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A review by thewallflower00
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
5.0
This is the third book in the Lady Astronaut series, but it’s really more like book 2.5. Except there already was a 2.5–the novella “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”. Except THAT takes place after book two and this one takes place at the same time as book two, so this is really book two-two. Or book 2.75? I don’t know. I’m getting off track.
Like I said, this takes place over the events of book two. In that book, we followed Alma as she makes her multi-year trip to colonize Mars. In this one, we find out what happens back on Earth during that time. And what happens is lots of turmoil. This was probably influenced by being written over 2016-2021 (also known as “that whole thing”).
Earth is coming to terms with the fact that the world is ending and very few of them are going to get deported to space to survive. They’re getting left behind, they’re suffering from lack of food, lack of housing, climate change, and so on. They think too much money is being spent on the space program and not enough on the people at home. So the answer is domestic terrorism. What does that sound like?
Nicole Wargin, a side character in the two other books, takes center stage in this one. About half the story is much like the others — expanding space colonization, fun with science, life with the colonists, dealing with the inherent racism and sexism of the period. And the other half is uncovering who is attempting to sabotage everything, because there’s a mole on the moon. (Moon mole? Molemen from the Moon? Wasn’t that a MST3K movie?) That deals with issues of knowing who to trust, fighting with the external need to prove oneself just as capable as men while sabotaging the self.
Nicole is not Alma York. For one thing, while York had to deal with crippling anxiety, Wargin has anorexia. York’s husband is a mathematician while Wargin’s is the governor of the state with the new U.S. Capital and site of the American space program. Wargin is not Jewish. Thus the problems are different. Nicole has to deal with the political ramifications of all her actions, that her marriage might be falling apart because they are too busy for each other. But both are competent, and there’s nothing wrong with competent heroes.
That doesn’t mean Nicole’s not just as interesting as York. She’s just different. This going to be more about a woman who is confident in her skin, more confident about yelling at people. But her big problem is her reach exceeds her grasp. About the half the time, the problems that occur happen because she jumped into the situation before she fully thought it out (which illustrates a big difference between her and Alma York).
The biggest problem is that it’s so long, but so good. I think several “incidents” on the moon were unnecessary and could have been cut. Maybe I have a short attention span. It moves fairly fast but it’s a long journey. The crux of the story is a mystery. And drawn-out mysteries tend to grate on me. There’s a lot to deal with in this book. (Is there such a thing as “situation soup”?) I don’t think this can serve as a standalone, but if you enjoyed any of the first two books, you’ll like this. But you’ll probably grow as impatient as I did.
Like I said, this takes place over the events of book two. In that book, we followed Alma as she makes her multi-year trip to colonize Mars. In this one, we find out what happens back on Earth during that time. And what happens is lots of turmoil. This was probably influenced by being written over 2016-2021 (also known as “that whole thing”).
Earth is coming to terms with the fact that the world is ending and very few of them are going to get deported to space to survive. They’re getting left behind, they’re suffering from lack of food, lack of housing, climate change, and so on. They think too much money is being spent on the space program and not enough on the people at home. So the answer is domestic terrorism. What does that sound like?
Nicole Wargin, a side character in the two other books, takes center stage in this one. About half the story is much like the others — expanding space colonization, fun with science, life with the colonists, dealing with the inherent racism and sexism of the period. And the other half is uncovering who is attempting to sabotage everything, because there’s a mole on the moon. (Moon mole? Molemen from the Moon? Wasn’t that a MST3K movie?) That deals with issues of knowing who to trust, fighting with the external need to prove oneself just as capable as men while sabotaging the self.
Nicole is not Alma York. For one thing, while York had to deal with crippling anxiety, Wargin has anorexia. York’s husband is a mathematician while Wargin’s is the governor of the state with the new U.S. Capital and site of the American space program. Wargin is not Jewish. Thus the problems are different. Nicole has to deal with the political ramifications of all her actions, that her marriage might be falling apart because they are too busy for each other. But both are competent, and there’s nothing wrong with competent heroes.
That doesn’t mean Nicole’s not just as interesting as York. She’s just different. This going to be more about a woman who is confident in her skin, more confident about yelling at people. But her big problem is her reach exceeds her grasp. About the half the time, the problems that occur happen because she jumped into the situation before she fully thought it out (which illustrates a big difference between her and Alma York).
The biggest problem is that it’s so long, but so good. I think several “incidents” on the moon were unnecessary and could have been cut. Maybe I have a short attention span. It moves fairly fast but it’s a long journey. The crux of the story is a mystery. And drawn-out mysteries tend to grate on me. There’s a lot to deal with in this book. (Is there such a thing as “situation soup”?) I don’t think this can serve as a standalone, but if you enjoyed any of the first two books, you’ll like this. But you’ll probably grow as impatient as I did.