THE CALCULATING STARS - Mary Robinette Kowal

In 1952 a meteorite fell to earth, destroying most of the east coast of the United States. The resulting cataclysm made much of the earth inhospitable. But unlike the dinosaurs who faced a similar event a millennia ago, humans find ways to overcome such devastation. In the U.S., this has called for an increase in space exploration.

Elma York is a WASP pilot and mathematician. Her skills and background have earned her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition which is hoping to put a man on the moon. But despite her qualifications, Elma faces discrimination just by being a woman.  Who cares that she's more qualified than many men in the coalition? It isn't right to send women on such a dangerous mission, is it?

Elma and a group of other, mostly equally qualified women (some are clearly more qualified for their model-like appearance to appease the journalists) who persist and fight for their rightful place in the aerospace industry.

I haven't always been a fan of alternate history novels, but Mary Robinette Kowal's Lady Astronaut book is really outstanding.  She manages to capture all our current biases and discriminations, brings them right into our faces, and shows us how it could wind up if we acted better.  Really, just ... wow.

The early pages, with the meteorite strike, sets the tone and quickly lets us know this is alternate history, but from that point on, it could easily be the story of our current timeline (just speeded up a bit).

Elma's story is so much like that of many women's stories of piloting in WWII or even in today's military.  A good friend of mine has told me that the reason she went in to the Air Force as a nurse was to be considered for the space program, then just starting to get serious, and how devastated she was that they weren't going to seriously consider her because she was a woman.

I enjoyed the characters, the situations were incredibly believable, and the plot of women fighting for acceptance was powerful.  Everything about this book really made it a very enjoyable read.  I look forward to getting in to the next book in the series.

Looking for a good book? The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is powerful alternate history novel of women fighting for their place in the aerospace industry which desperately needs to help mankind by exploring space, the moon, and beyond.

I received this book free from the publisher as part of a promotion.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Calculating Stars

author: Mary Robinette Kowal

series: The Lady Astronaut Universe #1

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 0765378388

paperback, 431 pages
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more