Robert A. Heinlein

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Robert Anson Heinlein

Future History

2075. The moon is populated with current and former convicts and their descendants, as a return to Terra is impossible due to the difference in gravity. In addition, the moon's inhabitants are forced to grow crops for the overpopulated Earth and sell them at set prices that are barely enough to survive.

This is the setting of Robert A. Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a wonderfully sophisticated, political and moral science fiction story. Especially in the context of its 1966 release, it seems ahead of its time, with, among other things, an Artificial Intelligence at its center as the cause of the revolt, that bears frightening resemblances to Alexa/Siri/etc. 

There are a few lengths in between, the ending is rather sudden, and the first-person narrator isn't always an advantage, but I still felt well entertained, so it certainly doesn't stop at the one-time rendezvous with Heinlein.

Nick Bicko

2075. The moon is populated with current and former convicts and their descendants, as a return to Terra is impossible due to the difference in gravity. In addition, the moon's inhabitants are forced to grow crops for the overpopulated Earth and sell them at set prices that are barely enough to survive.

This is the setting of Robert A. Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a wonderfully sophisticated, political and moral science fiction story. Especially in the context of its 1966 release, it seems ahead of its time, with, among other things, an Artificial Intelligence at its center as the cause of the revolt, that bears frightening resemblances to Alexa/Siri/etc. 

There are a few lengths in between, the ending is rather sudden, and the first-person narrator isn't always an advantage, but I still felt well entertained, so it certainly doesn't stop at the one-time rendezvous with Heinlein.

This is my second time reading it.  Just as good the second time around.  The dialect choices really help put you right in the action.

Christina Elizabeth Croxell

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Kelsey Lynn

(13/63+) In my Hugo Read-Through
I can't believe I haven't written this.. I have it in a notebook somewhere! Review to come!

A one-armed computer technician, a radical blonde bombshell, an aging academic, and a sentient all-knowing computer lead the lunar population in a revolution against Earth's colonial rule

Ben Fielding

I found this quite hard work, well written but very dense prose and it didn't offer anything new in the plot to keep me interested.
It is set in a vague future, within what seems to a communist Chinese outpost on the moon. The story I found quite derivative in it' s use of a mix of Russian and Australian for large parts of the dialogue, reminding me of A Clockwork Orange. The use of a sentient AI in initiating the story also is not a very original one. 
It did end up sending me down multiple rabbit holes thinking about the effect of the cold war on Western sci fi from the 1959's onwards as well as our preoccupation with Artificial Intelligence becoming self aware and altering the course of history.

Ben Nathan

sentient computer with a sense of humor organizes a revolution... yes, please. can't suggest this highly enough. brilliant, fun, sets the tone for so much of the next 60 years of science fiction... plus it's oddly feminist at times in an awesome way

Jesse White

Luna is an open penal colony and the regime is a harsh one. Not surprisingly, revolution against the hated authority is planned. But the key figures in the revolt are an unlikely crew: Manuel Garcia O¿Kelly, an engaging jack of all trades, the beautiful Wyoming Knott - and Mike, a lonely computer who likes to make up jokes...

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Reviews