Weekly Read: The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal

You guys, The Fated Sky is the third book I’ve read in the Lady Astronaut series and so far every one of these novels has made me tear up. So many things about this series pluck at my heartstrings–from the relatability of FMC Elma York’s struggle with anxiety, to the beautiful, supportive relationship between Elma and her husband Nathaniel, to the social and political landscape that, while it’s fictional, is revealingly reminiscent of our own.

But in this instalment in particular, it was the friendships that got me.

After the events in The Calculating Stars, Elma York is world famous and well-liked by those who work with her on the lunar base which she helped to found. But when she’s thrust onto the Mars mission team for publicity reasons, she goes from hero to outcast.

Everyone on the team resents Elma. Not only has she replaced Helen, an already-established and well-liked member of the team, but as a white astronaut replacing one of the few non-white crewmembers, Elma’s presence is a constant reminder of the simmering racial tensions playing out in the world at large–where natural disasters and crop failures are highlighting the unfair distribution of resources based on the colour of peoples’ skin, and terrorist groups are taking action.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Elma is again working with her old nemesis, Stetson Parker.

Needless to say, the social tension is high as this crew works together in cramped quarters on a mission slated to last three years.

Elma and Parker snark at each other constantly, the crew resents Elma more and more as her secrets are revealed, and she only digs herself deeper when her attempts to help mitigate the racism the Black crew members are experiencing reveals her own lack of understanding.

But as the crew works together to solve logistical problems from clogged toilets to broken comm systems, confront harrowing challenges such as disease outbreak and space walks gone wrong, and eventually support each other through heart wrenching loss, they come out the other side bonded by shared tragedy and triumph. And most surprisingly of all, Elma comes out with new insight into the seemingly bigoted mind of Stetson Parker. In the end, Elma and the crew are more than coworkers, they’re lifelong friends ready to work together to colonize Mars.

This is a story of an outcast becoming part of a team, of a team standing up against racism, and, most poignantly of all for me, an enemies-to-friends story between Elma York and her hated rival. I cried over the realistic portrayals of racism, my heart pounded during Elma’s moments of anxiety, and I mourned with the crew as they experienced tragedy. But most of all, I celebrated the friendships and the triumph.

With all that’s going on in the world today, we need books like The Fated Sky. Books that show realistic portrayals of the big, overwhelming problems in our world and yet give us hope that if we work through it together in our own circles of influence–our workplaces and micro communities–we can learn to understand our enemies and maybe even become friends. Friends who will work together to make a more hopeful future in a world whose future looks pretty darn bleak at the moment.

And speaking of at the moment: if you’re reading this blog entry at time of posting, January 2025, you still have time to join Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut book club and get special discussions and zooms with the author as you read through the series in preparation for the realease of the next book, The Martian Contingency, coming March 18th, 2025!