Mother Moon

By: Bob Goddard

Narrated by: Bernard Faricy

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

2087 - A colony of scientists is stranded on the moon as the Earth faces imminent disaster.

1504 - A wooden sailing ship is navigating the dangerous waters of religious fundamentalism.

Two events separated by space and time, yet destined to collide in a simple twist of fate.

When a comet changes course and heads for Earth, the finger of blame is pointed at one country. The entire planet is thrown into chaos, while on the moon, a colony of scientists faces the bleak prospect of being stranded...forever.

Will Cooper and Nadia Sokolova become unlikely allies in their struggle for survival. Can they make Armstrong Base self-sufficient before the food runs out? Will they ever see their families again? Can love conquer fear in one-sixth gravity? And what does a 16th-century sailing ship and its grizzled captain have to do with their plight? Can he stay alive long enough to uncover the origins of all humans on Earth?

Is this the end of man...or the rebirth of mankind? Only Mother Moon has the answers....

©2015 Robert Goddard (P)2018 Robert Goddard

Exceptionally promising first book, but...

Bob Goddard has great talent. This is a rich and thoughtful work, written with care and deep dedication to the intricacies of his complex storyline. Yet I didn't enjoy it very much, for a couple of reasons.

The first big problem is the way some of the main women scientists are constantly depicted as adolescent basket cases. Yes, the stalwart leader of the colony is a woman, and a great one. But all of these women were chosen for the moon colony because they are among the best in their fields. Notable women scientists are not perpetually crippled by the emotional problems of 14-year old girls. This was so jarring I wanted to stop listening early on. But I thought the sobbing must surely stop at some point, and it finally did- but only much later on. And not before leaving a bad aftertaste. Highly intelligent women scientists certainly may have strong emotions and reactions. But they are not ceaselessly whiny cry-babies in the face of common disaster. If you don't believe it, read the environmental news.

The second big problem for me was the ending. I felt cheated by the abrupt failure here of the careful scientific underpinnings of the book. The story's ongoing Earth-science-on-the-Moon is presented so reasonably and coherently it forms a large part of its charm. But after all that, the ending suddenly abandons all previous logic with a glaring omission. And if you see the missing link at the end, you probably won't like it any more than I did.

Re: Bernard Faricy. This narrator is new to me and quite unlike any others. It took a little time, but I learned to appreciate his dry and oddly compelling narrative style. It fits this book nicely.

Mother Moon

An enthralling story! People on a Moon colony can only watch as a meteroite breaks up and hits the Earth,twice.They are left to fend for themselves.They send a mission to Earth years later,but never hear back.They fear all was lost. Bernard Faricy was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Got lost in this book

Loved this book so much. It is so well written and the story provided a much needed escape for me and I got lost in it. I cannot look at the moon the same since! This book will appeal to a wide audience. There is something for everyone. I would not be surprised if it were adapted for the big screen. It captivated me so much I started to dream about the world in the book lol Beautifully done.

Enthralling and scientifically accurate!

This work serious deserves more attention. It is an interesting futurism story deeply researched and scientifically accurate. That alone is impressive, but then Goddard goes so far as to masterfully interweave this story with a second historical story also deeply researched and historically accurate. Highly recommend this!

Really great book, and I can not wait for the next

This book captured my imagination from the beginning. I was hard-pressed to slow down and enjoy the book as it unfolded. Having the eBook and later the audiobook with whispersync gave the advantage of both worlds. Early on, the book had the feeling of something like Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Being a great fan of both, it was intriguing from the first page to the last. Although I liked the book, and do plan upon reading it again later this year... the ending was a real cliffhanger. It is my hope that the following books in this series will jump back in time to the future to fill in such omissions. The book was written in the UK, so do not let words like tyre confuse you. As for Bernard Faricy as the Narrator. I was warned by someone (unnamed) not to purchase the audiobook because he was rather flat and dry. Rather glad I ignored that opinion. He did a good job. I would not even mind listening to him do another book. Buy the eBook, buy the Audiobook. Mother Moon by Bob Goddard has my quite positive recommendation.

Was Great Until the End

I would say that this is a great example of how to write hard sci-fi without becoming boring or tedious. The story was realistic and not afraid to get complex in their problems and conflicts. It presented a real threat and showed in exquisite detail how the main characters and the rest of humanity dealt with it. You won't find much pseudoscience or plot holes in this aspect.

I thought the narrator was a bit off putting at first but quickly grew accustomed to his softer style of speaking. I do find that he had trouble expressing the deeper emotions of the characters well. Especially the sad/solemn moments. But otherwise was understandable and engaging.

All throughout the story, the main hook is the link between the 2 seemingly separate stories. The author did a pretty good job of keeping me wondering how they would come together. Especially towards the end where I could almost see how they met but not quite. Although, without spoiling too much, the plot twist is a bit of a let down. Very unrealistic turn of events and a horrible portrayal of evolution. Also abandons the very realistic tone with an apparent 360 of feelings from the moon colony towards earth. And how no one thought to point a telescope down at the surface ever again. Was a great book all and all, but the end felt very rushed and contrived.