A review by wardenred
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The earth is the center of a web of force that touches the moon, the sun, the other planets, and perhaps even all those distant stars that burn so far away. But every other moon, sun, comet, planet, and star is itself a center, and exerts its own force upon all the rest.
Nothing in the universe stands alone.

An incredibly beautiful and thoughtful book. I deliberately read it at a slower pace than usual, even though sometimes it was hard to pace myself and not just gulp down all the remaining chapters. But I didn't want to miss out on anything. The prose here is gorgeous, the characterization throughout the book is consistently evolving, and even though the romance obviously takes central stage, there's so much else going on. 

I loved both Catherine and Lucy, independently and together—especially together. Theirs is exactly the kind of relationship I want to see in romance: two people building a future together as they work through the effects of their individual pasts, seeing the best in each other and lifting each other up, helping each other be the best version of themselves. It was wonderful to see these two women let each other in and work together as partners. All the beautiful details woven into their relationship—the art and the science, the translations and the embroidery—added so much to the story.

The parts of the book that were perhaps the most fascination but also the most difficult to read involved the vividly painted picture of the society these characters live in. It's impressive how the author doesn't gloss over or sugar-coat any of the numerous aspects of the systematic oppression Catherine and Lucy encounter, whether head-on or in passing—and at the same time, manages to lead the story to a powerful and hopeful ending. The world around the characters doesn't change in an instant, but there's a strong feeling that it can change, bit by bit.

Without diving into spoilers, I'll just say I also enjoyed how the subject of the power imbalance between the romantic leads was handled. Like so many topics in this story, it was very directly confronted instead of steering toward something like, "but they love each other, so of course this won't be a problem, let's focus on something else." And it was firmly the kind of confrontation that leads to solutions, not problems.

Overall, an amazing read, and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Olivia Waite in the future.
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