Luna: New Moon is the first part of a trilogy about the bitter rivalry between powerful families in a near-future lunar colony. Under the control of a Lunar Development Corporation which notionally still provides paternal oversight from Earth, it is the families dubbed “The Five Dragons” that hold all of the local power in a near-feudal society. The story focuses particularly on the rivalry between the ambitious, pioneering Mackenzie family from Australia, who set up a mining corporation to extract rare earth metals for the IT industry, and the South American Corta family, which mines helium-3 to fuel fusion power. Regarded as upstarts by the older families, the Cortas are the newest Dragon and the main protagonists of the story.

The depiction of the new moon-based civilisation is convincing both in terms of lunar habitat life, future technology and in emphasising the Moon’s extremely hazardous environment. Ultraviolet, cosmic rays and charged particles from solar flares bombard the lunar surface, so human habitats dig deep and citizens live as far from the surface as they can afford. The populace all have a personalised, holographic avatar that hovers over one shoulder to serve as an interface with the Moon's communication network. They also stress about the status of their Four Elementals, which are essential for life: water, space, data, and finances. Newcomers to the Moon are called “Jo Moonbeams” and start with the strength of three native lunar people before muscle atrophy in the low gravity takes hold. This is hard sci-fi world-building at its finest.

Unfortunately, the story itself is not up to the same standard. Before the admittedly gripping climax which is tense, full of drama and sets up the sequel, most of the book is slow and rather dull. An illustration of this would be the reaction to the attempted assassination near the beginning of the book which is surprisingly blasé. The event is simply chalked up to being a “flare-up of the old Mackenzie-Corta feud”. This book certainly isn’t a crime drama! There are no police authorities on the Moon and there is no criminal or civil law, only contract law. When one Joe Moonbeam asks “Where are the cops?" she is furnished with the answer “Earth”. There is no progress and seemingly little interest in discovering the identity of the assailant until much later in the book.

Mostly the story remains a fairly standard family soap opera where a lot of the scenes could easily have taken place on Earth rather than on the Moon. There is quite a bit of sex (of the contemporary “anything goes” variety) although this seems to have little consequence to the plot. A certain amount of time is devoted to fleshing out the back story of the Corta family matriarch, describing her arrival on the Moon and the setting up of the helium-3 mining operation. Like the main plot, these flashbacks lack excitement.

It is appreciated that the first part of a trilogy must introduce the characters, set the scene and engage in world-building but that’s no excuse for a bland story. It is a full 85% of the way through the book before the story finally springs to life and finds a few extra gears. I have already noted the gripping and dramatic climax but will readers be prepared to slog through the mundanity of the rest to get there? I found it too little too late, so notwithstanding the cliffhanger at the end, I am not minded to progress with the second book of the series.