Moon Over Brendle
By Jeff Noon
- Moon Over Brendle
-
Author: Jeff Noon
-
Publisher: Angry Robot
- ISBN: 9781836730316
- Published: May 2026
- Pages: 286
- Format reviewed:
- Review date: 18/06/2026
- Language: English
There is something magical about childhood, you do not need a genre novel to tell you this. Everything is new, experiences that will map the person that you are going to be and stay with you for a lifetime. If you are lucky, these will be good experiences and not bad ones. In the case of Jeff Noon’s Moon Over Brindle, it is a little of both as Joe Sutter meets a strange man that will change his life forever, for better and worse.
In this alternative 1960s, life is pretty much the same as we knew it, but in this world, there is a swirling colourful dust called Greot that only some people can see. Joe is one such person and when he sees a dead body covered in the stuff it opens up a new world to him. The press is interested in interviewing him, but Joe is more interested in spying on the enigmatic man who lives nearby, a man who may know more about Greot than anyone else.
Moon is a dreamy, whimsical, disturbing tale that refuses to be pigeon-holed. Not quite science fiction and not quite horror, it rests in that uneasy no-man’s land that the likes of Ray Bradbury used to exist in. It is as much a coming-of-age tale as it is genre, the summer that Joe managed to find himself.
Although set in an alternative 60s, it feels very real. Noon imbues the story with enough small details that ground the story from music and TV shows to the attitudes of the people. It would almost work in its own right about how a writer learns that they wanted to be a writer, but it has the added wrinkle of the strange Greot substance. This dust plays its role in the story but also does not. Would Joe have found a similar path without it?
The book has a timeless appeal, it feels like it could have been written any time since the date it was set in the 1960s. Noon owes little to other authors and has his own style, a magical realism, literacy in genre form. This is the type of fantasy novel that non-genre fans would read. I see that as a double-edged sword as a fan of fantasy and science fiction, Moon did not quite delve as deep into the bizarre as I would have liked, but for many it will make an interesting deviation from plain fiction.
Written on 18th June 2026 by Sam Tyler .
Topics and themes
Key Tropes
Tone & Pace
Themes
Setting
General
You may also like
-
![The Return of the Incredible Exploding ManDave Hutchinson]()
Science FictionSimilar:Failed science writer Alex Dolan is just floating along, struggling to find work when multi-billionaire Stanislaw Clayton provides a surprising, well-paid offer out of the blue. He wants Alex to write a book about the world's first privately funded high-energy physics facility - the Sioux Crossing S...
-
![The Ocean at the end of the laneNeil Gaiman]()
FantasySimilar:I picked up The Ocean at the End of the Lane having already read a few (spoiler free) reviews on-line, so I was pretty thrilled to have finally bought it for myself (hard-cover and all). I'm a long time fan of Neil Gaiman—I discovered him in high school and remained a loyal reader. I'm assuming that...
-
![All My ColorsDavid Quantick]()
HorrorSimilar:There is no such thing as déjà vu, it is just your mind failing to process things properly. Even so, one day I was reading a book and was struck with a fearful sense of déjà vu. I could almost see what was going to happen next, it was unsettling. Was this a supernatural event? Had I gained super pow...
-
![The Armageddon RagGeorge RR Martin]()
FantasySimilar:Way before be became a household name with his Songs of Ice and Fire series, George RR Martin wrote a number of stand-out novels and Armageddon Rag is often seen as one the most off-the-wall if not his finest early works. Nominated for the Locus and World Fantasy awards it failed to gain any notable...
-
![The Year of the LadybirdGraham Joyce]()
FantasySimilar:If you've read any books by Graham Joyce you will feel very much at home with The Year of the Ladybird. Not only does it read very much like his previous stories - complete with the everyday path of the protagonist and minimal use of any genre tropes - but The Year of the Ladybird feels like a very...
-
![The Lonely LandsRamsey Campbell]()
HorrorSimilar:As long as someone remembers a loved one, they are never truly gone. This could be done by visiting their final resting place or a special location that you used to go to together. It could even be a keepsake that reminds you of them. Looking at the object you can almost see their smile or hear thei...
-
![Dying InsideRobert Silverberg]()
Science FictionSimilar:There is a kind of science fiction that uses a single fantastical premise not to build a world but to dismantle a man, and Dying Inside is perhaps the finest example the genre has produced. Robert Silverberg published it in 1972, at the height of his powers and at the close of an extraordinarily fer...
-
![The Way InnWill Wiles]()
FantasySimilar:If you've ever stayed in a Premier Inn or a Travel Lodge then you will be able to relate to "The Way Inn". It's actually one of the things I most like about staying at a Premier Inn, wherever you go you will always get the same standard. Even if it is the same layout and the same pictures on the wal...
-
![A Forest, DarklyA G Slatter]()
FantasySimilar:Dealing with major changes in your life is not easy. You can find help in your community, but when you are a Witch who is hunted down, this is not so simple. Any other Witch that you come across is also being hunted or is too young to know what to do and needs a mentor. All Merhrab wants is to be le...
-
![Made to KillAdam Christopher]()
Science FictionSimilar:If you can imagine what a science fiction novel written by Raymond Chandler might be like (while Chandler is known to have hated Science Fiction stories rumours persist he did write one) then Made to Kill is about as close as you will likely ever get (short of resurrecting the late author). It pays...
