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timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Just on instinct I feel I'm being generous with three stars.
I read the one- and two-star reviews and found myself agreeing with them.
Yes, there's plenty of good research on show here.
1,1,2,3,5, ..
There's an interesting trigger with a major meteorite strike. We are shown some immediate consequences, but then, like half the American public with COVID-19, everyone's all "bor-ing, this is so last week, let's move on."
3.14159 ...
Apparently everything is going to be fine. A moon mission today and we'll have everyone off the planet by Christmas! Although with the abilities that Mary Sue, oops, Elma brings, she can probably get 'er done.
But not if she keeps on with the tired old trope of "stressed? make sure the reader knows it by reminding him frequently that you are not eating or sleeping."
17 cubed x the square root of 129.667 = (instant solution)
They should have made this book's awards conditional on never writing a sex scene again.
So, our heroine is perfect except for anxiety. As if growing up privileged isn't enough, she implausibly-for-the-era gets a Ph.D. and a decently-explained vast piloting experience.
Her husband is right out of a Hallmark movie. Everyone else is cardboard, and some are also caricatures. Kowal mentions a Blackhawk comic, and it was a bit like that, with Olaf and Chop-Chop and the rest.
There has to be a barrier within the astronaut program, and the one we are given–Parker–feels forced.
Despite all the social issues that are shoehorned in here, I often felt as if I'd read this before. Astronaut training, brief look at real life with picket fences and pie, more astronaut training, launches, stress, political meddling, media, yeah yeah we know Get On With The Plot!
I have no problem with the social issues, nor the way they were addressed, except that they dominated a tad much. If that's the book Kowal wanted, OK, but I'd have liked more balance.
Kowal's previous works are those of an experienced, comfortable writer. This one didn't leave me with that feeling. Not sure I'll read #2.
I read the one- and two-star reviews and found myself agreeing with them.
Yes, there's plenty of good research on show here.
1,1,2,3,5, ..
There's an interesting trigger with a major meteorite strike. We are shown some immediate consequences, but then, like half the American public with COVID-19, everyone's all "bor-ing, this is so last week, let's move on."
3.14159 ...
Apparently everything is going to be fine. A moon mission today and we'll have everyone off the planet by Christmas! Although with the abilities that Mary Sue, oops, Elma brings, she can probably get 'er done.
But not if she keeps on with the tired old trope of "stressed? make sure the reader knows it by reminding him frequently that you are not eating or sleeping."
17 cubed x the square root of 129.667 = (instant solution)
They should have made this book's awards conditional on never writing a sex scene again.
So, our heroine is perfect except for anxiety. As if growing up privileged isn't enough, she implausibly-for-the-era gets a Ph.D. and a decently-explained vast piloting experience.
Her husband is right out of a Hallmark movie. Everyone else is cardboard, and some are also caricatures. Kowal mentions a Blackhawk comic, and it was a bit like that, with Olaf and Chop-Chop and the rest.
There has to be a barrier within the astronaut program, and the one we are given–Parker–feels forced.
Despite all the social issues that are shoehorned in here, I often felt as if I'd read this before. Astronaut training, brief look at real life with picket fences and pie, more astronaut training, launches, stress, political meddling, media, yeah yeah we know Get On With The Plot!
I have no problem with the social issues, nor the way they were addressed, except that they dominated a tad much. If that's the book Kowal wanted, OK, but I'd have liked more balance.
Kowal's previous works are those of an experienced, comfortable writer. This one didn't leave me with that feeling. Not sure I'll read #2.
han_nur's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
noblecharley's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
3.25
I wanted to like this book more than I did. Overall it was perfectly fine! Just not for me.
trigonomitron's review against another edition
I'm not the target audience. That's not a bad thing! But it's not a book for me.
barning's review against another edition
4.0
Ich habe etwas länger überlegt, ob ich diesem Buch 3 oder 4 Sterne gebe. Am Ende wäre meine Kritik „kein PewPew im Weltraum“ gewesen und das wäre lächerlich.
Wir erleben hier den Werdegang einer Frau, die nach einem Meteoriteneinschlag in den 1950er Jahren sich in einer von Männern dominierten NACA beweisen muss.
Gerade als Mann ist es interessant, über die inneren Monologe der Protagonistin und die Beziehungen der Frauen innerhalb der Agentur, den strukturellen Sexismus und Rassismus der damaligen und heutigen Zeit zu erfahren.
Ich will eigentlich nicht zu viel verraten. Tolle Charaktere, spannende Geschichte und sicherlich noch interessanter für Leute die sich mit Militärgeschichte auskennen. Kein PewPew im Weltraum. Zum Glück!
Wir erleben hier den Werdegang einer Frau, die nach einem Meteoriteneinschlag in den 1950er Jahren sich in einer von Männern dominierten NACA beweisen muss.
Gerade als Mann ist es interessant, über die inneren Monologe der Protagonistin und die Beziehungen der Frauen innerhalb der Agentur, den strukturellen Sexismus und Rassismus der damaligen und heutigen Zeit zu erfahren.
Ich will eigentlich nicht zu viel verraten. Tolle Charaktere, spannende Geschichte und sicherlich noch interessanter für Leute die sich mit Militärgeschichte auskennen. Kein PewPew im Weltraum. Zum Glück!
kdaedwards's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
matos's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
albertotobias's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
storytimed's review against another edition
3.0
I mean, obviously there's a bit more in-between
Basically the meteor kicks up a massive atmospheric cloud that is an obvious metaphor for global warming and makes it very important for the US to start planning to colonize space
However, although the space details were fun, I really do believe that a big meteor taking out MOST OF THE US GOVERNMENT as well as millions of people in the 1950s would have stronger historical effects than just "space cool" lol
Like, what about............. agriculture.................. which is very prominent in the Southeast
And although I generally like Kowal's writing style, I don't really like her characterization types?
She likes writing about shy, bookish geniuses with one-dimensional perfect loving husbands who I invariably fail to care about
It worked well in her Glamorist Histories series mostly, I think, because she could borrow from Austen and Regency tropes
When she's trying to apply the same perfect-protagonist vibes to a more modern US setting, it just feels Off
Like, her protagonist here is a Jewish woman (awesome) who faces a little bit of anti-Semitism (so we can acknowledge that was a thing historically) that is immediately forgotten so she can be a massive celebrity (what?) and then Very Carefully Uses Her Privilege so the coalition of astronauts can be multiracial (in the 50s...?)
I mean yes, this is a fun book and it's nice to have a low-racism alternate history, but introducing racism and then having it immediately dismissed bc of her Nice White Ladyism feels a lot like she's trying to have it both ways
Her protagonist is also a math genius and a former WASP pilot and the daughter of a US Army General who personally knows Dwight Eisenhower
Which like, I get that irl astronauts need all that background, but all that combined with an aw-shucks-lil-ol-me attitude kind of gets annoying
Anyway I read this book in a night bc it was pleasant enough, but instead of getting the next book in the series I judiciously spoiled myself
And found that
1) the misogynist dude with a clearly signaled redemption arc is not gay like I thought but has manpain because his wife has polio
2) as it becomes increasingly clear that the planet will be less livable, a group of activists angry that rich people are fucking off to Mars and leaving them in an increasingly hostile landscape start protesting the money spent on the space race.......... and they are the bad guys (???)
So yeah I have no interest in continuing this series