Varley is one of my favorite authors, so good I hardly know where to start in praising him. He's brilliant at creating intensely believable future worlds, populating them with interesting, likable characters, creating plots full of amazement and delight, and writing all this so well you just cannot stop reading. Is that a warning or a promise? If you haven't read this book yet, you have a great treat ahead of you!

Mailed to bookowl1000 for the NPR Fantasy & Science Fiction VBB

After a while of being held hostage by the post office (I often forget to tell people my name, so in this case they refused to give it to me as my name was not on it) the book is safely with me.

Thanks for sending it my way.

Opening line 'In five years, the penis will be obsolete". Not surprising in a world where sexual identity is so intermixed. The residents of the Moon can change sex as easily as if they were changing their clothes. They are bored by their existence; nano technology had expanded life spans to hundred of years, medical technology means that even the most horrific injuries can be fixed; and imagine living with the fact that invaders to your planet viewed you as being so significant that they did not even try to annihilate you, just kicked you out.

Supposedly utopian existences are better in theory than in reality, as people lose drive without some challenge in their existence. People live in a small hermetically sealed world, and live too long. Hildy is a journalist; but nothing interesting happens so the 'newspapers are filled mostly of tabloid gossip type news; not very fulfilling to write about. The easily done sex changes are examples of how desperately the residents of the Moon want something different to happen, but they have so little control (the central computer is in charge) as can be illustrated by Hildy's repeated unsuccessful suicide attempts - you get fixed and and sent on your way.

There are many different interesting characters, though not always fully developed. There was not one specific storyline throughout the novel, but was more of a picture of the existence, describing the world with its brontosaurus farms, Disneyland's of past earth environments and slash boxing entrainment. For me, the story meandered for a bit too long. The book is very much in the style of Heinlein; so that means the story cannot be told without lots of sex scenes.

It took me ages to start reading this book. It then became my handbag book that I would read while out and about, and on my way to work (hence it getting a bit worn around the edges). I finished it while on a weekend away in the countryside - it did a good job of filling up a 6 hour bus ride. I will keep it for the next round.

Realised that the never round happened so too it on holiday with me to add a new step in its journey.

If you were lucky enough to find this book please journal it to say where you found it, and then what you thought of it.

When you have finished please release it. Keep its journey alive!