killer queso from space

Humans on Earth were just going about their days, living their lives, walking the dog and making dinner again and trying to decide what to watch and raising kids and raising the bar and drinking at the bar. And then one day, the moon turns to cheese.

According to NASA, it’s “organic material,” but those who are in the know think it’s cheese. Even the moon rocks on Earth have turned to cheese, which is how the scientists first found out about it. Now, when you look up in the sky, the moon is bigger and brighter than it’s ever been, and no one’s quite sure how this will affect their lives moving forward.

There are the astronauts who are not at all happy because their upcoming trip to the moon has been shelved. It’s just too dangerous, especially since there seems to be eruptions on the moon’s surface, as the mass of the moon is pressing in on itself. NASA isn’t going to allow a space mission with all those unknowns. But when billionaire tech bro insists that they still allow his spacecraft to launch, with an information-gathering mannequin, they let the launch happen. How were they to know he’d sneak onboard and replace the mannequin, making the journey into space and cheesing off the trained astronauts who didn’t get to go to space.

There are feuding cheese shop owners in Wisconsin, brothers actually, who have held a grudge against each other for years. Now they both hire college students to help out and send the new hire to the other store to spy on them. With the moon turning to cheese, first customers are excited about cheese and sales go up. But then, they seem to resent the cheese and turn on the shops. How will the brothers react?

There is the drunk guy yelling at the pastor as he tries to give a sermon. There is the millionaire who wants to be the first to eat the cheese, without knowing if it’s even safe to eat. There is the political scandal that is cheese related and the lunar eclipse that no one ended up watching. But through it all, there were humans acting like humans, whether that’s falling love or throwing a chair at a comedian who picked the wrong joke at the wrong time.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is the latest novel from John Scalzi, known for his sci fi and his humor, and this brings them both. He takes the possibility of our moon changing into a different substance and how that would affect the daily lives of Americans, from those who are in the scientific community or in politics to those just trying to live their best life in their small town. He looks at the possibility through many different perspectives, offering a view of humanity from many angles.

I loved this book. I could not rush through it, as I was savoring every single page as it came. And that ending? Wow. I am not going to say what happens, obviously, but it’s powerful in today’s world. I think not everyone will like it, but I think it’s funny and perfect for this story. I am a fan of Scalzi. I come for the humor, whether it’s making fun of a beloved sci fi television series or intelligent cats running a crime ring. And When the Moon Hits Your Eye did not disappoint. I highly recommend this one if you need an escape from the real world for a while.

Egalleys for When the Moon Hits Your Eye were provided by Tor Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.