Review copy provided by the publisher. Also I know the author a bit from cons and things.
This is the latest Lady Astronaut book, alternate histories of a 20th century international space program developed in a panic when Earth’s atmosphere is catastrophically changed by a meteor strike. The series uses its premise to illuminate challenges of our past and present, and of course future. This is not a good place to start with it, I will say right up front. The characters are well-established with their foibles, strengths, and relationships, and this is not a book that wants to spend a lot of time reminding you who’s who and why you care.
But if you’re someone who *does* care, if you’ve already read the series, Elma York and her husband and colleagues are back for an adventure on the surface of Mars and in Mars orbit. While some of the same themes carry through from previous books, they’ve had more of a chance to ramify, with the characters allowed to make different mistakes at different points in their lives–and with some skills and assumptions picked up from space stations and the Moon not applying to their new Martian home.
Kowal has worked with actual astronauts to try to make this series as lived-in as possible, and it shows. Some details are just–“just”–texture to make the book feel more real, but some turn out to be plot points in ways that amuse and delight–and occasionally horrify.