Ok Palmer….
Get to work on the second installment because it just wasn’t fair to leave us hanging like that.
This book was so good that I stayed up late, took baths till they were cold and read long after I should have been up doing things. The characters were diverse and interesting. So many personas , yet it was easy to keep them straight (great naming helps). The story was complex but it didn’t ever stall.
There was a great mix of science fiction, future technology (the mantas are about the coolest vehicle I’ve ever read about), magic, fantasy, romance and varied, well fleshed out cultures.
I kept thinking about Ursula K. Le Guin’s book “Always Coming Home” when I was reading “Moon Deeds”. There is the whole Shasta connection, but it was much more. Le Guin created a new culture, complete with language, legends, songs and spirituality in her book. Pickering didn’t go quite as deep because the culture wasn’t the theme of her book, but all of the different peoples were explored really well.
Well done. It’s worth it to search this book out.