Rogue Moon

I actually rated this novel B - - - (ad infinitum). Eventually, I settled on a star rating of 2 1/2 stars.

The novel has some amazing concepts, and is very thought-provoking at times, BUT is often a very hard slog. Frankly, I am relieved that my Doubleday hardcover (with one of those atrocious book club covers) is only 180 pages long. Since it is on the Worlds Without End science fiction website's list "Classics of Science Fiction', and is widely regarded as a must-read, I am glad that I did read it. Since my wife read it right after I did, there was an opportunity for much discussion. She likewise thought 180 pages was plenty long enough.

I am very curious about the novella -- but it's pretty hard to enjoy both the novel and the novella. One on my worst reading decisions ever was to read the novel and novella back-to-back for Daniel Keyes masterpiece "Flowers for Algernon'. I really don't know how to make a good choice between the novel and the shorter piece of fiction (be it a short story, novelette or novella). It is undeniable that the shorter work can have more impact, and avoid some of the compromises that the author must make in crafting the entire novel. However -- choose you must! Do not gallop off in both directions -- you will have much less appreciation of it. You can only read the work for the very first time once.

Yet another version of this conundrum is the choice of reading the stand-alone novel, or continuing on with the books after it has become a duology, trilogy, etc. I'm sure we have all fallen victim to reading the first sequel, which might be pretty good, then the second sequel, which is less good, etc. To my mind, the SF novel "Gateway' by Frederik Pohl is simply wonderful. I believe it won both the Hugo and Nebula science fiction awards that year. But once it became a series, Pohl had no choice but to "round-off' some of the very rough edges from his protagonist Bob (Robinette) Broadhead. The series is fine, and the sequels are fine -- but I definitely lost that sense of wonder that the original volume gave me.

My final word is that I do recommend reading Rogue Moon. Note that you will have to pay attention to the in-depth "techno-babble' sections (explaining just exactly how a matter transmitter works), because the very strong points that the author delivers, and the intense punchline in the last sentence, can only be perceived if the reader absorbs not just the gist of the story but the important details.

My rating system for this website (I have done reviews for over 85 "books' (including short stories, novelettes and novellas, as well as novels).

Their system is out of 5 stars, and allows you to use half-stars, so highest rating is 5 full stars, next-highest 4 ½ stars, etc. -- and lowest is ½ star. I did NOT want to space these ratings equally, giving just as much precedence to low-quality mush as to really good works.

For that reason, I laid out my system as follows: I begin with one star being equivalent to a rating of "C -'. Progressing upwards, I add ½ star for each step, up to the maximum 5 stars, which is equivalent to a rating of "A'+. I reserve ½ star for BOMBS, there being no option of zero or negative stars. As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't squander half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.