I stop reading and find myself still thinking about the situation and the characters, drawing me back into the world of the story. This is a quality that simply cannot be denied. This may be more sci-fi on the surface than fantasy, but I’m in!
www.goodreads.com/book/show/20...

The characters, their collective post-crash quasi-amnesia, the problems they face in a quaking moon colony with strained resources and the weight of leadership, it’s all fascinating.

I especially enjoyed the deftness with which a minor character - something of an old medical crone - was rendered.

Despite my delayed understanding, there was always enough energy, enough character, enough interesting detail and competence of prose to keep me turning the pages.

Beginnings are hard, especially when so much of consequence has happened before the first page - an asset to any story. That's very much the case here. We begin in the middle of things, and once I AM oriented, the circumstances are exciting.

I think I did a good job summarizing what this opening is about in my first paragraph, but it took pages for me to build the confidence to write that much. Dialogue took precedent over context. Something WAS happening, and it was important ... I just wasn't sure what it was.

There’s a lot this opening has to get us up to speed on, and while all of it is engaging, I have been slow to understand some of the details, especially those that would have oriented me in the circumstances of these two characters.

They are in conflict with each other, tho they have common goals - survival. They are in conflict with their environment - their subterranean colony is beset by moon quakes. There’s much they’re uncertain of. There’s tension with their non-telepathic cohabitants.

The 3rd person pov is descriptive and engages in good scene and character details while keeping its protagonists at the center of the narrative. At least two distinct characters begin to emerge before the reader, both interesting.

This reminds me of a silver age sci-fi story in the best way. It feels very much cut from the same cloth. There’s much about it that is strange, but enticingly so.

Oh cool!

Nice!

Sorry it’s taken so long, but I’m more engrossed with and impressed by the story with every page.

Yikes. Thanks for the heads up!

And congratulations on the dissertation! I only ever did a thesis, but it was a long and arduous process because I started it with NO IDEA what I was writing about 💀

Hope you’ve found it rewarding!

Hey, me too 😂 that’s why I had to put my opening reads thing on hold. I think I’ll get back to it now, tho I would also really like to finish writing another novel

One day I’ll get my head on straight enough to do all my other work and read all these great novels I’ve got laying around, Steve.
Count on it ♥️

I haven’t read his books yet, but @stevewestenra.bsky.social is a rising, recommended fantasy/horror author