This was a pleasant surprise, tho I do think the cover does this book a disservice as it makes the book look like some independently published fantasy book, rather than the long awaited follow up to an uber popular book which is what this book truly is..

If you're a fan of Sloane's "Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore" then chances are you will enjoy this one as well, since you have to be able to tolerate a lil bit of magical realism in your stories, and the funny thing Is that normally I am not a fan but in both of these instances I have very much enjoyed the fantastical elements.

This is for all speculative fiction lovers, for all that enjoy reading anything "meta" and can handle a lil bit of harsh truths. The writing is top notch, Sloane pulls off exactly what he was trying to do effortlessly. This was a fun, mysteriously wondrous ride and for readers of fantasy and non fantasy alike.

I did not realize how much I missed Robin Sloan. His writing always satisfies such a specific area of interest—it's funny, outlandish, feel-good and creative. This story was so clever, and the cast was just consistent enough to be able to keep track of all the characters and keep my attention. I have not read his other work recently enough to have an understanding of how this book fits into the 'Penumbraverse', but I don't think that factored in to my ability to appreciate this book.

I think Robin Sloan would be an excellent fit for readers of Terry Pratchett, Becky Chambers, or Ernest Cline (a group of authors I never thought I would put in the same sentence).

Thank you to FSG (MCD) for the opportunity to read and review!!

I loved Mr Penumbra so was excited to dive into this one. Unfortunately, Moonbound didn’t work for me and I decided to DNF. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook.

I'm a big fan of Robin Sloan and until now his writing was mostly sci-fi/fantasy-lite. This one is definitely a divergence from that because there were a lot of sci-fi and fantasy elements in this one.
Those elements are still on the cozier side, reminiscent of a lot of different stories I’ve loved over years including but not limited to multiple novels from Terry Pratchet, CS Lewis and Ursula LeGuin along with nods to Arthurian legends combining all with the humor of a Futurama episode. It’s hard to explain how that all comes together. While it might be a bit strange at first, trusting Sloan leads to a rewarding and entertaining journey. I think this will be enjoyed by the right reader which might not fully overlap with fans of Sloan's previous work. I really loved this and I’ve been loving seeing reviews of this one, with everyone noticing different references to other stories.

I love Robin Sloan's books & Moonbound was no exception. I've never read anything like this...Moonbound actually gave me hope for humanity.

I love this universe. This was a pleasure to be back in this place. a dreamy sci-fi fantasy that will leave you on the edge of your seat

I was so disappointed with this book. I loved Robin Sloan's other books, and I love Magical Realism, but this book was too much. I couldn't figure out what was happening, and it just wasn't' engaging but I can't put my finger on why. There were definitely events happening in the story, I just couldn't get into it. I didn't want to pick it up. I even had a hard copy from the library sitting on my nightstand for months. After the 3rd renewal I finally just returned it to the library.

Much like Mr. Penumbra and Sourdough before, I loved this book from Sloan. She's in my list of authors that I will always pick up and I was so delighted by the characters and the story in this. I will definitely recommend.

Moonbound is a captivating mix of sci-fi and fantasy set in the distant future. The story centers on Ariel de la Sovage, a 12-year-old boy who fails a wizard's test, launching him on an unexpected adventure. Ariel's journey becomes even more intriguing with the discovery of a conscious AI recorder from an ancient civilization, which narrates the entire story from a unique point of view.

The book is filled with talking animals, master artists, and various mystical elements, making for a rich and imaginative world. Ariel's character is authentic and endearing, and his quest to save the world is both thrilling and thought-provoking. The story’s unique ideas and elements keep you engaged from start to finish. Moonbound is a must-read for fans of speculative fiction and light fantasy, offering a delightful escape into a whimsical and vividly crafted universe.

Robin Sloan does it again. I absolutely adored this book and I heard it may be a trilogy and I am hoping that is true. I loved the world, I loved the characters. I don’t know how he pulls these things out of thin air and then makes it page-turning but it is pure magic to me. I would read his grocery list truly. I already read the newsletters. A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and MCD for this e-Arc.

After people on Earth finally figure out how to work together, they send a group of highly trained people off-planet to explore. The Ais

At some point in Earth's future, people come together, working past differences, to become the Anth. They created a bunch of artificial intelligences, called the dragons, and were deployed to explore space. The dragons returned, and using the moon as a base, made war on the Anth, killing most, covered the Earth in a thick layer of particles, and forbad the use of radio technology to communicate. This implied to me that there was a space-based threat, which completely unsettled the dragons to the extent that they seemingly lost their minds, and this was the their method for hiding from it.

In response, the Anth hid the human genome before all was lost in many other types of life, then destroyed themselves so that the dragons would not destroy the whole planet to rid it of humans.

Many, many years later, as in eleven thousand years later, there are settlements of humans, and there are also talking animals everywhere (these are the ones into whom human genes had been stored by the Anth). This is the background for the actual story told in “Moonbound” by author Robin Sloan. (His novel “Sourdough” was my favourite by this author, and there is a sort of reference to a being from that novel in this story.)

The story begins with twelve-year-old Ariel who finds a dead woman, and the AI with her jumps into him. This unnamed character narrates “Moonbound”, and helps the boy on his adventures after he fails to extract a sword from a stone, placed there by the wizard in charge of the town Ariel lives in, and who has some sort of nefarious plan for Ariel, based on the story beats and archetypes of the King Arthur myth.

Ariel runs away with the wizard in pursuit. Ariel encounters a huge variety of beings, including a number of talking animals and robots as he makes his way through the land. Eventually, Ariel discovers what his purpose is and he must embark on a perilous adventure with the AI to confront the dragons.

This book is absolutely bursting with the weird and the wonderful. The Earth has transformed into something astounding, and everywhere Ariel goes, he meets a bevy of amazing beings: the beavers are standouts (their way of making decisions is great) in a story packed to the gills with interesting people and places (i.e. the fascinating Eigengrau).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a coming of age and an adventure tale. Sloan does a skilful job of using the Arthurian myth as the backbone to Ariel's home and narrative, while also speculating on what a future world extremely far removed from our own might be.

If I had a quibble it's that Ariel does not have any trouble conversing with all the people that he does, no matter how far he travels from home. Language changes sometimes quite radically in vocabulary, semantics and idiom over years and this doesn't seem to have happened in this far future Earth.

This really is a relatively small complaint, especially as I found this fable-like narrative held my interest and charmed me from its opening all the way to its end.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This book was bonkers and I loved it.

First of all how does Robin Sloan even come up with this kind of story and then execute it with such precision, cleverness and originality?! I want a tour of your brain.

Told 13,000 years in the future, from the perspective of “the chronicle” a sentient AI type being I guess we can say that is able to embed into its host and is a record keeper of sorts but also exerting a bit of free will and personality and aid to memory and time. And the future well it’s not at all what I expected, humans are more rare, talking animals and creatures are dominant and wizards are up to all kinds of mischief and political scheming. The chronicle has found a new host in Ariel, and his world, is in some kind of trouble and so an adventure, a quest of sorts is imminent.

Buckle up. This is a ride.

Fantastical and bizarre, funny and touching, an epic tale, an adventure of the grandest and most obscure perportions and I loved every solitary second. Sloan’s writing is palatable while also being inherently weird, there are very few authors I’ve read where they can pull off this kind of understandable madness. The characters are rich, unique, and the wisdom of our MC/narrator shines through in unexpected and delightful ways.

I don’t want to give much away this is a book for lovers of adventures and this book is an adventure unto itself.

Read if you enjoy quests, destiny, weird sh*t, fantastical beasts, found family, sentient creatures/beings, science fiction turned upside down and plain old fun.

Robin Sloan has become a comfort author for me, and I jumped at the chance to read his latest, Moonbound, set in the Penumbraverse. While this fell far outside my comfort zone (in a good way), and bears hardly any similarities to Sourdough (my favorite Sloan title), Moonbound was an adventure I didn’t know I needed to take, and I enjoyed every step.

Moonbound markets itself as “an adventure into the richest depths of Story itself,” and it is that, but it’s also fifty other things — and set eleven thousand years in the future. MC Ariel is a twelve-year-old boy who lives in a medieval village, complete with castle and wizard. But we learn very quickly that the wizard isn’t a Merlin-type (for starters, he has an airplane). Ariel, a King Arthur archetype, retrieves a sword (but not from a stone — this is important) and in so doing picks up a sentient, benevolent AI that infects his body like a virus — but in a nice way?

When the wizard begins to show his true colors, Ariel is forced to flee the valley and venture into the beyond (a place he didn’t even realize existed). Once there, he comes across talking animals, a traveling AI assistant whose knowledge is suffused across thousands of machines, a city where you don’t pay for basic needs, a network of beavers who argue better than the most seasoned lawyers, and a girl whose spaceship contains all that’s left of the 21st century.

This book is confusing, admittedly, but it’s also comforting. The characters are recognizable and relatable, and the world-building allows you to put yourself right into the story, be it on the moon or deep in a well talking to a dragon who exists in forty-three million dimensions. The only thing I can even remotely compare it to is Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, but if you liked that, you’ll love Moonbound. I won’t be recommending it to those looking only to dip a toe into sci-fi or fantasy, but I will hand it eagerly to friends who are already familiar with the genres.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Robin Sloan is an absolute master of world-building and making the reader just fall right into his stories! "Moonbound" is a genre-bending, magical, and heartfelt journey with large doses of Camelot vibes, dragons, and characters you will not forget. Readers who loved Sloan's "Sourdough" and "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" will be equally delighted by his newest work; it's quite different but an absolute masterpiece through and through!

Read 7.4 - 7.6.2024
DNF@30%


I love Robin Sloan and have adored his previous books, so I was pretty excited to see he had a new book coming out and requested it [before really looking to see what it was about - this is totally on me].

Yeah. No. Thank you anyway.

This, unfortunately, just didn't work for me. At all. I didn't enjoy it, didn't remotely understand what was going on, didn't even want to pick it up when it was time to read it *AND* was so relieved when it was time to put it down [for the day]. I cannot even tell you what the book is about [at THIRTY PERCENT] because nothing stuck [AT ALL] and I realized that life is too short to read confusing and unlikable [for me; I cheer for all those who loved this and *got it*] and therefore I am afraid I have to DNF.

I have had Gabra Zackman as a narrator previously and have thoroughly enjoyed her narration. Unfortunately, this was not the case here and the narration also didn't work for me. I didn't enjoy the delievry, or the voices she created for the characters [again, this is just me and I would recommend this audiobook to people who are looking to read this book - what doesn't work for one may be the thing that makes the book come alive for others and I totally get that] and it just wasn't great listening experience for me.

I am disappointed; it is always difficult when an author you love writes a book that just doesn't work for you. I am so glad that others love it and I look forward to his next offering, as one disappointing read does not take away my love for this author and his work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Robin Sloan, Gabra Zackman - Narrator, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/MCD, and Macmillan Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

from Yahoo Mail on Android

World building can be A LOT when taking on a scifi or fantasy novel. Moonbound manages to make it feel like you're slipping into a favorite sweater - immediately you feel at home. A rich and quirky story, Moonbound will hold a place in my heart for a long time.

Also... Clovis is everything.

Unsleeping AI 'dragons' laid waste to humanity and now observe the Earth from a moon fortress. All this means is that Ariel de la Sauvage's world is very unlike ours, but is still Earth. Ariel lives in a small village centered on the tower of the wizard Malory and is reaching a key coming of age moment. But unknown to both Ariel and Malory, is that Ariel's body carries a very old chronicler born of a sourdough starter. This chronicler saves Ariel from their intended destiny setting them on a journey to escape Malory's plans and discover the wider world and how to live in it.

Moonbound is a playful blend of fantasy and science fiction set in an Arthurian hero coming of age framework. Ariel was meant to pull the sword from the stone, but when they found a different sword escaped their planned destiny and had to flee to parts unknown to escape the wizard's wrath. Along this journey Ariel meets many people and sees many places. A single consciousness distributed across many robot bodies, those who make their living picking through the detritus of prior civilizations, a bog body with a very long memory, or an educational institution that prioritizes swimming and holding your breath in order to seek out greater knowledge.

A meta and hopeful dystopia that builds on present technologies to wonder the great question of science fiction, what could the future look like?

Recommended to readers of fantastical/science fiction coming of age tales filled with Easter eggs to our present pop culture.

This is a wonderful, wonderful, funny, epic post-apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy adventure, the likes of which are rare these days. There's something for everyone in here - talking animals, humanity causing their own demise, wizards, Arthurian legend, found family, robots, a quest, cozy vibes, an author-created language, and more - I still feel like I'm only just scratching the surface. Robin Sloan's books are always full of intrigue and magic in a way that draws the reader into a comfy armchair and holds them there for the duration, and it feels like "Moonbound" lived up to this promise and more. While hard to describe the plot on paper, this is an immediate yes for fans of absurdity, sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; and MCD for the arc. Moonbound is out now!

It may be because I think Sloan and I are curious about similar things, but this book seemed to have a bit of everything I look for in a novel. A story with a weird and fascinating magical world with themes of sentience and humanity. With sprinklings of Arthurian legend and the 'vibes' of a Ghibli film (and to a certain degree, early JRPGS), it felt like I was reading a story my childhood imagination would have dreamed up. The narrator is not the main character, but a sentient artificial intelligence chronicler that has attached to the MC, which made for lush story-telling while also being a bit aware of itself at times. It felt very refreshing to read!

Moonbound feels like a bed time story but told through a more adult language. I found the world building incredibly interesting, I always wanted to know more about every facet of this strange future Earth has evolved into with each chapter. Although I found the plot to get a bit plodding in the middle sections, I overall think this was a great success of a story!

Definitely give this one a try if you're looking for fantasy that will feel fresh and wild yet comforting and nostalgic at the same time!

Thank you to NetGalley and MCD for allowing me the opportunity to read this arc.

I'm such a fan of Robin Sloan, and I adored his first novel, "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore." It was weird and genre-bending in the best way. His latest novel, "Moonbound," has flashes of that same genius and tongue-firmly-in-cheek humor, but it's ultimately a bit too messy for my taste. There's Arthurian legend and lots of post-apocalyptic world-building as we learn about Earth 11,000 years in the future. Some (very) slow sections of the story, however, tell me that Sloan probably loves Tolkien's Tom Bombadil. I would have preferred a bit less wandering around in bogs and a bit more straightforward action/adventure narrative with some clearer destination(s) as well.