The Relentless Moon
Sep. 16th, 2020 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI was delighted to discover recently that a third Lady Astronaut book was being published - The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. I absolutely loved the first two and was very disappointed when the conclusion of the second one seemed to suggest there wouldn't be any more.
But this one doesn't actually feature the Lady Astronaut (except very, very briefly), instead being narrated by one of the other female astronauts, Nicole Wargin, and taking place during the time when the Lady Astronaut herself is away on the first mission to Mars.
Nicole makes for a wonderful character to spend a book with - aided by the author's really excellent narration on the audiobook (she still has trouble with some of the accents but largely renders her own words in brilliant technicolour across the mind). Nicole is not only one of the first female astronauts (dealing with all the stresses, annoyances and obligations that entails) but also the wife of the Governor of Kansas, the state where the US central government has relocated after Washington DC was destroyed by the meteor. She portrays the layers of her life with both humour and exasperation, as well as despair in places, and I really loved her. She feels very much like a real person, navigating the trials and tribulations of the story in a very relatable way.
I also loved the return of several more of the characters from the other books - especially Myrtle, Eugene and Helen, who all travel to the moon with Nicole and aid her in rooting out a saboteur. The inter-relationships are brilliantly drawn, the plot is exciting and intriguing, and the details of space travel and life on the moon are much more interesting than I would have thought. But it's the emotional resonance that really makes this book (and the whole series) - Nicole suffers a lot but also enjoys moments of humour, love and friendship - and that's why I loved it.
But this one doesn't actually feature the Lady Astronaut (except very, very briefly), instead being narrated by one of the other female astronauts, Nicole Wargin, and taking place during the time when the Lady Astronaut herself is away on the first mission to Mars.
Nicole makes for a wonderful character to spend a book with - aided by the author's really excellent narration on the audiobook (she still has trouble with some of the accents but largely renders her own words in brilliant technicolour across the mind). Nicole is not only one of the first female astronauts (dealing with all the stresses, annoyances and obligations that entails) but also the wife of the Governor of Kansas, the state where the US central government has relocated after Washington DC was destroyed by the meteor. She portrays the layers of her life with both humour and exasperation, as well as despair in places, and I really loved her. She feels very much like a real person, navigating the trials and tribulations of the story in a very relatable way.
I also loved the return of several more of the characters from the other books - especially Myrtle, Eugene and Helen, who all travel to the moon with Nicole and aid her in rooting out a saboteur. The inter-relationships are brilliantly drawn, the plot is exciting and intriguing, and the details of space travel and life on the moon are much more interesting than I would have thought. But it's the emotional resonance that really makes this book (and the whole series) - Nicole suffers a lot but also enjoys moments of humour, love and friendship - and that's why I loved it.
