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garmarnarnar 's review for:
The Calculating Stars
by Mary Robinette Kowal
Recommended by a friend. A friend who I will second guess in the future when recommending books.
The catalyst for the entire story it almost immediately discarded. Almost every major US politician is dead and... nobody seems to care. The Soviets were mentioned once or twice, then completely ignored. Instead of a cold war era space race from a different angle we are given no indication what Russia is doing. Some other countries join the USA in their space program, but all we hear about that is a few astronauts or scientists being involved in ways that bear no consequences.
Instead the story focuses mostly on the internal struggles of the main character and standard 50s sexism. Which makes me want to ask the author -- why start the story with some cataclysmic event only to spend the entire novel inside the main character's head? There are a million avenues to explore after a meteor destroys the US capital, but we get none of it. Which makes the whole thing feel kind of deflated and lifeless.
But it isn't *bad* per se. Rockets and space flight are always a safe way to entertain me, so I found at least some entertainment hidden in the creases of the story. But there was so much meat left on the bone that I can't help but feel disappointed.
The catalyst for the entire story it almost immediately discarded. Almost every major US politician is dead and... nobody seems to care. The Soviets were mentioned once or twice, then completely ignored. Instead of a cold war era space race from a different angle we are given no indication what Russia is doing. Some other countries join the USA in their space program, but all we hear about that is a few astronauts or scientists being involved in ways that bear no consequences.
Instead the story focuses mostly on the internal struggles of the main character and standard 50s sexism. Which makes me want to ask the author -- why start the story with some cataclysmic event only to spend the entire novel inside the main character's head? There are a million avenues to explore after a meteor destroys the US capital, but we get none of it. Which makes the whole thing feel kind of deflated and lifeless.
But it isn't *bad* per se. Rockets and space flight are always a safe way to entertain me, so I found at least some entertainment hidden in the creases of the story. But there was so much meat left on the bone that I can't help but feel disappointed.