The Fated Sky cover art

The Fated Sky

Lady Astronaut, Book 2

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The Fated Sky

By: Mary Robinette Kowal
Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
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About this listen

Mary Robinette Kowal continues the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars. The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well established on the moon and looking forward to its next step: journeying to, and eventually colonizing, Mars.

Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but there’s a lot riding on whoever the International Aerospace Coalition decides to send on this historic - but potentially very dangerous - mission. Could Elma really leave behind her husband and the chance to start a family to spend several years traveling to Mars? And with the civil rights movement taking hold all over Earth, will the astronaut pool ever be allowed to catch up, and will these brave men and women of all races be treated equitably when they get there?

This gripping look at the real conflicts behind a fantastical space race will put a new spin on our visions of what might have been.

©2018 Mary Robinette Kowal (P)2018 Audible, Inc. Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration Fiction Interstellar Solar System Mars
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Fantastic book. I think I enjoyed it even more than the first book and I gave that 5 stars too!

Awesome characters, great story line and comes across as very plausible for this genre. Nice touches by adding in some real world people from the 60s like Katherine Johnson (NASA mathematician)

Great sequel

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An excellent sequel to the previous book, full of character development, conflict, adventure and intrigue.

Another trip among the stars

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This story is great. The science seems solid. The characters are interesting, complex and all so very human.

I hope to god this is made into a Netflix series.

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Great performance from the author, nice to have the story continue and see where the lady astronauts travels

Great performance good continuity in the story

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Each decade, it seems, dozens of new authors write books. Most are acceptable, some are better than average and occasionally an excellent story appears to delight us. Very rarely, perhaps a handful of times each generation, come an author whose work is that of a master or his or her craft. Ms Kowal with her books The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky is such an author and these books are destined to join the honour roll of true classics of this genre. The characters are brought to full humanity with faults shown as openly and honestly as their strengths. Although an alternative timeline is used, the setting brought the turbulent middle decades of the 20th century into a stark and credible realism confronting issues of race and sexual discrimination into the storyline just as they permeated those decades in our time. The science is rigorous and believable even though the story deals with events we have not yet achieved and gives cogent and credible reason for this.

I found I joined the journey of the characters. I laughed, I cried, I imagined and I believed with them - only a very very few other books have ever engaged me so deeply. The audio narration is by the author herself and this was a delightful surprise; not only is Ms Kowal an expert narrator but her intimate knowledge of the characters gave the reading great emotional power and enhanced the experience.

I do not know the author nor am I in any way connected with the publishers. I bought these books myself and am so very glad I did. I look forward to future works by Ms Kowal and hope she can match the depth and beauty of these books. She has set the bar very high but has the talent needed. When her next book is released she already has a purchaser in me.

An immediate classic

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I’ve been trying to get myself into sci-fi and this has sealed the deal. I liked the first book a lot but LOVED the fated sky. The detail of research it must have taken to write this series is insane. I cannot WAIT for the next instalment. The fact the the author is also narrating is just so so talented. Definitely the best series I’ve ever read/listened to. Thanks Mary

Best sci fi every

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