An intriguing but ultimately not-entirely-satisfying parody of the space race, in which two humans sent to the moon are found by the hidden residents of the moon's dark side. Some interesting sci-fi elements and Mackenzie's attempt at world-building is occasionally amusing, but overall there is not a great deal to recommend it. ( )

The Lunatic Republic is a 1959 science fiction novel by Sir Compton Mackenzie, it's apparently a comedy novel, the blurb goes as far as to say that "[it] touches the apogee of comic invention". I would say this is a wildly unsubstantiated claim by my standards of comedy.

Sure, it's weird and quirky with some of the Chinese characters named Tin Pan and Sing Song, some other characters with the suffix of Dad & Sex, as well as a bunch of made up words forming part of the moon people (Lunatic)'s language but overall it didn't so much as provide amusing mirth to myself as a reader, let alone actual giggling or laughter.

Whilst the circumstance of a technologically developed society on the 'dark side' of the moon had potential for a lot of interesting direction, it didn't really do all that much worthwhile with the material it had in my eyes.

Apparently it's meant to parody the space race also... I found out this after having read the book and in no way got that impression seeing as the primary friction on earthbound powers seems to be between the 'Celestial Chinese Republic' versus the 'Welfare State of Europe' and the 'American Union of States' (or some such, can't find the page on which the latter was mentioned right now).

Overall, I don't feel its worth looking out for unless you're a die-hard fan of quirky British science fiction novels from the late 1950s. ( )