Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Relentless Moon

As much as I love this series and its setting and characters, I just didn't click with this one as much as I did with books one and two. The change of POV surprised me because I stop reading the summaries at this point in any series. I was pumped to see what was next for Elma, but I suppose given the epilogue in The Fated Sky, this one's on me.

While Elma is on her way to Mars, her friend and fellow astronaut Nicole Wargin is back on the moon as the colony continues to be established. With her husband a politician on Earth, they make the difficult decision to live apart as they do the work they were meant to do. Despite their distance, they come to share a common enemy: The Earth First movement.

Characters aside (although there are some name drops and familiar faces scattered throughout the story), the book has an overall different tone from the first two. The actual space travel is less of a focus. Instead, it's more of a story about sabotage and a pandemic. Yet, the themes remain similar in other ways. Where Elma was known for her anxiety issues, Nicole, too, struggles with her own disorders, which in this case is an eating disorder. And much like Elma, she doesn't let this get in the way of her job and passion for space travel. I didn't connect with Nicole as much as I did with Elma, but I appreciate the strength of her character.

I'm not sure if more books are in the works for this series. If so, I'm curious if the next one will also follow Nicole or if we'll circle back to Elma. Maybe we'll get to know one of the other Lady Astronauts? Even though I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two, I admire Mary Robinette Kowal's dedication to the research, especially when it comes to science and how it might have looked even in the alternate take on the 1960s.

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iono's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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thebowandthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really phenomenal read. A bit more innuendo than I prefer but other than that the writing was stellar and I entirely enjoyed it.

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penguininabluebox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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brittshaw_p's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5/5⭐️ | 0.25/5🌶 | 1/3⚠️ |14 +

Genre: historical AU sci fi

Diversity: anorexic MC, steminist, feminist, B/A + API SCs

Moods: tense, relentless/non-stop, geo-political, steminist, anti-racist

Pace: medium

Device(s):

Trope(s):

Notes: told from Nicole’s perspective on the moon takes place at the same time as The Fated Sky - we see the fraught political landscape that we only saw glimpses and hints and consequences of during The Fated Sky. Earth Firsters are actively sabotaging the IAC and moon colony. Stick with Nicole as she ferrets out the saboteur(s) with Myrtle, Eugene, Hamid, and Helen. Relentless perfectly describes this books - one after another problems pop up - but at the same time it doesn’t feel overdone. An absolute rollercoaster emotions while set perfectly in the sexist and racist times of 1960s, expertly crafted AU. Excellent continuation of the Lady Astronaut novels!!

# of pages:

AB length:

Took me ~ to read:

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deedireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The first three Lady Astronaut novels are fun to read with an imaginative premise, and they’re impressively packed with research. I had a good time reading them!

For you if: You like hard sci-fi and/or astronomy and/or math and/or historical fiction, or you’re looking for Jewish rep in SFF

FULL REVIEW:

I set out to read the Lady Astronaut novels, of which there are currently three, when the third one (The Relentless Moon) was nominated for the 2021 Hugo Award. When I set out, I thought they were a trilogy. Actually, though, the first two (The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky) are a duology, and the third one is connected but slightly separate. Anywho, this is a combo review for all three novels, which I now realize is a little strange, but hey here goes.

The Lady Astronaut books are historical fiction/hard sci-fi novels that take place in an alternate 1950s and ‘60s. The Calculating Stars starts thus: A meteor crashes into DC, destroying the US government and triggering a dinosaur-style climate extinction event. The race to colonize space is on, and a young mathematician named Elma York is determined to be the first woman in space — and dubbed by the media “the Lady Astronaut.” The Relentless Moon takes place at the same time as The Fated Sky, but in a different setting with a different main character (someone who was a secondary character in the duology). It’s actually more of a sci-fi mystery, which was cool.

All in all, I thought these books were fun. They have sort of slow pacing and can be a bit cheesy (Elma and her #goals husband, Nathaniel, have some hilarious fade-to-black “rocket launch” bedroom banter, which honestly I loved), but they’re exquisitely researched and explore important things like white saviorism, being Jewish, mental health, eating disorders, and disability through a 1950s lens. At the end of the day, they worked well for my busy brain as I pushed through long days of end-of-year work hustle.

If you like hard sci-fi and/or astronomy and/or math and/or historical fiction, or you’re looking for Jewish rep in SFF, these could be a great choice for you.

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reviewsandreadathons's review against another edition

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hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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