The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Cover

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

spectru
4/15/2014
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Heinlein shows his skill in this writing. This is a story of the planning and execution of a rebellion for independence, which ultimately leads to war between Luna and Terra. It's a first person narrative in which we learn what has happened through dialog or through the narrative. There's not much action. And yet Heinlein holds our interest. It never gets boring.

A major element of the culture of the Loonies (the native people of Luna) is plural marriage. Some people on earth are so offended by the idea, that it results in the arrest and brief incarceration (ala Warren Jeffs) of the protagonist when he visits Earth. The novel also explores the feasibility of anarchy and the idea of limited government.

I heard the audiobook version read by Lloyd James. James adopts an Ensign Chekov voice for the main character, the narrator of the story, which I found a minor annoyance.