Engaging, odd, unsettling, a bit bleak. Everything I like in a novel really. Can see why it got a lot of praise. ( )

Those of an idle frame of mind could find a place in Glassholm to sit the day long and watch the moon

Let me start with the beautiful cover

Yes, you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it is the reason I picked this up, in an Edinburgh SF bookshop. Which is appropriate since Neil is Scottish I guess. The premise so intrigued me once I'd picked it up that I had to buy it.

Life under the moon has always been so predictable, day follows night, wax phases to wane and, after the despair of every Darkday, a person's mood soars to euphoria at Full.

A former policeman investigates a series of puzzling murders, an artist is drawn into the politics of revolution and an engineer, jilted on his wedding day, has to fix the machine at the heart of the city. Meanwhile the creatures of the immortal ruler, the Lunane, are acting out of character. There is a cell full of crabs in the police station, the crows are gathering at the Castil and the luck monkeys touch the lives of our protagonists.

The monkey blinked and then reached into its mouth and removed a metal disc that appeared too wide to have possibly fitted in there...

This is a phantasmagoric book that slowly unfolds drawing you ever further into its fantastical world. As more layers are revealed it becomes ever more strange and ever more compelling. Williamson has built a stand out world here, one that is a real pleasure to visit, even as things veer towards madness. For the moon is a prime character in the book, of course. As are cycles, memory, order and duty.

"I spent Dark with friends." It was the first thing that came into his head but he'd had to lie hadn't he. He couldn't tell her that he could not remember a coherent thing after being at the bandstand the previous afternoon.

There is an ebb and flow from chapter to chapter and sometimes scene to scene between the three main characters and later on the book grips you and keeps you turning the pages.

It's a bit of a slow-burner and the language can sometimes be flowery, but only very occasionally, and these are not even minor niggles, more a matter of taste and mood.

While the moon grows fat, we are happy
While the moon grows thin, we cry

(start of a popular song in Glassholm)

Overall - This is a very accomplished debut that deserves a wide readership. This is very much my sort of thing. Highly recommended. ( )

I enjoyed this tale of city-state politics and body-swapping, but it's very definitely fantasy rather than sf. There is a machine which plays a prominent role in the plot, but its function is to process what are basically magic rays from the Moon. ( )