As always, Scalzi delivers on a weird science fiction story that makes you wonder exactly how things happen and how predictable we are as a species to overreact and do what we think is right (most of us, anyway).

When The Moon Hits Your Eye is the newest novel by New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi. He mixes humor and science fiction with fantastical questions of "What if?" to create delightful, thought-provoking books. When The Moon Hits Your Eye imagines what would happen if the Earth's moon turned to cheese, with each chapter representing a day in the lunar cycle. It's a ridiculous concept and the book's Preface (written like a children's book about the moon) gives readers a reason to question what kind of book they've stumbled upon. Then we're thrown into Day One at The Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Ohio and grounded in the first of many points of view. With his magical story-telling, Scalzi hooks readers by showing a concrete setting with solid characters in such a way that they can suspend their disbelief when things start to go off-kilter. 

From a little-known town in Iowa to the very well-known city of Las Vegas, Nevada, and even the White House in Washington, D.C., When The Moon Hits Your Eye covers a wide range of people sprinkled across the United States of America. Every point of view offers a unique perspective and explores the impact our moon has on everyday lives. The story is not only told through different viewpoints, but is peppered with subreddit posts, newspaper articles, Slack channel chats, and NASA press releases to break up the narrative and add realism to the novel.

My favorite chapter is of a child with an impressive imagination who grows up into a writer who hasn't lived up to her potential - yet. It spoke to the little girl I was, and the author I have become. It was beautiful, hopeful, and brought me to tears. I didn't expect such a weird premise to pull so many emotions from me; that's Scalzi's talent. When The Moon Hits Your Eye is based on such a comical concept, but within the chosen viewpoints we get deep philosophical debates alongside religious and scientific discussions. 

If you enjoyed Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society or Starter Villain, you'll appreciate this book, too. Wildly different and yet clearly written by the same master wordsmith, all three books share a sense of whimsy and amusement. While all three books are standalone novels with nothing specific in common, Scalzi notes in his Afterword and Acknowledgements that they are all about “Everyday people dealing with an extremely high-concept situation, in contemporary settings,” and "were all released in sequence."

I preordered both a hardback copy and the audiobook versions, and I did wait to listen to the audiobook before writing this review because I absolutely adore Wil Wheaton as a narrator; he brings life to Scalzi's books. I highly recommend both versions.

Fabulous. Amazing. Loved it.

I was ENGROSSED in this story. I’ve never read John Scalzi before but he is immediately an author I want to read more from.

This book is about a scientific phenomenon and many different characters and how it affects them. Each chapter focuses on a different character, some you might see multiple times if they are part of the story of another character, but otherwise they’re unique. You get the POV of government officials, writers, musicians, astronauts, scientists, producers, etc.

The most fascinating thing about Scalzi’s writing is that we spend such little time with each character, and in that short amount of time you learn so much about them and even grow to care for some of them.

I had so much fun with this. I know sci-fi is not for everyone but books like this just really do it for me.

I enjoyed this, but due to an intentional choice by Mr. Scalzi, I could put it down for weeks at a time, and return at my leisure.

This novel asks the question, "What if the moon turned into cheese one day?"

It then takes the premise very seriously and gives us answers from several different perspectives. We see reactions of cheese shop owners, astronauts, tech billionaires, politicians, etc. All framed around a single lunar cycle, where each chapter represents a day, and (the choice that pulled me out of the book) an entirely different perspective.

I don't think I'll ever meet a Scalzi book I'll dislike. But, the choice to tell this as loosely connected or thematically connected short stories, rather than with a more traditional narrative structure makes this one suffer in my estimation.

All that said, this could certainly be a me problem, and it is very well done.

If the premise pulls you in, this book is for you. If you're intrigued by Scalzi, I recommend starting elsewhere.

Thanks to @torbooks and @netgalley for the eARC.

Read June 3, 2025.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the moon suddenly, and with no conceivable explanation, turned to cheese? No? That’s okay, because John Scalzi has and you can read about it!

Following some related, but many unrelated characters, When the Moon Hits Your Eye brings us on a journey of scientific, spiritual and technological discovery. While the story is often laugh-out-loud funny, it's also surprisingly poignant in its observation of the human experience. From astronauts navigating what it means to have trained their entire lives to land on the moon only to have their dreams dashed mere months from the finish line to three old friends discussing the end of the world at their usual booth at a diner in Oklahoma, this book may inspire some self-reflection.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is another creative story by John Scalzi. I've yet to read anything of his that I didn't like. So what happens when the moon is suddenly made of cheese? Not just the moon in the sky but all of the moon rocks in all the labs and museums? How could this happen? How will it affect life on Earth? Is it edible? Good characters, good writing and a good conclusion.

Let me begin by saying that I have loved everything that I read by Scalzi,...until now. This book felt so random to me, maybe a thought exercise in what would so and so do if the moon turned to cheese and then all those scenarios put together to make a book. It just didn't play out well for me.

You already know this book is great. I won't hesitate to recommend to anyone who might be even a little interested.

I love John Scalzi! There isn't enough wackadoo authors out there that can hit the notes in the right way. This was that Wallace and Gromit moon cheese episode with heart.

I'm a big fan of John Scalzi's particular brand of silly sci-fi humour. Starter Villain was one of my favourite books of 2024, so I was particularly keen to read his newest release, in which the moon suddenly and inexplicably turns into cheese.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a book told in vignettes rather than a traditional narrative. The book begins on the day the moon undergoes its miraculous change and follows a new set of characters each day that follows. Between news reports, Reddit posts, and other media, we get an idea of how people react to their reality being turned upside down. This isn't my favourite narrative style, but it is effective in covering a large number of people and experiences, from the President of the United States to everyday people just trying to get by. I think he does try to do a little too much with this narrative style and number of characters - you don't get a chance to connect with the characters, even though some appear more than once. Some of the stories are absolutely fantastic - particularly the political sex scandal, the rival cheese shops, the young fantasy author trying to get published, and a particularly grim taping of Saturday Night Live - and made me laugh out loud or feel a lot of feelings. I think I personally would have preferred a more traditional narrative with these vignettes sprinkled in for texture, but that's just my personal preference.

That said, I really enjoyed the insights into humanity's actions and reactions to the lunar change. Imagine everything we've ever known about physics suddenly going out the window. How would you react? The selfishness, the panic, and the camaraderie we see feels particularly realistic, especially post-pandemic. I really enjoyed the stories of regular people and how they processed their new reality - it's not all about people in power heroically trying to save us all.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a fun science fiction read filled with Scalzi's signature humour. While it's not my favourite of his books, it's a solid read and I'd recommend it to fans of his work and apocalyptic fiction.

3.5 out of 5 stars

**Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this title!!**

I love Scalzi’s work and am so excited to get to this one!!! I ended up purchasing this book and will be posting a full review on my channels soon.

This was a very fun read! Funny, thoughtful, and far more elaborately considered for the ridiculous premise. Think Neal Stephenson by way of Animaniacs, or Space Force but even snarkier, and you'll catch the energy.
This sort of a networking novel (the zenith for me being Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad) with the chapter per day structure gives us an opportunity to see the dauntingly absurd situation from many different angles. As a result, we are pulled many different directions and it is more difficult to really grasp and get to know a character versus, say, Jamie in Kaiju Preservation Society.

Still, a strong read that I think could work well in either a John Scalzi major authors course or perhaps a course examining a range of fiction from soft to hard scifi.

I also have to give props to my fellow Ohioan John Scalzi for bothering to recognize my alumnus, Wapakoneta, home of the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum and very little else.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for access to this digital ARC for an honest review.

DNF @ 45%

This story is so incredibly stupid. I mean, I knew the concept was silly, but the execution somehow makes this concept even dumber. Probably my last Scalzi.

Seriously fun story. Scalzi has a great imagination and it’s always fine to read his stories. This one is a bit crazy. It is about the moon, turning into cheese and what happens around the world because of this occurrence and the people that it influences definitely unique and always well written check this one out.

Unfortunately not my favourite Scalzi novel. The premise sounded intriguing but I didn’t care for the short story style. The short stories would have been better if they all interconnected. I felt no connection to any character and didn’t care what happened with anyone. I did enjoy Scalzi’s trademark humour in the book. I’ll continue to pick up other Scalzi books in the future as it’s too bad this one didn’t resonate with me.

This was my first John Scalzi, and it will likely not be my last! I had selected this item for our book subscription box series at my library, and it was a delight to read and select materials to go along with it. Funny, pertinent, hitting close to home sometimes, and absurd, When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a great title for librarians to recommend to folks who are looking for something different, even if they are not science fiction fans.

I wasnt able to read this book before the publishing date but now that I have read it I gave it 4 stars.

You can always count on John Scalzi to mix humor with heart in just the right way. Very few of today’s writers manage to both make us laugh and also speak to the state of the world like he does. When The Moon Hits Your Eye is no exception.

The premise is simple: the moon has turned to cheese. The book spends one lunar cycle, 28 days, with 28 different people living through the aftermath — from shocking discovery to confused scientists to the (loosey goosey) ramifications re: physics. Scalzi manages to bring so much life to these characters while never taking things seriously but also asking big, non-preachy questions really making you think and reflect.

I can see why, according to the author’s note, this book forms an informal trilogy in Scalzi’s mind with The Kaiju Preservation Society and Starter Villain. They are all standalones, but if you had fun with those, I think you’ll like this one too.

I’m just such a big fan of his, and I think everyone deserves the emotional bubble bath you get from reading his books!

Eh, not bad. Not as good as Scalzi's other stuff though. It's not the ridiculous subject of the moon suddenly turning to cheese. But I feel it does suffer from not having a main character. It's written more like World War Z where every chapter is a vignette from a different person. In this case it's the 28 days of the lunar cycle after the moon turns to cheese and expands greatly due to the new matter it's made of and all the problems that would cause, both scientifically and societally.

This is the best kind of fun! It's smart, quick and human. Each chapter is told though another voice, leading to a caleidoscope of experiences about...a cheese Moon! In true Scalzi fashion, this book hits all the right notes. A million starts (and a Moon or two!)