WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE - John Scalzi

 For no reason that anyone can understand, Earth's moon one day quite unexpectedly turns into a massive, round cheese ball (or, as NASA refers to it - "a newly developed organic matrix"). The moon appears to have the same mass but it has increased in size. It is also causing some massive ejections of its organic material as pressure on the core increases. One such organic ejection sends a massive hunk of cheese toward earth, which could be more destructive than the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs.

For one entire lunar cycle, citizens of Earth debate and reflect on what's happening and how they want to see the end of the world.

There probably isn't anyone writing better writing light, humorous, science fiction than John Scalzi. While I personally prefer his space opera sci-fi (ie the Old Man's War series, The Interdependency series, or even the non-space opera but hard-hitting Lock In series), the general reading public seems to like his humorous work even more. Just look at the success of Redshirts and his previous book, Starter Villain.  When the Moon Hits Your Eye will likely fall in line with these lighter sci-fi stories.

I think it's helpful to go into this book knowing a few things.  First - this isn't a book about the moon turning into cheese. It is certainly the most important thing that happens and it is the reason we follow a variety of people. But the book is about mankind and how humans react to annihilation.

It is also important to know, going in (I'm positive this isn't a spoiler) that we never learn how or why the moon turned into cheese. This isn't, after all, a book about the moon turning into cheese.

I mention these things so that other readers don't go in expecting something that isn't there ... the way that I did.  I started the book and expected there would be answers and was a little unsatisfied at the end that not only weren't there answers, there wasn't much story.  It wasn't until I reflected on this a bit that I realized what the story was.  I might have enjoyed it more had I gone in with different expectations.

Because this is about 'people' or even 'humanity' we also don't have a singular character to focus on - someone that drives the story. The closest we come is the author who is suddenly thrust into the limelight and whose book sales skyrocket due to an essay he wrote about myths such as the moon being made of green cheese.

Another character that I actually grew to like was the Elon Musk-like billionaire who decides to pilot his own space craft against NASA's wishes. My appreciation for this character was short-lived.

I referred to this earlier as 'light' when in reality there's a pretty deep story here. Sometimes it's hard to see through Scalzi's rapid dialog and humorous situations.

I still prefer the space operas, but any Scalzi book is better than much of what you'll find on the book shelves.

Looking for a good book? When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi is a stand-alone, humorous sci-fi story that looks like goofy fun but carries a significant tale.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

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When the Moon Hits Your Eye

author: John Scalzi

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 9780765389091

hardcover, 336 pages