One of the books that makes it easy to see why Arthur C Clarke is so highly regarded, it was nominated for a Hugo Award [for best sci-fi novel] in 1963 being beaten by Philip K Dick's book 'The Man in The High Castle'; one of his I have yet to read ... it must be good to have beaten this!
It's a hard sci-fi book, that is it is puts an emphasis on technical detail and scientific accuracy, so don't expect little green men on the moon or captains of rocket ships beaming down ... The story is of a tourist ship that takes passengers skimming over a dust filled 'sea' on the moon in much the same way as a jet ski would, there's an accident and the ship sinks. The moon tourist board and technicians then have a fixed amount of time to try and rescue the crew and passengers before their oxygen runs out. It reminded me of the film Apollo 13 in that sense and certainly there is a very real sense of pace and urgency fom the technicians as they try to solve the problem of bringing the ship up on the moon's surface despite unhelpful suggestions from members of the public back on Earth watching the tragedy. But there are also some great moments from the passengers as the story shows how they are becoming affected by the situation and especially from the committee set up to organise fun and games to keep morale high.
This book gets 4 stars from me, this means I will certainly re-read it again. ( )

Thrilling, tense and a very rewarding read. Great ideas and even better descriptions of them - I can see why this was one of the SF Masterworks reprint series. One I am sure my boyfriend will want to read, and that I would like to read again in the future. ( )

An excellent book about what happens when the crew of a lunar tourist expedition sink into the regolith of the moon. Although dated and somewhat innacurate it still holds the reader's attention. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R38DPY31... ( )

The characters may not be as finely tuned as I would wish, but the story is superb. I love the setting - a moon tour bus in trouble, inter-planetary media sharks, primitive survival amidst useless technology, the rescue efforts that run into one snag after another, and the snotty prude on the bus that pushes the pilot and "stewardess" into a romantic interlude! ( )