Reviews

The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal

sarahjolioli's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

ulrikworm's review

adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

acheben's review

4.0

Oh man, this book got me right in the feels. Definitely a great read.

dananner's review

5.0

5 stars for narration

zophar53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring

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

5.0

jadziadax's review

3.0

another quick and engaging read, with a pretty unique concept. slightly disappointed at one trope use

Spoiler

bury your gays...

.

Stetson Parker's role is interesting and slightly puzzling. He's almost sympathetic at times and yet I find this a little disturbing...

Spoiler

there seems to be a begrudging friendship between him and Elma towards the end, which normally I'd probably be all in for. I love "begrudging friendship/respect"...the problem however is in Parker's past. If he was "just" rude, made misogynist remarks, and was generally annoying, etc, that'd be one thing. But it seems like he sexually harrased Elma's fellow WASPs to the point where they'd be in tears. Like...I need more clarification on this past. Did he make some gross remarks? (still terrible) Or did he try to force himself on them, which seems to be heavily implied? I mean, she reported him for harassment. I can't really get on board with accepting him into Elma's friend circle if so...

all the baking made me very hungry...chocolate pie....I actually really liked this detail -- even in space, we turn to things that relieve stress, just as right now in quarantine a bunch of people are turning to baking.

nakedsushi's review

2.0

I remember liking the first book ok and this one sounded pretty good as well but I had to stop halfway. The writing was fine but I realized I didn’t actually like the main character so it made the rest of the book difficult to read through.

I liked that some of the race and class issues of this fictionalized time was addressed here but the writing around it could have been better. Some scenes seemed shoehorned in just so that there was racial tension, which made it awkward to read.

mmz's review

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

docpacey's review

3.0

A worthy sequel to The Calculating Stars. Not quite as strong, as Kowal seemed to back off of Elma's character development in favor of set pieces to reinforce the subtexts of racial justice, feminism and intersectionality. Those are refreshing, especially in science fiction, but the treatment is not subtle here, and the characters and plot suffer somewhat from that.

There were some lovely tense moments, and some nice resolutions to long, slow burning conflicts, but the story really had more to explore and i was left feeling like a third book is necessary (picking up from the halfway point of the journey to Mars.

krmelmonster's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5