Sometimes it's better to start a review by coming right out with your own opinion. This is certainly one of those cases. This is a terrible novel. Rather fascinatingly it is terrible on a number of levels. Firstly there's the technical level. The author, Chris Hadfield, is an remarkably experienced astronaut. This means he has a detailed knowledge of everything to do with space science - from orbits to living in space. He also knows a lot about the history of Apollo. Tragically for the reader Hadfield feels the need to tell us, in great detail, all about these things. From going to the toilet, to the experience of launch. It all helps to pack out 460 pages and the reader's feeling of being overwhelmed.
Hadfield is one of those novelists who likes to tell the reader things - makes of watches, types of aircraft, technical detail. If you like being drowned in such info, you'll love this book.
The second terrible thing about this book is the plot. There are some holes that would easily allow a Saturn V rocket to launch through it (the Saturn V rocket was 363 feet tall, launched 13 times and took 24 people to the moon BTW). The plot holes exist to hold together a completely creaky tale of the Cold War in space, set around a fictional military only mission to the moon Apollo 18. In this timeline, an extra Saturn V is taking another crew to the moon and they are going to intercept the Soviets who are doing BAD THINGS.
The Apollo crew, who have had a last minute personnel change due to an accident to one of the spacemen, has to disable a Soviet spy satellite. A little stop-off before they go to the moon. One of the Soviets kills an American and GETS ON THE APOLLO just as it heads to the moon. Its so ridiculous it made me laugh out loud.
This means there's KGB, Whitehouse and Kremlin talks, a typically square jawed US astronaut (who just happens to actually be Russian) and a female Soviet crewmember. In possibly the most ridiculous bit of the novel, the US decide to allow the Soviet to land on the moon, in borrowed kit, without training and that's just because the US has to find out what a Soviet rover is doing. The characters are wooden, the women in particular are one dimensional and the Soviet characters are clichés.
If my summary sounds implausible, that's because it is utterly unbelievable. You can't suspend disbelief for this one, and I only read it to the end because I figured it was a great cosmic joke. Really, there are better novels about Apollo 18 out there (the whole concept is a cliché by now anyway). I remember really enjoying James Michener's Space, for instance. Unless you're obsessed with Chris Hadfield's work, I really wouldn't bother with this one.
l love this review. Thanks, Martin!
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