Modern Monday: The Relentless Moon - A Review

Mary Robinette Kowal is a unique talent. She's worn many hats and accomplished many things, but her biggest achievement to date has been her Lady Astronaut series, the latest of which is The Relentless Moon.

The Relentless Moon is book #3 in the series, so some background is required. Normally, alternate histories are cheap ways to steal characters from history so that no world-building is required. But Kowal does not rely upon this historical fan-fic approach. Instead, she rewrites history from scratch, starting with a common point, but going completely off-script afterward, making a fresh and new story which delights and informs.

The first book in the series, The Calculating Stars, opens up with a literal bang. A meteorite strikes the earth just off the coast of Maryland in 1952, wiping out Washington, D.C., and much of the Eastern Seaboard with it. Gone are Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Nixon, along with many other historical figures we associate with the 50's and 60's. The U.S. Government recovers, making Kansas City its new Capitol, and proceeds to deal with the next big crisis: the extinction-level climate change which is the inevitable aftermath of the meteorite hit. It is slowly realized that humanity must colonize the solar system if it is to survive, because Earth doesn't have very long. The Space Race ensues, not as a race against the Soviets, but as a race against time - can humanity colonize the Moon and Mars before Earth's ecosystem collapses?

Into this backdrop is our heroine, Elma York, a W.A.S.P. (female WWII pilot) who is also a calculator (math whiz), who becomes the reluctant figurehead for putting women in space. A misogynistic male power structure wants only men to go up into space, at least at first, but Elma and her fellow pilots make a strong case that, if colonies are ever to be established, women need to become astronauts - and right away. She succeeds with a lot of skill, a little luck, and a little help from the endorsement of Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert), who officially dubs her "The Lady Astronaut" on his television show. The book concludes with her going up to land on the Moon.

Book 2, The Fated Sky, continues Elma York's adventures with her being the reluctant choice to go on the first Mars expedition. Despite the fact that it will likely mean she will never have children of her own, she knows that her choice to go to Mars will mean the future births of many more children later on. She overcomes the many challenges that conspire to prevent her, and her shipmates, from completing the journey, and not all of them survive.

Book 3, The Relentless Moon, takes a different turn entirely. While Elma York is journeying to Mars, the story shifts to center upon Nicole Wargin, Elma's close friend, and fellow Lady Astronaut. She is a recovering anorexic, and struggles to maintain her weight due to a psychological quirk, as her experience on the moon tricks her into feeling overweight on Earth. Furthermore, stress causes her to forget about eating, and her life proceeds to become continually stressed. Her husband is the Governor of Kansas and is considering a run for president. Eventually, it becomes clear that Nicole must return to the Moon, not just because she wants to go, but because it is politically expedient for her husband. But saboteurs, who hate the space program because they believe it directs needed tax dollars on a wasteful pipe-dream, have been striking relentlessly. A new subversive organization called Icarus threatens to undermine everything, from Governor Wargin's campaign, to the Lunar Base Artemis, where Nicole finds herself trapped. The story becomes a "whodunnit" on the Moon, and Nicole is the primary person who must sleuth it out.

The story is a marvelous read, not only because we see how these determined women overcome the sexism of the 50's and 60's much faster than we did in our current timeline, but also racism and the belief that space travel is somehow a wasteful use of tax dollars. The women are strong, smart, and far more capable than they are ever given credit for, and seeing how they triumph is very fulfilling.

The book, and the series are both up for Hugo Awards this year. I encourage everyone to find out why! You won't be disappointed!

Eric

*