The Relentless Moon

Lady Astronaut, Book 3

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2020 Mary Robinette Kowal (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

A Spectacular End to the Series

I loved the first two books in this series, but this ending is absolutely stellar.

It fills in some of the gaps that we missed, spending time with the Lunar Colony while our intrepid Lady Astronaut is on her way to Mars. At first I was a little thrown off by having a different PoV character, but wow, what a character she was! I quickly fell in with her voice and absolutely loved seeing things from her perspective.

This is a book that manages to make an alternate reality very real and very puissant with what's going on with the real world. I think that's part of its magic. Even though it imagines the past differently, it's not so different that we have to suspend our disbelief more than we would any work of contemporary fiction. It's not so fantastical that we have to make a great leap. It feels very real, and that's down to good writing and great research.

I could sing this book's praises forever. And, wow, am I sad to let it go.

Truly excellent

Both the narrative performance and story are excellent. Mary Robinette Kowal is a master performer and every character voice is nuanced and distinctive. The novel itself is an emotional rollercoaster in the best way.

Fantasic Read!

Mary Robinette Kowal writes in away that makes the reader feel like they aren't just experiencing the story through the eyes of the main character, but instead it's like you are inhabiting the character's whole body and mind. Your own personal space vehicle, if you will, into the vastness of the story.

I love this series!

I love this series! I can listen to it over and over. I can’t get enough.

5 stars is not enough!

I have waited for this book since I finished The Fated Sky back in 2018. The author is the narrator, and she is awesome! She has the ability to make you feel like you are there, living the story, experiencing the same emotions. While listening, I laughed, cried, gasped and had anger toward characters to the point that I felt like I was part of story. I look forward to more of her stories, both her own stories and those that she narrates.

Happenings on the moon during the Mars expedition

This covers what is happening on the moon during the Mars expedition. It does not all go smoothly as you could probably guess. I hope there is a book about what is happening on earth during the same time period.

An Awesome Sequel!

I accidentally discovered the Lady Astronaut series recently and was delighted when I learned that the next book was coming out so soon. This book tells the story from a different viewpoint. I loved it! The Plot is gripping, the characters are amazing and the alternate timeline and it's development is fascinating and I can't wait for more! The author is an amazing reader as well and I enjoy the different voices for the characters (especially the "radio-voices"). The little addition in the end about the research that went into it was a very nice touch.

I highly recommend this audiobook to everyone!

really enjoyed it

had a hard time putting this one down. the suspense grabbed me and had to hear what really happened.

More mystery this time around

Having liked the previous books of the series I read "The Relentless Moon" immediately after book #2. It is set in an alternate history where a meteor impact has devastated the Earth and governments have created a space program to send astronauts to Mars in an effort to save humanity. The integration of historical elements within an alternate timeline adds intellectual intrigue, resonating with real-world parallels.

This time around we mostly follow Nicole Wargin, one of the original Lady Astronauts and now the plot has a stronger mystery element to it. As before we follow personal challenges as well as societal challenges all while humanity itself is facing its greatest challenge for survival.

I found the book to be well-written and engaging. Kowal doesn't shy away from making big plot decisions. The characters were well-developed and the plot was suspenseful. I also appreciated the book's exploration of problems like racism and sexism that were much worse during the time when the story is set, but still need a lot of work today so the story provides a good canvas to portray those problems.

Looking forward to the next one in the series.

Great continuation of the Lady Astronaut series

This is a great series very well performed by the author. It's an alternative history version of the exploration of space that was caused by the arrival of a meteor that will eventually kill all humans on earth. Very enjoyable characters among them Elma York and Nicole Wargin. This book "The Restless Moon" set in the early 1960's details the problems of going to space at a time when many on earth think they should concentrate efforts on earth alone. Nicole Wargin uses her experience as a spy during World War 2 to stop "Earth First" efforts to turn away from space. There's great tragedy and deceit. I hope very much the story continues in a 4th novel.