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I have always loved books about space colonization. There's just something that really fascinates me about having to rebuild a world for people to live in. Moonrising was another one that I loved. I enjoyed the build up of the characters and the backstories for them that were presented. The story was just a little hard for me to get into, but once I did, it flew by. I did find myself wanting to know more about the background of the characters, but I do not think that it affected how much I did or didn't like the story. Looking forward to seeing more things by this author.

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A compelling hard sci-fi book following a moon colony trying to become self-sufficient. The romance was charming but I really enjoyed the journey that the main character Alex went on. A truly fantastic book!

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Such a compelling look into a near-future sci-fi story about a colony on the moon struggling to become self-sufficient. The romance thread was touching, but what really drew me in was the slow change in our FMC Alex from righteous scientist to convincing advocate for mutagenetic food, slowing winning over hearts as well as minds in her fight for a sustainable future.

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Moonrising is a beautifully written and deeply imaginative novel that shines with a quiet power. Claire Barner has created a captivating world and a memorable story that will resonate with anyone who believes in the magic that lies just beneath the surface of the ordinary. It's a truly enchanting read that lingers in the mind long after the final page.

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Deeply enjoyable semi-hard sci-fi which I honestly ended up more interested in than the romance which I initially came for! Excited to see what else this author has.

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Thank you, Simon & Schuster and Diversion Books for the eARC of this book! Rounded up from 3.75 stars, I did really enjoy this cli-fi romance novel.

The stakes in this book were super high - colonising the moon and trying to get the world to accept mutagenetic food during a time of continued climate crises. The pacing and dialogue of the book was awkward at times, but the story itself was gripping. We get to follow two romances, and while I did enjoy the primary romance, the secondary romance was more intriguing and believable to me.

I thoroughly all the attention to detail that went into this book, particularly regarding the science and the cultural elements. I think those aspects were very well done, and made the story more engaging. The four main characters were all very unique individuals, and following their different journeys in this adventure brought a lot of great perspectives into the telling of this story.

Overall, I had a great time with this book, and would be interested in reading more of Barner’s work!!

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5/5 stars: This is Barner's Sci-Fi Steamy Romance stand-alone set primarily on the Moon's colony in 2073 and follows a controversial agronomist, an Emirati businessman, his younger brother and an eccentric genius join forces to make the Moon's colony a thriving community only to come up against eco-terrorists. Told in multiple POVs, Barner's smart and witty writing and character work are stellar; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Alex, Mansoor, Rashid and Victor are great characters who each have to deal with their personal issues even as they find themselves working together to advance the Moon's colony. Each character's uniquely voiced and I appreciate Barner's multicultural and 2SLGBTQIA+ cast. This isn't a romance first book, it's slow burn with OPS scenes that pay off in the end. Barner's world building's excellent and absorbing. The science and technology elements of the book are fascinating and were exciting to read. Additionally, I really loved the action-packed ending. I very much enjoyed this, highly recommend!

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

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Moonrising is for anyone who loves a sci-fi romance and is passionate about slowing climate change.

Thank you to Diversion Books for the complimentary digital ARC.

The story is set 48 years in the future and Earth's climate change has progressed significantly. Cities have been lost to rising sea levels, weather has become more severe, and crops are failing. With the threat of impending doom....a food scientist, an oil tycoon, a physics genius, and a poet with the gift of persuasion dedicate themselves to building a moon colony to save humanity.

Because the Earth in this book is a not so distant version of our Earth, the climate and food scarcity issues felt incredibly impactful. The characters faced significant opposition to their scientific breakthroughs, much like we're seeing In our current political landscape with a suspicion towards proven science. This lent an element of grounding to the space adventure and made the story a realistic version of our future. I was completely absorbed in the plot and couldn't put the book down.

I think what endeared me the most was the wonder of space exploration and the sense of hope shining through the darkest moments. Despite vitriol and ignorance, the characters persevered to preserve our planet. It rekindled my optimism that humanity's downward spiral can be curbed before it's too late.

If you're doom scrolling through the news and want to feel hopeful again, let this lovely tale be your escape!

Oh, and there are two romantic sub-plots to spice up the rocket travel and REAL moon walking. How can you say no??

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It is the year 2073 and Dr. Alex Cole is a brilliant but controversial agronomist. In a world ravaged by climate change where only the wealthy have access to fresh produce, Alex believes mutagenetic food is the solution. However, radical environmentalists are fighting against her and everyday citizens who remember the horrors of a mutagenic potato crop gone wrong are afraid to eat the lab grown food. When public opinion against her work causes her lab’s backers to pull funding, Alex gets a surprise offer of new funding and a chance to join the moon colony to grow food for the scientists living there. Things are not easy on the colony, as most of the residents are just as anti-mutagenic food as those on Earth. But slowly, Alex begins to settle into life on the colony, growing food on the moon, and building an unexpected connection with Emirati businessman, Mansoor Al Kaabi.

As the nephew of the Emir and part of a prominent family in the United Arab Emirates, Mansoor finds himself pulled in two directions. He is the favored son expected to represent his family in business and live by their traditional values. As such, he is working to expand Emirati influence and growth, helping move them beyond reliance on oil to become a leader in space exploration. His family has maneuvered themselves into a place of influence, both in building space facilities in their own country, as well as influencing key American legislation for space settlement. But Mansoor also has dreams that go beyond his family’s expectations. He wants a life lived on his own terms, one where he can work toward his own goals and with relationships of his choosing. As Mansoor travels to the moon to see to the final stages of his family’s hotel on the moon, he struggles with his desire to help build his own vision of the world’s future, as well as his forbidden feelings for Alex.

Victor Beard is a brilliant man who has helped advance the field of agronomy, and he is both a colleague and a friend of Alex. Now, Victor has turned his considerable genius toward space, developing faster rockets to take tourists and settlers to the moon, as well as to advance his vision of expanded settlements beyond Earth. He is also helping to secure the passage of the Homestead Act in the U.S., a bill that would make such settlements a reality. Victor may be incredibly intelligent, but with his mind constantly whirring with a million ideas, he find social interaction much more challenging.

Rashid Al Kaabi is Mansoor’s younger brother, and he has no interest in the family business or conforming to their traditional lifestyle. Rashid is a poet at heart, but when Mansoor leaves him in charge of helping to secure the votes for the Homestead Act, Rashid finds himself with unexpected skill in charming all the right people. As Rashid works with Victor on lobbying back on Earth, the men form a connection and a growing relationship. But being gay is still illegal in the UAE and as the member of a prominent family, Rashid risks a lot of anyone were to find out his secret.

Alex, Mansoor, Victor, and Rashid are each working to do their part to secure a new future of food production and space colonization. Along the way, they are also find new connections and new relationships. But not everyone is happy with their plans, and the group may find themselves with their lives on the line just as they stand on the cusp of the world they have long desired.

Moonrising is the debut book from Claire Barner and I really loved this one. I think the world building and the set up is quite interesting. This is a book set in the relatively near future (how is 2073 less than 50 years away!), so while it is more advanced than our current world, it still feels very familiar. The problems they are facing are a logical extension of those from our own time, particularly the devastating toll of climate change. Parts of the world are increasingly uninhabitable, food production is becoming limited, and the wealth gap between the rich and poor is widening. Lab generated food and moving humans to the Moon and beyond are both ways to help lessen the impact, but they aren’t without their considerable problems. And while our main characters firmly believe in the ideals they are advancing, public opinion is not always on their side. The story delves into some complex and interesting issues and I liked the way this future world builds upon our own.

I think Barner does a nice job here building this story across the four main characters, Alex, Mansoor, Victor, and Rashid. The four of them have a series of interconnections and the narrative POV moves among them. The characters also form two couples, so we follow the romances, along with the individual character journeys. While this is an ensemble cast, Alex felt like the main focal point to me and I think she has the most interesting journey. Alex truly cares about providing food to the world and she is a brilliant scientist. She is also socially awkward and isn’t great at dealing with people. The story sets up an interesting conflict here in that there was previously a devastating blight from mutagenic potatoes that killed many people (due to an unscrupulous company that didn’t use enough care in their production). For Alex, mutagenic food is the obvious solution to the food problem and she struggles to understand why others don’t accept that, as to her the science proves that this is the right answer. It is also kind of devastating to her to see so many people disparage her life’s work as evil when all she wants is to help people. But we also see how many people are still traumatized by the poisonous potatoes and have genuine and legitimate feelings of fear regarding mutagenic food. At first, Alex is unable to control her irritation and impatience for those who don’t see things her way and she ends up alienating people. But over time, Alex comes to realize that she can reach more people with a little more of a softer approach and finds herself fitting in at the station in ways she never has before.

Alex and Mansoor’s relationship builds nicely over the story and it gets the most page time of the two couples. The main conflict the two face is that Mansoor is expected to return to his family and take up his role as the dutiful son, which doesn’t allow for a future with Alex. Even more complicated is that Mansoor isn’t telling Alex about much of this, nor about many of his plans for the future in space. I think this could have been really frustrating as a reader, but Barner lets us inside Mansoor’s head enough to feel his struggle and I felt things resolved well. Victor and Rashid’s romance gets much less focus and, while there is a sense of attraction and interest blooming, it feels very much in the background for most of the book. I think this is exacerbated by the fact that Rashid gets the least page time of any of the four characters and we get to know him the least. Much of what we learn about Rashid comes from other people’s perspective, rather than his own POV, so he feels like the most minor of the characters. The jump from he and Victor suddenly serious about one another felt too abrupt for me given how little we see of their romance on page. Given that Rashid is a closeted gay man from a prominent family in a country where same sex relationships are illegal, there was a lot to explore here and it seemed to get a little shortchanged.

For the most part, I think Barner does a nice job keeping all these plots spinning, but I did feel the pacing was a little off. There is a lot of time spent setting things up, which makes sense to a degree given there are four main characters here, each with their own stories. But by halfway through the book, I still felt like not much had happened plot-wise aside from moving a lot of things in place. I was never bored, and in fact I was eager for any opportunity to pick up the book. But I do think that there is a lot of lead up before the main crisis hits, and then things resolve surprisingly fast, so a little more balance would have helped. Also, there are often irregular time jumps and I sometimes had trouble getting oriented when we would skip ahead days or weeks. I think that was probably made more of an issue by the fact that I had an advance copy without final formatting, so the section breaks weren’t as clear. I assume in the final version, this will be less of an issue, but a little more orientation for the reader would have still helped.

Despite this small quibbles, I really enjoyed this story tremendously. I found myself very engaged with all four characters’ journeys and really loved the near future setting and how it builds on our current world. There are a lot of interesting ideas here to explore and I was very caught up in the story. I think this is a wonderful debut book and I will definitely be looking forward to more from Barner.

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Agronomist Dr. Alex Cole has dedicated her life to the development of mutagenetic food as a solution for feeding an Earth that has been ravaged by climate change. However, her research and the adoption of mutagenetic food has become highly controversial, loudly opposed by radical environmentalists. With the funding for her lab withdrawn, Alex can't say no when an administrator from NASA approaches her with an opportunity to develop fresh food growth on the Moon colony, while also guaranteeing funding for her lab for the next 10 years. It's there that she meets Mansoor Al Kaabi, an Emirati businessman with a stake in her work on the colony in order to create a food supply for future lunar tourism. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Rashid Al Kaabi, Mansoor's younger brother, and Victor Beard, Alex's mentor, are working to get the Homestead Act passed to allow for more rapid expansion of the lunar colony.

This book was such an interesting take on the concept of colonizing the moon after Earth has been nearly destroyed by climate change. It's a good mix of science fiction, political scheming and drama, with a little bit of romance mixed in. I loved that there was enough science in this to give it a solid sci-fi vibe without making it feel inaccessible or overly futuristic.

With four MCs and two romantic relationships, I was a little worried the book might get convoluted or some characters might feel very surface level, but Barner did a wonderful job giving each character and their associated relationship enough of a spotlight to feel developed and complete.

I did feel like some of the dialogue was a bit stilted at times, but otherwise the characters were well fleshed-out and their interactions and decisions felt appropriate to their own morals and motives.

Read if you like:
Space colony
Political drama
Climate fiction
Eco-terrorism
Forbidden romance
Forced proximity
Multi-POV

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*Thanks to NetGalley and Division books for early copy for review*

The writing style did not engage me so I never felt a connection to the characters. I loved the themes and setting that this author chose to write with though. I would still recommend checking it out if
It sounds like something you be into.

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I received this story as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed the mix of science, politics, culture, romance, and character growth in this story. All topics were well balanced and kept me wanting to know what would happen next.

Watching all the pieces fall into place through multiple characters perspectives was beautifully executed. I very much enjoyed Alex’s story line and how a connection was drawn to her estranged father already on the moon in official NASA capacity, her friendship with Victor that triggered an advancement and personal growth in career that also aligned with Victors greater plans for the world and connected Alex to Mansoor.

I especially loved to see how the residents on the lunar station became a family who banded together and created a community that thrived together and strove for growth that was beneficial for all.

I look forward to recommending this book to my fellow sci-fi readers!

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This book is a great intersection between romance and eco-politics. I loved the growth of each character and their relationships, and how they intertwined with the bigger issues happening on Earth and the Moon. A super engaging read that will have you questioning what will happen until it's over!

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Moonrising by Claire Barner is a unique and ambitious sci-fi romance novel with two love stories, food science, adventure, and more. Unfortunately, while I thought I was going to love this, this novel was not for me. I think the beginning was unable to catch my attention, and I kept not remembering to pick this back up. There is this distance in the wriring that I found myself unable to conect with, which caused me not to care about the characters in the way I wanted to. I wonder if maybe this would have benefited from being a duology, where we could focus on each romance in a separate novel, and spread out some of the events more so we can get a deeper, more personal look at them.

This is an ambitious novel, and I think once it finds its audience it will be loved. I would still reccomend it for those who want more science in their sci-fi, and want a multicultural, LGBT+ romance included. While I can't speak personally on it, I believe the Middle Eastern rep in this book was done well, espeically from someone who isn't of that culture. I appreciate when authors use sensitivity readers and it shows in the writing. This is a debut, and while I didn't love it, I would be interested in Barner's next work to see how they grow as an author.

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4.5 stars for this science fiction novel with romantic subplots. I loved the diverse cast of characters who are all well developed and engaging. Sometimes when books change from one character to another POV, I have certain characters I want to skim past, but not in Moon Rising! Every character had great depth. And shout out for making your FMC slightly unlikeable! The book was well researched and engrossing end to end. I was an ARC reader for this novel.

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Moonrising kicks off with an echo of the opening of Jurassic Park as Dr. Alex Cole, a scientist at the forefront of genetically modified food in the relatively near future, loses funding for her research only to be visited by a mega-rich investor (in this case NASA) who will fund her research for the next 10 years so long as she visits the moon and helps them figure out how to grow food there. While Jurassic Park told a story that questioned humanity’s use of science and warns about the perils of not asking if we should do something just because we can do it, this book does not have such lofty philosophical ambitions. Ultimately, this is a book filled with stereotypical characters wrapped up in an adventure tale.

The characters largely fall into three archetypes. First, the scientist. Two of our four primary characters fall into this category and both fit the stereotype of “highly intelligent scientist” to the letter. Alex and Victor are brilliant, don’t understand basic social cues, are terrible at personal relationships, believe they can change minds by simply yelling science at others, etc. Basically, pick a stereotype of a brilliant scientific mind and these two are sure to exhibit those characteristics. Impressively, while the characters showcase those characteristics, they don’t manage to actually exhibit any understanding of the Scientific Method or even rudimentary concepts of scientific integrity. The second archetype is the rich businessman. Mansoor and Rashid are brothers, and while some backstory is written to provide more depth (Mansoor once studied Biology in college and Rashid studied poetry and now paints), these two spend the entire book using money and politics to push forward the dream of colonizing the moon. Amazingly they don’t come across as smarmy, but that may be because most of politicking is done off page with merely recaps and results directly shown to the reader. Of course these two brothers woo our scientific types with Mansoor and Alex developing a romance while staying on the moon and Rashid and Victor getting a slower burn romance while on Earth. The final archetype is the eco fighter/terrorist. In this case, the less said about those characters the better as they are almost not characters at all with how little you actually get to know them or their motivations.

And with all that we haven’t even begun to talk about the actual plot of the book, which is really just a semi-adventure story about events, politicking, and science (sort of) to colonize the moon. We don’t actually see that happen, nor does it seem like the characters havefigured out how to genuinely make that long-term sustainable. Most of the building on the moon is focused on a hotel for space tourists, so I’m not sure what that has to do with actual colonization and it really undermines the four core characters’ claims that they are doing this to ease the burden of climate change on Earth by moving some of the population to the moon, especially as the primary focus of the project is a hotel. And that’s not even touching on the fact that a large portion of the plot is focused on the UAE interfering in US politics to make this space program happen. If you’re confused by all that, welcome to the club. In the end I think maybe the author took a bunch of random ideas about climate change, space, and GMO’s and put it together without much further thought.

At the end of the day, I found this book to be a pretty confusing, shallow read with very stereotypical characters. I’m not sure what the author actually thinks or is trying to say about space colonization, genetically modified food, eco terrorism, or any of the other topics raised in the book and it didn’t inspire me to think about any of those topics any differently either, which is what should happen with good SciFi. One star.

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Thank you, Diversion Books and Claire Barner, for giving me the opportunity to read and review this free e-ARC. My opinions about the book are my own.

I love science fiction, but I don't often read near future sci-fi novels. This one was about climate change, genetically modified food, climate change and eco activism/terrorism. It also focuses on 2 romances--one on the Moon and one on Earth. The blurb compares it to Sea of Tranquility and Winter's Orbit. I never read the former, nor anything by its author. It didn't remind me of Winter's Orbit other than similar cover art and the fact that both books contained a gay male romance.

I would have liked more attention to the science, particularly the design and development of the colony and the ships. Instead, it focused more on the politics, but not in a way that satisfied me, We were told about politicians being swayed and told about the legislation, but weren't shown much about crafting the legislation and the actual debates and conversations. In addition, the relatively short page count, less than smooth time jumps and 4-way split of POVs only allowed for superficial development of the main characters. The secondary characters were very 2-dimensional.

I had some issues with the PDF format and had to read it on a PC monitor, but, thankfully, it was easy to read and relatively short. The writing was clean with few spelling or grammar problems.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the story might have benefitted from being a duology with the first book focused on the politics and getting the colony started and the Earth-based romance while the 2nd book would focus on the colony itself and the Moon-based romance and allowing each book only 2 POVs.

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ARC review

"Moonrising" by Claire Barner is a SF that takes place about 50 years in the future.
Even if it also has romance, this is a smaller part of the plot.

I received an advance review copy from Diversion Books (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

The book has multiple perspectives and the story takes place on Earth and on the Moon.
The characters are diverse and there is a good representation of muslim characters.

Alex is a researcher in the field of mutagenic foods and is asked to go to a colony on the Moon to help make it self-supporting.
Mansoor is a billionaire from UAE that wants to open a luxury hotel on the Moon.
Victor is a genius working on creating rockets and also Alex's friend.
Together with Rashid, who is Mansoor's brother, he also works to lobby the expansion of the colony with the US government.

These character's life is connected and they have a big importance in the plot.
The romantic part of the story is well written and it is very well balanced with the overall plot.
Both couples are important for the story and the relationships developed slowly.

The pacing is not the same during the book, as sometimes weeks pass very fast.
The plot covers many issues, from politics, eco-terorism, scientific facts and research, muslim traditions and LGBTQ+ rights.

This book kept me interested and made me imagine that the plot could be a possible future.

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This is near-future SF with a strong romantic arc - I think it will appeal more to SF readers than to sci-fi romance readers (e.g. no blue alien peen for you!). The world building is strong, and the underlying political plot is intricate and well-constructed. Barner does a great job of making me care about three billionaire characters I'd normally be rooting against (!!).

In fact, I found Barner's narrative choices really fascinating. We have 4 MCs, including 3 men who are influencing American politics with their money, and 1 woman whose life's work is creating and perfecting genetically mutated food. Barner's greatest feat is making the reader believe that these four truly have the best intentions for the future of all humanity.

I especially liked the moon colony setting! So much SF is set on already-established colony worlds that this felt both refreshing and like a return to classic SF focused on the creation of intra-solar system colonies. I think this is perfect for an SF reader who'd like to dip their toe into romance!

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

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2073. Dr Alex Cole is a leading researcher in one of the most controversial scientific fields: mutagenic foods. Climate change has created climate refugees who have no access to fresh foods, and Alex believes mutagenic food can help save them. Mutagenic food has a bad rap in the United States, thought, and Alex is often the target of an environmental terrorist group. Victor Beard, genius and one time investor in Big Ag supporting Alex's research, has abandoned agriculture for rocketry. Working with UAE billionaire visionary Mansoor Al Kaabi, they convince NASA to hire Alex to help grow her mutagenic crops on the moon in an effort to make the colony self-supporting, and to supply fresh food to Mansoor's luxury lunar hotel. Mansoor is desperate to spend time on the colony himself, and his younger brother, Rashid, is desperate to start making a name for himself worthy of his family, so Rashid steps into Mansoor's shoes, working closely with Victor to lobby for support of the lunar colony expansion.

With four main characters, all of them complicated and messy people, I was a little nervous about how Claire Barner was going to pull off her debut. As a character driven reader who also loves multiple factors driving the plot, this book ended up a big hit for me. Even though a large portion of this book takes place on the moon, every bit of it is believable to me, from the rejection of mutagenic foods to the moon-based scientists frantically working with their limited time to conducting experiments, to the incredibly bad decisions Alex makes by continuing to sleep with someone who ideologically opposes the thing she is most passionate about. Science fiction like this is successful because it makes the near future feel like a reality.

I loved the dual romantic plotlines, and the balance between the two: neither romance holds more weight than the other, and I was equally invested in Alex and Mansoor as I was in Victor and Rashid. The relationships are intimately tied to and critical for the plot, but not the whole focus of the book, which works especially well in a science fiction setting for me.

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