There are a number of authors I follow who are so prolific that it is hard to keep up with them. John Scalzi is one such. It doesn’t seem five minutes since I was reviewing an ARC of Starter Villain, which was entertaining fun, and now here we are with more silliness: “One day, suddenly and without explanation, the moon turns into a ball of cheese.”
It’s a premise that feels like someone responding to a dare or a bet. In his Afterword, the author says that he feels like he has now written a trilogy of off-the-wall What if… novels, starting with The Kaiju Preservation Society. Starter Villain we know about. And now a book about how the moon turns to cheese.
What’s brilliant about this is that it could almost be an academic exercise or a living example for a creative writing class. Years ago, I taught the short-lived but wonderful A Level in Creative Writing, and I would do all kinds of things to prompt and challenge my students. On one occasion, we went into a classroom that wasn’t my normal one, and there were bits of paper torn up all over the floor with fragments of writing on them. So I got the students to pick them up and write something inspired by a fragment.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye feels like what happens when a very clever writer is challenged to take seriously the most ridiculous premise you can imagine. What follows is not so much a novel as a Menippean satire which, chapter by chapter, takes you through characters, settings, and even genres, from the ridiculous to the sublime. There’s the meet-cute couple; the NASA scientists and astronauts; the fading rock star; the appalling billionaires; and so on. Some of the plot threads intertwine, but mostly what happens is little snapshots of how this phenomenon affects this group of Americans over here (yes, only Americans, so it does feel a little parochial). There is even a chapter that literally feels like creative writing advice.
The book itself is designed around the different phases of the moon, with the action taking place over 28 days, culminating in an expected solar eclipse.
As always, Mr Scalzi’s easy way with prose and dialogue makes it all seem so easy… but we all know better.
I enjoyed reading all three of these What if… books, which are not really related except in their sense of fun, but I will also be glad for the author to have got these out of his system. I would really like a bit of good old fashioned space opera.

“One day, suddenly and without explanation, the moon turns into a ball of cheese.”

I was expecting this to be nothing more than a bit tongue-in-cheek, a bit silly, and a gentle, fun read. And while it has elements of those things (the moon has literally turned to cheese!) there is surprising depth that makes this much more than the headline implies.

“For some, it’s an opportunity. For others, it’s time to question their life choices. How can the world stay the same in the face of such absurdity and uncertainty?”

It took me a while to get into, as I was expecting a conventional plot structure. Instead, the book is a series of vignettes of how the moon turning to cheese affects people’s lives. There is an overall story arc - the ramifications of the moon turning to cheese become clearer throughout the book - but the purpose of this is really to explore the different impact on people’s lives and relationships as the situation develops, rather than for the plot itself.

Consequently, there are a lot of characters. I take extensive notes while I’m reading - it helps me keep tabs on who’s who and what they’re doing - and I ended up with entries for 63 characters (there were definitely more). Mostly, these characters appear in only one or two of the vignettes, and many of them have their name mentioned only once - presumably to emphasise the humanity of the story. It’s the difference between “Mike’s wife brought him a cup of coffee” and “Mike’s wife, Janice, brought him a cup of coffee” (not an actual quote) even if this is the only mention of Janice in the book: giving Mike’s wife a name makes her more real. There are only a handful of recurring characters, and the author does us the favour of reintroducing them when they reappear, so it’s OK to relax about trying to remember specific people.

In many ways it feels like a cross between a disaster movie and one of Randall Munroe’s “What if?” books. And as I’ve come to enjoy and expect from Scalzi, there are a lot of little hidden nuggets of humour - probably a lot more than I noticed - ranging from pithy observations about the publishing industry, to ancient philosophers, and a bit of nominative determinism in the cheese industry.

The absurdity of the situation - a situation that science cannot explain - also lets the narrative focus on the human story while scientific reaction takes a back seat. And it raises the question of how we would react to something that is patently happening, but that science can’t explain. Would we cope differently to people of the past who had no scientific explanation for an eclipse, or lightning?

But above all, the stories are about love and friendship - that in the face of extreme uncertainty, people will come together to repair and consolidate relationships. And if the moon was to turn to cheese, I think I’d be focusing on that, too.

Thank you #NetGalley and Tor for the free review copy of #WhentheMoonHitsYourEye in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely loved this! What a weird and wonderful book!

I read an eARC of this on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher. This was my fourth book by John Scalzi and I’ve loved them all! This was so wildly entertaining.

This book explores what would happen if the moon turned to cheese. We see the experiences of a number of different characters and how they cope with and experience this strange phenomenon, some are writers, journalists and scientists and astronauts, some are people for whom this weird event forces them to make change in their lives. Throughout we see an undercurrent of social commentary around hypocrisy and the callousness of the megarich, often to ridiculous proportions. The way some people react to what’s happening was so ludicrous at times, and then for others it was wholesome with people seizing their dreams or opportunities. A really lovely blend of humour and observation.

This book was funny, it was fascinating and I was completely riveted throughout. I’ve told so many people about this book since I read it and I can’t wait for it to come out so they can read it too!

John Scalzi’s ‘Starter Villain’ is one of my favourite books so I was very excited to give this a read and see what else he had in store for us.

When the Moon Hits your Eye explores a world where one day the moon randomly turns into cheese (yes you did read that correctly) and whilst this may sound ludicrous, I mean it really is, it was still fab!

Each chapter follows a different set of characters and how each of them deals with this cheesy world ending news. Hilarious in places especially the sex worker part but equally poignant in places.

Don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy the ride it’s well worth it. I’m off to read more from Scalzi.

An absurdly silly premise that takes itself semi-seriously. I was unsure at first about all the different perspectives but I ended up really liking how it displayed a wide range of thoughts, feelings and consequences of the moon turning to cheese, both silly, sad and heart-warming. An easy read with the same vibes as The Kaiju Preservation Society but a less linear structure. Coming from the perspective of a geologist, I would have liked more of the science angle but I understand it was very hand-wavy in the first place which is no bad thing for this type of book. I've already recommended it to people who want a palate cleanser sci-fi read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC of this novel!

So, it's no secret I'm a Scalzi fan, but when I heard the premise of this latest novel, I had my doubts. The premise is literally 'The moon has turned into cheese'.

If you've ever read Randall Monroe's What If books, this kind of thing will be familiar to you - they take absurd science questions like 'What if the universe filled with soup' and answer them in a serious, scientific way over a couple of pages. This novel is that, but spun out over an entire book!

There's an ongoing narrative of the 'science' of what would happen, but each chapter really is a slice of life of someone living through it (Politicians, scientists, astronauts, cheese-shop owners etc).

And, somehow, John Scalzi has pulled it off again - this is actually brilliant! Each chapter is like it's own short story, and you don't want them to end!!

I can't actually recommend this enough!

This is, by far, the cheesiest cheese-fest of a sci-fi novel you'll ever read. Scalzi has outdone himself and should wear the heavy but much-coveted crown of cheese with pride!

However, having said all that, this is a novel that goes beyond surface whimsy. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll swear and try to shake sense into the book, and you'll hug the book close like a re-found best friend.

This novel is a supposition of what would happen if the Moon suddenly turned to cheese.

Told from multiple points of view and revealing how this strange news unravels and changes life on Earth as we know it, each chapter represents a day in the lunar month.

From the U.S. President, NASA, astronauts, worldwide scientists, not-so-regular people in cafés, and the everyday variety of people... each voice shares a glimpse into the impact that such cheese-wielding news brings.

This is a wonderful read, and I can't recommend it enough to any sci-fi lover with feelings or a sense of humour.


*I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review*

3.5 Starter Villain was one of my top reads of 2023 so I was super excited to dive into this. While I think the storytelling mechanics got in the way of the overall enjoyment, particularly in the first half, I enjoyed the second half of this a lot.

What worked for me:
👍 Some of the vignettes really stood out: writer who is an overnight expert, former sex worker, procurement specialist, slack channel, ‘gifted’ writer, washed up rock star, three old friends
👍 The premise was so unique and I particularly liked how plausible the various reactions to the event were (looking at you, bank section); even if some of it hit a bit close to the bone off the back of pandemic
👍 I enjoyed the second half hugely enjoyable; I liked that we spent more time with every day people than politicians, celebrities, and billionaires
👍 As the book progressed, I deeply enjoyed how interwoven the stories became: I liked character crossover, previous characters making cameos in other features, and returning to early characters later on
👍 Overall, the writing was solid!

What I wasn’t so keen on:
👎 I didn’t think the structure worked with Scalzi’s characterization and voice: we had a lot of feature characters, many of which sounded exactly the same. Apart from a few notable exceptions, many of the vignettes blended together for me. The snark was a bit OTT at times too.
👎 The first half of this book was rocky: it took a while for the format to find its rhythm and I just didn’t care about the billionaire thread at all
👎 YMMV but I found the ending disappointing
👎 Yes, I read the Author’s Note. Handwavian science fiction is fine but, even with a silly premise, I still find sloppy science distracting

Overall, this is a fun story with a lot of heart (and commentary on the direction we’re heading). Even accounting for the elements that dampened my personal enjoyment, I’d still recommend it!

When The Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi:

Overnight, The Moon turns into cheese. NASA declares it to be an ‘organic compound’, the Chinese government says it’s actually bean curd. The Vatican declares a miracle. And so, an outrageous chain of events is set in motion… with a cast including a dimwitted US President (not that one) an egocentric billionaire (see also), a pensioners lunch club, a set of disenchanted church goers, bored astronauts and greedy bankers.

Ok, minor criticism first: often this feels like a loosely connected series of vignettes, with the connecting cheese being the President, the Astronauts who can’t actually go to The Moon and the Musky billionaire. Who is not him, but just as awful in different ways. Plus, the final part of the novel literally retcons the original and outrageous concept.

But for the vast majority of it, it’s laugh out loud funny and the kind of silently, screaming satire that Armando Iaunnucci would love. Among my favourites: the warring cheese shop owners (with the two rival staff members who fall in love) and the sex scandal involving an ambitious congressman. Put it this way, you’ll never look at Brie the same way again. Late on in the novel, as things become apocalyptic (described as ‘Fromageddon’ or ‘The Lactopalypse’) we have the aforementioned bankers offering people high limits credit cards and the young fantasy writer who will never see her novel published.

Scalzi considers this as the final in a trilogy that started with ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ and he’s now writing space opera again. I’d urge him to reconsider - this succeeds as a sweet, nutty treat in two difficult genres - funny SF and an epistolary novel. It’s published by Tor on March 27th, 2025 and I thank them for a preview cheese, sorry copy. #whenthemoonhitsyoureye.