The Fated Sky

This is the first sequel to The Calculating Stars in The Lady Astronaut series. It takes place several years after the events of the first book. It took me a little while to get into it, but after about fifty pages, I was gripped. It's still in the alternative history of an international space program, this time in the early '60s, after the eastern seaboard of the US has been nearly wiped out by an asteroid collision. The climate is changing, a base has been built on the Moon and the race is on to colonize Mars. And it is told from the point of view of Elma, known worldwide as the Lady Astronaut. I liked this book about as much as its predecessor. I thought it was a little melodramatic after the opening sequence, but the trip to Mars was really well done, fraught with peril, and suspenseful.

Come visit my blog for the full review...