this book isn’t what you might typically expect.
The structure of this book is unique. I was reminded of World War Z by Max Brooks as I went into it. If you haven’t read it, Brooks takes the idea of a world overrun by zombies and segments the book into eight chapters — or vignettes. The central idea is there — zombies — but each story is its own thing. Slight connective tissue, but ultimately eight unique stories. Before the Brad Pitt movie came along, I had no idea how they would be able to make it into a film.
Here, Scalzi takes a crazy idea — what if the moon suddenly turned into cheese — and spends a lunar cycle (29 days) telling somewhat separate stories. What would diners in Iowa think about it? How would politicians in Las Vegas handle it? What happens when this strange cosmic event coincides with a launch for a moon-themed book? Some characters reappear on multiple days, but some stories (some of the funnier and more entertaining ones) are stand-alone one-offs. It’s a fascinating framing device for the story, which definitely turns out to be “lite sci-fi” in the end (I mean…how do you even take this concept and wrap the words “sci-fi” around it?).
I almost feel like with the craziness of the last decade and the emergence of conspiracy theory culture, Scalzi felt compelled to write this book, and I get it. Sometimes as a writer you just have to get some words on paper and off your chest. It made for a fun and entertaining book. I can see myself going back and re-reading segments and a few of the “days” of the novel, but in the end, I doubt I’ll revisit the entire book.
I’d recommend checking out When the Moon Hits Your Eye, just don’t expect hard sci-fi with your grilled cheese sandwich.
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