The novella “The Menace from Farside” by Ian McDonald was published for the first time in 2019. It’s part of the Luna series.
Cariad Corcoran was born and raised within a ring family, a complex social structure that can change over time. A new bond brings Sidibe, a new sister to Cariad, who feels threatened by the arrival of another teenager who shows off thanks to her wings. She decides to involve her in an adventure out of the ordinary together with her brothers Jair and Kobe in search of the first footprint left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong.
“The Menace from Farside” is set in the same fictional universe as the Luna series but is totally autonomous, as it’s set many years earlier. It’s a work not only much shorter but also totally different from a stylistic point of view. The Luna trilogy is a complex work that follows the power clashes among the most important families of the Moon while this novella is a young adult-type story that follows the adventures of four teenagers.
Ian McDonald is an eclectic author who has written very different works and in this case, that’s also visible within the same fictional universe. “The Menace from Farside” is reminiscent of the old Robert A. Heinlein’s juveniles and the title is reminiscent of a story by the old science fiction master, “The Menace from Earth” (1957).
McDonald also includes in his novella another element existing in various Heinlein works, the polyamorous family, in this work, called the ring family. Through Cariad’s considerations, while she tells the story in the first person, the reader can understand how that family structure works and how Sidibe becomes a sort of sister for Cariad.
Cariad’s reaction to Sidibe’s arrival in her family is to feel threatened by a rival. Actually, Sidibe appears to be doing nothing against Cariad but the dynamics within the ring family and teenager problems lead Cariad to hate her at first sight.
These somewhat trivial premises begin a coming-of-age story in which Cariad involves her brothers Jair and Kobe in an adventure that quickly becomes much bigger than all of them. That’s because the trip that Cariad sets up taking advantage of the centenary of the first Moon landing turns out to be decidedly insidious. For this reason, she also offers various information on the many facets of the Moon society.
The protagonists are described from the point of view of Cariad, who is not necessarily a reliable narrator. However, despite the limitations of a story told in the first person, Ian McDonald still manages to give a characterization to those young people by focusing in particular on Jair and Kobe’s peculiarities.
Ian McDonald uses some classic fictional elements in “The Menace from Farside” to develop a story connected to the Luna series. It adds something to that fictional universe but honestly, it seemed to me nice but not extraordinary. I find it particularly suitable for readers who appreciate old juveniles.
