Reviews with content warning for Sexism - 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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kalayk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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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

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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!!

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