As I was already a fan of the first two Lady Astronaut books, I expected to be impressed by The Relentless Moon- however, I was completely unprepared for how deeply this book would touch me and how much I would love it precisely because it's so different to the stories that came before it.

Set during previous novel The Fated Sky's trip to Mars, The Relentless Moon takes a step back from calculator and astronaut Elma York's journey to focus on Nicole Wargin, a fellow 'astronette' from the early days of this alternate-1960s space program. Determined and calculating in a very different sense to Elma, Nicole is an ambitious pilot and accomplished in her role as wife of Presidential hopeful Kenneth Wargin.

I loved Nicole as a character. Her ruthlessness combined with the way in which she's always figuring out an angle serve her well in what essentially becomes a thriller as she tries to stop the actions of Earth First from sabotaging the IAC's space program, and Robinette balances the hard and soft facets of Nicole's character with a deft grace that allows you to root for her even as, Batman-like, she manages to come up with reasons for suspecting more or less everyone she comes into contact with of being a spy.

The plot itself is pacy and engaging, and with just enough twists to keep me guessing almost to the very end. As usual, the depiction of all aspects of spaceflight was exhasutive without becoming dry (this is my favourite series for space facts) and I really enjoyed having a longer look at life on the lunar colony than previous books have given us. I especially liked the nods towards non-STEM aspects of lunar life, for example the art gallery, the rugs made of old uniforms, and the way in which religious services are accomodated.

I highly recommend The Relentless Moon. I knew that I would before I started reading. But now I can say that I enjoyed spending time with Nicole just as much as time with Elma, and given how much I liked the first two books, that's high praise indeed.

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a lot of ways, this is superior to the second book -- which didn't like as much as the first. Being stuck on the craft to Mars had its charms, to be sure, but there's a lot of good to be had staying closer to home.

Astronaut Nicole Wargin takes the narration up and she spends a lot of time on Earth and the Moon. Not only are the technical aspects interesting as such a small portion of humanity will be able to survive the coming cataclysm, but we're treated to lots of feels, espionage, murder, sabotage, and sleuthing -- ALONG with the whole basic plot of SURVIVAL. :)

Plot-wise, I had the best time of all. :)

No spoilers, but there are some rather hard surprises and interesting twists.

All in all, I'm really enjoying the direction it's going. It's a winner!

Lady Astronaut Elma York, the protagonist of the first two Lady Astronaut books, is on her way to Mars, so the Relentless Moon is narrated by another Lady Astronaut, Nicole Wargin. Nicole wears two hats, the first being the “Snoopy cap” of her spacesuit and the second a fashionable chapeau suitable for the wife of Kansas governor and presidential candidate Kenneth Wargin. As the book opens, Nicole is setting off on a voyage to the Moon as one of the astronaut crew helping homesteaders establish a permanent settlement there, which means that she will be very much in the public eye, but not in her role as aspiring First Lady. The voyage, and indeed the whole program, may be in jeopardy due to the increasingly strident actions of the Earth First movement, which wants the resources being used for the space program to be directed instead to helping the many people who would not be able to leave for a colony. The program suffers a series of problems, and the participants must decide if these are the work of Earth First and whether perhaps there may even be a traitor on the ship with them.
Just as Nicole wears two hats, the setting of the book has two dimensions , and both are thoroughly enjoyable. First, there is the suspenseful SF setting of a pioneering spaceflight which is the possible target of sabotage by forces who do not want Man to leave the Earth, with a good “whodunit” element. There are enough tech elements to please the hard SF crowd. Second, readers who are new to the series may not realize that it is alternative history, set in the early 1960s in a world in which a large meteor struck the earth in the 1950s, spurring a massive international space program in order to get humanity off the planet to escape the ensuing destruction. Kowal does a great job of evoking the early 1960s, from the attitudes towards issues of race and gender to the fear of polio to the popular songs, like “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”. The historical period comes across strong through the thoughts and actions of the characters, who are products of their era even as they head into an unknown future. Nicole sums up how she is, indeed, a product of her era as well as an “astronette”, when she muses, “On the Moon, when I’m flying at night, it’s as if someone had spilled diamonds on black velvet. I would kill for a gown that looked like the stars in space. I’d also kill for a chance to launch one of the big rockets, but I wasn’t holding my breath on that.”
The characters are well-drawn and, for the most part, sympathetic. Their interactions as part of the astronaut team were interesting, especially watching Nicole practice the skills she learned as a politician’s wife and product of a Swiss finishing school on her superiors and crewmates. The astronaut corps includes some married couples, and one couple, Eugene and Myrtle Lindholm, are both on the ship with Nicole. It was fun to hear their affectionate disagreements.
Although the characters were one of the high points of the book for me, they also gave me my biggest problem with credibility. Nicole has a long history of anorexia, which not surprisingly causes problems on the voyage, and I simply cannot believe the International Space Corps would have chosen someone with that condition for the space program, even if she was married to an influential politician. The surprise ending of the book also seriously strained credulity, but it made me smile, so I’ll give it a pass.
Readers who have not read the first two books can enjoy The Relentless Moon, but they will want to read the others, and there are a few spoilers, so it would be better to begin with The Calculating Stars, which won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards (!).
The Relentless Moon is a fitting continuation for this fine series, and the bad guys do not come out on top (Sorry for the spoiler!), so I would not be surprised to read about another Lady Astronaut in the future!

Leave it to Mary Robinette to take the space race, flip it on its head, and make you believe with every fiber of your being that that's how it actually happened. And the intrigue! The Relentless Moon is thrilling from start to finish, and while I was worried I would miss Elma, I found Nicole Wargin's narration, and the rest of the crew, lovable and refreshing. Once again, Kowal jam packs her stories with delightful & diverse characters, happily married couples, incredible candor about mental health (TW: anorexia), and people doing science! I giggled hysterically at blushing boys when women cracked sex jokes. I cried like a baby for various reasons (that I won't spoil for you). But in the end, this book is spaceflight at its core - it's pushing boundaries and it's hope. Utterly spectacular. More please.

I received a free copy of this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC 😭 The Lady Astronaut series is one of my favorite science fiction series ever. It is absolutely incredible so I was so super excited to read The Relentless Moon.

For those of you who haven't read the series, it starts off with The Calculating Stars. In 1952, a meteor strikes earth causing climate changes that will inevitably destroy Earth as we know it. In a race to save humanity, the space program becomes essential in attempting to create colonies in space and give the human race a chance at the next step. While books one and two follow character Elma York, The Relentless Moon follows another character, Nicole Wargin, another lady astronaut.

Nicole is the governor of Kansas' wife. She is used to the stress and strain of political life, and trying to balance life between her own career with her husband's has never been easy. Yet when a group of radicals who believe the space program needs to shut down start taking action, her life is thrown upside down as sabotage begins to invade every aspect of her life.

This book was amazing. I really just adored every piece of it. It was so wonderful to see another character and what the space program and being an astronaut means to her. This series is incredibly empowering for women as well. I love it so much, and I highly recommend starting this series if you haven't already. This book releases July 14, 2020 so you still have time to catch up 😁