The Moon the Sun Forgot offers a captivating adventure set beneath the icy surface of Europa, blending action, revenge, and an engaging mix of characters. While the world-building shines early on and the AI character, Alex, adds a fun touch, the emotional depth of the characters and the romance felt a bit underdeveloped, keeping it from reaching its full potential.

Before I get into the bulk of the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Mythic Roads Press for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Moon the Sun Forgot is a dual POV SciFi novel that follows Kassia McCullough, a mariner who lives off the ocean under the surface of Europa’s icy shell, and Max Danzig, a detective from Earth. Their paths intersect as they both plot courses for revenge. Kassia hunts for Pretorious Grant, the man she holds responsible for her father’s suicide, while Max has traveled the solar system to bring Pretorious Grant’s half-brother Somerled Rhone to justice (and to get some personal justice of his own). The Moon the Sun Forgot comes out on March 3rd and is available for preorder now.

When I first started this ARC, I thought to myself, “Finally. Some good SciFi again.” The world building at the beginning of this novel really hit it out of the park for me (though, it did fade later on). There’s just something about SciFi where it strikes a cord when you see the intricacies of a world that’s had to be adapted by humans and for humans. Seeing the different ways the ships are built and the maintenance required due to different conditions, seeing what’s been adapted for human life, seeing how humans have adapted for space. It’s what gives me so much love for the genre. The set up at the beginning was just so good. Also, who doesn’t love a revenge story? I enjoyed our main characters Kassia and Max so much. Probably Kassia more than Max because she is so confident and sure of herself. But the character who could really steal the show for me was Alex, their onboard A.I. You can place your eye roll here. Hi, my name is Liberty and I love any sort of A.I./droid/bot (the murderous and non-murderous kinds). That’s probably the first thing you should know upon meeting me. Alex was able to act as moments of levity in really dark moments or was able to bring our main characters back to reality when they were lost in fantasies of each other (or their revenge). Such a great character.

As I said before, the world building was lacking once we truly got into the story which made it all fade away for me. I wish I had felt more grounded in the world. All of the components were there to make this such an amazing story for me, but I felt like this one kept us at an arm’s length. When the romance was introduced, I was genuinely surprised. Because I had no idea they felt romantic emotions for each other. So, despite being in both of our main characters’ heads, I felt pretty separate from what they were thinking and feeling. It also felt like the fire of revenge didn’t really burn in our characters. I could see that they definitely blamed those people for their roles in what happened in the past, but I never truly felt the anger, hatred, and passion that supposedly ruled these characters. There were also just moments when the romantic side of the story felt a little…off. It wasn’t the right time or place, in my opinion. Or the descriptions were just so obviously written by a man for men. Which feels weird to say. I normally don’t complain about sex scenes being written by a man or a woman due to gender. It’s more of a general asexual who doesn’t quite get what the hype is about or whatever normally. This time it just felt like the authorial voice was too present in the sex scenes. I didn’t enjoy it.

Overall, this was a good SciFi novel (not great, but still good) and I’m ready as ever to read more SciFi. I think this is a good jumping off point for any reader looking to get into SciFi. I think both the romantic plot line and the humorous side characters can really bridge the gap for readers.

I struggled with this one. I love a good SF novel, but this one jumped right into the action without giving many hints about who we were meeting. If you're into action and plot plot plot over character development, you may enjoy this more than I did. The dialog also felt stilted and took me out of the story several times.

On the positive side, the premise is interesting, as is the setting. It just didn't work for me.

The concept of an undersea adventure on Europa, with miners, pirates, and megacorporations vying for dominance, was intriguing, and the blurb promised a high-stakes story full of revenge, justice, and danger. However, the execution fell flat for me.

The main characters—Kassia, Max, and the outlawed AI Alex—had potential, but their dynamics felt underdeveloped. While their shared goal of vengeance brought them together, I never truly connected with their individual motivations or relationships. Kassia’s vendetta against Grant and Max’s pursuit of his partner’s killer were compelling in theory but lacked emotional impact in practice.

The setting of Europa’s lawless undersea world should have been a highlight, but the world-building didn’t feel immersive. There were moments of tension with dangerous undersea creatures and mercenaries, but they didn’t build enough momentum to keep me fully engaged.

Overall, while the premise held promise, the story didn’t resonate with me. That's why I'm giving this book 1 ⭐.

The ocean setting is a master move because it makes the book original. But even without that advantage over other scifi:s this is a very good book. I would like to read more from B.J. Wagner. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a really well done scifi adventure novel, it had that element that I was looking for and thought it was beautifully done. It had that tale of love and worked with the ocean setting, I was invested in what was happening with the characters and thought worked overall. B.J. Wagner was able to create a strong writing style and can't wait for more.

I actually really enjoyed this book and am hoping for a continuation in the future. I felt the setting was very unique and I liked how it and the various sea life were described. The story was fun with a good balance of action and storytelling, a bit of romance as well. I found the characters to be enjoyable, especially Alex the AI. I was slightly confused by the name of one of the ships, Ragnarok, it seems like it refers to 3 different ships at different points of the book. Definitely will be purchasing a copy upon its release.