Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal continues her Hugo and Nebula award-winning Lady Astronaut series, following The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon. The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

A Lady Astronaut Novel

The Relentless Moon

Ryan LaFerney

Hugo and Nebula Award–winner Mary Robinette Kowal expands her Lady Astronaut alternate history series with this stellar third installment, The Relentless Moon. Set in the 1960s, The Relentless Moon takes place a decade after the devastating meteor strike that led to the creation of the International Aerospace Coalition in the first novel, The Calculating Stars. 

In this book, Nicole Wargin, an ambitious, driven, and passionate Air Force pilot turned Lady Astronaut, leaves her husband, Kansas governor Kenneth Wargin, on Earth to become one of the first inhabitants of a colony on the moon. As the head of the colony’s security, Nicole works openly to establish a habitat for humanity on the moon. However, it quickly becomes clear that after a series of technical failures that could have resulted in death (as well as a polio outbreak), that there is a saboteur on the moon. Now, Nicole must work covertly to counter the efforts of the “Earth First” terrorists, who are hell-bent on sabotaging the IAC and humankind’s expansion into space while juggling her long-distance relationship, grief, and anorexia.

Like the other Lady Astronaut books, this book has wonderful science and historical content that is, for the most part, quite accurate! This book is also a fascinating portrayal of what establishing a lunar colony would be like in both technical terms and in terms of characters. The United States is employing people of color at high levels in the space program, but that doesn’t mean that everybody is happy about it. The colony is an international effort, which means that White South Africans have to respect Black leadership despite South Africa’s policy of aparthied. There are personal differences, language differences, cultural differences…it’s a miracle that the group can function at all..and when you add a saboteur among them, things are bound to get intense.

But Kowal focuses mainly on Nicole and by doing so, keeps this novel quite an intimate spacefaring journey.

Overall, I found Kowal's third novel in the Lady Astronaut series to be a wonderful blend of espionage, spacefaring adventure, and social fiction. One that is intimate, smart, and riveting. 

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series if there is to be one.

The third part of the "Lady Astronaut" series and at first a little shock: It is told from the point of view of another protagonist, chronologically parallel to the events in part two of the series.

After a short adjustment, however, the reader quickly feels at ease again, since other characters return or are long known from the first two parts of the series. 

I am curious when the fourth part will finally be published and pass the time with the small additional stories to the main story, which the author has published on her website.

Nick Bicko

The third part of the "Lady Astronaut" series and at first a little shock: It is told from the point of view of another protagonist, chronologically parallel to the events in part two of the series.

After a short adjustment, however, the reader quickly feels at ease again, since other characters return or are long known from the first two parts of the series. 

I am curious when the fourth part will finally be published and pass the time with the small additional stories to the main story, which the author has published on her website.

Mary Robinette Kowal continues her Hugo and Nebula award-winning Lady Astronaut series, following The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon. The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Eleanor Luhar

I didn't read any of the other books in this series, but I've seen Kowal state that this was intended to be readable as a standalone, too. I certainly didn't feel like I had missed anything from the previous novels. From what I understand, the narrator of this book (Nicole) is not the same narrator as in the others. Personally, I enjoyed this book so much partly because of Nicole, so I'm not sure I would have reacted quite the same to the other books.
This book offers a sort of alternate history, wherein meteors had previously hit the earth, urging developments in space travel. A colony is being established on the moon, with further flights even heading for Mars. Nicole, one of the first female astronauts, still travels to the moon despite being over fifty years old now and the wife of the governor of Kansas. This particular book is set in the 1960s, partially on earth, and partially on the moon.
Nicole's character is fascinating in so many ways. Her relationship with her husband Kenneth, for example, and her role in all the politics around his role. She's also one of few female astronauts, as well as being a little older than most, but with relatively high ranking due to her experience. Finally - and this is where I strongly relate to her - Nicole has anorexia. She manages it most of the time (with the help of Kenneth) but of course has the occasional slip-ups. The way in which the disorder sneaks its way into her life, particularly in times of distress, is very realistic. It's not always an overt desire to lose weight or starve oneself. It is often simply forgetting to eat, or making excuses, or physically feeling unable to. This can lead to a devastating downward spiral - as Nicole well knows.
It should definitely be noted here that Nicole's anorexia is in no way the main aspect of the story, or of her character. It affects a lot of things, sure, but it's not the main story. It's just a part of her life. I very much appreciated how Kowal did this.
As for the plot, the simplest way of describing it is that there is possibly a saboteur - or group of saboteurs - on the moon. Things have been going wrong with spacecraft, and now there are problems on the moon, too. Further, a Polio outbreak suddenly occurs, which is a bit of a nightmare in a small, close colony. Finally, Kenneth decides to run for president, and Nicole has a lot of personal issues to deal with while trying to hunt down the saboteur.
It's a pretty wild ride. It's long, but I didn't find myself getting bored. There were times where I maybe felt a tiny bit lost, especially where a lot of space jargon was used, but most of the time I managed to follow along quite well. 4.5 stars!

MARY ROBINETTE. KOWAL

Mary Robinette Kowal continues her Hugo and Nebula award-winning Lady Astronaut series, following The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon. The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC's goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President. Praise for The Fated Sky: "An immersive world that will stay with the reader well past the final page."―Publishers Weekly, starred review "An engrossing alternate history with a unique point of view... Plausible, convincing, and ultimately moving."―Nancy Kress, author of the Hugo Award-winning Yesterday's Kin "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 "An alternative look at the midcentury space race led by an intelligent, well-meaning, but flawed heroine."―Booklist Praise For The Calculating Stars: "The Calculating Stars is a wonderful, scientifically accurate view of what might have been. Kowal masters both science and historical accuracy in this alternate history adventure." -- Andy Weir, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of The Martian "Hugely satisfying, as the women of the early space programme, in crucial roles but out of sight, at last take the spotlight they deserve... even if, in Kowal's thoughtful alternate history, it takes the end of the world to bring it about." -- Stephen Baxter "This is what NASA never had, a heroine with attitude."―The Wall Street Journal

Pam Sartain

Spoiler alert as this is book 3 in the Lady Astronaut series!  I've put links to my reviews for books 1 and 2 at the bottom!

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal is set during the same time as book 2, except it's from the point of view of Nicole Wargin, and we learn more about the sabotage and terrorism from the Earth First group.

I really enjoyed this book, and seeing things from a different perspective.  I had that moment of reading the beginning, and thinking 'of course!'. It made so much sense to tell us what happened when we heard so little on Elma's trip to Mars in the second book!

 The Relentless Moon  by Mary Robinette Kowal was published on 26th November 2020, and is available on  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

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

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Rebellion Publishing .

This is book 3 in the Lady Astronaut series, and if you'd like to read my reviews for the two previous books, please look below:

 The Calculating Stars  (book 1)

 The Fated Sky  (book 2)

Ben Nathan

I wanted to cuss at this book for being so good. I was smiling at how well written it was. The pacing, characters, plot, world building, interrelation, mystery, everything was fan m nearly perfect. I would read it again but I have so many others that need to go in my brain... But I might read it again anyway

Jo H

CW: Anorexia.

THIS is how a 50+ year old intersectional feminist woman in an alternate 1960s is written. She is an oldER woman, but she is far from an OLD woman and this reader absolutely loved her portrayal in this book.

Nicole is real which means she is not perfect and some people might call her that dreaded word 'unlikeable'; sometimes she's a bit of a cow, sometimes loving, sometimes aloof, sometimes weak and sometimes strong. She is also ruthless, vengeful, she has lots of issues (some of them physical) and a very loving husband and a 19 year old cat at home with hubby that she obviously dotes on. 

However, despite her very progressive ways and her own very successful workplace accomplishments, she is still very much a High Society woman of the 1960s and wife to a state Governor who is running for president and I applaud the author for the authenticity in the depiction of her in that way. She is also very close friends (and work colleague) to a very stable and loving (also older but not OLD) black couple who remain her friends throughout. The same couple, who appeared in the first two books in the series with Elma (as Nicole did too). It is so gratifying to read about stable and functional, and very much sexual (although there are no sex scenes in this book) long term relationships outside of the romance genre as much as it is within it.

But Relentless Moon also had one of the worst characters deaths I've ever read (it hurt soooo much!) and one that was kind of off page that I also felt for them all for, and all the twists and turns of many a thriller. Just more science-y and spacetastic. And with superb people to care about the outcome of. 

> Did some of the space and science talk go totally over my head? Yes. 
> Was there a lot of it? Yes. 
> Was there too much of it for my ultra non-scientific brain to cope with? Possibly.
> Did that matter? Absolutely NOT, because I was enthralled throughout and was rooting for these people on the Moon so bad! 

One of the things that I really enjoyed was that at the start of each chapter there was a 'quote' for a newspaper clipping, or other media that kind of gave an intro or background to some aspect of the chapter. A lot of these anecdotes gave an Earth perspective so we had an inkling of what was going on back on Earth, whilst following Nicole, Myrtle, Eugene, Helen and the rest of their cohorts as they were carrying on with their duties/investigations on the Moon.

And that ending? Way to stick it to the naysayers. Good for you Nicole and thank you to MRK for writing such awesome older (but not OLD) characters. 

Also... the 😻. And her husband loving on the 😻. Those bits, and there were numerous brief mentions of them throughout the book, made my heart sing! They also help to add humanity to characters that could otherwise appear unrelatable to many readers. 

As an aside, another thanks for the author note and history sections at the end of the book which give a lot of real world credence to some of this highly fictional story. And now I need to educate myself a little about Polio. It may not be a disease that is still prevalent in my part of the world, but it is still in a few others.

The Relentless Moon A Lady Astronaut Novel

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