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!

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*

What a wonderful premise - over night the moon (and all moon samples on the ground) turn to what appears to be cheese.
The book is split into 29 chapters (one for each day of the lunar cycle) and we effectively get a set of linked short stories exploring what would happen on Earth if this came true.

It made me laugh quite a lot, and the nerdy space science seemed accurate to me, and at one point it also made me cry which I really wasn't expecting.
I wasn't sure how the book would end, and I'm still not 100% convinced by one part but then the couple of extra chapters explained why this was the only way it could play out.

What a fun read!

I think only John Scalzi would think of writing a book about the moon becoming cheese. Well he thought about it, and did it. The stories are vignettes, some one chapter and a few more, all connected by this unaccountable change in space. There are some chapters I found particularly funny, like the school kids discussion the situation and the family feud to name two. Politics, science (assumed possible), a bit of skullduggery and humour. Fun is what it is. The book is very American biased. Russia and China do get a mention, however the rest of the world were obviously nonplussed out toasting cheese sandwiches under a very different sky. Okay, John says this was much harder to right than he thought, so I’ll give him some leeway. Some well matured Scottish Cheddar might be a suitable repast in recovery, if you are not completely cheesed off now. Thank you to Pan McMillan and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

4.5/5 stars

What if the moon suddenly turned into cheese? That’s the absurd premise of John Scalzi’s latest conceptual science fiction offering When the Moon Hits Your Eye as it takes it day-by-day over the first lunar cycle following different people from all walks of life.

This book was such a delight to read. It rolls with its premise, giving it a charming and lighthearted take when it could have just as easily fallen into dark humor territory (which it gratefully didn’t because I’m not a fan of black comedy). It’s pop science meets Andy Weir and incredibly funny (I literally laughed out loud multiple times). Told one day at a time from a wide variety of characters’ perspectives, it never feels disjointed and delivers a complete story despite its scattered structure.

The book has the traditional perspectives from astronauts and scientists trying to understand what happened. Then spices it up with some topical perspectives of a megalomaniac tech billionaire determined to be the first man to step on the cheese moon and two rival billionaires with more money than sense who want to be the first to eat the moon cheese. It then brings humor and charm through a rivalry between cheese shop owners spying on each other and an author who just so happens to have published a relevant pop science novel.
The most heartfelt, most human, and sweetest to me though were the doubting pastor guiding his struggling flock (and this is coming from someone who does not like having religion in my books) and the singular sweet moment between a wanna-be writer and her husband.

One note I have though is that I wish we had gotten to see more of some characters as we don’t get back to them so we are left to imagine what comes next for them (and I am imagining all positive things). Also, the book is entirely American so lacks the global feel these types of stories usually have.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a ridiculous and positively riotous good time.

*Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the eARC via NetGalley.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. This book is about the moon turning into cheese, and it is grate (sorry not sorry, how can you not make a cheese pun in this situation???). I really loved how this book was told through the lens of short stories, allowing us not only to see those in power navigating the course of nations but also very personal individual stories. Some of the them made me laugh, and some made me want to cry. I highly recommend this book!

Wheee! John Scalzi is one of those few authors whose afterword is as witty and intriguing as the idea he has taken on in the book. Oh, also the extraordinary conviction he has to the idea!

What happens to the earth and it's people when suddenly the moon turns to cheese? To a world that has recently seen a black swan event like Covid, this premise seems easy enough to explore in a straight forward narrative. But then Scalzi doesn't do straight forward. How do normal people react to such an mindboggling development.

Taken over one moon cycle - it covers different people - NASA scientists, White house, church, cheese makers, chefs, crazy billionaires, production houses, authors - and tries to make sense of this change. The science is intentionally vague though logical. As the author confesses - he is ready for a 45 minute youtube rant on "why the science is wrong".

I loved the philosophical rants and the common man's sense of wonderment at a cosmic event that defies common understanding. When heliocentric theory challenged the prevailing geocentric theory, it would have been a shock to the mental models. Scalzi manages to capture that change in 30 odd chapters with a similar concept. And of course there is a hat-tip to conspiracy theorists as well.

Without giving much away, the second half of the book could have been less dramatic. I think the eclipse is a brilliant metaphor used wisely. Scalzi calls it part of a trilogy that includes Kaiju Preservation Society - a brilliant pop song of a novel! This is a bit more morose and an acknowledgement of the human condition that has gone through a "new normal" phase.

This book is to hit the stands in 2025! Thank you for the ARC copy.

Neal Stephenson's "Seveneves" is one of those massive, crushing, momentous, century-spanning and era-defining hard sci-fi novels. It starts with the immortal line "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." Classic! It dives into a world plagued with Kessler syndrome and the grimly inevitable consequences for the future of humanity.

Scalzi's latest book is cheesy homage - fromage if you will - to that giant of literature. It asks an equally important question.

What if, without warning and for no apparent reason, the moon turned into cheese?

That's it. That's the novel.

It is gloriously silly - but no less reverent to humanity. Rather than focus on one single story, the book floats around a dozen different people. We sample the plebeian to the rock-star, President to hausfrau. Everyone gets to bathe in the moonlight (cheeselight?) of the story. And what a story! As with any good slice of sci-fi, it is light on the technobabble and high on the everyday drama.

Yes, there are obvious parallels to the shared emotional trauma of Covid, but it doesn't dominate as a theme. And, of course, the fractured nature of our shared reality is likely to be the focus of most literature for the foreseeable future. Scalzi instinctively understands what makes sci-fi absurd and how to gently squeeze the humour out of it. Because sci-fi is intrinsically funny. It's about us playing a massive game of "what if" and seeing where it takes us.

The laughter is offset with just the right amount of heartbreak. The moon turning in to cheese isn't all fun and games. No one gets off scot-free, but all the villains get their just desserts. It is impossible to read without a smile on your cheeks and a lump in your throat.

As with his two most recent books - The Kaiju Preservation Society and Starter Villain - these are stand-alone novels. There's no massive trilogy to commit to reading and no prior knowledge is assumed.

If you've read Neal Stephenson, Andy Weir, and Mary Robinette Kowal, you'll probably get a little bit more out of it than the casual reader. It is fully of fun little sci-fi references and tropes, all expertly shaken out for a daft laugh.

The book is released in March 2025. Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy - the rest of you will have to pre-order.

I'm shamelessly quoting from the Afterword and Acknowledgements of the review copy I was generously granted: this is "a book about the moon turning to cheese, [...] each chapter represent[s] a day in the lunar cycle, each chapter with mostly different characters in mostly different places in the United States, reacting to it in ways specific [to] them alone"

What more can I tell you about the book? The title of the book gave me an earworm, but not in a bad way. Each chapter is different, first of all because each chapter has it's own main character(s), who might show up in one of the other 27 chapters again; but also because the style of each chapter is different, one of the chapters is a chat-log, for example.

Kudos to Mr Scalzi for casually throwing in a historical detail from the 12th century that happened in a city near where I grew up. That's some weird pub-quiz trivia to include in a story about cheese or the moon.

If you have read Scalzi's work before, you will certainly like it. If you haven't read his work before, what are you waiting for?

I really enjoyed this, a typical book of John Scalzi's in some ways and quite different in others. The light-hearted premise is treated utterly seriously with a wide series of character accounts in some cases funny, in others touching, thought-provoking or even heartbreaking. The disaster-novel structure of the book works perfectly to carry off this treatment.

Another extremely entertaining and funny John Scalzi book in the category of “everyday people dealing with an extremely high-concept situation, in contemporary settings” I did not know I loved this category this much but apparently I do, if my love for “Starter Villain” and “Kaiju Preservation society” weren’t enough, let’s add “When the moon hits your eye” to the list now I guess.

I went into this book not knowing a lot about it, I trusted blindly in Scalzis creative genius and it again hit just right. Why would I need a sort of realistic representation of what humanity would do if the moon turned to cheese im not sure but apparently I did need it. It was entertaining, filled with drama, stupid billionaires and tons of separate stories into one about panicking humans.

It’s silly and incredulous but weirdly realistic which makes it all the more amazing. I really hope John Scalzi continues his not really series of totally separate “everyday people dealing with an extremely high-concept situation, in contemporary settings” standalone books because I’m having the time of my life with these.

My first Scalzi's book, and what fun it was ! Weird and yet insightful, funny but also sad. The undertone of humour really helps to pull the story together, without loosing a sort of seriousness around the exploration of what could happen if the moon turned to cheese suddenly.

The way the story is build isn't something I enjoy most of the time, but Scalzi really master the structure. We follow various characters, not necessarily linked to each other except for the fact that the moon has changed. Each one of these characters is solid, grounded, their motivations and personnality shining through a single chapter. Some we care for, and feel for, other we hate. The different perspectives really help nourishing the under social commentary in a fun but strong way.

If you told me I would read and love a book about cheese, more specifically a book where the moon turns to cheese, in a contemporary setting, I might have not believed you. But I did love it, so much. Fun, well written for what it want to accomplish, witty. Great read.

I would like to thank Pan MacMillan books and John Scalzi for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved the idea of the moon suddenly becoming cheese. It’s a classic childhood tale retold for adults in our modern age.

This story starts of slowly then gradually increases its pace detailing unimaginable event occurring and told through the perspectives of many different people over a period of time. This I found to be most amusing and satisfying as their reactions and opinions were very varied. The science is easy to understand which was good as I felt it may have taken over the story. I loved the way Scalzi gets into people’s heads and hearts to bring out the best in his characters which he did so with expertise.

Overall this is a fun, dramatic and sometimes emotional story to read and felt different to the authors usual style of writing. At first I was a little sceptical where this book would go but I should have known I would not be disappointed. A most enjoyable, satisfying read with great characters and an unusual plot that will keep you glued to the pages.

Unexpectedly thought-provoking. What a concept!

Loved Starter Villain. Saw this and the premise and was instantly sold. Never seen anything quite like it... and it was brilliant!

The plot? Well, one day the world awakens to discover the moon has... wait for it... turned into cheese. Yes, scientists are stunned but confirm it. Moon rock samples on Earth are the same. Cheese.

The book veers around to various characters over the globe reacting to this, their lives affected in different ways, from cheese shop owners to NASA astronauts preparing for a mission soon to be cancelled.

Loved the very timely-feeling thread about one of the world's richest men and his quest to land on the cheese-moon. How apt for the times we are living in.

Over the course of one lunar cycle, the author shows us the possible science (difference in mass, explosions under the surface, change in size, affect on tides etc) and human implications, without ever having to give explanation (good one!). There's the science writer fortuitously talking about the moon in his latest book, suddenly becoming world-renowned. The former rock star re-assessing his mistakes in love. Conspiracy theorists expounding dark ideas on what is really going on.

I feel Scalzi enjoyed the creation in particular of both Jody Bannon the billionaire and US President Brett Boone. Just a feeling I had while reading them.

The more serious aspect of the story kicked in later as potential catastrophic events are brought to light, which also gives readers the chance to reflect on how something similar (okay maybe not moon cheese) might change their own lives and priorities.

Loved the ending too, bringing home yet another point about the effect of time on any one occurrence and how society looks back with hindsight and 'knowledge'.

It veered from ridiculous to more serious, taking in global viewpoints, and never became less than thoroughly absorbing.... like a thick fondue with dip one might say.

Batty, mad and totally unique. It's a cracker (sorry).

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Let me start with I loved this book! It is a perfect lift in these strange political times, as it tracks the impact of the moons' spontaneous change to cheese (or organic matrix). We start at Day 1 when the change is first noticed in locations which hold pieces of lunar rock (Wapakoneta, Ohio to start) that have also changed form, then each chapter follows day by day impacts on NASA, moon missions, the President of the USA, students, everyday folk in vignettes on their thoughts, opinions, life and loves.
There are some storylines that thread the book, the NASA moon mission being chief amongst them, an entitled billionaire, rival cheese shops and the coffee shop conversations of three retirees. One of my favourite chapters was following a movie pitching session in Hollywood, where all bar one was for a cheese related film, and the sudden change of fortune for a college professors writing career due to his latest book having a section on the moon and cheese. The political commentary sounds right for these times and the cast of characters meet the extraordinary events in ways that reflect our humanity.
This is on my shopping list for my husband and would recommend for anyone who wants a change of pace from hard core science fiction.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley - all views are my own.

One day, suddenly and without explanation, the moon turns into a ball of cheese. How could you read that line and not want to read this book? It’s both absurd and amazing. John Scalzi has a very unique sense of humor that really resonates with me. I laughed a lot throughout the book. I highly recommend it, along with his other works. I can't wait to add this book to my shelf and look forward to reading his next story. Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A gripping read that had me on the edge of my seat from start the finish. The pacing was very well done and I was always excited to pick it up and read.