Editorial Content for Moonbound
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
With MR. PENUMBRA’S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE and SOURDOUGH, Robin Sloan has penned works that defy categorization. Now, with MOONBOUND, he continues to expand his fictional “Penumbraverse” with a novel set in the post-apocalyptic far future but containing adventure and fantasy tropes that will remind readers of some of the classics of those genres.
As he did in SOURDOUGH, Sloan employs a most unusual narrator here --- a fungus-based artificial intelligence that has been in suspended animation for 11,000 years following the demise of its host in a cosmic battle against the genetically engineered “dragons” that humans had once designed for space exploration but that turned against them.
"MOONBOUND is a totally unexpected blend of science fiction, fantasy and adventure revolving around an epic quest across memorable landscapes."
The narrator is awakened by a young boy, Ariel, and proceeds to leap over to Ariel’s consciousness. Ariel is loosely cognizant that there’s a new awareness in his mind, so the two of them engage in dialogue from time to time, even as they share a body. The result is a somewhat unusual narration. The artificial intelligence makes observations on what, to them, seems to be an alien world, even as this is the only world that Ariel, the host, has ever known.
Ariel inhabits a tiny corner of a post-apocalyptic Earth that bears a great deal of resemblance to medieval Europe (with the addition of talking animals), complete with knights, squires and a sword in a stone. If you’re thinking that Ariel sounds a lot like a young King Arthur, you might be right. But the castle’s wizard, Malory, becomes enraged when Ariel pulls the wrong sword, thereby changing what should have been his destiny. Ariel sets off on a perilous journey to escape the wizard’s wrath.
Along the way, Ariel encounters a variety of memorable and surprising characters, including humanoid beavers and friendly robots. He also hatches a scheme to activate an ancient “Plan Z” to free humanity from captivity. But things are rarely as simple as they seem.
MOONBOUND is a totally unexpected blend of science fiction, fantasy and adventure revolving around an epic quest across memorable landscapes. At times, it feels like a video game universe; at others, it’s a reminder of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, C.S. Lewis or T.H. White. Like those novels, this one will appeal to a broad cross-section of readers, including older children and teens who love fantasies.
Those who enjoy being immersed in this fantastical universe will be pleased to know that Sloan envisions MOONBOUND to be the start of a series that will continue to expand his “Penumbraverse” and surprise readers at every turn.
Teaser
It is 11,000 years from now. A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history --- and becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally and the narrator of our story.
Promo
It is 11,000 years from now. A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history --- and becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally and the narrator of our story.
About the Book
Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future adventure.
In MOONBOUND, Robin Sloan has written a novel with the full scope and ambitious imagination of the very books that lit the engines of MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE: an epic quest as only Sloan could conceive it, mixing science fiction, fantasy, good old-fashioned literary storytelling and unrivaled enthusiasm for what’s next.
It is 11,000 years from now. A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history --- and becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally and the narrator of our story.
MOONBOUND is an adventure into the richest depths of Story itself. It is a deeply satisfying epic of ancient scale, blasted through the imaginative prism one of our most forward-thinking writers. And this is only the beginning.
Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman
