Kinuko Y. Craft’s cover for the 1985 edition
3.5/5 (Good)
As Patricia A. McKillip (1948-2022) recently passed away (obituary), I decided to pick up one of her few science fiction novels. And I’m glad I did! Channeling (and reworking) the conceptual breakthrough-style premise of Clarke’s Against the Fall of Night (serialized 1948) and countless generation ship novels, Moon-Flash (1984) is an achingly beautiful coming-of-age story of a young woman who sets out to map the geography of her restrictive world.
I suspect Moon-Flash would be described as YA in the contemporary market. That said, this feels like the perfect mid-80s update to the juveniles that filled the shelves in the 1950s.
Brief Plot Summary/Analysis
Kyreol, the daughter of her community’s dreamer, is possessed by a relentless curiosity about her world and the fate of her mother who abandoned the family. Mysterious Moon-Flashes provide a chronology to ritual and community. All the communities and geographic features of the World are organized around a single River. She asks her childhood friend relentless questions: “Terje, what shape is the world? […] Maybe my mother fell off the end of the world?” (5). When her inquiries cannot be answered, Kyreol invents stories to provide comfort and ascribe meaning.
At the next Moon-Flash, Kyreol is set to be betrothed to Korre, promised to her since childhood. While her childhood friend Terje engages with Kyreol’s speculations and participates in her adventures, Korre, while not cruel or mean, accepts his traditional horizons as set in stone and not to be questioned. After her betrothal, she attempts to see the world as he saw it: “a fish was to be eaten. A bird feather was to be used for rituals. People were to worship the River and the Moon-Flash” (20). But a deep desire to set off cannot be dissuaded. And one day she sees a mysterious stranger who talks into a communication device about another world. And she sets off with Terje down the River where strange adventures and great revelations about exterior and interior territories await.
Final Thoughts
McKillip’s consummate skill in crafting prose and image elevate Moon-Flash above other novels of its ilk. For example, her initial description of Kyreol suggests both her boundless curiosity but also the strange nature of her world: “Her skin was the color of a shadow [..] She knew all the secret places in the world–the bramble-cave in the forest, the pool beneath the falls where the great fish sunned, the hollow tree-for she had walked from the Beginning of the world halfway to its End” (3). The short novel is filled with poetic sentences and powerful images. Kyreol and Terje encounter odd stone faces along the bank–“stone giants, who had been buried in the earth, and then forgotten” (79).
Moon-Flash revolves around the notion that storytelling gives comfort and fosters a desire to learn about the world. The stories that Kyreol tells, while perhaps not the exact answer to the nature of things, provide a substrate of meaning to human action. She understands the world through the stories she tells. It’s hard not to read the tale as an homage to the act of storytelling.
While, I’m not sure I’ll pick up the sequel The Moon and the Face (1985) I still enjoyed this trip down a well-trod path. I have my eyes on her first “adult” SF novel Fool’s Run (1987) despite its late 80s publication date. Moon-Flash doesn’t have the sheer bizarre inventiveness as Harry Harrison’s similar Captive Universe (1969) but its craft, appealing characters, and powerful image made it an enjoyable few hours.
Teresa Fasolino’s cover for the 1st edition
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Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Thanks for showcasing that Craft cover, i didn’t know one existed and I’m a huge fan of Craft’s work on McKillip’s stories.
I read the duology back to back and since they were short enough it was more like one long novel. I enjoyed it but not as much as her other stuff. 3.5stars seems right to me.
If you enjoyed this, then chances are good you’ll be ok with Fool’s Run. I had a very hard time the first time with Fool’s Run and if i’d run across this story of hers first I suspect I wouldn’t have continued with her. But since I love her fantasy so much, these are more like outliers that are interesting to try 🙂
No problem. I need to look through her isfdb.org listing — I didn’t remember that she illustrated McKillip’s fantasy stuff.
As for Fool’s Run — a few months ago I read the first 30 odd pages and found it interesting. I put it back for whatever reason (it happens).
I own at least two or three of her fantasy works. As I’ve told you before, I loved them as a kid but haven’t returned to them. But I’ll keep them around for when I’m feeling particularly nostalgic. Hah.
There are about 10 books by McKillip that have absolutely beautiful Kinuko Craft artwork. They are outstanding as works of art in and of themselves, much less the story within the books covers 🙂
!
Best of luck with however you proceed with her works
I keep on thinking that I wish she wrote short fiction! I’ve been in such a short fiction mood as of late.
Kraft’s figures often have a sense of Leonora Carrington…
She does have several collections of short stories spanning her entire career:
Wonders of the Invisible World
Harrowing the Dragon
Dreams of Distant Shores
Oh, I meant but did not state science fiction short stories (and from the decades I’m interested in). I’m not interested in fantasy at this juncture in my life.
Yeah, not sure she wrote any SF short stories. Fantasy was her playground.
I’ve been reading Leonora Carrington and looking at her art.
I need to acquire the recent edition of Carrington’s short fiction. Any gems?
At the moment I’m deep in her The Hearing Trumpet novel which is great so far and has unexpected moments, but I’m not sure if it will have fantasy elements, much less science fiction (old woman is put into retirement community which turns out to be very strange).
Intriguing. Not an novel of hers I know.
Have you read any of her SF?
Wonderful that it made such a positive impression on you!
shudders away rapidly
Why the reaction? The prose is lovely, the plot standard but well executed.. But yes, I would classify it as YA (as much as a Heinlein juvenile is YA).
That said, I needed to clear my mind after reading After the Flood — haha.
Another good find to add to the reading list (I think fool’s run is there already)
Just a few notes for typos, in the first sentence of your final notes you call the book Moon-Flash‘s instead of Moon-Flash and a little later you’ve dropped a word: “It’s hard not [to] read the tale…”
Thank you. Have you read any of her work before? She’s best known for her fantasy.
I haven’t, like so many great authors I have yet to get around to them.
But I will! One day…
Your book review of ‘Moon-Flash’ is a work of art in itself! Your words beautifully capture the essence of Patricia A. McKillip’s work, and the way you delve into the book’s themes and characters is truly insightful. Your review is not just informative but also evocative, transporting readers into the enchanting world of the story. It’s evident that you have a deep appreciation for this literary gem, and your review serves as an invitation for others to experience its magic. Thank you for sharing your literary expertise and for making this book even more appealing. Your dedication to reviewing books is a gift to us all!
Thank you for the kind words! Much appreciated. I assume you’re a fan of her work?