Review of Platinum Moon

I really don't want to do this, but in order to be honest, I have to be a little critical of this book.  One criticism that I saw on another review said there wasn't enough character development.  I don't think I saw that, but what I did see was not exactly well stitched together story.

For one thing, the characters aren't used to full effect in order to move the plot along.  There is this one character, named Frog, whose appearance in this story doesn't really fit exactly.  She's a pilot, like the main character, Anders, but not on a mission like his.  Her character is an interesting character to know, but what does anything having to do with her matter to what happens to Anders?  Anders and Frog meet by the end of the novel, but by that time, the story is winding down.

Anders has two other characters that accompany him to the surface of the moon.  But you don't know, since the story doesn't tell you, is that the two people are romantically involved.  By the end of the book, you find out that they are getting married.  Big surprise for me.  I didn't have a clue.

Anders and his wife don't get along and are divorced.  That plays a part in the plot.  But Frog doesn't fit into this at all.  She might have, but she doesn't.  Anders own character may be a little too good to be believed.  He is a crack pilot and a good father from what we can see.  Many of his countrymen think he is a traitor, I suppose that a chink in his armor.  But the story shows that this a subjective point of view, not necessarily shared by everyone.  He comes off well.  Maybe a little too well.  I really don't believe this character.

As far as the plot itself, several opportunities to heighten the suspense are missed.  There is one spot where if something wasn't caught in time, it could have led to disaster.  You can see this, but what you don't see is how it all got resolved.  This is just skipped over as if it wasn't very interesting to know.  There could have been others, but I guess I won't mention them.

In short, the idea for the book was of intense interest to me.  That is why I bought the book  If I had not been interested in the idea of mining the moon in the first place, I probably wouldn't have bought the book.  If I had happened across this book somewhere, and began reading it, I don't think I would have finished it.  The story wasn't gripping enough to keep interest.  Hate to say that.  But it is the truth from my point of view.