I love reading internationally, and it occurred to me I haven’t’ done so in a while. It also occurred to me that I’m not sure I’ve ever read a Finnish author. So this book seemed like the proverbial one stone.
But then, it didn’t quite work for me. And because it’s a genuinely objectively solid book, I had to think of the reasons.
As the title suggest, this is an epistolary novel, told primarily through diary-like entries the protagonist writes for their spouse, Sol, as she chases them across the universe.
Sol is one of those mysteriously vanished spouses that exists in the periphery only: either in their wife’s memories or in occasional missives of their own.
But the idea is that writing for Sol will eventually (whenever Sol shows up) will give them idea of what they’ve missed in their spouse’s daily life.
A noble lovely idea for them as a couple maybe, but for the readers, it’s rather…less dynamic. Specially, it ends up like reading someone’s diary entries, slow, peculiarly dense and dreamy. Almost poetic-like and I’m not sure it’s a compliment.
There are interesting things going on here, though. The novel takes place in the future, when Earth is all but completely devastated and space colonies are thriving, especially the Mars one. There’s a lot of political conflicts and space drama in which some of the characters may be involved to varying extent. That gives it all an element of suspense. And the worldbuilding is quite decent too.
It’s just that to get to all that you have to wade through so much inner dialogue and melancholy diary-ing.
So the overall result is a mixed bag. Yes, this is a well written and intelligent novel, but also it’s something of a slog to read. I don’t imagine it would be to everyone’s taste, but I also imagine there is the right audience for a book like this out there. Thanks Netgalley.

I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book. On the surface, it's totally my thing: an epistolary novel, but sci-fi! And there's elements of an eco-thriller in it, though it's worth noting that all of that happens "off-screen": instead, what we get is the partner of someone who is involved, trying to put together the pieces of exactly what's happened and why her spouse is missing.

The letters don't quite ring true to me, as someone who writes them semi-regularly. I can read it as a character thing to a certain extent, but... people don't really describe things like that in letters, and don't narrate such details. And yes, okay, that's also necessary for the narrative to make sense and allow people to piece something together, but there's a balance to strike, and for me, this didn't get there.

I did enjoy the level of ambiguity in the events here -- is what Lumi sees real? Is her imagining of Sol's actions correct? What exactly is happening, and how will things end for the two of them? I can see that being really frustrating for some readers, but it worked well for me.

So... in the end, I did really want to know what happened, and I enjoyed the process of piecing things together, but the idea that it was written as a series of letters didn't quite ring true for me.

Such beautiful writing throughout this gripping sci-fi novel. However i’m not too sure on what was going on but that could just be me and my slow brain lol.

Overall though i did really enjoy this read! And i love seeing more women write sci-fi books.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Titan for granting me access to an early copy of this book*
Why I Requested It: Honestly what first drew me in was the pretty cover. I am partial to blue covers and this one struck me as quite serene in a cosmic way. The story itself also intrigued me, a quiet eco-science fiction story set in space. This author also has a couple of other books translated into English (all translated from Finnish) that I've wanted to read, and I decided this would be a good place to start and work backward.

What It's About: On a search for her missing partner Lumi reflects on her own history on Earth and how that may be connected to the current work of an eco-terrorist group called the Stoneturners, and Sol's role in that group.

Cons: While there wasn't anything "bad" about this book, there were some things that just didn't work for me. About 15 to 20% of the way into the book, the audience gets a closer look at what Lumi's profession entails and how she came into that career. This involved a lot of mysticism and literal spirit animals which was unexpected and I personally found it to be a very jarring contrast with the setting. The spirit animals were frequently brought up after they were introduced and it kind of dragged the story, to the point where they were used as a Deus ex Machina/ plot device near the end of the book and I just felt nothing. I also question how much of an impact the actually made on the story and characters. Speaking of which, I became increasingly disconnected with the characters, which I don't think is how I was supposed to feel because the focus is on the relationship between these two people and written in a style that is supposed to be very personal. The one other thing that started to bother me as the story progressed was the lack of thematic exploration, particularly that of immigration or losing our touch with Mother Earth. In the beginning that is there in the background, and considering the plot and Lumi's character, I thought it would be more of the focus, but it wasn't and it just seemed like wasted potential.

Pros: The aspects of the novel that I did find pleasant were mostly concentrated in the beginning, before diving into Lumi's past, but there was something enjoyable about this book. I absolutely loved the first chapter because it was the only one that delivered on what I was expecting and wanted in the story. There's a serene feel it as Lumi is relishing in the quite solitude of a remote moon and sipping tea. It all came off as very chill yet with a distinct setting that could only be found in a speculative fiction story. Surprisingly the epistolary style kind of worked for me. Normally I don't like epistolary style because the narrative would read as exactly the same if it was not told in that format. Here, however, the narrative felt very focused and the story was at least partially retro fitted to work in letter format, with Lumi's journey unfolding with each message, and at the beginning there was interesting tidbits about the world (both the current one and the future one).

Finishing Thoughts: While decent this was unfortunately a disappointment. The things that I did enjoy took a backseat to the mysticism and spirit animals, which is the one thing that really killed this book for me. I think this book can be enjoyed, if you know what to expect going in, and now that I have read one of Itaranta's works I am hopeful about her other works.

Thanks to Goodreads and Titan for the free copy in return for the honest review.

I'm sorry the review couldn't be better.

I liked the premise, and as many have pointed out, it's a slow burner, but despite good writing and good characters, I didn't get more than a hundred pages in, it's rare that I do not finish a book, but in this case, I didn't, it just didn't spark my interest in the way I thought it would.

This futuristic sci-fi reads like a love letter. It holds all the passion of lovers missing each other while presenting a mystery about why they are missing each other. The tale also slowly reveals that not all is well in the universe and that crimes against climate and planets have been hurting many races and cannot be hidden for much longer. This is a beautifully written book that would be enjoyed by those who like romance, sci-fi, or gorgeous writing.

The Moonday Letters is an intriguing novel and I liked the mixture of writing styles included such as newspaper articles and extracts from textbooks as well as being somewhere between (or a combination of) science fiction and fantasy. The vast majority of it is written in the form of letters and I feel like Emmi Itaranta set themselves a challenge as much of it is in the second person. Whilst I can understand why they chose to do so, this does have the tendency to distance the reader from the story a little. So if I liked these elements, why did I only give it three stars? Well for me, I felt that the writing was a little on the nose at points and perhaps there were elements that were thrown in purely to fit the current zeitgeist. For example the novel is set in the year 2168 and yet there is a scene involving a hotel receptionist digging themselves into a hole over gender neutral pronouns. Whilst this may well happen in the year 2022, one would certainly hope that by 2168 things may have progressed a little further but perhaps I am more optimistic than the author. Another example would be a police officer asking to record the conversation "I prefer that to taking notes. Dyslexic." The police officer even seems to use a separate recorder, something that is swiftly becoming integrated into our current smartphone technology. If by this time we can build satellite colonies orbiting Mars, would these devices not be much more integrated too? With the current advances in speech recognition, it wouldn't have surprised me if all police interviews were automatically recorded and converted to text using software (there are always basic text-to-speech software or auto-playback functions today if you have trouble reading). Little discrepancies like this tended to knock me out of the story as it made you question what year you were in. If the author had a tiny bit more conviction of how society could evolve (or perhaps in the reader's ability to believe their potential future) the novel would have come across less preachy. I did also find it odd that someone could even pretend to forget that a whole planet had a "one-child policy" and seemed like an artifice to pass the information to the reader. Again, the author could probably have found a more subtle way of showing this rather than a slight information dump. I admit that I did laugh at the thought of there being a "Brexit Museum" that was on par with the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and the Tate Modern. Perhaps the author will get the last laugh on that one but I cannot imagine such a place existing beyond a minor wing in another museum and quite probably will have faded into historical obscurity in over 100 years.

4.25 stars!

'Earth wakes and stones will speak, and darkness recedes over waters.'

The Moonday Letters is a LGBTQIA+, futuristic sci-fi story told through letters, - written from our protagonist Lumi to her spouse Sol (they/them) - encrypted messages, and scientific/encyclopaedic entries. It's a tale of love, longing, grief, sacrifice, and memory. It's a conversation between the past and present.

'You said once that writing is journeying beyond infinite distances; with these words I transport you across time and space.'

The major theme of this book is environmentalism and the climate crisis. Humanity has expanded from Earth - which is now struggling to hold human life - to live on various moons and planets, predominantly Mars. Mars, however, is seen to be responsible for 'Earth's famine'. As humanity explores the universe, it leaves destruction in its wake. As Lumi travels between planets and moons for their job as a healer, they comment particularly on the corporation's mining activity that is hollowing out the Moon, and 'The idea that the world and universe exist for humans alone, and the the perusal of the natural resources of the Solar System is the exclusive right of our species, is both hopelessly outdates and staggeringly self-centred.'

'We carry within us every home, including those that no longer exist, so we'd have somewhere to return to.'

The worldbuilding is beautiful and phenomenal. Each civilisation feels unique, and carefully crafted by the author based upon the physical limitations of the space. Towns on Europa are built under a sheet of ice; the ice is both their shelter, and a potential catastrophe - the inhabitants remain as silent as possible so as to not crack it. On Mars, accommodation globes light up the colourless surface. One of my few complaints about this book is that whilst I adore travelling through so many incredible settings with Lumi, I wish that we got to remain in them a little longer. I crave to get to know this places in detail. I crave to know their people and their customs. Though, then perhaps we wouldn't get to see so many wonderful places, so I shouldn't complain.

'The sky was entirely black, more so than ever on Earth, and the bright crystals of stars flared cold.'

A comment needs to be made about the fantastic non-binary rep. Lumi's spouse, Sol, is non-binary, and their pronouns are used widely without fault. Only once does someone get confused about the word 'spouse', and tries to instead use 'husband' or 'wife'. As Lumi corrects them, it brings up an insightful conversation about how not everyone is purposefully ignorant, they may just be misinformed - as this person was - and should be given the chance to learn. It was a moment I greatly appreciated, and something we should all remember.

"The hard part is not learning new things. The hard part is unlearning some of the old."

The writing itself was highly personal and lusciously poetic. The only other thing that brought my rating of this book down was the more technical and scientific encyclopaedic sections - but this is just my own personal taste. I found myself skimming through them, as though they provided fantastic worldbuilding and background information, I wanted to get back to the letters! They were so beautifully emotive that, in comparison, I wanted to return to them as quickly as possible.

'Grief is an animal you can never quite tame.'

'Overall, this is a heart-breaking, hopeful, disastrous, and longful read. This may just be my favourite sci-fi book. It's certainly the most thoughtful.'

I loved the concept of a story told across space through letters, but goodness this was slow. Even if this were a character driven story, I don't feel we got to know the characters at all? And there was no plot to speak of. This felt like an ode the author's ability to write beautiful prose (and it truly was beautiful) more than an actual novel. I would rather read a series of short stories or essays by this author than another slow book lacking in actual substance.

**Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the eARC**

I received an ARC of the English language version of The Moonday Leters for review purposes.

It is a blend between the speculative and literary, and I think it's beautifully done. The prose was lyrical and lovely, and I found myself just falling into the beauty of the lines as the story progressed. It isn't distracting, and fit with the progression of the story. It's certainly a "slower" novel because of this, so if you are a high octane SFF reader, you'll certainly be disappointed.

I also loved the slow unraveling of the story at play. Early on, you get a clear sense of the conflict through both character and the atmosphere of yearning that is established. Emmi Itäranta does a masterful job of revealing insights into the relationships, psyche, and world through the subtlest details.

As I was reading, I was struck by the same feeling I got when reading This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. A big caveat to this, I think that there is a much more substantial plot structure in The Moonday Letters, so if you loved the lyricism of Time War, but really thirsted for a bit more structure with the story, I do this The Moonday Letters will be a good fit.

“Sol, This may be the final page, the one I write after everything has already happened. The one I will tear out at the end of the notebook and place between the cover and the blank title page. The first word on it is your name: that way you will know at once the sentences on the upcoming pages are for you as much as they are for myself.”

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Moonday Letters’ by Emmi Itäranta. It was originally published in Finland in 2020 and won the Tähtivaeltaja Award for the best science fiction novel published in the Finnish language in that year. Emmi Itäranta writes in Finnish and English.

When certain folk throw shade at science fiction, this is the kind of novel that I would bring to their attention as it is proudly SF yet addresses issues about the human experience and is written beautifully.

As the title suggests this is an epistolary novel in which Earth-born Lumi Sala writes to her spouse, Sol, who is working far away. Then Sol disappears and Lumi is determined to find them. Yet this proves difficult as each clue uncovers another enigma. The trail leads back to underground environmental groups and a web of mysteries.

I found Emmi Itäranta’s writing lyrical and elegant. I felt very immersed in her vision of the 22nd Century. She weaves her tale utilising letters and extracts from various sources to build an account of Lumi’s journey that takes in various locations in the solar system, including space stations, colonies on Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and the devastated remnants of Earth.

While there are space ships and off world colonies, there are also aspects of myth and spirituality within the story. There is also Ziggy, Lumi’s feline companion that earns his passage on spacecraft undertaking the traditional duties of cats on ships. So in all a rich combination.

Given the style of ‘The Moonday Letters’, that included multiple timelines and fragments of material, I had expected it to be a fairly challenging read. However, I found myself engaged from the start by Emmi Itäranta’s storytelling.

Overall, an impressive blend of literary science fiction and eco-thriller, all framed by a poignant love story. I certainly will be interested in reading more of her writings.

The Moonday Letters gave me a very Nina LaCour vibe- quieter, lovely yet unimposing at the start, but the characters and story sneak up on you and you find yourself very invested. The story is told through letters, mostly from Lumi to her spouse, Sol. Lumi is tracking Sol across the known inhabited universe for signs of their whereabouts after she cannot contact Sol.

The story evolves into a mystery when Lumi finds that Sol has been involved with a group that could be labeled as pro-environmental or eco-terrorists depending on who you ask, and Lumi goes on the hunt for as much information as she can. Along the way, she keeps Sol apprised of her search and her feelings via a book of letters. It is easy for the reader to see how much their relationship means to Lumi, even if we don't see Sol's thoughts and feelings. We do get brief glimpses from Sol, via short notes they leave for Lumi, but nothing really to tell us who Sol is outside of who Lumi tells us Sol is.

I really enjoyed Lumi as a character, and I definitely appreciated her relationship with Sol (at least what we see of it through Lumi's memory). I also loved reading about Lumi's journey, not only to find Sol, but her journey as a character. The worldbuilding was great, I was really invested in the world and what was going on. I won't say too much as it is part of the mystery itself, but I loved finding out little tidbits. I especially appreciated that the author used real places as space landmarks- I was able to look them up, and really get a good idea of where things were.

There was a bit of magic in the book, and that was probably my least favorite element. I didn't quite grasp where it fit into the story, but it was a smaller component, so I was able to kind of gloss over that. The story ultimately really pulled on my heartstrings, and I found myself wholly invested in the outcome for Lumi and Sol.

Bottom Line: Quiet and lovely, this story snuck up on me and I found myself quite ensnared by the world and Lumi.

A slow burn. The Moonday Letters are mostly one-sided epistolary story between a married couple separated across the solar system.

The narrative approach was a bit grating (Sol, do you remember when?) as the letters continue unabated without progressing any plot. Outside of describing which types of plants can grow in space and a metaphysical soul journey, roughly three things actually happen in the entire book. And those things are all foreshadowed which removes any intrigue.

If the story is not about the plot, but the characters, then why do I know nothing about them? I couldn’t describe what they look like, what their hobbies are, what their dislikes are, even how they met each other. The world (well, solar system) presented is interesting as we explore space colonies in a soft sci fi way, but the narrative gives me nothing to attach into.

The premise of this novel is fascinating. The cast of characters is diverse, hard to get a handle on, and interesting. The setting is spectacular and vast. And yet I couldn't make myself love this. It took a long time to get through and I had to force myself to finish it. A large part of that was the writing style, it didn't seem to fit the genre at all and was somewhat jarring. That may in part have to do with it being translated but it just took me out of the story completely a lot of the time.

A fantastic idea for a novel but its execution just didn't measure up for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc.

When Sol disappears during an incident at their lab, their spouse Lumi seek the comfort of her imagination in the absence of any information - until an incongruous detail reminds her of something her mentor used to say. Diving into her memories to trace unspoken truths that may cast light on the mysterious present, Lumi begins to see their shared past in a new light - and to realise how many secrets they have kept from one another. The Moonday Letters is a delicate deconstruction of how we relate to those we love, and the way couples’ lives can be simultaneously intertwined and exist in entirely separate spheres.

Told through Lumi’s letters to Sol, this is an introspective, resonant read with deeper themes woven throughout its meandering journey. It becomes clear that the couple have engaged in many acts of imagination and shared world-building to make their marriage work and that each have pursued activities that might have horrified the other. Although the blurb promises an eco thriller, this is a tad misleading as the thrilling environmental conspiracy doesn’t exactly happen on-page. Instead, its roots are hinted at in Lumi’s memories and implicit in Sol’s odd messages; its reality confirmed in news reports and helpful notes from a friendly journalist.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Moonday Letters. I was charmed by Lumi’s imagination and capacity for forgiveness; delighted by her hostile sister-in-law; amused by her feline companion. There’s a lot to unpack from its mythical parallels to its themes of immigration, activism, love and forgiveness (of self as much as of others). There’s also glimpses of a fascinating future in which humanity have spread across the Solar System to thrive in habitation domes, space stations, silent cities beneath frozen seas.

Highly recommended for readers who enjoy slower-paced, literary genre reads that provide plenty of food for thought.

This is a book I thought I would love more than I ended up liking it, don't get me wrong it was good but there was a major thing I didn't like so much that ended up ruining it a bit for me. The premise of environmental activism really interested me and the writing was absolutely beautiful. I love the format of Lumi writing a diary for Sol as she looked for them and seeing snippets from newspapers and articles. The problem for me is I would have loved to see more of the eco aspect and the science and maybe a little bit more politics thrown in.

The writing style for me really made this book, based on that alone it would be a five star read. Its hard to explain but its one of those books where the writing just feels so smooth which really helps get immersed in the story. It was just a joy to read, its slow but it never feels slow, there is not a lot of action but it didn't matter this was still a book I didn't want to put down. I liked the idea in this story of writing down what is going on in your life for those times when you are apart from your spouse. I thought this was really sweet and a good way to stay connected even when you spend a lot of time apart.

I really loved the environmental aspects of the story and the worldbuilding was really good. I enjoyed seeing how humanity had spread into space and the different solutions. I enjoyed learning more about the envirnmental activism in the story and it was easy to understand why they felt they had to go to more drastic measures to help fix things a bit. I would have liked more on this and they mystery in the story rather than Lumi and her healing, it was just a bit confusing to me and was never really explained very well.

I did find Sol's and Lumi relationship to be quite interesting, it was obvious they love each other but their jobs caused them to be apart a lot and there was always a lot of longing to their relationship. Sol had a lot of secrets and its a surprise they managed to keep them from Lumi and still have a good relationship. I did feel for Lumi having to find out about this stuff the way she did. It was also good to see a non binary character in Sol and Lumi correcting someone who calls them her husband, she did this in a really positive way and it was just good to see.

It was a really beautiful story about how climate change and expansion into space could work out in a mostly realistic way. It does highlight the need to stop things from getting so far, we don't want all these animals to go extinct and for humans to have to leave earth because we have mistreated the planet.

What a unique, fascinating read this was. "The Moonday Letters" is the first book by Emmi Itäranta that I've read and I am more than intrigued by her lyrical, at times almost poetic prose. The translation is superb, or at least reads amazingly (I obviously don't know the original). I very much enjoyed the overall theme of love, longing, loss and I'm always a fan of books broaching the topic of nature and environmental collapse. It's done beautifully in this time, showing clearly the consequences of the way we treat our planet in a soft science fiction setting that takes us to different planets of the solar system.

The pace is a very slow one, and I admit the book didn't manage to keep me engaged all the way through. The entire middle part of it drags on and the lyrical prose can only do so much to make up for it. This isn't helped by the fact that it's an epistolary novel, which is, admittedly, not my favourite. It's still very well done, no doubt. It's generally a book that is rather light on its plot and the mystery driving it forward. Its central focus is the relationship between our protagonist, Lumi, and her spouse, Sol. The latter disappears surprisingly, and Lumi tries to follow them and find out what happened to them. It's an intriguing mystery at first, when she finds information that link Sol to a group of ecoterrorists. None of the characters are very memorable though, and I couldn't tell you that much about them. I did enjoy Lumi and Sol's relationship, it was a beautiful thing.

In general, this is a gorgeously written epistolary novel that is both nuanced and very slow, focusing less on plot than the relationships between the central characters and ending on a bittersweet note. What it really achieves is make you want to save our beautiful planet.

Sigh. I wanted to love this. I didn't. The writing style was lyrical and absolutely unique, but it just didn't fit the genre and made it hard to keep on track with the issues on hand. It was also hard to follow, as punctuation just wasn't a thing a lot of the time. I thought at first it was maybe just because it was an arc copy but there was a definite pattern to it, so I feel like it was intentional. It just made certain passages trickier.

The mystery aspect is interesting but not epic and I didn't overly care. Several of the characters who seemed interesting never really got the page time they deserved and I honestly didn't vibe with the main character, unfortunately. This is absolutely a one-of-a-kind book. I wish I loved it.

Lovely proses, but a bit unnatural to read since this is marketed as sci fi. The detail and background of the book are explored in details, which makes the verse very vivid. The mystery (aka the central plot of the book) is very intriguing, but somehow the book lacks the elements for it to be a gripping read. The pacing is very slow and I suspect it to be why.

The Moonday Letters is a slow burn that shows a fascinating landscape of a post-climate change Earth and consequent settling of Mars, and other celestial bodies. It tells the story of Lumi Salo, a healer who brings pieces of lost souls back to her patients, and Sol Uriarte, her spouse and non-binary biologist who is searching for a way to heal the Earth through genetically modified plants. This story is told through letters of memories from Lumi to Sol, as she is trying to find them throughout the cosmos.

I liked the ideas in this novel, but I never felt an urgency that probably should have been there. The pacing could definitely have been increased to make it more interesting as I had a hard time keeping my attention on the story. Also, the reveal at the end, while it made sense with the plot, still wasn’t the most exciting ending. This author did create an incredible and interesting possible future for human civilization. I also really enjoyed the dichotomy of the two personalities of Lumi and Sol, one entrenched in the metaphysical world, and the other in a strictly physical and scientific one.