The Relentless Moon
A Lady Astronaut Novel
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4.5 • 131 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Finalist 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novel!
Finalist 2021 Hugo Award for Best Series!
A 2021 Locus Award Finalist!
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kowal expands her Lady Astronaut alternate history series with this stellar third installment, set in the 1960s, a decade after the devastating meteor strike that led to the creation of the International Aerospace Coalition in The Calculating Stars. 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, and covertly to counter the efforts of the "Earth First" terrorists, who are intent on sabotaging the IAC and humankind's expansion into space. Between lunar security crises and figuring out who she can trust among her fellow colonists, Nicole must also work through personal issues, including her struggle with anorexia and her now long-distance marriage. Kowal effortlessly blends espionage, spacefaring adventure, and social fiction, paying particular attention to the details of life as a female astronaut in the 1960s. This is hard science fiction at its most emotional, intimate, and insightful.
Customer Reviews
I really enjoyed the change of voice to Nicole. Well done!
Nicole is far more entertaining than Elma. Elma is great. But Nicole is so…relatable.
A step down
This book is actually a telling of what happened both on the moon and on earth while Elma York is on her Mars Expedition. We are introduced to a new character or a new POV and I have to say I really did not enjoy this new character. She feels very bitter and while I found myself sympathizing and rooting for Elma during her story I couldn’t find those same feelings for Nicole even when terrible things happened to her.
The reason I gave this book a higher score though is because the story deals with the “Earth First” terrorist group and their quest to cancel the space program in hopes of remaining on Earth (they believe Earth will remain habitable). Sabotage occurs both on the moon and on earth and Nicole and her group must uncover the saboteurs and reestablish contact with earth. The mystery is terrific and the book doesn’t get too lost in the science so it’ll keep readers engaged.
Wonderful
I didn’t expect it to be so much about her experience as a woman; it expanded my understanding.