Friday, September 14, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal




  The Calculating Stars is the first in a duology of alternate history SciFi novels by Mary Robinette Kowal, with both books having come out in the past two months.  However, the novels are essentially a prequel to Kowal's earlier Hugo Award winning Novelette, The Lady Astronaut of Mars.  That story (which can be found here) featured a sixty-three year old woman named Elma York who had been the first "Lady Astronaut" and had years in the past helped lead humanity to Mars after a meteorite hit the Earth.  As far as the Novelette was concerned, the story of humanity's rise to Mars under the threat of extinction, and Elma's journey into space were part of the background (although important background) - and is not the story that is being told (the actual story being told by the novelette is incredibly powerful mind you, and well worth reading).

The Calculating Stars, and its sequel The Fated Sky, are that story - the story of Elma York and her drive to help humanity escape its doomed planet and get into space, the story of Elma attempting to get herself into space as an astronaut, and not least of all the story of Elma fighting not just for herself but for others to ensure that the space program, and eventual colonization in general, is not fatally tainted by the ills of prejudice and discrimination.  The result is a really really good book that flows incredibly well and makes me eagerly await the sequel.


-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
In an alternate 1952, a meteorite struck the Atlantic Ocean just outside of Washington D.C.  The resultant destruction causes the destruction of the City and much of the Eastern Seaboard.  Elma Young - mathematician and flier during World War 2 - and her husband Nathaniel, an engineer - only got away due to being away on vacation and some quick flying to escape the shockwave in a small private plane.  But the immediate devastation, despite taking out most of Elma's family (as well as millions of others), is not the biggest problem - as Elma discovers that the meteorite strike was big enough to cause massive changes to Earth's weather and atmosphere and threatens humanity with extinction.

The only hope for humanity is clearly to leave the planet - and so begins immediate work on the Space Program with the intent of setting up colonies in space - perhaps on Mars.  Nathaniel goes to work as an engineer with the program, but Elma finds herself stuck as one of the women calculators.  But Elma realizes quite simply: why can't she also be one of the astronauts herself?  Or at the very least, why can't other women be astronauts alongside the men?

As Elma makes efforts to convince those in charge of the viability of women astronauts, she finds herself struggling against gender barriers set up by the men in charge....as well as her own anxieties, mental and chemical.  And even more, she'll find that in the face of disaster, the prejudice she faces as a White Woman may not compare to that of people of color.   It soon becomes clear that getting humans to the Stars won't be enough, if these others are still being left behind....
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The Calculating Stars obviously will draw to mind Hidden Figures for most readers (either the Movie or the even better Book), as Elma, our main character, is a Lady Calculator fighting against discrimination to show her capabilities - and the book also features Black and other Non-White characters being discriminated against despite being equally or more capable than their White counterparts.  Kowal is known for being rather obsessed with the space program (check out her twitter feed) so it seems very likely to me she knew of those women's stories before the book came out, but regardless of whether the inspiration was from the book or not, Kowal still makes it work quite well.

The backbone of this story is Elma York.  Elma is easy to root for - she's incredibly smart and determined, but at the same time suffers from severe anxiety so she's far from a perfect heroine, and when she realizes she's done something wrong through ignorance (more on this below) she tries to correct it herself.   She struggles to work for the greater good while not going too far into her own desires, and her fear of taking anxiety medication and the stigma of such is a welcome addition to the plot (although how it gets resolved in the end is maybe a bit too easy).

I suspect readers who aren't White might be a little bit conflicted about Elma?  Elma is maybe a bit too perfect of a character who fits the idealized version of the White ally, in that when she stumbles around and does something in ignorance of how it affects People of Color, or says something of the sort, she immediately apologizes and acts to try and correct it.  She's almost too perfect in this regard, although showing off how a person might act in fiction is a way to show a good role model I guess?  As a white reader myself, I'm not truly sure, but this part of her character is very blatant so I couldn't help wonder.

Still, Kowal's prose is extremely good at getting you absorbed in the text, and when I found time to read this book I had a hard time putting it down.  The secondary characters are not nearly developed as much as Elma - there's her amazing husband Nathaniel, who I loved so much for his support of Elma - there's the villain Parker, a man who is a prejudiced asshole with power over the program and a dislike of Elma - and there's Betty the reporter, but these characters are not nearly as interesting as Elma and aren't given as much time to be so. Yet the plot is still arresting, and I again could not stop wondering how things would play out every time I put the book down.

I look forward to reading the sequel, The Fated Sky, when my library gets it in soon.  But for now, I can definitely recommend The Calculating Stars as an excellent book (and yeah you can read it on its own, it does stand-alone)

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