Subject: Review: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre

From: "Aaron M. Renn" <[email-masked]>
Date: 11 Jun 1999 14:19:28 -0400

The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre
	Review Copyright 1999 Aaron Renn

Conclusion:  Highly Recommended for Genre Fans Only

The book won the 1997 Nebula Award for best novel.  After reading it, I
can only scratch my head as to how it even got nominated.  This is clearly
NOT science fiction.  It's not even fantasy.  It's not - as several blurbs
suggest - an alternate history (unless you consider Pride and Prejudice an
alternate history too). Instead, it's a historical romance novel with a
few fanciful elements thrown in.  As such, it deserves to be shelved in
the romance section along with such works as Diana Gabaldon's Outlander
series.  If that's a genre you like, then you will love this book.  If
not, you should probably give The Moon and the Sun a pass.

The story takes place in the court of Louis XIV of France in the late 17th
century.  The protagonist - Marie-Joseph - is a young woman who left a
convent prior to taking the vows in order to become a lady in waiting to
the daughter of a powerful duke.  Her brother Yves is a Jesuit priest and
scientist commissioned by the king to capture a sea monster, one of the
creatures who are rumored to possess the power of immortality.  The story
opens with Yves returning to Paris with his sea monster in tow.  This is
just about the sum total of all the fantasy in the book.

Unfortunately, the story rapidly grinds to a halt as McIntyre spends about
150 pages developing her characters and trying to convince us how boring
and banal life among the courtiers at Versailles is.  Unfortunately, she
manages to bore the reader in the process.  If you make it through this,
you'll be rewarded with a somewhat predictable but extremely enchanting
and entertaining love story.  The first 200 page of the book I was hard
pressed to keep reading.  The last 250 I could not put it down.

Any conventionalties in the plot are overcome by McIntyre's extremely well
conceived and implemented characters.  She clearly put a lot of thought
and work into even the most minor characters in the story.  She uses
actual historical characters to great effect.  The period details and
description of King Louis' court were nothing short of spectacular.  This
book left me wanting to hike down to the local library to do some reading
up on the era and the historical people in the story.

For those SF and McIntyre fans who are new to this sort of work but
enjoyed it, I do suggest checking out Diana Gabalon's Outlander series,
which I personally liked better than The Moon and the Sun.  It is another
historical romance with some fantasy elements.  However it is largely set
in Scotland (though interestingly also spends time in the French royal
court) and is a lot steamier.

%A McIntyre, Vonda N.
%T The Moon and the Sun
%I Pocket Books
%D 1997 (original publication date)
%G ISBN 0-671-56766-7
%P 464 pp.
%O mass market paperback, US$6.99 C$8.99

For those interested, here is the info on Gabaldon's Outlander.

%A Gabalon, Diana
%T Outlander
%I Dell
%D 1991
%G 0-440-212561-X
%P 850 pp.
%0 mass market paperback, US$7.50

-- 
Aaron M. Renn ([email-masked]) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/