Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moondust

Hi everyone

This is my review for my first Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust.
My copy has 224 pages and I got it at De Slegte.

“Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist cruiser Selene, incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust. On the surface, her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the mercilessly unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment.”

This was a really enjoyable and fast book to read.

The story is obviously very dated at this point in time, but it doesn’t really take away from the enjoyment and thrill you’ll get out of it.
Clarke’s writing style is wonderfully engaging and it really sucks you in. The technical explanations made by a few of the characters went over my head but there weren’t too many of those and as far as I did grasp them, they did seem to be logical and plausible.
I liked the characterization a lot; they all felt true to their words and actions; the characters felt right. The worldbuilding is amazing and I could really imagine myself being there. And the general atmosphere is very claustrophobic and urgent. I liked the switches from the cool, calculating scientists to the more emotional people trapped in the Selene. The story moves rapidly forward and it never gets slowed down by long explanations or touchy/feely type scenes.

There was one thing I disliked though. Clarke has a tendency to end at least two (or so) paragraphs in every chapter with a sort of prediction of what bad things are yet to happen. It felt very childlike and it aggravated me every time. There’s really no need to do that, we all know a lot can go wrong and will go wrong before the end of the novel.

Happy reading!
Helena