John Scalzi’s When the Moon Hits Your Eye is what I’ve come to excpect from the author that has fast become a favourite since Starter Villain last year. The book is a masterful blend of speculative fiction and and his trademark slightly mad sense of humour. The book explores a world teetering on the edge of catastrophe after a bizarre event, and tells the story of how America grapples with forces beyond its control. It’s funny, touching and echoes a classic in a way I didn’t expect – though I loved the digs at the billionaire class one of whom I really felt was Elon ;).
Scalzi’s book amazed me by making me think of the classic Neville Shute book “On the Beach” which I read at scgool. Let me explain, it’s the way its structured with some of it about people preparing for what they think is the end of the world and how society deals with there being a timeline. Where Shute used the looming spectre of nuclear fallout to explore human resilience, Scalzi employs a lunar anomaly and cheese to look at similar themes. Obviously there’s a sense of the silliness and absurdity with Scalzi but the way in which he tells, and doesn’t finish some of the stories makes it an interesting read. Scalzi’s wry humour and the absurd background to the story (as well as some genuinely funny moments) keeps the narrative from sinking into unrelenting gloom. The novel’s scientific background are as plausible as they can be given the subject, serving as the backdrop for the drama rather than a distraction from it. Scalzi’s story is never relentless though, it always offers a flicker of hope. This balance of dread and possibility really makes it feel like a complete story.
What I loved about When the Moon Hits Your Eye was Scalzi’s ability to temper the tension with his humour and its ongoing optimism, with the premise and Scalzi’s style it feels like it couldn’t descend into darkness. Scalzi’s skill lies in his restraint, he never explains what causes the mystery – which is good because he couldn’t satisfactorily imo and the story emerges as a powerful story that haunts, its vision of a moonlit reckoning makes little sense but the story is so strong it doesn’t matter. Scalzi was an author I’ve come to love and the book was instantly on my tbr list and it didn’t disappoint. If you’ve liked his other books and want a book that is book silly but actually has an interesting and dark premise at times despite the silly backdrop it’s highly recommended!