#63 in Science fiction
The Fated Sky
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About the book
The Fated Sky* continues the grand sweep of alternate history begun in *The Calculating Stars*. It is 1961, and the International Aerospace Coalition has established a colony on the moon. Elma York, the noted Lady Astronaut, is working on rotation, flying shuttles on the moon and returning regularly to Earth. But humanity must get a foothold on Mars. The first exploratory mission is being planned, and none of the women astronauts is on the crew list. The International Aerospace Coalition has grave reservations about sending their "Lady Astronauts" on such a dangerous mission. The problem with that is the need for midjourney navigation calculations. The new electronic computational machines are not reliable and not easily programmed. It might be okay for a backup, but there will have to be a human computer on board. And all the computers are women. This description comes from the publisher. *The Fated Sky* is the second book in the Lady Astronaut series, the first of which is *The Calculating Sky*.
Reading order · Lady Astronaut
Full order & progress →- The Calculating StarsStart here
8.28.2 / 10 - The Fated SkyThis book
8.38.3 / 10 - The Relentless Moon
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.7 across 250 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 62% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 8.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 9 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 8.7 | 241 | 96% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Living out my dream in books. And doing it with 1960s technology. The alternate history is impressively convincing. The science is terrible (differential pressure gauges should show 0 if two hatches have the same pressure on both sides; the moon's gravity is 1/6 Earth's, not…”
“This is one of my new favorite books. I am so incredibly impressed by this author. Her stories address themes of racism and sexism in a no-bullshit manner, and I have new clarity on my own behavior through seeing an analog in Elma. The development…”
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 8.3 and 8.4, closest to this book.
