A boy miner named Crater from the waybacks of the Moon is sent by his ruling authority to collect a package of unknown contents from a ship coming from Earth. That's it in a nutshell, but there's a rich wide world opened up within this story - a whole new culture and history of Moon colonists, combined with scads of intriguing technological and practical advancements. Imaginative concepts - such as a pet made of sentient mould - strong characters and real dangers make this a definite page-turner.

It may be a good read for your child or for anyone who is young at heart and doesn't mind a bit of ridiculousness. It goes from silly to tragic and from endearing to horrific, with many gruesome fights and deaths, yet with the naive character of Crater shining through it all.

In the beginning it may feel like a lecture in places, but hang in there - the fun is coming when Crater gets "kidnapped" and much more. Animals in spacesuits? You ain't seen nothing yet.

The copyediting in the ebook version is slack, with the paragraphing and quotation marks erratically placed. However, we can't blame the author for this, and though it was annoying at first, it didn't detract much from the story. Better luck next time! No doubt there are more great stories forthcoming in the series. Writer-types, if you're irritated by multiple points of view without clear switchovers, steer clear. But for the young ones and those who can ignore it or just accept omniscience, I think it's just fine.

I particularly enjoyed the many coined words, the surprising twists, and the way Crater grew in boldness over the course of his adventures.