A Fall of Moondust

Rating:
Summary: Real Science, Real People
Review: A Fall of Moondust is another one of those personal survival stories in the middle of disaster. Unlike most of the movies made from this kind of story, this one works well. Clarke draws each of his moon carrier passengers well, and better yet, they are believable people. The basic disaster scenario is based on an idea that over the eons, meteors and temperature variations have broken down some of the lunar rocks to such a fine powder that it acts almost like a liquid, which collects in somes places as a hidden 'pool', which our lunar vehicle manages to crash into. Although to date no such dust material has actually been found on the moon, there is no intrinsic reason that it could not exist. Clarke's final resolution of his disaster scenario makes scientific sense, which is probably why Hollywood has not tried to make a movie out of this one. Good reading.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Clarke - great fun
Review: Clarke takes a unique environment with strange perils and puts in it that amazing literary device, a group of human beings. Some are exceptional, most are average, all of them show the truth of a principle of writing science fiction: for the story to work, it has to be about people. Add all the rocketships and alien landscapes you want, it's the people that matter most.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated but good
Review: The book is worth reading not so much for the science element but for the characters and situations in it. The plot is a little weak at places but the whole novel still makes for great reading. The story-telling is fairly realistic. Don't expect too much from it - and you will enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but nowhere near his best.
Review: The first and most obvious problem is that the entire premise of the novel - that there are oceans of ultra-dessicated dust on the moon, and that a ship designed to 'sail' on them sinks and has to be rescued - has been thoroughly disproven. There are no seas of dust anywhere on the moon. The second is that, from a literary perspective, this is definitely a more mediocre performance by Clarke. When you compare it with <u>Rendezvous With Rama</u> or <u>The City and the Stars</u>, you may even wonder if the same person wrote them. It's just not as well written as most of Clarke's works. ...

Rating:
Summary: Early Clarke
Review: This is one of Clarke's earlier and perhaps not so well-known science fiction novels. It's based on an intriguing idea that was, before the first landing on the moon in the 1960s, perceived as an actual possibility: that some lunar plains, because they appeared to be exceedingly flat and smooth, were composed of extremely fine dust. Such a "sea of dust" would be far more treacherous than any quicksand on Earth, and there was a very real fear that the first lunar probes would sink and instantly vanish into such a sea. Clarke wrote A Fall of Moondust between August and November 1960, and it wasn't until the mid-1960s, when the Luniks and the Surveyors landed on the Moon, that it was proved there were no dust seas there. Clarke had already used the idea of "moondust" in Earthlight (1955), but the original concept was first developed by James Blish, in one of his science fiction stories (as Clarke relates it in the preface to the 1987 edition of A Fall of Moondust).
The story is a psychological thriller in a science fiction setting on the Moon. Captain Pat Harris, "the skipper of the only boat on the Moon," is the pilot of the Selene, which is a dust-cruiser (the only one) on the Sea of Thirst. The Sea of Thirst is composed of moondust, and the Selene is basically a pleasure cruiser for wealthy tourists. Captain Harris, together with the stewardess Sue Wilkins (an attractive and capable young women who is the object of Harris's erotic fantasies), takes the passengers on a cruise across the sea to the Mountains of Inaccessibility and back. But on the way back, disaster strikes (when a huge gas bubble bursts under the surface), and the Selene begins to sink into the dust.
The rest of the book switches back and forth between the rescue efforts, under the command of Chief Engineer Lawrence, assisted by the arrogant and anti-social Dr. Tom Lawson from the observatory at the Lagrange II relay satellite, and the efforts made by the crew and passengers of the Selene to stay calm and occupy themselves until help arrives (and to stave off every new disaster that occurs, regular as clockwork). Also involved in the events, as an outside observer, is the news reporter Maurice Spenser of Interplanet News. Among the passengers in the sunken cruiser is the famous Commodore Hansteen, the Commodore of Space who "had led the first expedition to Pluto, who had probably landed on more virgin planets and moons than any explorer in history," and he quickly assumes a leadership position. Captain Harris, after a pep talk from the attractive Sue, realizes that since he's the captain, he must act like one (but there is never any friction with the Commodore, since people in Clarke's stories are usually far more reasonable and civilized than real people would ever be), and for this he is rewarded with the sexual favours of the desirable young stewardess.
One thing I thought was a little strange was how Commodore Hansteen, within minutes after the disaster had occurred, immediately began thinking about and planning how to occupy the passengers so that they wouldn't panic during the long wait until the rescue efforts began. I don't think that's how anyone would have reacted in a situation like that. The first impulse should have been to try by any means available to get out of there, and it would not have been until later, at the first signs of stress among the passengers and when it was clear beyond any doubt that they were all in for a long wait, that the time would have come for worrying about the passengers.
A Fall of Moondust is an interesting and pleasant read, and the outdated moondust idea actually gives the story a "Buck Rogers" kind of feel (I'm sure Clarke would be insulted at a suggestion like that). On the other hand, the story is, as always with Clarke, strictly scientific in all details, and it's quite interesting to see how the rescue efforts proceed. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down
Review: This is somewhat of an anamoly in Clarke's canon. At a contrast to his usual philosophical-tinged works, this is an honest-to-goodness thrill machine. Fortunately, Clarke's pen is as mighty as ever, and we are spared the usual, dime-a-dozen, run-of-the-mill action stories of this type that pollute the science fiction landscape. Here we have a suspenseful narrative that is both well and tightly written, while also being scientifically strict. While it is true that the "dust" that Clarke describes does not exist on the Moon-at least not that we know of-it is still very plausible, and there are no leaps of faith that need to be made during the course of this book, in terms of its climaxes and resolutions. This has all the intelligence that you would expect from Clarke. He also did something here that he has not always done, but which was fortunat here because it was essential to the story's being good, and that was including an interesting and believable cast of characters. These are not cardboard cut-outs, and they bring the human element into hard science fiction, which, unfortunately, is often all too lacking. This is a classic. If you are tired of the cornball, cliched type of SF "disaster" story that is all too prevalent and want something better, then look no further.

Rating:
Summary: Great science fiction
Review: This was one of the first science fiction stories I ever read, as a keen young 11 year old, and I have never forgotten it. It is a classic of the genre, and is still believable and interesing today.

The characters are well drawn, and the science is detailed and interesting. I guess it is comparable to a good old fashioned disaster story, and it is this element that would make the story appealing even to those who don't care for science fiction.

Arthur C Clarke has always been a great writer, and this is a wonderful story. It will keep you riveted until the very end.