Kim Stanley Robinson (KSR) has never shied away from politic. From my favourite one, The Science and the Capital to Mars Trilogy and from the Shaman to Aurora. His stories are political, full of complex ideas, odd stories, revolutions and catastrophes but also utopian and optimistic in their core. KSR has written science fiction novels in a variety of subgenres, he imagined humanity expanding in through the Solar System, terraforming inhospitable planets, and changing the current social and economic regimes. He talks about the transformative power of science and technology, and of what climate change might do a little bit further in the future. He envisioned possible future in a world after climate change. Sometimes he also looks into our past. Kim Stanley Robinson is a thinker and a visionary. With his books he helps us think about the power of science fiction, about our society and our relationship to science and technology. His books are not for impatient readers; they request our fullest attention

Red Moon is a novel of space exploration and lunar colonization but also a historical and political novel. As usual KSR weave together a wide variety of topics. He looks into the origins of Earth and moon and he delves into the history, philosophy and politics of China but from a certain future point- a few decades from now, which is quite interesting. He explores the limitations or the impossibility of total surveillance and the advances on machine learning and quantum computing.

He also returns to the idea of post-capitalism. Political and capitalistic crises are presented as two interlocked events and novel suggests that the future will be defined by the entanglement of both these crises. KSR has explored post-capitalism in many of his novels. In New York 2140, he is telling the story of a revolution that creates post-capitalism to solve the ecological problem. There is a certain amount of resistance or impossibility to The idea of post-capitalism, but if we think let’s say in 200 years for now, and if we manage to survive a global catastrophic risk that will cripple or even destroy modern civilisation (e.g. climate change or a nuclear destruction or a powerful artificial general Intelligence (AGI), the people on earth will not be working in a capitalist economy. No human system is internal, and as capitalism evolved out of feudalism, another system will evolve out of capitalism. And with the rate that the capitalist system using our planet and systemically undervalues the future, the new system could exist in a few decades from now. In Red Moon, KSR explores the possibility of deploying a cryptocurrency “carboncoin”, that is created or validates by taking carbon out of air and can only buy sustainable necessities. It is certainly an intriguing and fascinating idea.

Red Moon reads as a thriller but the science fiction is strong and the politics revolutionary. There are a lot of loose ends in the story which suggests a sequel, a Blue Moon perhaps.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group, Orbit and the author, Kim Stanley Robinson, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Red Moon in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the book was well written, It offered an enjoyable read, though it seemed to drag every now and then. This detracted from my overall enjoyment. 3.5 stars
Worth a read for fans of the genre.

Very excited to read Red Moon. I’ve read quite a few books by Kim Stanley Robinson and I have enjoyed them all. This however was slightly lacking. I struggled to get into the narrative at first and once I got going I stalled again. A great plot idea, believable characters but it was a plod. I’m glad I finished it however and will go back and reread again sometime.

Kim Stanley Robinson won plenty of awards for his Mars series, Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. So it is a little suspicious that he calls his new book Red Moon, as if perhaps trying to recall some glory days. But he has his reasons. This book, much like his alternate history The Years of Rice and Salt, focusses mainly on China and the Chinese settlement on the Moon. That said, this is a very different beast to his Mars books. A sequel to his recent Antarctica, it takes forward some of the philosophy and themes from other recent books including the generation ship saga Aurora.
It is 2047 and quantum engineer Fred Fredricks has been sent to the Moon by his company to hand over a quantum entangled radio. This device allows for instant, completely encrypted communication between two people. On the way he meets ageing Chinese poet and media star Ta Shu, one of the recurring characters from Antarctica (as he keeps reminding readers). Not long after arriving on the Moon Fredricks is implicated in the murder of his client, almost killed himself and kidnapped. It turns out he is in the middle of an internal Chinese power struggle. He is rescued and packed off back to Earth with another trouble maker Qi, pregnant daughter of a high ranking Party Member. But when they arrive back on Earth the two find they are still targets and go on the run with the help of Qi’s connections.
The rest of the book, literally all of it, are Fred and Qi running, stopping for a bit, being found, running again, stopping for a bit, being found, running again… This constant movement is what Robinson uses for plot but it quickly becomes repetitive and a little senseless. And while the reader spends plenty of time with Qi and Fredricks, Robinson gives no reason to really care about them or their plight. Like the other point of view characters, they are there to move the plot along (such as it is) or have philosophical or political discussions. The character of Ta Shu does not fair much better, also yo-yo-ing back and forth between Earth and Moon as he tries to help the hapless pair.
Robinson is a renowned futurist with some very firm ideas, some of which he has explored before, all the way back to the Mars series in some cases – the use of cryptocurrencies, the idea of blockchain or distributed government, the potential for artificial intelligence to achieve some form of enlightened sentience, the power of individuals to work en masse to the drive political change. Red Moon is yet another vehicle in which he rehearses these ideas through the dialogue of his characters or (in the case of the AI character) their internal musings. While these are interesting ideas here, none of this is particularly new or presented in an engaging way.
Red Moon a just a slog in which movement is used as a proxy for action and characters are vehicles either for a naïve or ignorant audience (Fred) or for espousing particular political and social points of view. For those keen to visit the Moon science-fiction style there are better ways to do from Arthur C Clark and Robert Heinlein through, more recently, to the Luna series by Ian McDonald.

KSR at his best. Red Moon brings all the KSR tropes together - socialism, collective bargaining and responsibility, the hope for a better tomorrow, and that incredible level of world building. Highly recommended

Kim Stanley Robinson has stealthily become one of our leading SF writers over the past few decades, and this latest book explores the idea of a moon colonised by the Chinese. There's lots of interesting stuff here, like economic warfare between the US and China, an emerging alternative currency, lunar espionage, power struggles within the Chinese political elite and a popular uprising. Most of it happens in the background of this book though, as KSR keeps tightly focused on a few core characters (one of whom is definitely a descendant of Freds Fredericks from Escape From Kathmandu in my personal headcanon). It's solid stuff and an enjoyable read but it does feel like minor Robinson, a break between more substantial projects. Look at that list of stuff in my second sentence and you could easily imagine Neal Stephenson churning out a thousand pages on the same ideas, whereas KSR is happy to leave it underdeveloped in the background.
Ian MacDonald's Luna series is shaping up to be the definitive moon colonization story of our times, and this just isn't in that league. Which isn't to say it's rubbish, just a bit...slight.

This was more socio-political debate meets murder mystery that Sci-fi in many ways but despite thinking I was going to get something like Red Mars, I found I really enjoyed it. KSR is an exceptional writer so while this was lite sci-fi in some respects, the word craft and vivid descriptions more than made up for it. A thought provoking read that kept me guessing until the final line.

KSR is one of my favorite writers and even if I don’t always find the subject of his books to my liking, at least I enjoy his beautiful writing. This is the first for me which I did not like.

In a few words, it’s a heavy socio-political debate, with multiple references from Chinese culture and history, built apparently on a murder case on the Moon.

Page after page, following the convoluted path of the two main characters, an American and a Chinese, I kept wondering what happened to KSR writing style: doesn’t resemble anything I read by him so far. Endless political discussions, interrupted here and there by the flight of those two above and in the middle of these, by the introspections of a third character, which gets involved in the conflict generated by the crime.

Don’t expect a murder mystery, as it is not. After 85% I began to find it a bit interesting because I started to have a hunch on where it’s going. And I got the whole picture only at the final line in the book. That’s another first for me.

As I see it, the whole story is a metaphor for our current global socio-political context and where we’re headed. Where? You’ll see at the end of the book.

I ruminated upon it a few days. If I’m right about the metaphor part, the idea is brilliant. However, I did not like a bit the execution. I missed the fluent writing, the sense of wonder reading his thoughts and his endless knowledge in so many domains. Reading mostly about Mao, Feng Shui and China’s political schemes was a chore for me.

However, for someone interested in politics, it may be a blast.

Having loved Kim Stanley Robinson's previous novels, I jumped at the chance to read this one. The story is a fascinating one which explores the current international relations between the U.S. and China, relations that are becoming increasingly more hostile. It takes place both on the Moon and on Earth, with wonderfully vivid descriptions that immerse you in the settings. Refreshingly original, stunning, with an authentic portrayal of the Chinese culture, something I have always been intrigued by, this novel was exhilarating!

At its core, this is an exceptionally thrilling murder mystery, and there were many intense and suspenseful moments littered throughout the novel. Although this was entertainment of the highest order, I felt that some of the author previous books were actually more successful in terms of the exploration of different topics. There is certainly plenty of action, the three main characters are beautifully painted and each very different from one another. With a writing style that is easy to follow and engage with, exploration of politics and artificial intelligence within the context of the story and colonisation and its causes and effects, this was an exciting and unputdownable speculative sci-fi work. I look forward to reading more from him in the future. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Orbit for an ARC.