Series Info/Source: This is the 4th book in the Lady Astronaut series. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this fourth installment in the Lady Astronaut series; it was well worth the long wait. This was a bit more "day in the life of", but on Mars. There are political issues going on in the background, but we are a bit distanced from them.

Elma is serving as second in command in the Mars habitat. The habitat is preparing for a large wave of inhabitants. Elma is finding strange discrepancies around the habitat and is trying to figure out what happened with the first mission, but the crew leftover from that mission are lying about what happened. As Elma is trying to unravel this mystery, one of their deliveries explodes leaving the team short on supplies. The crew must figure out if the explosion was an accident or sabotage.

What I enjoyed most in this story was watching how Elma has grown. She is now in her upper 40's and is second in command of the Mars habitat. I love how Kowal dealt with things like Elma having a bit of imposter syndrome; she is still unsure about demanding people do things and really taking control. Elma doesn't see herself as a mentor (but the young women following in her footsteps greatly do) and is plagued by her anxiety of speaking (although she knows how to work through it now).

As a lifelong scientist, I also really appreciated that Kowal delved into the topic of what happens as scientists progress in their careers. Inevitably, as you move along in your career (if you are decent at it) you get asked to take on more and more leadership roles. Of course, this takes you further away from the day to day science you love to do. I wish more companies understood that what makes someone a good scientist doesn't necessarily make them a good leader. And even if they are a good leader, they are moving away from what they love. I really enjoyed how this issue was dealt with in this book. Okay, I am stepping down from my soap box now :-)

I also very much enjoyed Kowal's afterward. A lot of research and study goes into writing these books and I really appreciate that. I didn't feel comfortable giving this a higher review because the story didn't have a lot of urgency behind it and I had trouble engaging with characters aside from Elma. Parts of the story are a bit slow, and having Elma move from Mars to the orbiting ship made things feel pretty disjointed (almost like this was two stories).

I also really wish we got to explore Mars more and deal with silly people on Earth less. This book is much more about interpersonal relations and much less about space discovery.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this and am glad I read it. I really love seeing how Elma has grown as a character throughout the series and could relate to her struggles as a scientist and leader. I love the Mars setting and some of the mysteries they deal with there. I did have trouble engaging with some of the other characters (they hold Elma, and hence the reader, at a distance) and parts of the story felt slow. I do wish we had been able to spend more time exploring Mars and less time dealing with politics and interpersonal relations. I am curious if there will be additional books in this series; if there are, I will read them.

I liked The Martian Contingency a lot, but I think I liked the first three in the series a bit more overall. Perhaps it is just because of how much time has passed since book 3 (in real life, and in the story), but the 'vibe' felt different somehow. Again, it could be due to how long it's been since reading the rest of the series, but I don't remember there being quite so much internal dialogue for Elma, and certainly not so much repetitiveness (some points that could have been mentioned 75% less: she is a pilot and astronaut; she has anxiety; she still finds her husband very attractive; she's THE Lady Astronaut). Despite those annoyances, I'm very happy that there is a new installment in the Lady Astronaut series, and do hope there's more to come!

A thoroughly satisfying continuation of the Lady Astronaut series. We are back to Elma as the point of view character, and the setting has shifted (as you might expect from the title) to Mars from the Moon. Elma is part of the second IAC Mars mission, charged with expanding the habitat so that additional habitants can join the initial team and begin building a larger community on Mars. Elma, as one of the longest-tenured astronauts, now has command responsibilities. Elma struggles at times with the challenges of (re)building relationships when power dynamics have changed. The challenges that come with that responsibility continue to accumulate, as she slowly learns of things that happened on the first Mars mission that directly affect the current one. This event affects not only the technical side (mechanical failures cascade from some of it, putting the habitants in danger), but every interaction she has with her colleagues and loved ones.

Kowal continues to build riveting, fast-paced action, with thoughtful, powerful character development. I’m always happy to spend time with Elma, and this novel is no exception.

Highly recommended.

The natural follow-up to its predecessors, The Martian Contingency returns Kowal's series to its titular Lady Astronaut, Elma York, as she and other intrasolar explorers set about the arduous task of preparing Mars for human habitation. But not all is well on Earth's first interplanetary colony, as it soon becomes clear that humanity has not discarded its burdens of racism and classism on its way to the stars.

The Martian Contingency is perhaps the slowest-paced entry in the series, though there's enough action and complication involved in preparing the Martian habitation for further settlement to keep the reader's interest. In a way, it feels like an almost transitional novel, as Elma and her compatriots lay the groundwork for the next wave of settlers. The great joy of this novel is watching the birth of a new society and culture, as the astronauts repurpose and adjust their native holidays to fit the Martian calendar and create new traditions for their budding civilization to celebrate. The fundamental universality of these basic human needs--to mourn loss, to celebrate success, to build community together--form a stark and moving contrast to the book's ongoing struggle with similarly fundamental human sins: strife, jealousy, prejudice. But as Elma and her fellow scientists build their new Martian society, we feel reassured that, perhaps, the humanity they are shepherding into the stars will one day become a kinder and more united species than they were upon the world that birthed them.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!
I'm already a fan of this series and was delighted there was a new book.
I liked the suspense in this one, and also the slow discovery of a terrible thing, and the upfront beginning to deal with issues of race and colonization and the hopeful ideas of the community becoming just Martian and trying to leave all that stuff behind. A good addition to a good series!
Publisher, I did find one continuity error--the Latin phrase was referred to as Greek once. It's definitely Latin.

I was excited to read the next installment in the Lady Astronaut series, and it was great! I enjoyed all the details of what it would be like to work in a Martian habitat environment, and it was also interesting to see how the author built an alternate history. I appreciate Kowal's inclusion of what it was like in this society to be a member of an underrepresented group.

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel of speculative fiction set in an alternate timeline where a disaster has forced the Earth look to the stars for salvation, and look past much of the thinking that has limited society for so many for so long.

The saddest words a human can say about their lives is "What if". What if I had said hello to that person. What if I went back to school. What if I tried to follow my dream. Some of the best stories in science fiction also come from these words. What if a a meteor smashed in Washington D. C. in 1952, forcing not only a reappraisal in much of humanity's thinking, but a change in working together to get to the stars, as they might be humankind's only salvation. What kind of society, what kind of science, what kind of people would we be. And what if certain people couldn't accept it was a brave new world, and kept their ideas and beliefs, even at the cost of all the people of Earth. The Martian Contingency"A Lady Astronaut Novel by Mary Robinette Kowal is the fourth in the Lady Astronaut series, with our protagonist finding herself on Mars, but dealing with many of the same problems as on Earth, problems that could end the expedition, and humankind's last hopes of survival.

Eighteen years after the Meteor changed everything Dr. Elma York, called by the press the Lady Astronaut, stands with her husband, Nathaniel, on the planet Mars, smelling the faint sulphur that won't go away. York is the co-leader of the second expedition to the Red Planet, tasked with getting the previously built habitat up and running, to allow more people down from orbit, and allow further travellers to make a life on Mars. As Earth is slowly dying. York though is finding that Mars has its secrets. Previous members of the expedition are silent about events that happened earlier. The habitat is showing signs of wear and design changes that could have disastrous effects on people trying to live there. A supply mission has gone wrong, with no ideas how or why. Additionally people being people, there are problems that are arising, that few want to deal with. York must navigate this, finding out many uncomfortable truths, and discovering that even the face of humanity dying, some beliefs and some hates are to ingrained in people to forget.

There have been many books on people trying to live on different worlds, but this one is one of the few I think of that looks more at the interpersonal problems that would arise. There are a lot. Kowal is a very good writer, one capable of describing how to fix a hole in space suit with food stuffs, and give specific government policies from almost fifty years ago. This is a hard science story with a lot of heart. With a mystery that seems clear to us, but to York still hurts. I have really enjoyed this series quite a bit. The mix of history, and the tweaks that Kowal has done speaks to the history nerd in me, and the story speaks to the person who loves good stories. Kowal raises questions as York opens her own mind. Colonies are really a bad term to a lot of people, so what would be a better term. How would religious holidays be celebrated on a planet with a different orbit hence different days. Little things that add to the story. Kowal takes the time to try and figure these questions out, as well as craft a really good story, with a lot of twists, turns and suspense. Also sadness. With hope.

A series I have come to look forward too. This would be an ok jumping on point, but really start at the beginning, and track down the ancillary stories that go with this. I can' t wait to see how this story continues.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this read. All opinions are my own.
I've long enjoyed Mary Robinette Kowal's books, and especially the Lady Astronaut series. In this installment, the Mars habitat has been created and while living together the astronauts have to struggle through cultural differences, technology and communication issues, and health concerns (including pregnancy/abortion). Alongside this, Elma discovers some physical evidence of "something" that conflicts with the accounts provided by her team. She's unsure what to make of this, and it overlaps with her everyday tasks so that she's not able to move forward. There are some touching moments throughout where the astronauts mark holidays and other sacred days alongside one another. I really enjoyed this read and learning more about the story of this alternate world. The technical explanation of living on Mars is so helpful in understanding the complexity involved in their lives.

I am loving this series from Mary Robinette Kowal. It pushes all of my buttons as a boomer child of the space age, telling stories of an alternate, sped up space race pitted against nature, rather than Russia. Mary Robinette has done her research and it shows, without getting too pedantic. After spending the previous novel looking into developments at Artemis Base on the moon with Nicole Wargin, this book returns to Elma York and her work on Mars getting things settled in at Earth's new habitat (not colony) there.

Of course, things do not go smoothly. Elma senses something is wrong from the minute she lands with the second expedition and finds certain details mysteriously out of place. But the members of the first expedition are united in their silence about what might have happened on their first trip. The mysteries are set aside while more urgent threats to the mission are addressed. Yet even those situations spark more questions about the first expedition.

A couple of things kept this from being a five star experience for me. The biggest was the repetitiveness of Elma's passive ponderings about the first expedition's problems. I kept wanting her to be the badass she was in her first two novels and get to the bottom of things. She did exhibit great agency when it came to piloting tasks. But it seemed to take forever for her to grab hold of the reigns of command and drive the mission. This bogged things down for me.

On the whole, the storytelling is top notch, even with a bunch of technobabble and cultural conflict. The reader is always rooting for everyone to stay safe, stay happy and be successful in mixing and matching cultures and build a new society on a new planet.

I was so excited for this book that I went to request the ARC twice.

I've been a fan of the Lady Astronaut Universe since I read The Calculating Stars and felt seen on so many levels. As a women in STEM, I am desperate for representation, but Kowal's characterization of Elma and the situations she faces just strikes home. I completely devoured The Martian Contingency in one sitting, older Elma resonating with me in ways that I've changed since The Calculating Stars.

Elma is 48 in The Martian Contingency, living with Nathaniel on the first permanent mission to Mars. She's deputy commander of the mission - a position she feels like she got because of her pretty face and value in PR and not because of her skillset. She can tell that something happened on the first mission, but can't tell if it's her own paranoia thinking there is a bigger problem than there is and if the crew are omitting facts to her because it doesn't matter or if they don't trust her because they also know / believe that she isn't qualified. I was worried that we would get a repeat of The Relentless Moon with regards to the sabotage plot, but Kowal steers clear of that.

The main criticism I've heard of Elma is that she's quirky and immature, especially with regards to her and Nathaniel's own private language regarding their sex life. I feel like that brings another layer and dimension to the story - readers are expecting Elma to be a prim, proper, and prude engineer. That's the only women in STEM they can imagine - one that's almost a man if you squint. There's a lot of space in The Martian Contingency for women astronauts to be women and also be astronauts. They bake for their own joy, they embroider while they wait for transmissions back from earth, they put effort to celebrate holidays together. It's not the hiding and fitting in characteristic of Calculating Stars or The Fated Sky. Elma might be struggling in a position of leadership, but the younger women who came after her are thriving. To see so many younger women thrive, look up to their idol, and reap the benefits of Elma's hard work and activism brings me to tears.

The star of this series will always be the strong female characters that Kowal creates. Her impeccable research into space and engineering means the inside of Elma's head feels like a woman in STEM. The opportunity for Elma to advance and find herself in a leadership position, while also examining the struggles that come with being a woman in a STEM leadership position is beautiful. Elma has continued to grow beyond the women we met at the beginning of Calculating Stars, which provides an opportunity for readers to see themselves in Elma's position. Hearing someone else's doubts about their competency for a position and holding themselves to sky-high standards rings so true and reminds me I am not alone. Kowal takes the complicated relationship between technical work, leadership positions, and client management and evaluates them all while reminder the reader and Elma that they have to be true to themselves.

"I shall either find a way or make one"

Summary
Elma York has reached Mars - living on the surface itself with her husband Nathaniel and a crew of others as the deputy administrator to prepare the way for colonists (or is the term offensive?) still in orbit. But there's something the administrator and many others aren't telling her - something that happened on the mission that built the first dome - and it's important.
Review

I enjoyed the first book in this series, The Calculating Stars, but somehow managed to miss the next two books. I had no trouble picking up the thread in this one, though.

As before, this is largely a well designed, well-written hard-ish SF book. There’s more jargon than hard engineering or calculation, but those would in any event have been beyond my skills, and this came across as very credible on the technical front. Also as with the last book, I found the emotional elements appealing, but a little too soft-focus for my taste; the narrator in particular is just too sweet and thoughtful. There are some very welcome suggestions toward the end that she’s not quite as wonderful as she believes herself to be, but they’re somewhat undercut by the fact that the external view of her is presented as something of a good thing.

This is an alternate history, so of course there are differences from our timeline, and wish-fulfillment is a legitimate part of SFF. It does feel, though, as if Kowal is trying too hard to fit modern values to a less progressive time period – to write about a less enlightened past without offending any modern readers. I’m an idealist, but overall it feels awkward and not very credible, perhaps because I was around in the time period in question, and the attitudes in question just didn’t fit with my experience. I'd note that the progressive viewpoints decidedly did not extend to animals, who are cruelly sacrificed to human desires. True to the period, but animals are clearly not part of the alternate timeline's enlightened worldview.

The treatment of religious ritual feels equally heavy-handed – not one goes by without an explanation of its historical context and meaning. Maybe that’s meant to be part of the narrator’s culture, or maybe it’s just Kowal demonstrating how well she’s done her background research. Either way, it feels very … educational rather than organic.

Overall, a well-written story with a welcome women’s perspective for the time, but undermined by the awkward insertion of anachronistic modern values.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This is the 4th novel in the Lady Astronaut series. I LOVED books one and two and the related short stories, but I found book three to be a drag. I really wanted to see this series move forward, and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like this book fits better with the first two and I'm happy to spend more time with Elma, the Lady Astronaut, again.

This book is set in 1970 as the second group to Mars to continue building the habitat there to move the Mars program forward. As in previous books, we see this alternate history with a vastly accelerated space program due to early onset global climate problems. And here we are dealing with building out the habitat, but with secrets from the prior mission keeping Elma in the dark. When an emergency happens, the past is revealed and they can make their new way forward.

As in previous books, this tackles issues of racism and sexism. This novel begins to bring in how different religious practices and beliefs will impact an international space mission, with much of the focus on Elma and Nathan's Judaism. Unlike the previous novels in the series, there is more discussion and detail of sexual intimacy, as most of the crew are married couples.

Overall, I'm really happy in the improvement from book three. I'm not sure I would recommend this book as a stand alone, as it makes much more sense after reading at least the first book in the series to get all the background. But I can highly recommend you read both!

This is the fourth book in the Lady Astronaut series, an alternate science fiction history series about the American Space program. The first domes were installed on a previous mission but were left unmanned. They are arriving to expand the habitat and begin living in the community. There is a ship of the preliminary crew and a space station with the remaining people that will populate the habitat once it is expanded. The book is very authentic is its representation of the science and the emotional challenges of populating another planet. The author did excellent research and blends her alternate time period history with many of the upcoming science discoveries. Since the crew is a multi-national group of Earth humans, she includes wonderful cultural references for characters who are Jewish, Indian,South African and other Earth nationalities.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I had read the first book in the series but missed the next two. I found that this could be read as a stand alone since any pertinent previous information was blended effortlessly into the storyline. The books will be enjoyed by those who liked The Martian by Weir.

Elma York is back! I enjoyed The Relentless Moon, but I'm glad to be back with Elma, and back in space. Elma's on Mars now, trying to piece together a bunch of weird occurrences that her coworkers seem to be lying about. The Martian Contingency is just what I wanted it to be, full of interesting science, characters I care about, and a good mystery.

The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal

I have been eagerly awaiting this book for years! I have loved Mary Robinette Kowal ever since I devoured the Calculating Stars. (Actually, I fell in love with her writing before that - she wrote a blog post on tor dot com before that book came out about her visit to NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab that was just amazing and has stuck with me for years.) I loved the Fated Sky even more than the Calculating Stars, and I was a little frustrated when the book ended when they reached Mars and we didn’t get anything of the trip home. I loved the Relentless Moon and I was so excited to get an eARC from Tor and NetGalley of this newest book in the Lady Astronaut series.

I really enjoy this world Kowal has created and her world building skills and this book did NOT disappoint. It was everything I was hoping for! It advanced Elma’s story and the story of the settlement of Mars, inching closer to the future seen in the story that started it all. Her descriptions of the habitat and spacewalks and Mars walks make it all feel so real!

However, the character of Elma sometimes grates a little. She’s not nearly as irritating as Tesla Crane from the Spare Man, but she’s blinded by privilege and little too often. Also, while I appreciate the author making Elma and her husband Jewish, the author is not Jewish herself and some of her characterization felt off to me. Kowal seems to have missed the fact that Jews do not remove mezzuzahs when they move but instead leave it in place and get a new one. Also, I feel like Elma faces far less antisemitism than was common in her time period. She would not have nearly as easy a time as the books portray. I’m glad she didn’t, but it felt lacking in verisimilitude. These are minor quibbles, however. I loved this book. I devoured it in under a week and cannot wait to purchase the audiobook of it when it comes out.

The form would not take the link https://bsky.app/profile/didididit.bsky.social/post/3law3ilrxbs2u. I also posted it on FaceBook.


I'm not big on reading series. I'm always on the lookout for great new books, great new authors, and fresh stories. That said I'll often dip into a series just so I will have a reference point when talking with those who have read it. I'll often grab a book because it looks interesting and later realize it is part of a series.

I did just that with the Mary Robinette Kowal's forthcoming (March 18, 2025) "The Martian Contingency" which is definitely worth reading. Turns out it is 4th! in her Lady Astronauts series, set in the mid twentieth century. I have not read any of the previous books in the series. It stands on its own. Enough of the backstory shows up organically throughout that I never felt anything was missing that I needed to know. I love it when a book in a series can stand on its own. I had picked it up because I loved her locked room mystery in space "The Spare Man".

I want to like these books more than I actually like them, but I will keep reading the series as long as Kowal writes them!

The Martian Contingency is an easy 5 stars, no question. You might call me biased because Kowal has been a favorite ever since I read her Glamourist Histories (which, if you like historical fantasy romance, are a must-read). I’d assert it’s not bias – I just have great taste in books. ;)

The Lady Astronaut series is a scientifically accurate alternate history; in 1952 a meteorite strikes Earth and causes widespread devastation. Humanity is going to have to find a new home or risk extinction as the climate is irreparably altered. Enter Dr. Elma York, calculator and pilot, who becomes “The Lady Astronaut” - the reluctant face of the space program as women become an integral part of the effort.

In the Martian Contingency we join Elma and her husband as they arrive at the Martian colony. Things SEEM to be going well, but there are troubling signs that something bad happened during the first Martian settlement, and everyone is hiding it from her. Was it sabotage? Was it something worse? (Oh, it was so much worse.)

Elma’s a perfect protagonist because she’s so far from perfect, and this book has a great plot with a quiet, building tension set against political and human drama. Kowal has a real talent for balancing hard science with societal issues and deeply human stories.

There IS a lot of jargon, I’m a fan of this and it’s obvious she did extensive research and spent time with real life astronauts to get everything correct. But even if technobabble isn’t your thing, I think the plot and the characters are engaging enough to hold your interest and you really need this series in your life.

So, yeah. Do you like hard scifi or alternate history? Do you like stories of kickass women changing the world together? The Martian Contingency is out on March 18, so you’ve got time to pick up the other 3 books (and several short stories!) starting with The Calculating Stars.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an early copy of this book for my honest opinion.

Mary Robinette Kowal has created another treasure with her latest book in the Lady Astronaut series. This time Elma York is the Deputy Administrator of the second expedition to colonize Mars. Although she has certainly earned this position on the expedition, she is facing a continual uphill battle. In addition to the usual issues of survival in space and on Mars, she is faced with mysterious potentially fatal facility failures, lack of vital information, and a variety of medical issues. Yet, she continues to push through and continue to earn the trust of her fellow colonists.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and can't wait for Kowal's next publication.

I thank Mary Robinette Kowal and Tor Publishing Group for kindly providing an electronic review copy of this excellent work.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Also I know the author a bit from cons and things.

This is the latest Lady Astronaut book, alternate histories of a 20th century international space program developed in a panic when Earth's atmosphere is catastrophically changed by a meteor strike. The series uses its premise to illuminate challenges of our past and present, and of course future. This is not a good place to start with it, I will say right up front. The characters are well-established with their foibles, strengths, and relationships, and this is not a book that wants to spend a lot of time reminding you who's who and why you care.

But if you're someone who *does* care, if you've already read the series, Elma York and her husband and colleagues are back for an adventure on the surface of Mars and in Mars orbit. While some of the same themes carry through from previous books, they've had more of a chance to ramify, with the characters allowed to make different mistakes at different points in their lives--and with some skills and assumptions picked up from space stations and the Moon not applying to their new Martian home.

Kowal has worked with actual astronauts to try to make this series as lived-in as possible, and it shows. Some details are just--"just"--texture to make the book feel more real, but some turn out to be plot points in ways that amuse and delight--and occasionally horrify.