Review – The Fated Sky (Lady Astronaut, Book 2) by Mary Robinette Kowal (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 376 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: August 21, 2018
ASIN: B0756JKWCJ
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Lady Astronaut series
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but there’s a lot riding on whoever the International Aerospace Coalition decides to send on this historic—but potentially very dangerous—mission? Could Elma really leave behind her husband and the chance to start a family to spend several years traveling to Mars? And with the Civil Rights movement taking hold all over Earth, will the astronaut pool ever be allowed to catch up, and will these brave men and women of all races be treated equitably when they get there? This gripping look at the real conflicts behind a fantastical space race will put a new spin on our visions of what might have been.”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Lady Astronaut series. There are three books released in this series right now with a fourth book planned (The Martian Contingency) for a later release. I borrowed a copy of this book on eBook through Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: This book picks up some time after the first book ended. Elma has been ferrying people back and forth to the moon so that they can establish a colony there. Meanwhile, things are getting worse on Earth (environment-wise) and a group of people are starting to protest the time and money spent on the space program, which is making things rocky for the IAC. Elma gets asked at the last minute if she would be willing to go on the first mission to Mars in order to help boost public support and publicize the Mars mission in a more positive light. She is a bit torn since her and Nathaniel were talking about starting a family and this is a three year mission.
The first part of this book takes place on Earth as Elma trains for the Mars mission and deals with other Earth politics. The second part takes place on the spaceship as she travels to Mars with the rest of the crew and deals with a variety of both mechanical issues and racism/sexism issues in space. Parts of the story were a bit slow but the ending was amazing. This actually wraps up the story at a very nice spot.
I really enjoyed the characters here. I love Elma and Nathaniel’s marriage; they are so supportive of each other even when they are planets apart. There is a lot around people being upset about both women and other ethnic groups (aside from white) going on the mission. Some of this carries on even in the spaceship. I did like how, even though there was a lot of personal strife on board the ship, the crew was still able to drop all personal issues and come together to work and solve problems when they developed. That is so true of working with a solid technical group, everything else can go on hold when there’s a good technical problem to be solved.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this second installment in the Lady Astronaut series. I continue to find the story and exploration going on here very interesting. The characters are engaging and the plot is well done. There were some slow parts early on in this book but I ended up being engrossed in the second half of the book and really enjoying it. I was a bit sad to hear that the third book moves away from Elma and Nathaniel, but I enjoy Kowal’s writing quite a bit so I am eager to read more and can’t wait to read the next book in the series, “The Relentless Moon”.
