DNF Early Review – When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Humor
Length: 336 pages
Publisher:‎ Tor Books
Release Date: March 25, 2025
ASIN: B0D1P61XXN
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley foro Review
Rating: 2/5 stars

“The moon has turned into cheese.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now… something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives — over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you’d expect, and then to so many places you wouldn’t.

It’s a wild moonage daydream. Ride this rocket.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this as an eGalley from NetGalley to review..

Thoughts: DNF’d at 50% of the way through. I am generally a big fan of Scalzi’s stories; I like his humor and off-the-wall premises. I really tried to finish this but realized I was completely ambivalent about the story. The premise is a bit too far-fetched, and the book was just too disjointed.

The moon turns to cheese and humanity has to deal with this now. What follows are looks into the lives of various people at how they react to this. One theme that does continue to throughout this story is billionaires trying to take advantage of this strange occurrence.

The first part of the story seems like it is ridiculous but also sort of funny in a goofy way. Then we start jumping from sector to sector and hearing how everyone is affected by the moon being cheese. It was really disjointed. We rarely see the same characters twice, and I struggled to follow how anything was related to anything else. I think Scalzi is trying to make some social commentaries around billionaires here but I am struggling to figure out what they are (aside from the most basic billionaires are unrealistic, wasteful, and have huge egos).

This went quickly from potentially entertaining to flat out boring and ridiculous. I kept sticking with it, hoping that the story would come together at some point. Then I realized I was avoiding picking up my Kindle because I didn’t want to struggle through more of this….so, it was time to stop.

As I said, I am a huge Scalzi fan, but this was just a miss for me. It doesn’t come off as clever or even intriguing and definitely not as funny.

My Summary (2/5): Overall I found this disappointing. The premise is far-fetched but seemed like it might work for the story. However, things just get sillier and sillier and more disjointed as the story continues. We hop between many different people and how the moon being cheese affects them. Unfortunately, their stories never really came together with the main story. This started to feel like a bunch of random silly thoughts and maybe an effort at some political statement that I didn’t quite grasp. I am a huge Scalzi fan, but this was a miss for me.