Mary Robinette Kowal

THE SECOND IN THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD-WINNING SERIES One large step for humankind… It’s 1961, and the Earth’s gaze is turning to Mars. The Moon colony is well established, but tensions are rising on Earth—both from those who see themselves being left behind on a disaster-laden planet, and those who don’t believe in equality for all. But even with personal sacrifices and political tensions, Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, dearly wants to go on the first mission to Mars—despite everything that stands in her way. ‘The Lady Astronaut series might be set in an alternate past, but they’re cutting-edge SF novels that speak volumes about the present.’ ―The Verge “In The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal imagines an alternate history of spaceflight that reminds me of everything I loved about Hidden Figures.” ― Cady Coleman, Astronaut “This is what NASA never had, a heroine with attitude.”―The Wall Street Journal

The Fated Sky

THE SECOND IN THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD-WINNING SERIES One large step for humankind... It's 1961, and the Earth's gaze is turning to Mars. The Moon colony is well established, but tensions are rising on Earth--both from those who see themselves being left behind on a disaster-laden planet, and those who don't believe in equality for all. But even with personal sacrifices and political tensions, Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, dearly wants to go on the first mission to Mars--despite everything that stands in her way. 'Kowal masters both science and historical accuracy in this alternate history adventure.' - Andy Weir 'The Lady Astronaut series might be set in an alternate past, but they're cutting-edge SF novels that speak volumes about the present.' ―The Verge "In The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal imagines an alternate history of spaceflight that reminds me of everything I loved about Hidden Figures." ― Cady Coleman, Astronaut "This is what NASA never had, a heroine with attitude."―The Wall Street Journal

Great second part of the alternative Mars-striving reality of the "Lady Astronaut Series", following Elma York on her further journey and picking up on the conflicts (Race, gender discrimination, privileged vs. unprivileged) from the first book.

Nick Bicko

Jennifer

I read Calculating Stars and it was one of the most enjoyable space opera books that I've read in 2020. I really enjoyed the scientific details and the explorations of the central themes (e.g. dealing with internalised prejudice). I think the first book managed to both introduce the alternate history as well as the main character, Elma York, pretty well. This is what prompted me to order a copy of The Fated Sky, as I do want to get around reading the sequel. The Fated Sky is continues from where things left off at the end of the first book and is much more ambitious in terms of the plot. In this book, Elma and her crew are on their way to Mars but in this long and arduous journey, there were a lot of hardships.

I think The Fated Sky is more expansive than Calculated Stars in terms of the scope of characters, central themes, and the science. While the book didn't emotionally hit me as hard as in the first book, I think Elma's hardships in her journey to Mars highlighted important questions on both gender and race - that internalised prejudices are still so common do date at work. Because the journey to Mars, I also thought the science in this book is much more ambitious but at the same time it felt really believable. So I highly applaud Kowal's ability to craft out such a well-researched duology!

I've read The Fated Sky before bedtime over the past few days and I must admit, this is a wonderful conclusion to the Lady Astronaut duology. It's not only well researched in the historical and scientific aspects, it also explored important questions on internalised prejudices (and how that impacts individuals at work).

N.B. This book contains following content triggers: vomit, death, corpses, bodily secretion (e.g. urine, faeces), anxiety, racism, homophobia

Pam Sartain

Spoilers ahead, as this is book 2 in the Lady Astronaut series!

The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal starts in 1961.  The Moon colony has been established, and so now it's time to travel to Mars, to look to establish a colony there.  Not everyone is thrilled at the prospective of people leaving the Earth, and so have established themselves as Earth First.

Elma wants to go to Mars.  She's conquered becoming an astronaut, even one who takes the occasional Miltown, but now she's growing board. 

Another amazing book, with the right amount of pace, scene setting, maths, and rocket science.  It's such an interesting look into traveling to space at this time, and the aspirations of so many.

 The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal  was published on 21st August 2018, and is available to buy from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Mary Robinette Kowal on her  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  Twitter  or her  website .

You can read my review of book 1 in this series, The Calculating Stars  here .

Judy Hudgins

What a great series! What happens when you carry race issues into space? Or gender issues? And I am sure today's astronauts would love being able to cook as they did on board the two ships, but it fit in so well.

Ben Nathan

That was excellent. My favorite characters are always the ones that just feel like people I know. There are just so many of them in this book. I love that Elma feels like family (southern Jews for the win). The first book was great, but I liked this one more.

Darice de Cuba

Where book one was mostly "wow". Book two was "angsty" the moment the mission to Mars started. I had trouble getting started with the book but 100 pages in it picked up in action that keeps you reading till the end.

(view spoiler)[
I was baffled about the E.coli contamination in one of the ships. I know they keep the crew in isolation before launch to avoid them taking germs, bacterias or viruses with them. But rice left out and de-oxygenized kills. Hindsight is 20/20, rice is not suitable for space travel. It didn't occur to me they could get sick with something so "common" and what a disaster it is in a spaceship. 
The second death gutted me. Even tho the book is science fiction. The way the story is, starting from 1950 makes it very believable. You can relate more easily to these characters than for example characters from "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" (also a very good book).  (hide spoiler)]

I wouldn't mind a third book with a time jump to find out how Elma and Nathaniel's life turned out on the Mars colony and what became of Earth with the worsening climate.

Elizabeth Alderman

Maja Schmidt

Mary Robinette Kowal continues the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well-established on the moon and looking forward to its next step: journeying to, and eventually colonizing, Mars. The Verge—Best SFF Books for August 2018 io9 —Best SFF Books for August 2018 Unbound Worlds —Best SFF Books for August 2018 Tor.com —Best SFF Books for August 2018 Kirkus Online —Best SFF Books for August 2018 Nerdmuch —Best SFF Books for August 2018 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. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Fated Sky

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